Meanwhile, on Paullu’s school, he too was in recess, reading a book while swimming back and forth, near a big tree. His classmates were either racing or playing a game of Bane Dagnir, that consisted of two teams of six female players kicking a round rock ball through a ring at three-meters high, where anything goes on stopping the one with the ball, except bites. The females loved to play that game, because they could use it as an excuse to go after another female with whom they had a quarrel, instead of fighting against each other. Sometimes, going through the ring with the ball was forgotten because they were all having too much fun on bumping against each other.

On that day, one female was sent diving to the ground and hit the hard floor with such strength that one of her arms broke. Her teammates rushed to get to her, while Paullu was completely unaware of the commotion around him. At least, until one female pulled his right arm, making him blink his eyes, surprised by being taken away from his story.

- “Paullu, Drezara Forgge got hurt! She needs help!”

Paullu frowned while being pulled to the female that was in pain at five meters from him.

- “Why you don’t take her to the School’s Healer? That’s her job…”

That granted him a tail on the back of his head.

- “Shut up, stupid! You want that she babbles about what happened and we all get grounded? The School will forbid this game again, for a couple of big Moons! Last time that happened, we didn’t have anything else to do besides fighting with each other, every time we got a chance!”

Paullu frowned. He never understood why that game got so much appreciation from the females, but he had a faint memory of seeing the females fighting everywhere for the pettiest reasons, last time that game was forbidden in School’s grounds. He approached the injured female on the ground, and noticed her deep light brown eyes, staring back at him, while she was doing her best not to cry in front of him.

Drezara Forgge would never forgive herself if she ever dared to show such a weak side of her’s in front of that mesmerizing young male. He was always swimming around while staring to something she couldn’t see, or reading a book, or sited at a corner, with one of his paws glowing while practising a spell. Drezara Forgge always thought he was so cool, always on his own World. Sometimes, he made such a pretty smile when someone was talking to him, that she almost melted every time she saw him smiling like that. Now that he was carefully touching her broken arm, she was having a hard time to prevent her heart from jumping out of her chest. She almost fainted when he spoke with that gentle voice of his:

- “I am going to heal your broken bone, ok? I will try not to hurt you much. It’s kind of difficult to heal a bone, but I will do my best. So, if I do…‘fàs cnàimh’… I guess this will… Oops!”

The female opened wide her eyes. An outside bone was growing, from her shoulder to her paw. She stared at Paullu, puzzled, while he tried to explain with his front paw still glowing.

- “Sorry, I have mistaken the word ‘repair’ with the word ‘grow’. Don’t worry, I can fix this in no time.”

- “No, let it be like this for now! Just make sure to heal my broken bone this time, ok?”

Paullu wondered why Drezara Forgge wanted to have an extra bone outside her arm, but after fixing her broken bone, she smiled while testing its hardness.

- “This is so cool! I have the perfect target for this thing! Hehehe! Thanks, I will come to you before class starts again, for you to make this disappear. I can’t be swimming around looking so menacing, can I?”

Paullu made a big smile that made Drezara Forgge to gulp.

- “Ok, I can do that. Be careful and try not to kill anyone with that.”

Drezara Forgge nodded and rushed upwards, calling out her teammates to resume their game. Paullu went back to his spot, but it wouldn’t take long for someone to begin shouting his name. He raised his eyes from his book, annoyed by the interruption, just to see females falling to the ground, one after the other. He looked up and saw Drezara Forgge hitting another female on her head with the new bone while going through the ring with the rock ball. She smiled and waved at him, going to the middle of the field again, waiting for her next target to get the ball her way.

Paullu rushed to one of the females with the skull cracked and healed them all while thinking he made the wrong choice, on letting that crazy female resume the game with that weapon.

When the bell rang, calling out the students to class, Paullu finished healing the last female and turned in the direction of the main building. Suddenly, a paw was going straight at his face, and he reacted instinctively before Drezara Forgge could reach him to prevent him to get a punch from a very angry female. She saw in total disbelief the female, almost two times bigger than Paullu, going straight to the ground, with Paullu leisurely continuing his swimming. A group of females stood in his way, and one of them pointed an accusing claw at him.

- “Hey, why did you give that dangerous thing to Drezara? Are you her boyfriend or what? That was cheating, she can’t use weapons in a Bane Dagnir game!”

Paullu blinked a few times.

- “She is not my girlfriend. I didn’t know she can’t use an extra bone in that weird game of yours, I never quite understood it, anyway. Now if you excuse me, class is about to start.”

The group of females didn’t budge, and Drezara Forgge stopped at Paullu’s side and tilted her head while speaking.

- “That’s funny, hearing you calling me a cheater when every time I got the ball, three of you were on me and that is totally against the rules. Your last attack was so bad, that broke my arm. It was your fault if I got this pretty hard bone to help me out. Do you want to try it again? Maybe a few more lumps on your head will teach you not to be a cheater!”

The angry female looked at Paullu and warned him.

- “You won’t be so lucky next time, you weirdo! Your girlfriend will not always be around, to save you! Let’s go, girls!”

