Revered Priestess

Thank you for your communication regarding our previous queries as to your kind offer to take Eleanor as an acolyte in the goddess’s desert temple.

I’m afraid your response of ‘she’ll simply have to grow up and get her imagination under control’ did not meet with approval from any of us. You see, Your Reverence, it’s not her imagination. Dane regularly finds strange entities tucked into the nooks and crannies of her room. Most are benign but noisy, some are a problem.

Between that and your refusal to share a proposed educational curriculum for the years you wish Eleanor to spend with you, I’m afraid Dane and I have decided she will be far better off staying at home and attending the Imperial Academy as a day pupil. She may move to a residence in coming years if she finds a speciality of particular interest that is best served elsewhere but right now… Right now, Your Reverence, my daughter is an eight-year-old child and will be allowed to be a child for as long as her father and I can manage it.

You’ll be pleased to hear Dane took your concerns about the security at the Academy very seriously and has now instituted staff and measures of his own to ensure the safety of Eleanor and her friends. The headmistress has also been delighted to re-purpose a little-used courtyard as a venue for Eleanor’s tea parties. Much like the monster under the bed, Your Reverence, Eleanor’s tea-time visitors are real, large, and inclined to offence if not suitably greeted and served. We’re working with the staff at the Academy to provide basic training in dragon etiquette among other things. Many of them are most enthusiastic and the heads of sciences and culture are hoping to use this as an opportunity to expand the academy’s educational offerings in both fields.

I’m sure you will agree, between the measures taken by the Academy to look after our child, its proximity to her home and its stellar reputation as an educational institution, it is a far better place to hone Eleanor’s potential than an isolated temple full of middle-aged zealots.