Faint crackles and pops reached Thayva’s sensitive ears as she reached Arjun’s room. She recognized the sound of the firework toy currently quite popular among the children of the town. She opened the door in time to see him place his hands behind his back. She crossed her arms as the young dracon addressed her.
	Thayva raised her scaly brows. “Good morning to you.” She held her hand out toward him, palm facing up, waiting for him to hand over the object behind his back. “Your father and I overslept a bit. Have you been down to breakfast?”

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	The halfling boy sighed as the loud voice sliced through the relative silence of his little alcove, announcing the end of breakfast. He sat on a rather rugged pillow he had salvaged from the garbage. Straw stuffing stuck out from a few holes, while crude stitching kept larger parts of the fabric together.
	He quickly finished off his plate of food, then stood. He glanced to his little alcove, his [i]sanctuary.[/i] Noticing another larger rip forming in the cushion, he sighed again. Making a mental note to come back and sew it up later, he sluggishly made his way back to the dining hall, his bare, furry feet dragging against the floor. Voices echoed down the hall, growing quickly louder as they echoed off the wood walls and floor.
	He stopped in the hall opening leading into the larger, crowded room. Already, orphans had begun to stack their empty plates on the long table where the food had been a short while before. His attention snapped over as angry shouts rose above the others.
	A small group of pre-teen dwarves, humans, and halflings stood in a circle about a yard from the mute boy, a couple with plates and the others without. A dwarven girl looked about ready to murder an elven boy with smirk on his face. A few of the staff had started to make their way over to the group as the mute boy cautiously inched away.
	One of the staff, a male dwarf with a thick beard down to his knees, stepped close to the group, gaining the dwarven girl’s attention. She snorted, turned from the others, then stormed toward the exit.
	The mute boy gave a relieved sigh and hurried toward the table to add his plate to the stacks already there.
	A lizardboy the halfling knew to be only a little over a year older bumped into him, hard. The boy gasped and fell to the floor, his plate clattering in front of him.
	“Watch it, Brownie,” the lizardboy hissed, barely managing to step over the halfling on his way to the table.
	The mute boy laid there for a moment, glaring after the lizardboy. The race some of the crueler kids had taken to calling him rang in his ears.
	[i]I’m [u]not[/u] a brownie,[/i] he thought angrily as he knelt and picked up his plate. He looked it over to make sure it did not crack. Finding a small chip on the bottom, he gave a grumbling sigh and hurried to place it with the others.

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	Nick shrugged at Aurelian’s thanks. “Yep. But don’t think me yet until it’s done.”
	Laya grabbed her own plate and placed it in her lap as she and the others at her table hurried to finish. She couldn’t quite keep a grin from quirking her lips at the dwarf’s question.  “Why would [i]those[/i] two be up to something?”
	She caught Kia as the redhead cast her a warning glance at Laya’s tone of voice. Laya cleared her throat as Laura continued, and cast a glance to Jorn. “Oh [i]really?[/i]” She drew out the second word. “That’ll be fun for you guys.”
	Tor guzzled down the meats on her plate, earning her a repulsed look from Ilyrana. 
	“You’re going to make me [i]sick,[/i] Tor!” Ilyrana complained, placing a hand over her mouth in emphasis.
	Tor looked up at the elf. “How do you think [i]I[/i] feel about your disgusting veggie diet?” Tor smiled at the elf, showing off her rows of sharp teeth. “You guys need to get some meat in you! It’ll do you good!” She raised a rather thick chunk of ham in emphasis, before shoving it in her mouth. 
	Ilyrana’s nose scrunched up in disgust. “Yeah, I’ll pass.” She grabbed her mostly empty plate and stood. Kai joined her, and the two headed toward the table.
	Laya glanced up at them, then finished off the small amount remaining on her plate. “See you later, Laura!” She stood, and looked to Tor and the boys. Tor gave a quick wave without taking her full attention from her food. Nick nodded in farewell before she followed after the other two elven girls.