Paullu answered to the angry mob.

- “I told you already, she is not my girlfriend! Besides, I am more than able to take you all down at the same time if needed!”

He looked at Drezara and pointed his thumb claw at the angry females that were giving him angry looks while swimming away.

- “Geez, what’s up with them? I didn’t do anything wrong! Girls are so weird! And why they kept on saying you are my girlfriend? I hardly know you!”

Drezara Forgge turned bright red and mustered the courage to ask:

- “Do… you mind knowing me some more? I mean… Yeah…”

Paullu shrugged his shoulders.

- “I guess, but I still don’t know why they immediately assumed you were my girlfriend.”

- “Maybe… because no one ever saw you talking so much… with a female… like you did while you were healing me… or now…”

- “Yes, that could explain it. I never actually had any interest in talking with females or making friends with them. I already have a young female in my life that is a hand full.”

Drezara Forgge felt her heart stopping and spoke in a trembling voice:

- “So… You have a girlfriend already… That’s nice…”

- “What are you talking about? I meant my little sister, the most annoying little female you would ever meet in your life!”

Drezara Forgge brightened up in a big smile.

- “Oh, you have a little sister! And you don’t have a girlfriend…”

She then made a worried face.

- “But you do like females, right?”

- “Of course I do, I am not a weirdo like those girls seem to think of me! I just don’t have time for them, with my studies, training my sister, learning Healing Magic with my mother… I don’t see a way to fit a girlfriend in my schedule! I would be the worst boyfriend ever, I am sure of it!”

Drezara Forgge gulped.

- “I bet any girl would be very happy to be your girlfriend, even with all that. I know I would…”

She immediately looked down, too embarrassed to face him after such unthinkable outburst. Paullu stared at her as if he were seeing her for the first time. He noticed a pretty shine on her light brown scales, and she also had a nice figure. He didn’t know her very well, but he saw once or twice a group of males turning their heads to watch her when she was swimming past them. Paullu pointed at Drezara’s extra bone and spoke.

- “Better if I take care of that before you hit someone else. I guess we could… hang out a little when school ends. I can’t stay too long, because I must go get my sister, but we could talk some more. I can’t promise anything, but it won’t hurt if we know each other a little better, right?”

Drezara Forgge lift her arm and made a slight smile.

- “Yeah, unless you make another blunder and instead of talking with me after school, you make me gain an extra head! That would be amazing, right?”

- “Weird would be the proper word, I bet! Imagine, you swimming around with two heads, arguing with each other! It would be a funny scene, that’s for sure!”

They both laughed, and Drezara patiently waited for the extra bone to disappear. While Paullu was deeply concentrated on his task, Drezara kept on looking at him, amazed at his seriousness and caring, without even realizing the effect on her heart that his touch on her arm was doing. She knew he would be a hard rock to crack, but she was hoping that it would worth it, if she could gain the heart of that amazing young male.

Drezara Forgge knew very well that Paullu was the dream of many females in that school, and that was the main reason why those girls were so angry with him. They couldn’t accept that he seemed to care so much about the awkward Drezara Forgge, a girl that was always making a mess everywhere she went while having fun at any opportunity she could put her claws on.

Many girls didn’t see her as a rival or even cared if she stared at Paullu from a distance. They always mocked her, but she didn’t mind, because she knew Paullu didn’t notice that the other females were always finding excuses to talk with him, only to get a quick response while he swam away. And now, there she was, with him holding her arm and a date, later on, to talk some more, when she hopped to be able to impress him. Or at least, not to sound too strange for him, and make him start to avoid her. That was her greatest fear that was making her heart bump like it was. She took a few deep breaths and calmed her feelings. Suddenly, she felt a tingling on her free paw and frowned at it. On top of it, appeared a couple of strange glowing Runes that she didn’t recognize.

- “That’s weird, I wonder what this means?”

Paullu took a glance and made a slight smile.

- It says ‘Calm Heart’. It seems you just unlocked a very useful Skill. It will make you able to face any danger or surprising situation, without becoming too nervous to react. I unlocked that one when I was six Tides-old because my father was always messing with my patience. You will see that it will come in handy, someday.”

Drezara Forgge answered.

- “Yeah, it’s doing wonders right now, or else I wouldn’t be able to endure you being so close to me, for all this time!”

She then turned bright red when she realized what she just said. Paullu made a gentle smile while letting go of her arm.

- “All done. You are funny, Drezara Forgge, you always speak what is in your mind without even thinking. I found it refreshing because I always had problems understanding females. I can never guess what is in their minds. You, on the other hand, I don’t need to guess, you spit everything out, right from the bat!”

- “Thanks, I guess. I am not sure if that was a compliment or a mockery. It was a compliment, right?”

The smile on Paullu’s face and his nod, made Drezara Forgge grateful for her new unlocked Skill because if it wasn’t for it, she would be fainting right now. She smiled back while pointing to the main building.

- “Thanks. Better if we get going, or we will be late for our classes. I will see you later, right?”

Paullu nodded at the smiling female as she swam away, thinking that she was something else indeed.