Since it was only about 10:30, I decided to take Avyn to meet Amber. She had been downstairs in the cafeteria hall eating breakfast with Shana. I was an early bird, so I ate much earlier. Usually Amber had breakfast earlier too, but she slept in late and by that time Shana was going down too, so they went together. Not that it matters too much.

"Alright, Avyn." I glanced at him, stroked his fins. They felt smooth and soft under my palm. "Maybe you can meet some of the other dragons who have hatched already?" I spoke, even though he couldn't understand me.

My mind began drifting for a moment. Most kids' dragons had already hatched. For example, a girl named Diana's crimson red and black egg had hatched into a beautiful, blood-red dragoness that she named Scarlet. Scarlet was feisty already, even though she was barely a day old.

Dylan's egg had hatched too. His dragon, which he named Mytilene, was shiny, and even appeared nearly gelatinous at times. Mytilene had ranging shades of blue across his body, with glassy eyes and a pale chest and belly.

Sean Valus, I kid I didn't really know yet, but had seen before, now had a dragoness named Niendiss. Niendiss literally looked like she was made out of pure gold, and her small scales were like metal.

Avyn, whose eyes were now green (I really have to ask about that), perched on my head, loosely wrapping his tail around my neck. It felt very strange, I have to admit, but definitely not bad. He was like a little brother or something. He fluttered his wings, their pale membranes translucent. He was not yet strong enough to fly, after all he had just hatched less than a half hour ago, but it wouldn't be long before he could support himself enough to fly.

I opened the door to the dorm room and was met with searing pain on the left half of my face. I screeched as if I were the dragon and stumbled back. Avyn immediately jumped off my head and attempted to growl at what I now saw was another dragonet in front of him.

"Ow," I mumbled as I rubbed the side of my face. That was definitely going to bruise.

Avyn's growling sounded like something an angry squirrel would do. I tried not to laugh at my precious little dragonet as he crouched in front of me, wobbly wings spread. His eyes were now purple.

In front of him crouched a little female dragonet, her scales the color of snow. Her eyes were golden, and they flared at Avyn. Her neck was long, and she was nearly double the size of Avyn.

"I'm so, so sorry about that," Panted a voice. I turned to see a wide boy with a bit of a baby-face catch up to us. He had short, bristly black hair and dark brown eyes.

"She is very fast, and very energetic, too." Explained the boy. He concentrated on something for a second, glaring at the white dragoness, and then she backed down with a small whine.

"It's okay," I smiled at him, and invited Avyn back up to me. This time he settled onto my right shoulder, digging his claws into my shirt, and let his tail drop down the length of my back. Then I kneeled down to pat the white dragonet on her head. She chirped happily. I grinned. Avyn didn't.

"My names Zachary," He said with a friendly tone, "You can call me Zack. And this is my dragon, Mistcatcher. She hatched just a couple hours after I got her egg."

"Wow," I glanced at Mistcatcher, "She's very beautiful. Avyn hatched just thirty minutes ago. I'm actually going to go show my friends him now."

"Well, I'm going down to the cafeteria hall now. We can walk together?" He invited me. "Sure," I responded. "Oh, and my name's Lana."

"He's so gorgeous!" Amber cooed over Avyn. Avyn definitely enjoyed the praise, and he nuzzled Amber's hand with a cat-like purr. I giggled.

Shana's egg had already hatched.

Her dragon was a beautiful shade of green, and unusually small. While Avyn was the size of a large cat, Shana's was the size of an average pet rabbit. Her dragon's scales were very rough and textured, and she had green eyes as well. Her tail ended off with what almost appeared to be a huge leaf, except it was smooth and had the solidity of dragon scales. Her name was Alya.

Amber's egg too had hatched. Amber's dragon was primarily sapphire blue, with a misty blue underbelly and chest, very smooth scales, and beautiful golden eyes. Her wing membranes were leathery, and she had dangerous spikes running down her back, but they weren't very noticeable. Amber named her Rainsong.

Rainsong and Avyn were just about the same size.

When Avyn saw the other young dragons, his eyes flared amber and he tumbled off my shoulder and to the ground. His excited squeaks and play growls were echoed and repeated primarily by Rainsong, who seemed more playful than Alya. Together, Avyn and Rainsong tussled on the floor, their wings entwined as they wrestled playfully.

When Avyn was done playing, he took some time to sniff at Amber and Shana in turn. His eyes turned back down to an emerald green, which, from what I had deciphered so far, meant he was more calm (Maybe?).

"Hey, look!" Shana gasped. She kneeled down and looked into Avyn's color changing eyes. "Your dragon has mood-controlled eye color!" She giggled.

"Really?" I smiled at Avyn, who was busy attacking Shana's frizzy orange hair with his undeveloped claw stubs.

"Yeah. It's not super rare - maybe 1 in 100 - but it's pretty neat." Shana winced as Avyn took the opportunity to bite at her hair, as she tried to untangle his claws.

"Avyn," I warned the little dragon. He didn't listen.

"Avyn!" My voice was sharper now, and I transferred a stern bad emotion to my naughty dragonet. He submissively stopped attacking Shana's hair and laid down on his back in front of her. Shana cooed and gave him a quick belly rub.

"I have a feeling this will be like disciplining a puppy," I groaned as Avyn jumped right back up, springing around, and tackled Rainsong again.

Meanwhile, Shana stroked Alya. "Yep," she agreed with a hearty laugh, "And some puppies will be better than others!"