The week went by at an agonisingly slow speed. Every day was an exam on something. The first day was on Magic Theory, the second on Magic Circuitry, the third on Crystals, etc…it was so incredibly tedious and time-consuming! Anyway, by the end of the week Liam announced the overall results of all the children – showing Teival had managed to come third. Of course, I never doubted my master’s mental faculties to be lesser than his classmates – not one bit!

 

Since the exam results had been revealed, there was a grand upheaval of reassigning people to different classes based on their abilities. As such, Teival was no longer situated in Liam’s class where most of the children ended up remaining. No, instead he was led to another class with a young woman as the instructor – I believe she was introduced as Liesel, or something like that.

 

Going by her appearance, she seemed quite attractive with long flowing locks of raven hair, ochre skin that glowed full of vitality whenever the sun soaked her in its rays. She wore a teasing smile that hinted at an easy-going personality. Of course, she bore the tell-tale symbol of the Clan, that all the instructors had, next to her left eye – though her hair often curtained it from view. Although she was not nearly as gorgeous as Lucille, she was a very close second – I must admit.

 

As for the new classmates…well, they seemed far more taciturn and reticent compared to the lackadaisical children from Liam’s class. I wondered if this meant Teival’s peers would prove more accommodating towards him, though I still held some concerns. Since it seemed that the majority of the class was from the same area, the introductions for new members didn’t last too long as Liesel clapped her hands and smiled.

 

“Let our first lesson be in close combat! Follow me!”

 

It was completely out of the blue that I failed to react right away when Teival had left his seat and begun following the rest of the class out. Catching up on my swift and slender legs, I nuzzled my master’s leg before padding next to him towards wherever the instructor was leading us. Eventually, we were brought to one of the courtyards I caught glimpses of from Teival’s room.

 

The area was vast and open, with a sandy soil covering the ground. Surrounding the courtyard were rows upon rows of conjoined seats rising up in tiers from the ground up and away. “Stadium,” is what crossed my mind as I analysed the strange view in detail. Looking further afield, I observed several other classes of varying ages gathered in groups and performing the combat drills I saw earlier.

 

Contemplating what Liesel would make us do, I found – to my dismay – that this lesson would not involve us crystal beasts. As such, I was sequestered to the side lines with my contemporaries as Teival and his classmates huddled close to the woman. I’d love to say how friendly my compatriots were, however they just sat silently staring like statues. I swear, at one point I even gently prodded one with my paw to see if they were alive – which resulted in receiving a befuddled expression before returning to the originally taciturn one.

 

After having my fill of experiencing the unsociable crystal beasts, I lay on the ground and rested my head on my soft paws while watching what my master was doing. Apparently, Liesel had made them all perform some warm-up exercises to ensure they didn’t pull any muscles before getting into the actual lesson. I wondered if I should start practising such a thing, too, in order to better move around without injuring myself and so noted it in the back of my mind.

 

A few minutes after the warm-ups, Liesel then ordered them all to choose their own sparring partners  - instead of using the coloured crystal method Teacher had opted for. I thought it was strange but then wondered if it was a way of forcing the children to establish stronger relations between one another. “Well played, Liesel. Very clever.”

 

Once all partners had been picked, the woman demonstrated some stances and movements while explaining how each position had its use for different styles of close combat and situations. By this point, I was losing interest and so deemed it a perfect time to groom myself and show how much prettier I was compared to the other crystal beasts. As I licked my front leg, I saw Teival’s partner – a boy who was a head taller with more muscles and sun-tanned skin – initiate their first spar.

 

I paused mid-lick as I witnessed my beloved master get thrown flat against the ground before his partner pressed his knees against Teival’s thighs. “…Couldn’t you have put in even a tiny bit of effort, Teival…?” The instructor clapped her hands and had the pairs repeat the actions again a few times before calling for the second spar to begin.

 

“Ah, Teival! You should have put more weight behind your legs there!” The boy succeeded in pushing my master to the ground again, with ease. It seemed that the woman was intending to allow everyone to have a chance at sparring against everyone. I thought this was so each child would be gifted the opportunity of besting at least one opponent per lesson, however that seemed too much a stretch for my poor Teival.

 

The first rotation came, and Teival lost. The second rotation arrived, my master face-planted the ground and ended up coughing up some of the sandy soil. The third rotation passed, along with the next ten and more. I have to admit, by the time of the last rotation I had buried my face beneath my paws in an attempt at hiding my presence out of embarrassment. My master was defeated every single time…with ease.

 

Observing all his opponents, I came to realise that all of them – even the few girls who had managed to enter this class – had been at least a head taller than Teival and had more muscle mass. With such a revelation, I began musing over whether my master had suffered from malnutrition, resulting in his smaller stature and strength for his age. Once I came out of my ruminations, I found my poor Teival all battered, bruised and filthy.

 

When the class had ended, Liesel said they were free to use the training grounds in their free time as long as they didn’t let it hinder their progress in class. Dismissing the class, I watched the woman leave the group with the parting instructions of meeting in the training grounds for the next day. Once she was out of sight, I saw several of the boys crowd together and walk off – ignoring Teival.

 

As my master and I headed back to our room, I overheard the group in front of us discussing about how the class went. After a few minutes of eavesdropping, the topic of Teival’s lacking performance was broached which led to several of them casting furtive glances at us. Tilting my head towards them, I wondered if they were going to say anything, which resulted in the first boy my master sparred against walking up to him.

 

“The name’s Armin. You’re Teival, right?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“Why are you so bad at close combat?”

 

“…My village didn’t teach it…”

 

“What? Didn’t teach it?! What kind of backwater place did you come from to not even be taught such a basic thing? No wonder you’re so weak, hahaha!”

 

“How rude! Don’t laugh at Teival for not having the same opportunities as you! He’s still smart enough to be in the same class, so cut him some slack!” I growled at him in defence of Teival, not enjoying the jeering looks aimed at him.

 

“Look at his crystal beast, too! So small compared to ours. She must be as weak as her Tamer!”

 

I felt a breeze blow through the air and began channelling the grey particles in it towards my claws as I stared at Armin’s throat. Just as I was about to pounce with my superbly agile body, I felt a soothing hand on my head that subtly pushed me down. “Hmm? Teival?” I tilted my head towards my master to find him almost imperceptibly shaking his head at me.

 

Releasing the energy I’d stored within my claws, I glared at Armin and his group who were laughing at us. Eventually, they seemed to have lost interest in making fun of us as they headed off to their own rooms. Finally alone, Teival stroked my head and motioned for us to go back and rest.

 

Entering our room, I nudged the door closed with my paw as Teival silently stepped towards the bed before kicking it really hard. I immediately swivelled around and assumed a battle stance – thinking there was an enemy – only to find my master had knelt on the bed and was punching his pillow furiously.

 

“Argh! It’s not fair! Why can’t I be as strong as them?! Why must I always be laughed at and picked on?! What do they have that I haven’t?! It’s not fair! Argh!”

 

With my ears pressed against my head, I cautiously padded over to the bed and nuzzled his side. “Don’t be mad, Teival. We’ll get stronger. We’ll beat them all. We’ll prove our worth. I’ll make it so you don’t have to hide your true self!” Master must have felt my presence as he calmed down substantially before picking me up and hugging me.

 

“We’ll get stronger, right, Kia?”

 

“Of course!” I wagged my tail and licked his face in affirmation of our goal.

 

“…Yeah…stronger…”

 

I listened as Teival began humming his soothing tune to me while stroking my luscious fur. At some point, I must have fallen asleep but not before feeling something warm and wet fall on my face. “Be strong, Teival. Shine brightly in the darkness of adversity…”