Thayva Sighed and shook her head as she watched Arjun hurry through their upper floor living quarters. 
	[i]Oh, Arjun,[/i] she thought fondly, following in the boy’s footsteps at a leisurely pace. She went through what looked like a closet door just large enough for Serapis to fit through. A set of sturdy wood stairs spiraled downward, creating a back exit hidden from the students. 
	Though they had a front door that would lead her closer to her destination, she loved taking the back way, one of the ‘secret passages’ that only a select few of the staff were trusted to know about.
	She made her way down the twisting stairs, their dimensions perfect for a dracon. Only the click of her claws against the wood echoed around her.
	She passed through another door the size of the wall into a closet, the doorway behind her appearing to be little more than the back of the closet. She picked her way through the clutter of cleaning supplies and emerged through the second door a few feet in front of her into a large storeroom on the bottom level. A few desks specially designed to be used from the cushions strewn through the room were stacked precariously about. Other cabinets housed various supplies the children would need for their studies.
	Leaving the storeroom, Thayva locked the door behind her, padded the scroll at her waist to make sure it was still there, then headed to the front of the mansion.

[center]*	*	*[/center]
	The young halfling’s pace quickened slightly as he felt someone following him, and not in the simple, going-where-he’s-going way. The presence felt like it was one of the older boys… or at least someone relatively tall.
	[b]“Hi there!”[/b]
	The halfling jumped and spun around, his fists coming up in front of him to defend himself in what little way he could. Despite his attempt at looking menacing, he still only managed something between cute and scared.
	He looked up at the red-scaled dracon towering before him.
	The halfling slowly lowered his fists as the dracon continued to speak, suspicion in his hazel eyes. Arjun, he believed he had heard others call him, which the dracon confirmed. 
	[b]“So, uh, what’s your name?”[/b] Arjun finished. 
	The halfling blinked at him, surprised that anyone would bother to ask anymore. Arjun looked friendly enough--perhaps trustworthy, even, if the instincts nagging at him were correct. He opened his mouth slightly and inhaled as if to answer, part of him begging to hear someone call him by his real name again, the name his parents chose for him.
	A knot formed in his stomach at the thought of his parents. He felt a familiar stinging pricking at the back of his eyes, a stinging he refused to succumb to.
	He looked over as the all too familiar gruff voice of one of his usual tormenters boomed over at him.
	“Oy!” The stocky form of a dwarf of about nine years of age lumbered toward them, apparently oblivious of the older dracon. “Brownie!”
	Anger, hatred, and fear made the halfling’s eyes widen. He glanced between Arjun and the dwarf, then turned on his heels and sprinted down the hall, leaving the young dwarf scowling after him.

[center]*	*	*[/center]
	The three elven girls walked together, as they always did, until their separate classrooms forced Kia to take a different hall, Laura and Jorn following after the other two. She walked confidently into the room for a twelve-year-old, her head held high and eternally mischievous gaze taking in the classroom and the half-filled cushions on the floor.
	She chose a spot near the center beside a female halfling who had her nose in a book as Nick and Aurelian entered the same classroom a couple moments later and took their own seats.
	“Whatever you’re up to, Kia,” the halfling girl said without looking up from her book, “don’t do it.”
	Kia gave the girl a dramatically wounded look. “Why ever would you think I’m up to something, Ella?”
	Ella glanced to Kia without moving her head. “You have that [i]look.[/i] Besides, when [i]aren’t[/i] you up to something?”
	“[i]Please.[/i] I’d never.” She grinned, then laid down on her stomach, using the cushion as a pillow instead of a seat.
	“And I’m a three-eyed toad.” Ella rolled her eyes, then looked back to her book as Kia closed her eyes and started to hum.