The rest of that day was lackadaisical. Teival gathered me up in his arms before lying back down on the bed. While scratching behind my ears – which I very much appreciated – he began humming the same tune he’d used in the ritual. “Ahh, this makes me feel so comfortable…I could just fall…” It appeared that I had drifted off into a deep slumber pretty soon after hearing the humming. As such, that day was truly spent being idle.

 

I have no idea how long I was sleeping for, but I was suddenly aroused from slumber by Teival scratching between my brows before tapping my head. “Mmnh...?” Blearily opening my eyes, I could tell that the sun still hadn’t risen yet – which begged the question of why my master was intent on us stirring at such a time. I mean…I’m nocturnal! I should have been going to sleep at this time, not waking up! “Argh! My body clock’s all skewed and off-kilter!”

 

While I was having an internal biological crisis, I vaguely recall Teival carefully carrying me in his arms out of the room. Curious about our destination, I poked my head out of his arms and observed our surroundings. We seemed to be going through an area not like the grassy plains outside the village. If I had to give a brief analysis, there were bushes lining some flat stones moving along the ground, with a few other pieces of vegetation I wasn’t familiar with. I began to wonder what this place was when the word, ‘garden’, popped into my mind.

 

Approaching a secluded section of this ‘garden’, Teival gently placed me on the ground before presumably checking his surroundings for something. I assumed he didn’t see anything he was hoping wouldn’t come since I noticed him sigh and sensed a wave of relief wash over him. Tilting my head in question over what we were doing here, I pawed at his foot to gain his attention.

 

Lowering his head to stare at me, his grass-green eyes bored into me before he sat down and crossed his legs into a position I wasn’t aware was possible. Holding out his hand he called out my name before giving what I assumed were instructions of some kind:

 

“Kia, shake my hand.”

 

“…”

 

I gazed at his hand before licking my paws as part of my wake-up routine. I mean, a girl has to maintain her beauty, after all! As I continued licking my paws clean, my ears picked up on Teival’s sigh as he hung his head. I vaguely sensed some disappointment come from him but I wasn’t that fussed about it since my beauty came first! That is…until he grabbed my paw!

 

“Like this, Kia. This is shaking hands.”

 

Teival then waved his hand gripping my paw up and down before releasing me. “What have I done for you to dirty my paw?! Are you going to randomly grab me again if I don’t do what you ask?!” It seemed my question would soon be answered when he smiled at me and repeated his initial command:

 

“Kia, shake my hand.”

 

“…”

 

I so desperately wanted to do it just to spite him, however I was starting to get a headache which only dampened my grouchy morning mood further. So…I relented and…shook his hand. “Oh? My headache’s ebbing away.” The look of elation on master’s face somewhat lightened my mood but I was still annoyed by this.

 

“Good girl!”

 

“I’m a good girl? Of course, I’m a good girl! I’m the best female aardwolf pup you’ll ever meet!” I slightly wiggled my fluffy tail, trying to mask my happiness at the praise. I mean, wiggled because I was still slightly unimpressed! Yeah…I wasn’t at all happy with this situation!

 

“Jump, Kia!”

 

“…”

 

Sighing at my master, I decided to ascend slightly through the propulsion of expending energy from my hind legs into the ground. This action earned me a head pat and some more praise, so I suppose it wasn’t so bad. However, I failed to see the point in doing this kind of exercise. “Is he trying to rehearse a new dance routine with me as the star performer?” While pondering this, Teival gave another imperative while standing up with his arms opened wide:

 

“Kia, jump!”

 

I analysed the distance from the ground to where my master was wanting me to jump to, and I began to question the intelligence of the boy. “Do I look like I can jump that high? Look, I’ll do my hardest and- oh? I managed it?” Turning my head to look at my new perspective, I had indeed jumped into Teival’s chest. He had, of course, wrapped his arms around me as soon as I touched upon his person but that’s beside the point.

 

Somehow, when jumping just then, I felt a kind of wind thrust me upwards? That couldn’t be, though, since there was not a hint of a breeze in this secluded area. As I pondered over this strange phenomenon, Teival showered me with praises and head strokes – which I allowed – before feeding me a small dry block of food from his inner clothing. I gobbled up the food before licking his fingers to try and get the crumbs stuck to them.

