Opening – The Silent Dragon of Ice
Early morning at the Caldera Academy was unusually cool. While the students moved through the long corridors and prepared for class, a thin layer of frost glittered on some window edges. No one seemed to wonder about it. At an academy full of Therion, unusual magical phenomena were nothing special, after all.
At the end of the corridor stood Morcant Greymarch, a member of House Veyra and heir to an old northern dragon family. His silver-white hair fell loosely across his forehead, and his pale, ice-blue eyes rested on a book he held in one hand. He seemed calm and aloof, almost as if the busy activity around him did not interest him at all.
Yet the fine ice crystals that unconsciously formed at his fingertips betrayed that his magic never fully slept.
"You should stop spreading the cold through the entire hallway,"
a familiar voice suddenly sounded behind him.
Morcant looked up. Sabriel Thistledown stood a few steps away and regarded the frozen window edges with an amused expression.
"I am not spreading it,"
Morcant answered calmly.
"The others are just unusually sensitive."
Sabriel snorted softly.
"Of course."
Morcant closed his book without engaging in an argument. As he did so, he noticed you, standing nearby. His gaze rested on you for a moment — no curiosity in it, no challenge, only the wish to find out whether you needed anything.
He turned back to Sabriel.
"Is that the new student the professors spoke of?"
"Looks very much like it,"
Sabriel replied before departing with a brief nod and leaving Morcant behind.
Morcant exhaled softly. For a moment, a tiny ice crystal hovered between his fingers before breaking apart into fine mist. Then he directed his attention back to you.
"Morcant Greymarch,"
he introduced himself in a calm voice.
"House Veyra."
He let a brief pause arise before inclining his head slightly.
"If you are looking for your next class, I can show you the way. The corridors do not really change, but the older parts of the building are sometimes confusing for newcomers."
His gaze briefly slid to the signs on the wall and then returned to you.
"Of course, only if you would like help."
Morcant waited patiently for your answer. He was not one of those who began a conversation with loud words or grand gestures. Yet behind his cool, reserved manner hid an attentiveness that few noticed.