Melina and Judge sat inside the library, she was teaching Judge there because his house arrest had been lifted. She sat across the table from Judge, the table was rectangular and long. But they were both sitting across the long ends, so there was not much of a distance.
Judge was fully immersed in the book of creating principles, it mentioned the traits of ether and how it can be used to create one's own principle. After he had grasped the concept to a small extent, they would move on to the next class which was making one's own principles.
Creating a principle from scratch was a dangerous job, especially for children, but dragons never cared for their children as they cared for "privacy".
He was getting used to the nature of his species which was to 'provide safety, but let them do if they think they can'. While he liked the idea, he realized how dangerous it was if the person responsible for safety could not protect the child in time.
Judge was fully immersed himself in the book, Melina was also reading another book which was brown and had a cover that was rather plain and had no letters. She occasionally looked up at him to see how he was doing, or if he was up to anything mischievous. Otherwise, both were silent and nose-deep inside the book they were reading.
Judge sighed inward, Melina's look was definitely to give him a message, a message he knew that only she would give— "You better not try anything funny."
He sighed again, this message was not new to him. After all, he was the infamous troublemaker in the house. But it makes one wonder how a child cooped up in his room be a troublemaker— needless to say this was an image of himself that Judge created intentionally.
His reason was simple— if a knowledge-addicted bookworm was to sneak out of his room, it would not end with a mere house... no, room arrest.
They would go through his research papers one by one to find out what compelled him to go out. Of course, dragons valued privacy, but there were other actions to be taken when it came to anything suspicious, but it would most probably be only his mother going through them.
Surprisingly, they would not find anything inside the papers, so she would go through his diary. That was something he needed to avoid at all costs, while she may not be able to read English, that would raise even more questions and there would be much attention focused on him.
Judge sighed, Maybe I am overthinking this, I mean it's crazy to think about how a personality could make the situations very dire. But it is better safe to be sorry, and prevention is better than the cure, though I wonder if there is a cure for that situation.
"Judge!" someone called out from the distance, it was coming from the way towards the entrance of the library. Judge recognized the voice, it was his mother.
"What, Mom?" He tore away from the book, it still had not reached the practical aspects, he was still reading about the history of how ethercraft principles came to be. It was not the best use of his time, but he unfortunately started to enjoy it as a story,
The author has a great knack for storytelling. Maybe they should have taken up novels instead of writing research papers for the doctorate, does doctorates even exist in this world? He thought.
Judge looked over to behind the shelves, and his mother came into view. She seemed to be happy and actually had some good news.
"Judge, I got a good news for you." She beamed, rays of light seemingly coming from behind her like she was an angel (this part was actually only in Judge's imagination). "You can now head out of the house like Liam, but going outside the city requires you to take some things.
She took out her purse, "Firstly, take this protection rune." She held out a piece of paper that was black with many golden stars on it and a rune for protection in the middle. The rune was of a circle with a vertical line touching one end and a small horizontal line from the other end.
"Secondly" She took out a ring that was inlaid with a dark gemstone, "This is a catalyst that has enough ether to teleport you at least once even from a really far distance, use it only when necessary, and only to return home."
Judge took both of the items she gave, he looked at the ring, his mother did not specify if it was reusable or not. She would not, because there was no way she would keep a non-reusable catalyst with her. He knew his mother very well.
"Lastly," Eleyn was not done, she took out a mail and a seal with another dark catalyst inlaid at its tip. "This letter can send me any messages if you use the seal after writing and putting the paper in."
Judge put the ring on his finger, and the thick card inside his long dandy coat. He then accepted the seal and the letter, also putting them inside his royal blue coat.
After getting everything, he got too excited and hugged his mother tightly. He could finally do whatever he wanted, he was free.
His mother hugged him back tightly and said in a monotonous tone "Remember what I said before Judge, there are many powerful beings that you cannot defeat, so don't be stubborn and come back if you encounter a ferocious foe, the ring is enchanted to teleport automatically if it detects any barrier starting to form around you... including an anti-teleportation barrier."
Judge gave her an understanding nod, Melina sat by the desk and continued her reading as she did not just witness a mother just sending her four-year-old child out into the wild. She had already used to this, in her eyes, Dragons were a bunch of lunatics who did not care if their child killed a person from another species.
Eleyn and Judge both finished their hugs and Judge started to move the head to the door happily. "Judge!" His mother called out, "Remember to not teleport out of the land of dragons."
To answer this instruction, which Judge knew that he would break without any second thought, he just put up a thumbs down and said nothing, he knew his mother would just figure out the wrong things on her own.
I think it means that he would not head out, that's a relief. Eleyn thought to herself and sat beside Melina.