“Ah…I’m as that human again…”

I saw myself walking down a crystal-lit corridor with an entourage of silver-haired people all wearing our formal Clan attire. “…Our?” In front of me was a man with straight silver hair to his waist, carrying a regal bearing that oozed charisma and authority. A much younger Victor was beside me, from what I could gather, and Raoul was one step behind the man in front.

We soon came upon two large, ornately carved wooden doors embedded with various coloured crystals. As they slowly swung open, I examined the six symbols – recognising one of them to be the same as on mine and my entourage’s attire. “Must be an important group, for their symbol to be on a door. Then again, it seems a bit presumptuous to so blatantly decorate something in such a gaudy manner.”

“Welcome, Lord Lucius! The Council has been waiting for your esteemed presence.”

“Apologies for our tardiness, Lord Dieter. We misjudged the time it would take to travel here and unfortunately did not depart soon enough.”

“Who cares about that? You’re only an hour late! Anyone would think you’re weeks late!” A man clad in black with a similar symbol to Anders’, also located next to his left eye. I presumed he was a member of the illustrious Schwarzerberg Clan that the village children kept praising whenever near the man.

We were guided further inside the room to a hexagonal desk with four people seated at it. “A table. Not a desk.” Correcting myself over the misuse of a word, I looked around the room before noticing a small group of people dressed similarly to those seated at the table. Lord Lucius lowered himself gracefully into a seat bearing the symbol of our Clan before Lord Dieter filled the remaining vacant spot.

As the man in black began rambling on about something that I – my current body – had no interest in at all, I examined the other seats’ occupants and noted their distinct features, along with the symbols of their Clans. One man seated two seats from Lord Lucius on his right was dressed all in white. His hair was white, his eyes were ruby red, and his Clan’s symbol, which was beside his right eye, was similar to the Schwarzerberg one. The similarity ended there with it displaying a red outline of a mountain range I did not recognise, with white covering the top thirds of each peak. “The Albmunte Clan.” My mind informed me, though I wasn’t sure how I knew that.

My eyes roamed towards the seat opposite Lord Lucius, of a woman with golden hair and emerald green eyes. She bore a soft smile that somehow enhanced her natural beauty that even I couldn’t compete with quite yet. “Quite yet?...But I’m an aardwolf…aren’t I?” Not allowing myself the time to ruminate over that conundrum, I made a mental note of the woman’s green dress embroidered with gold flowers that were reminiscent of the sun. “The Himawari Clan.”

I seemed to have pried into the woman’s appearance for too long, as she tilted her head towards me and smiled sweetly before reengaging in listening to Lord Dieter’s speech. I felt my face flush in awkward embarrassment as I averted my gaze to observe the woman directly beside Lord Lucius. Though she wasn’t as easy to scrutinise, I still perceived her beauty. Inspecting her appearance, she had curly green hair and brown eyes. Her outfit was green with a brown belt. Squinting my eyes, I managed to identify some green waves. “The Gwyrddllyn Clan.” It struck me as odd that they didn’t spell it as it was pronounced but who was I to complain about a Clan name several centuries old?

Turning to peek at the final person at the table, I saw a woman with auburn hair and cold, blue eyes. A deep scar ran through her thin mouth to her clavicle that unfortunately presented an intimidating image. Her outfit mostly consisted of blue with red waves on her belt. “The Havrod Clan.” Looking at her, she seemed completely disinterested in whatever Lord Dieter was saying – even rolling her eyes at one point. I would have continued peering at her however it seemed the host of this meeting had concluded his speech as everyone participated in a short clapping session.

Lord Lucius then raised his hand, ceasing the clapping, before announcing to the group:

“My fellow Neveah Council members, I would appreciate taking this opportunity to introduce our Clan’s chosen apprentice representative, Lady Lucille. She will be sixteen next spring and I thought this the perfect time to present her to the Council.”

I walked forward and politely bowed my head before returning to my spot among my Clan’s entourage. “Wait a minute…My name’s Lucille?! No, her name’s Lucille?! Eh? What’s an apprentice representative?” Completely befuddled by this revelation, I didn’t pay attention to the names of Himawari’s and Gwyrddllyn’s apprentice representatives – nor their appearances. Deciding to ignore this for the time being, I resumed my observation through the eyes of the increasingly familiar Lucille.

+++

After a long while of meandering discussion over reports on each Clan’s territories, Lord Dieter announced a new topic: the Neveah Clan Tournament. It appeared that Lucille wasn’t that interested in listening to this as I found myself examining the room’s decorations. The walls were lined with gaudy crystal statues of past Schwarzerberg Clan leaders with their most powerful crystal beasts. I knew this due to the obvious plaques slapped on the front of said statues detailing the best moments of each leader’s life. “How narcissistic of them…”

Eventually, my attention was drawn back to the conversation as Lord Dieter turned to me and asked if I was also going to enter the tournament. With all eyes on me, I squirmed a little before timidly replying: “Although I hope to one day participate, it would depend on whether my father would allow it.”

Just then, I heard a chuckle of derision come from who I assumed was Schwarzerberg’s apprentice representative. He looked to be in his late teens, was heavily muscled and bore the same black symbol as his Clan members.

“How pathetic of you to claim to be the Lunafleur Clan’s apprentice representative and not even be able to take part in a competition without daddy’s permission!”

Lord Lucius then slowly raised his hand and calmly turned to stare at the teen: “Pardon my interruption, Lord Cohen, however Lady Lucille is the one in charge of our Clan’s largest medicinal garden. The medicinal garden which, as I previously stated in my reports, provides the Schwarzerberg Clan with the majority of its herbs on a regular basis.”

I saw Lord Dieter smile as he placatingly responded, “I apologise on Lord Cohen’s behalf, Lord Lucius. The boy is brash at times and speaks without thinking where he is.”

“It is fine. I just wished to remind him of our Clans’ relationship to one another. Lady Lucille, you have my permission – if you so wish to enter the tournament.”

Watching Cohen lower his head in shame and embarrassment at Lord Lucius’ words made me feel a thrill usually experienced when having a tasty treat! As I was enraptured in the euphoric sensation, I came out of my reverie upon hearing the Gwyrddllyn Clan leader announce her regret in not having her Clan participate in the tournament this time. She went on to explain how her territory was having difficulties with the bordering beastmen involving disputes over the land.

The Himawari Clan leader offered her help due to thinking it sad that a Clan would not be able to take part. Turning to analyse the green-haired woman’s expression, she seemed greatly relieved. I heard the two discuss arranging a meeting between them after this one was finished before the Albmunte Clan leader also offered his help. Lord Dieter and the Havrod Clan leader both abstained from offering help – giving excuses of being too far away to effectively provide aid.

Lord Lucius then promised he would send any help he could, despite being the greatest distance from Gwyrddllyn territory. The green-haired woman smiled before saying even receiving a steady batch of medicinal herbs would be appreciated, to which he immediately promised. The white-haired man then extended his promise of aid by mentioning sending his Clan’s best doctors. To be honest, I was getting a little confused by all the addendums to previous promises that I eventually shut off.

At some point the Council meeting must have adjourned as I was walking down the corridor from earlier with my other Clan members. The last thing I remembered was staring at Victor while he was yawning before my vision blurred to nothing. “Was I yawning, too?”