“Noooooooooo!” I barked out as I kicked my legs against the warm body pushing against me. A loud thud entered my ears as I suddenly felt a breeze blow from under the sheets. “Hmm?” Opening my eyes, I discovered an empty bed with the sheets pulled over the edge. Crawling along the bed, I peered over to find Teival on his posterior rubbing his head sleepily.

 

“…Kia…”

 

“I’m sorry, master! I didn’t mean to kick you out of the bed!”

 

“…I think it might be time for you to sleep off the bed, since you’re getting pretty big now…”

 

“No! You’re going to abandon me and throw me out into the cold, cruel world?!” I jumped off the bed and padded over to Teival, before pawing at his arm and leg in protest. I even tried nuzzling the bump on his head that he was still massaging – in the hopes he would let my transgression pass unpunished. As an added bonus, I put on the whimpering and teary-eyed act I knew he was susceptible to.

 

“…You can sleep at the foot of the bed for now…”

 

“Master is the best and most benevolent boy in the world! Did I mention that I think you’ll grow to be very handsome, especially with that silver hair?” I jumped onto him and licked his face in gratefulness over his magnanimity.

 

“Hahaha, you’re so silly, Kia. More bothered about your food and bed than about my injury.”

 

“I am not!” I protested after averting my gaze from the bag of snacks behind Teival. As a show of goodwill, I attempted to lick his bump better while lovingly looking at my master. I ended up receiving some comfy head pats as a result of my kindness.

 

After a few minutes of us both being in our own lovely world, my ears twitched at the sound of door knocking. Sniffing in that direction, I detected a familiar scent but didn’t bother reacting as I continued nuzzling and snuggling into Teival’s arms. Unfortunately, the knocking continued – resulting in my master hiding his hair with the cloth before opening the door to reveal an impatient Armin.

 

“You’ve just got out of bed?!” Came the surprised voice of Armin.

 

“…I was having an interesting dream, so kept sleeping…”

 

“Mm.”

 

I then witnessed the slightly taller boy enter our most hallowed sanctuary uninvited! “How dare you?! Don’t you know it’s rude to come in without being asked?!” I raised my hackles and gave a low growl before Teival came over and stroked my head. Seeing as I shouldn’t be too unwelcoming as a host to a guest, I deigned to allow him his freedom of randomly examining our room.

 

“You know…your room is so bland. Where’s the decorations to give it personality?”

 

“…I didn’t think there would be any point, in case I ended up being disqualified.”

 

I noticed Armin turn silent – which was strange for him when he always seemed to be such a chatterbox whenever with Teival. Of course, my respite from his loud voice was cut quite short when he whizzed around and pointed at Teival. In a determined voice filled with absolute smug confidence, he then declared:

 

“We’re going to train together to increase our chances of passing!”

 

“…I refuse.”

 

“Eh?”

 

“…Um…I was kind of hoping to train alone with Kia…I prefer it that way…”

 

I witnessed Armin cross his arms before leaning more on one leg, “You do realise your close combat skill is abysmal, right?”

 

“…Your point?”

 

“My point is that you’ll get better much faster by sparring with someone! In this case, me! I mean, I’m the best in our class, right?”

 

“…Mm…”

 

“Then it makes sense for you to train with me!”

 

“I refuse! Training time is one of the few times I get Teival all to myself! I will not allow someone else to wheedle their way into our happy sessions!”

 

“…Fine. I’ll train with you.”

 

“Master! Why do you betray me so?!”

 

With my words ignored, I followed behind Teival and Armin as they headed down to the canteen for breakfast while sulking. Of course, once I had a huge bowl of freshly crushed crystal termites before me, I somehow forgot all the negatives of our relationship as I eagerly devoured my food. Wagging my slightly fluffy tail in glee over how nice it was to have a hearty meal once again, I didn’t bother about Armin hogging my master for the day.

