Chapter 1: Tutorial

School was over for the day, thank the guardians, thank the guardians the year was halfway through. It was getting quite boring to be honest, you just went through the motions day in and day out. I was on my way home, the only part of this never ending cycle I didn't mind.

"Basal!" someone behind me yelled, I turned around and stopped as he repeated my name again, huffing and puffing as he approached me. "Hey," he managed to get out, before he began to catch his breath. I let him so slow down his breathing before talking to him.

"Hi?" I said, a little confused, and a little shy. I wondered how he knew my name but didn't care right now. He put out his paw, his breathing now at a normal pace again.

"I'm Ardule," he said, as I shook his paw, he had a smile on his face. "How has your day been?" he asked, catching me slightly off guard with friendliness.

"It was decent," I replied hesitantly, still trying to remember how he knew me. "How was yours?" I asked.

"It was ok," he said, as his smile disappeared for a second, before it came back.

"What did you need?" I asked as I noticed him start to drift off into space, staring into my eyes.

"Oh, yeah," he said, laughing a bit, "I was wondering if you tutor?" he asked thinking the sentence through in his head, "or, if you would help me study?" he corrected, as I thought for a second.

"You need a study buddy?" I said, as he blushed a bit and nodded, "what subject?" I followed up.

"Religion," he said, as I slowly nodded, remembering the class. "I just need some help with the study guide."

"Oh, alright" I replied, as I turned around and looked to see if my friend was near. "When do you want help?" I asked as I continue to search.

"I was hoping maybe you could help me today," he said, in a voice that increased in pitch the closer he got to the end of the sentence.

"Oh, where do you want to meet?" I asked, slightly caught off-guard.

"Hmm," he said, as I hear something behind me, turning around to see Seraph.

"Hey Basal," she said loudly as she jumped next to my side and sat down, "Who is he?" she then asked, without letting me reply.

"I'm Ardule," he said, putting out his paw for her to shake, as she grabbed it and shook it.

"You live across the street from me," she stated as he gave me a concerned look.

"So are you two a thing now?" she then asked as we both quickly shook our heads, "Are you sure?" she continued, I saw Ardule scooch a few feet away from me as I slapped her across the face and stared at her with a clear look of 'I will kill you.'

"Anyways," Ardule said, "would my place work?" he asked as I got another stare from Seraph as she walked off.

"Yeah I think it could work," I replied as he smiled, and began walking again. "I live, well, Seraph stated where I live, will after you eat dinner work," he asked, "whenever you do eat?"

"I usually eat an hour after school, so yeah, that would work," he said as he smiled and walked in the direction of his house. I looked back to see Seraph catch up to him, and turned back around, and walked towards my house, passing mailboxes and people.

"Mum," I yelled as I walked in the door, letting her know I was home.

"Hey Sweetie," she yelled back as I walked up to my room, shutting the door behind me. I pulled my bag from off my back and put it on my bed, pulling out my math homework, as I reluctantly sat down and began to work on it. I looked at the symbols, greater than this, less than that, math this. I quickly got bored and hungry and went downstairs to eat dinner.

"Good?" my mom asked sarcastically as I scarfed it all down, she would always push conversations when I ate, so I would always down whatever she made as fast as I could to get out of there, and I went upstairs to grab my stuff, before I walked out the door and down the road. As I walked past the park I noticed a girl sitting and reading, as her father sat next to her helping her with her homework. Painful memories of my father, or the lack there of, played through.

I quickly ran a safe distance away from the park until I could not hear the water from the fountain, and by then I was at Ardule's house. I walked up to the door and knocked, when I did I heard a noise come from the window above the door. I looked up to see Ardule's head sticking out the window and looking down at me.

"Come on in," he said as he motioned for me to come in the window. I flew up obediently into his room. I look around his room as I set my stuff down, his dresser had a figure of a dragoness carved from emerald on it. I look back at Ardule to see him sitting on his bed, and he motions me to come join him, his work already on the bed.

"Where are you stuck?" I asked, as he pointed to one of the worksheets he had been given by his professor.

"Right here particularly," he said, pointing to the top of the page.

Zealots of the Recolem Relegion

"Where are you having issues?" I asked, as he was being quite unspecific.

"This right here," he then continued as he pointed to a question, asking why the Zealots are there. Which made no sense as I read it aloud.

"What does that question even mean," he said, as I giggled, realizing what it meant.

"They want to know why it is religious to have the Zealots roam and meditate throughout the city," I said, as it seemed to click for him, he began to write furiously and I watch, trying my best to read what he was writing while upside down. "They need privacy, but they also need the pure air of nature, and not the damp air of a temple." I stated, as he looked up for a second, then back down at his paper to continue writing. "There are somethings that not even a religions own temple can satisfy," I finished, as he put down his pencil and looked me in the eyes.

"That made much more sense," he said laughing a bit at how silly the situation was. "To be honest though that was a poorly worded question." He continued, as I put my stuff back in my bag.

"Need help with anything else?" I asked, as he looked around at his papers, then shook his head. "Alright then, I'll be going then," I said, slightly shocked by the brevity of the session.

"See you later," he replied as I walked out the door and in front of their house, where Seraph was waiting. I looked over at her with confusion and shock. "Why are you so weird?" I asked, as she squinted her eyes and smiled.

"We need to pretty you up," she said, as I heard laughing coming from Ardule's window, as Seraph began to drag me down the road towards the shopping district.

"Seraph, I kind of just want to go home," I said as I tore myself out of her grip. She looked at me, her impenetrable smile still on her face.

"Well you could have just said so," she replied as she turned back around and walked inside her house. 'She's confusing,' I thought to myself, as I turned in the direction of my house, and walked there.

When I got inside my mother was sitting on the couch, she turned her head at the sound of the door opening.

"That wasn't very long," my mom said, still trying to get a conversation out of me.

"It wasn't as long as I thought it would be," I said, as she laughed and returned to her book.

I walked upstairs feeling tired. I laid down in my bed, but I couldn't sleep, maybe it was because I had a lot of stuff on my mind, or was it because he was on my mind, I guess it could be him, no, I just met him, whatever.