She held a hand up, palm forward, and it took Yenni a moment to remember that in Cresh women greeted each other by touching palm to palm. She placed her hand against Zui’s, holding back a grimace at the awkwardness of it.

“Nice to meet you. I am Yenni Aja-Nifemi ka Yirba, and I’m from the Moonrise Isles.”

“I should have guessed. I’ve never seen anyone like you before. Your hair is really something. May I touch it?”

“Touch it?” Yenni felt a trace of unease that she couldn’t quite understand. “Oh. I—I suppose . . .”

Zui ran one of Yenni’s black braids through her hand. “Pretty,” she said.

“Thank you. Your hair is quite interesting as well. May I?” Yenni gestured to the swath of pale-blue hair draped like sea grass down the woman’s back.

“Oh! Well, I suppose it would be rude of me to refuse after you were so accommodating.” Zui was about a head taller than Yenni, and she bent awkwardly so that Yenni could run her fingers through her hair.

“Incredible,” she said, fascinated by how the blue hair slid lazily through her fingers.

After a while Zui cleared her throat awkwardly. “I’m beginning to feel a bit like a pony on a petting farm,” she said and laughed nervously.

“Ah!” cried Yenni, the source of her earlier discomfort clicking into place. “Yes! That was how I felt as well.”

“Oh my, I do apologize then.” Zui blew out a breath and changed the subject. “These white markings on your skin are quite striking, Do they have a purpose or meaning?”

“They do, but”—Yenni glanced at the sky again—“I am in a hurry. I will tell you about my runes on the way to admissions. Please lead the way.”

“Oh! Of course.”

As they walked Yenni took in the hard lines of the strength rune painted on her right bicep. She’d never thought of runes as being striking, but she supposed the white paint did contrast highly with her dark skin.

“These are runes, for pulling ach’e—no. What is the word? Magic,” she explained. “These ones are for strength, speed, and wards against pain,” she said, touching the designs painted on her upper arms, calves, and spine respectively.

“Incredible! Things are quite different on the Moonrise Isles. I was born in Minato myself, but I moved here when I was just a baby.”

So that was it! Zui wasn’t actually Creshen, but from the Minato Empire to the east. Yenni smiled, glad she no longer had to come up with a way to ask the woman why she was blue. She did, however, want to know more about dragons.

“Welcome to Prevan Academy for Battle and Magical Arts,” Zui continued. “You’re right to be in a hurry, I’m sure there’ll be quite a line.”

“Oh?” Sharp anxiety pierced Yenni’s chest. “That many are vying for entrance to the academy?”