 

Reaching the usual training grounds, Armin suggested he and my master run laps as a warm-up to the close combat, thus abandoning me and Felicity. Since I didn’t want to be slack with my own body, I deemed it necessary to also run laps – with the Feuer Salamander following close behind. Of course, after a few minutes, I eventually ended up lapping the slower and smaller crystal beast as it seemed I had a lot more speed and stamina than her. This somewhat made me sad as I was practically running on my own however, catching glimpses of Teival as I also lapped him was enough to make me happy.

 

After around ten minutes of running, my master and Armin stopped before practising their combat stances. I have to say, watching Armin be frustrated over Teival’s ineptitude at this was somewhat entertaining at first, however I soon grew bored once they began sparring. My reason for boredom: because Teival kept getting trounced. As such, I decided it would be more worth my time to focus on the land and establish a stronger bond with the energies running through it. “Ahh, it feels so comfy and relaxing.” I then closed my eyes to better hone-in on the sensation.

 

I woke up to the sound of Armin’s grunt, followed by his uproarious laughing. Opening my bleary eyes to observe the current situation I was met with the sight of Teival on top of Armin – pinning him to the ground. “Oh?” It appeared that my beloved master had finally managed to defeat Armin in a sparring match! Watching Teival pulling Armin up, I bounded over and heard the defeated boy shout his praises before slapping my master on the back:

 

“You did it, Teival! You finally managed to beat me, for once!”

 

Faceplanting Teival’s leg due to the speed at which I ran to him, I felt sorry for not witnessing his achievement and so struggled to stand on my hind legs before buffeting him with a hug and many affectionate licks to the face. “I’m so proud of you, master! I knew you were improving!” I wagged my tail in joy, causing me to lose my balance and fall back to the ground. Stretching my stiff muscles, I yawned before nuzzling Teival’s leg to show my love.

 

“Hahaha, thanks Kia.”

 

“You do realise that could have been a fluke, right? Let’s keep sparring so you don’t forget the feeling.”

 

“…Armin…it’s already dark…and we skipped lunch…”

 

“Right! Now that I’m awake, my tummy’s rumbling! Teival, I’m hungry! Give me food! As well as some tasty treats! Oh, don’t forget to put in a side dish of snacks, too!” As I gave my dining orders to my master, I noticed Armin stare up at the night sky before sighing.

 

“Ah…I suppose we have been training for a long time. All right! Let’s call it a day.”

 

“Yay! Come on, Teival! Let’s go before the canteen runs out of food!” I tugged at my master’s trousers in my urgency to get him moving out of the training grounds. Although I might have heard him protesting at my pushiness, I chose to ignore it as I was famished and wanted food!

 

After entering the canteen, I gobbled all the food my master had given me within a few minutes before turning to him to beg for some more. “Master, I’ve run out of food. It’s all disappeared. Give me some more! Six bowls isn’t enough for me when I missed out on lunch!” Of course, Teival ignored my pleas for seconds as he and Armin continued the conversation they had been apparently having.

 

“So, what do you say to sparring together for the rest of the week?”

 

“…I need to catch up on training Kia and practising my spellsongs. Maybe every other day?”

 

“Teival, you might have managed to beat me earlier but that doesn’t mean you’re anywhere near being called adequate. You need to focus on your close combat. It’s a huge weakness!”

 

“…Why are you so bothered about close combat? Isn’t it a last resort kind of skill?”

 

“…It’s because of what I heard my brothers say about the final trial they did. The only one they were allowed to talk about. They said they were glad they were competent at it, since it saved them from getting disqualified.”

 

“…I still think doing it every other day is still fine, though…”

 

I heard Armin sigh before giving a response, “Fine. Just know I’ll be more ruthless to make up for it!”

 

With that, my master finally refilled my bowls, allowing me to eat to my heart’s content. After having my fill, we all returned to the dormitory where Armin parted ways with Felicity. Entering the room, I watched Teival get undressed and give himself a light wash from all the sweat he’d produced during the day before going to bed. Unfortunately, my master held to his promise earlier that day and designated the foot of the bed as my new sleeping spot. Thus, with a heavy heart, I cried myself to sleep over my significant loss of snuggling. “Stupid dream, making me kick Teival!”