Hana rubbed her scalp, wondering when she should shave again. It didn't seem exactly safe to try and shave with the rocking boat, but she could ask Uban or Pieter later how they managed it. The boy transformed into a man, and she reflected on what it must be like to know how you'd look as you aged. When she had been Rio's age, she had stood in front of the mirror, turning and twisting and trying to figure what would change and what would stay the same. Too much and very little, at the end of the day. 

The man was gone and replaced by a Cyradan, and Hana stopped contemplating age and instead marveled at the small dragon that was preening in front of her. She laughed in delight at the glowing stripes, taken by the clean geometry of the dragon. She'd never come so close to one in the wild, and the illustrations she'd seen in books didn't do justice to the proud animal that stood before her. 

Then the dragon was gone and the boy stood in it's place, grinning. When she was his age, she'd try and impress adults with fairyfire and memorized quips of poetry. Hm. Rio didn't have any peers in his life, and his social circle was obviously restricted to whatever happened to be the [i]Borealis'[/i] crew. Which would have been the rougher sort. Not to mention the fact, she realized, as the boy looked soberly at his shirt, that his life has had so much violence and pain in it already. She inhaled deeply. She needed to help this boy. 

"Rio, would you like me to teach you to read?"