Kolo and I stared at each other for a few seconds, frozen, before I mentally recovered and initiated my shift. Back in elf form—and glad my clothing shifted with me—I held up my hands and spoke softly.

  “Wait, I can explain!”

  That seemed to break her out of her stunned state, and her eye narrowed at me. “Then explain,” she said coldly.

  I paused, unsure how to explain before just diving in. “As you saw, I’m a dragon. You can’t tell anyone, though. Please.”

  Her gaze didn’t shift. “That’s not really an explanation. You lied to us!”

  “What choice did I have? I can’t tell anyone the truth.”

  “Why not? There are other dragons at the academy. What’s your angle?”

  I sighed. “I can’t go into details, but let’s just say no one knows I’m attending the academy.”

  “No one?”

  “No one. My family doesn’t know. The navy doesn’t know. No one. Well, except you, now.”

  “How’d you even get in? I take it your name isn’t really Dax Juniper?”

  In for a copper, in for a gold. “I… acquired a valid infiltrator module a while back and adopted the persona of Dax Juniper.”

  “Has anything you’ve told us been the truth?”

  “Most of it. I’ve been going by Dax Juniper in some situations for cycles. I really did get my doctorate in astrophysics as Dax Juniper, for one.”

  At this point, I realized that Kolo had switched from straight anger to a mix of anger and hurt, so I softened my voice further and said, “Listen. You’re my friend, for real. Yes, I lied about some of my background, but I didn’t have a choice. If people find out who I am, everything will come crashing down.”

  “What are you doing that requires this?”

  I hesitated, trying to figure out what I could explain and how to do it, but I was tired and stressed. After a few seconds, I just gave in and told as much of the truth as felt safe.

  “I ran away. There was an arranged marriage…” I trailed off, unsure how to finish the thought.

  Kolo nodded. “Okay,” she said, a bit calmer. “That makes sense, I guess. But why NOTA?”

  I ran a hand through my hair, a nervous tic. “Well, I actually do want to travel and see the stars, and I think the navy is important work, but the main reason is that it gets me away from here, and who would expect a runaway dragon to join the military?”

  She chuckled, a good sign. “That actually makes some weird amount of sense, though aren’t you afraid of someone recognizing you?”

  I waved it off. “Hardly anyone knows what I look like in elf form, especially since I rarely went out without a full face of makeup. I’m not worried.”

  “So you’re not a minor elven noble, then. You’re a bigger deal than that. Wait, why did you risk angering that Torlan dragon? Wasn’t that even more dangerous for you?”

  I gave her a sheepish look. “Yeah, well, it was the right thing to do, and I didn’t exactly think things through in the moment.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course you didn’t. So, what do we do now?”

  “Now? Well, I’d strongly prefer that you didn’t tell anyone. The more people who know, the more likely something is to slip out and ruin everything.”

  She slumped back. “I don’t like lying to our friends, but I get what you’re saying. I guess I’m likely to learn a fair amount of secret information over my naval career, so if I just think of it like that, it might help.”

  An idea came to me. “You have medical training, right?”

  “Some,” she confirmed.

  “My species is kind of health information. It’s obviously important to keep health information confidential, so it’s really not a problem.”

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  She laughed. “Sure. Just promise me one thing—you aren’t a danger to the navy or the empire, are you?”

  “Of course not! I fully intend to serve the empire as an officer of the imperial navy, with all the responsibilities that entails.”

  “Good. Just checking. Okay, fine, I’ll keep your secret. I trust you, even if I maybe shouldn’t.”

  “Thank you.” I hoped my sincerity was evident in my tone.

  “Yeah, yeah. Oh, why were you making enough noise to wake me, anyway?”

  I winced. “Nightmare,” I admitted.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  I started to shake my head no, but the words started flowing anyway. “It’s already a bit blurry, but I remember being chased by something I couldn’t see. I couldn’t get away, and the fear was overwhelming.”

  She stepped forward and pulled me into a hug. After a second, I reacted and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. We held on for a few seconds before releasing.

  “Thanks.”

  “Anytime. We’re friends.”

  I gave her a smile and a nod, then we separated to go back to bed.

  The next couple days passed without trouble, though I occasionally caught Kolo assessing me.

