Gawain turned a deaf ear to Amber's noisy fussing—because he knew that this half-elf was only still in the habit of talking nonsense. It had been a long time since she had last jumped into a room through a window, and lately she had not triggered the "anti-Amber mechanisms" on nearby streetlamps and rooftops either. All things considered, she had grown somewhat compared with before.
Except in height and figure.
Gawain stepped forward and opened the study window. The two hatchlings, who had nearly been running in circles outside, immediately jumped in through the window. They first raced around the floor, then seemed to belatedly remember something and ran up to Gawain. Neatly spreading their wings and lowering their heads—perhaps a bow in dragon form—they let out a "Gaoo—." Then they ran together to Amber, struck the same pose, and gave another "Gaoo."
Amber and Gawain both watched the greeting hatchlings with surprised, amused expressions. Amber was the first to speak. "This... I didn't expect them to be so polite?"
"Their minds have developed so quickly..." What surprised Gawain was something else. "How long has it been since they hatched? Not only can they fly all the way here from Embassy Street, they even know how to greet people politely like this... I thought creatures like dragons, with such long lifespans and sitting at the top of the food chain, would surely have an extremely long childhood, like elves..."
"I thought so too," Amber said, crouching down and roughly rubbing the two hatchlings' fine-scaled heads. "But now it looks like that was just our stereotype—though it's also possible dragons adjusted their genetic information at some point and sped up hatchling development. Their technology was so advanced back then; making a dragon in a factory was probably like playing around..."
It