 

“Hey, that tickles!”

 

I paused mid-lick, with my tongue poking out of my mouth, and stared at Teival while tilting my head. We both kind of stayed in place for a few seconds before I resumed my licking – having already lost interest in whatever was going on just then. After cleaning his fingers of food, I snuggled into his chest and yawned – still a little sleepy from being woken so early. As I closed my lids, I could hear Teival humming that tune again – which soothed my mind immensely as my body brimmed with new energy.

 

Dawn began to break through the clouds on the horizon, resulting in master hugging me close while running back to our room. I was a little intrigued as to the reason for his haste but didn’t care enough to bother him about it. Reaching our room, Teival quickly placed me on the ground before burrowing into his bed covers and closing his eyes. I sat on the ground and tilted my head at him in bafflement – not understanding why he was acting like this.

 

It didn’t take long for me to realise why my master rushed back to bed, since roughly a minute after we arrived, the door slammed open to reveal an adult female who looked eerily similar to Dinara. Before I could identify who she was, I was almost kicked out of my sitting position by the adult’s brisk strides towards Teival’s bed. “What are you doing?” She then pulled back his covers and smacked him across the head while shouting into his ear:

 

“Get up, you ungrateful devil!”

 

Witnessing my master getting attacked by this human, a protective instinct welled within me as I growled at her in protest over her actions. “How rude of you to come barging in here and issuing insults at my master!” I saw her look at me with disdain before snapping her fingers and calling out to something:

 

“Igor, get rid of this nuisance!”

 

I then found myself airborne. Well, to be more specific, a large crystal bird – presumably an eagle of some variant – flew into the room and grabbed me with its talons. The result: I was currently many Teival’s high in the sky feeling a little queasy. It’s a bit odd, really, since I knew my body was being held, yet I felt…empty and void of a sense of existence – as if my connection to the world was being severed slowly. In the distance, on the ground, I barely picked up the begging shouts to return me escaping from Teival’s mouth.

 

My body was losing strength as I had difficulty breathing or keeping my eyes open. Actually, it wasn’t that they were closed but that my vision was blurring to a dull dim. Eventually, a shrill whistle resounded before the crystal eagle swooped down in numerous rolls before unceremoniously unloading me at speed onto the ground.

 

Aching all over, I couldn’t hold back the shuddering shivers as I heard Teival rush over to pick me up, before cradling me in his arms. I detected some moisture leaking out of my master’s eyes as the drops landed on my wind-ruffled fur. The adult female laughed at the scene before turning around and leaving a parting shot:

 

“You deserve the bad luck you get, Devil! By all rights, you shouldn’t even exist! Your hair proves you do not belong with us! Now get ready for school and don’t embarrass us any further than your pitiful existence already has!”

 

Once the adult had vacated the premises, I couldn’t hold back the nausea, shivered uncontrollably before vomiting all over Teival. My master didn’t seem to mind about my lack of decorum as he just held me close while constantly stroking my back and humming that calming tune. Every now and then, I’d catch snippets of apologetic words spilling out of him:

 

“I’m sorry, Kia. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for being weak. I’m sorry for not being able to protect you. But…I promise…I promise I’ll make us stronger…we have to be…I’m so sorry…”

 

I agreed with his depressing statement of him being weak but felt that it wasn’t entirely his fault. After all, if I had been less helpless, then I wouldn’t have been caught by the crystal eagle so easily. In a bid to console my miserable master, I weakly licked his salty cheek to show I didn’t wholly blame him. Wiping his tears, he sniffed noisily before taking out another dry block of food and feeding me it to make up for my wasted breakfast all over his clothes.

 

Changing his outfit to one not smeared in sick, Teival wiped me down with a damp cloth before tucking me into his upper clothes. We then headed towards whatever this ‘school’ place the adult female mentioned was. I hoped that the start of our day wasn’t going to be indicative of how the rest would pan out as I watched the sun rising in the sky.