  One of those days, Kolo decided we were going shopping, and Valissa agreed. Since I had limited funds and no way to acquire more, I didn’t end up buying anything, though it was extremely difficult for me to tear myself away from one pair of boots. They were a dark color with a slight violet hint as accents, and they were gorgeous. Somehow, though, I managed to resist the impulse and save my money for essentials.

  Valissa bought a new dress. I had never seen her in one before, but she pulled it off exceptionally well. It was sleek, draping over her slim form, with an asymmetrical hem and a deep back so there was room for her wings.

  Despite it being her idea, Kolo only bought a few essentials. It seemed her desire was more to hang out and try clothing on than actually buy anything. It probably also didn’t help that there wasn’t a lot of adult clothing in her size.

  After shopping, we stopped and had some ice cream. I hadn’t had any in quite a while, so it was a pleasant treat. We also learned at that point that Kolo had a really long tongue, which was funny to see the first time. It seemed like it made eating an ice cream cone easier, though, given her slight snout.

  Thankfully, as time passed, Kolo didn’t say anything about my secret, not even to me. I had been nervous at first, but as the days went on, I started to relax a little. I was still slightly on edge—well, slightly more on edge than I already was—but I was coping. It’d be a long time before I was completely comfortable in my life as Dax, if it ever happened.

  One day, nearing the end of our break, we were out in the town for lunch, and we passed a place that caught my eye. I realized it was a rock climbing gym and immediately decided that sounded interesting. Pointing it out to the others, Valissa agreed, though Kolo was a bit skeptical. With some prodding, though, she gave in, and we made plans to return the next day.

  Inside the large building was a strange mineral scent mixed with sweat. We approached the counter, and the receptionist welcomed us.

  “We’d like to try climbing,” I said.

  She nodded. “That’s what we do here. There are two options—bouldering, which is where you climb short walls with pads underneath, or top rope, where you climb taller walls with a rope to catch you if you fall. I can have someone give you a brief overview, though the instructions for top roping will take a bit more time.”

  I thought for a minute before answering. “Let’s get the instructions for both.”

  “Excellent!” she replied, naming the price for a day pass and gear rental. We each paid our dues, and while I didn’t like spending money, I could afford the reasonably-priced cost this once.

  After that, she arranged for someone to explain how the routes worked, including the difficulty scale, as well as how to use the autobelay system and tie into the rope. Once that was settled, we decided to start in the bouldering area.

  I dove right in, trying to climb an easy route and finding it harder than I expected. My balance kept shifting in weird ways, and my arms quickly got tired, despite being in excellent shape from PTT.

  When I fell on my first try, the others laughed, and I gave them a mock glare. “You try, then.”

  Valissa grabbed onto the wall and started climbing. She seemed a bit more controlled than me, but she also struggled in much the same way. The main difference was that when she started to fall, she engaged her wings and flight magic and stabilized herself.

  “Hey!” I called out. “That’s cheating!”

  She finished the climb and dropped down slowly thanks to her wings. “It’s not cheating. I am merely utilizing my body to the fullest. It’s not my fault you cannot fly.”

  I noticed an off look on Kolo’s face. “Well, I still think it’s cheating, but whatever. Kolo, you’re up.”

  Thankfully, the distraction worked, and Kolo focused on the climb. Her movement were smoother than either Valissa’s or mine, and as I observed her, I noted a few ways in which she shifted her balance to keep it closer to the wall instead of swinging around like ours had.

  She did struggle a slight bit with her shorter reach, but it didn’t seem to cause much problem for her, as she finished the route cleanly, dropped down with a smug look on her face.

  “See? Easy,” she gloated, and I rolled my eyes before finding another route.

  I tried taking into account what I noticed in her movements, but it was still difficult. At one point, Kolo called out some suggestions, and that actually helped, though I was loath to admit it. After a few routes, we decided to try top roping. We took turns, same as before, and the vibe was very different.

  With the bouldering, it was a quick climb that almost felt like a puzzle, whereas the top rope climbs heavily relied on endurance. You wouldn’t think that a climb lasting only a couple minutes was an endurance activity, but it was, probably because it was a whole-body experience with little in the way of breaks. If we all weren’t in such good shape, I suspect it would have been very difficult. Even still, the technique involved made it challenging.

  Eventually, we left, and only two days later, we caught our train back to the academy, arriving in the afternoon two days before classes resumed. We met for the obligatory assembly the day before classes resumed, and soon enough, our third term was beginning.