The city-island Endorserate had always impressed Darius. Maybe it was because it was built by the earthy magic of it's founder and ruler, Constantine Sylus, but it was a perfect size for the population on it, with enough space for one very large city and several farms. It was almost always a pleasant temperature, never too hot in the summer, but never quite cold enough to snow in the winter. It was positioned near important boat routs in the Atlantic ocean, so it had plenty of trade, and as was important to people like Dare, it had awesome waves on every beach. It was, in a word perfect.<br/><br/>So as he stood there in his official school shirt (which was heavier clothing then he normally liked), his trusty dragon Char standing at attention at his side, with a group of brand new students, Dare decided that he wanted them to appreciate the island as much as he did. He wanted them to understand this might be the best island in the world, and that was coming from an expert on islands.<br/><br/>"Good morning, new students!" he said as cheerfully as possible. "And welcome to Sylus Academy. My name is Dare, you're student body officer, guide and mentor. I'm here to take you on a tour of the island, answer your questions, and be of whatever help I can be for you."<br/><br/>"And speaking of questions," Dare continued on his prepared speech, "are there any before we get started?"<br/><br/>____________________________________________________________________________________________<br/><br/>Tyler didn't like islands.<br/><br/>He'd had an exhausting flight to get to Endorserate, and he couldn't understand why the old man who made the place couldn't have been sensible and placed it closer to anything else. No, he had to make sure everyone had to fly out in a cramped metal tube to get to him. Tyler managed to get settled in with his family (something other students probably didn't need to do) despite the jet lag and exhaustion of traveling, only to be told he had an outdoor meeting the next morning, bright an early. He was only thankful that unlike some of the other students, he had gotten there a day early or he'd have to deal with everything at once.<br/><br/>The meeting was, as it turned out, badly named as it was in fact a tour. The guide looked like he belonged on an island, probably one without anyone else on it, and had what looked like a small dragon at his heels, scanning the group of students as its master spoke.<br/><br/>And then the blond beach boy asked for any questions.<br/><br/>"Sure, I have one." Tyler said, "can we just skip the tour? I'm sure I can figure out where the bathrooms are on my own."<br/><br/>Dare gave Tyler a sour look. Dare already could tell that this one was going to be a problem. "The tour is required," Dare said testily. It was the canned response, or he would have added 'you little shit,' to the end. The kid was what, sixteen? And with his preppy clothes and fancy hair, Dare immediately disliked him.