I woke up to find myself still on Teival’s lap. Raising my head to take in my surroundings, I turned to see why Teival hadn’t gone to bed only to discover he’d fallen asleep while reading. Clambering up his chest, I bit the book covering his face and dragged it to the floor. As it landed, I couldn’t help noticing five familiar symbols on the front cover.

Jumping to the ground, I read the title: ‘The Five Clans of Neveah’, and felt a little confused. “I could have sworn there were six Clans in that Council meeting…” Wishing to verify my assertion, I flicked through the pages – as best I could – with my paws and claws before finding one that showed detailed symbols of each Clan. “Why are there only five here? Which one is missing?”

With my interest piqued, I examined each of the symbols and read the Clan names they represented. “Schwarzerberg, Gwyrddllyn, Albmunte, Himawari, and Havrod…Where’s the one for the Lunafleur Clan?” I sat staring at the page and pondered over the dream I’d recently experienced. I couldn’t fathom whether I had imagined this extra Clan, or if it did indeed exist. However, I was pulled out of my ruminations as Teival grabbed hold of the book while rubbing his eyes.

“Mornin’, Kia…”

“Good morning, Teival! Did you sleep well?”

I padded through my master’s legs, causing him to almost lose his balance, before trying my best to open the bag containing my food. “I’m hungry! Teival, give me my breakfast! You didn’t feed me my late evening snack, or my midnight snack!” I whimpered at him while pawing at the bag, knowing full well I could get into it myself – however I relished him feeding me since it made me know he cared.

My wishes were soon granted as my sleepy master sluggishly opened the bag and fed me its contents. “Ahhh, master is the best! I knew you loved me! Just forget about Anders and focus all of your attention on me!” I wagged my fluffy tail, having already completely forgotten about the discrepancy between the book and my dreams concerning Clans. After finishing my fulfilling meal, Teival and I headed to Halhol. I mean, we headed to the school.

+++

The day had been just as boring as indoor classes usually were, with Teacher droning on and on about the theory behind the mana circuits powered by crystals and how it revolutionised human society. I’m sure that someone would have found this incredibly interesting as a study of human development through history, however I was not one of them! So I partook in my established school activity of lying on top of Teival’s feet and going to sleep. I mean…I’m supposed to be nocturnal anyway!

At some point, I must have been nudged awake by Teival’s subconscious excitement since when I opened my bleary eyes, I found Anders at the front of the room explaining the events held in the Neveah Clan Tournament. Twitching my ears in irritation at hearing his voice, I deemed him not worthy of my vision and so turned to face my master and began grooming myself. It seemed that he was currently describing the physical combat event that crystal beast tamers took part in.

Apparently, it required the participants to enter into close combat with another Tamer without the permission to use their crystal beasts. Anders went on to mention how crystal weapons would be used to make the fighting more interesting – as well as providing combatants with the necessary skills against hostiles across the borders. Teacher then mentioned how he hadn’t broached this topic in the curriculum yet due to the children being too young and them never likely to actually patrol the borders.

“Ah, I understand. It makes sense that the weak are not even taught such simple techniques. Why waste resources on them when they can be given to those who are useful? Hahaha!”

I growled in protest as I took great effort in turning around just to glare at him for his irresponsible words. However, that man dared to smirk at me before continuing his lesson on the tournament events! “How rude of you! Don’t you realise how much you’re belittling and destroying these children’s self-esteem?!” Though…taking a quick peek at them all, they seemed completely enraptured by the frivolous words flowing out of his mouth.

Teacher finally ended the class and dismissed everyone for the rest of the afternoon. Teival and I headed for the plains where I assumed we were going to do more training. Reaching a fairly windy spot, Teival sat down and patted the grass in front of him for me. After feeding me some grey crystal food, I was given some odd instructions:

“Kia, feel the wind and focus on it.”

I didn’t really get why he wanted me to do that, but I did as he asked since I’m a good crystal aardwolf pup, and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing on my fur. Teival then performed his usual routine of channelling his mana through me, causing my body and mind to feel closer to the wind. After a few minutes, he stopped.

“Kia, do you notice anything different at all?”

I opened my eyes and saw grey streaks blowing with the wind. In fact, one such streak headed straight for me which made me flinch in fear of being attacked. However, all I experienced was a soft breath of air dancing along my fur. “Ahh, this feels nice.”

“Kia, focus that energy into your claws.”

“Hmm? My claws? You want me to dig?” A little confused as to why my master suddenly wanted me to dig, I performed the action I had grown accustomed to and created a deep pit while enjoying the breeze. You don’t know how baffled I was when I heard Teival release a disappointed sigh.

“No, Kia. Don’t dig. Just focus on the wind and your claws.”

Trying my best to understand Teival, I closed my eyes and sat on my haunches. “If all I have to do is enjoy the wind on me, then I suppose this type of training isn’t so bad.” After a while, I eventually got bored and discovered an itch behind my ear. Nonchalantly moving my hind leg to scratch, I was suddenly shocked by pain as I felt my claw cause me to bleed.

I opened my eyes in disbelief at the sharpness of my claws – embarrassed at my clumsiness over not holding back on my own strength – only to become further distraught as I saw familiar fur fly in front of my eyes. “…My fur! My beautiful fur!” I began crying and whimpering over my loss of beauty, exacerbated by Teival’s amused laughing. “Master is such a meanie! Fix my fur!”

“Well done, Kia! You managed it!”

I didn’t get what Teival meant by that, however I soon felt placated by my grievance when he gifted me some more tasty treats. After completing my devouring, my master stroked my head before saying it was time to go back home. Reaching the house, I overheard Teival mutter something about this becoming a regular part of my training regime before slipping into bed.

I cleaned my paws and groomed myself before jumping onto the bed and taking up a spot beside Teival. Closing my eyes, I wondered what Teival was expecting from this new training when I suddenly remembered how I was bald behind my ear. “Ah! Teival! I’m bald! My life is ruined! Now I’ll never be admired by people for how pretty I look!” Mourning the loss of my fur, even if it was a relatively meagre amount, I eventually ended up crying myself to sleep while wishing for Anders to go bald.