The color of madness

"There weren't always dragons in the valley, as you all know. Who can tell me the year that dragons first arrived?"

Professor Antiochus Stern adjusted his glasses, and then tucked his hands behind his back and strode the room.

Teagra slunk in her seat. There were a dozen or so children in a frenzy to answer the question. Arms stretched out, shoulders straining from the tension, and more than a few 'oh me's, pick me's, and 'I know, I know's.

"Teagra" Of course. She thought

"S-s sev-en," Getting just the first number out was a challenge. The entire year was 776. She knew it of course, as well as the fact that it was the same year that Reoshald had began his conquest to the east. She knew most of the events spanning from the new calendar year one to a thousand. Saying it was an entirely different matter.

There were some chuckles throughout the classroom.

"S-s-sucks to be Teagra" a child behind her blurted. The quip brought the chuckle to a quiet roar of laughter. Teagra's body started to glow red. Literally. Teagra cursed her fate, if a speech impediment were her only affliction she might be able to cope.

At seeing the soft red of embarrassment the quiet roar evolved to a normal cacophony of laughter and pointing.

"I wonder" Professor Stern slammed his hand onto the desk of the child behind Teagra. Quinton Ash. A noble's son, an heir to fortune, and a thorn in the side of academia everywhere. Antiochus peered deep into the boys eyes, seeing nothing there but a shallow petulant little beast. "I wonder since you've spoken up. Would you happen to know the year, that dragons came to the Valley?"

It was Quinton's turn to feel the pressure of everyone's eyes. His skin didn't change to show it, but it didn't take much to perceive shame on a young boy.

Teagra's skin was turning back to her normal olive tone. Professor Antiochus was one of the few professors who dared talk to Quinton Ash like that.

"No sir." It helped that Quinton actually held the professor in high regard. There were redeemable qualities in the boy yet, but trying to dissect the noble from him was going to be a challenge.

"Teagra, would you be so kind as to enlighten our dear Mr. Ash?"

Teagra inhaled sharply. Wasn't once enough? The thought of trying to talk again made her tongue decided to curl in on itself.

"It's okay, take a second and collect your thoughts," Professor Stern laid a hand on her shoulder, a gentle and reassuring presence amidst the sea of chaos that is an elementary classroom.

"S-seven, seventy six," A small stutter caught at the beginning, but she managed to blurt the whole thing. It wasn't entirely cohesive but it would do. Her skin swirled slightly with a light purple hue. The color of blue for pride, and red for comfort.

"Wonderful, Seven seventy six exactly!" He clapped his hands together and began the lesson on the young emperor and the dragons that came to inhabit the valley. The different races that flourished now thanks to the new treatises.

The bell rang, and the last class of the day was over. As the last bell rang Teagra winced, she took her time collecting her things. She carefully slid paper after paper into her small pack. All of the other children had already fled the hall of greater learning as she was only halfway finished packing her things.

"Ms. Bell, is everything alright?" Professor Antiochus leaned against his desk, one foot propped up and hands reaching into his pockets for a certain something.

"Yes sir," she answered, careful not to pick up the pace but look busier than she just was.

Being that it was technically after work hours, Antiochus Stern plucked a small wooden pipe from his pocket and a small matchbook from somewhere inside his vest. Well known for breaking the rules when it came to this particular vice Antiochus, Teagra couldn't bring herself to even jokingly reprimand him for it.

"It's just that," He lit up the pipe and shook the match in one swift motion, "you certainly do manage to take a long while to collect all of your things." He puffed out perfect smoke rings. A trick he liked to do for his own amusement, and occasionally for an onlooker or two.

"S-s-sorry," her skin started to turn a shade of pink and a tiny trickle of a light blue.

"Not at all Ms. Bell. Take your time, but if there's anything you'd like to talk about in the mean time-"

"N-no sir," A little more of that light blue admitted itself into her complexion. Antiochus had seen many an emotion on the small child, but this particular color of cyan was a stranger.

Teagra finished packing her things and waved a goodbye to Antiochus. A swirl of comforting red adorned her cheeks and shoulders. He waved back with a puff of smoke in tow.

Her journey home wound down the streets of southern Hyalia. Not a bad town by any stretch, but every town regardless of quaintness had the area that one was wise to avoid.

Teagra's journey took her into that very part of town. Where the paint was more chipped on the buildings. Where most windows had bars on them, and doors were either locked or barricaded in some fashion.

She walked on, that cold cyan working its way into her arms and legs, reaching down into her fingertips. "When you get older, you'll be able to control it" her brother had told her once upon a time. That was so long ago now it seemed like a dream, but she had to believe that she would outgrow her colorful trait. She had to believe that she'd outgrow her speech impediment too, but one thing at a time.

For now it was all she could do to force her feet forward, one after another. She stopped finally in front of a house that was just like every other street on the darkened block. A small rickety number atop an overgrown lawn with two broken windows on either side.

There were houses in worse repair, and some in better. This house was special though to Teagra, for it was the one that she was forced to call home.

The icy cyan had crept its way into all of her skin, a ghastly shade, painting her nearly translucent. The color of pure, and unadulterated fear.