Chapter 1

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My name is Semeir-Cooraf-Armaheen. I am an Andalite. A young adolescent female.

I should have been in my level one botany class, but I did not feel like listening to mind-numbing lectures about the cell properties of grass roots.

At the moment I stood under a large derrishoul tree near the field. Arisths and warriors were training a few galloping steps away. The trees partly concealed me from view.

I had a reason to hide.

Bullies often teased me because I was smaller than everyone else my age. They poked fun at my awkwardly large tailblade. They laughed at me because I liked fairy tales more than school.

But their main reason for mocking me?

I dreamed of being a warrior. I made no secrets about it.

Ever since my step-father won a tailfighting tournament two years ago, I witnessed what a tail like mine could do. Sometimes, I tried to mimic what I saw. I was positioned too far away and can only guess at how they moved their bodies and tails. But I liked to pretend.

At the moment, I was buried in a fairy tale. I downloaded it earlier from my step-father's database. Another reason to hide-I didn't ask permission first. I got in trouble for this a lot.

The story I read was old and took place on a planet called Earth, where the dominant life form walks on two legs. They speak and eat through holes in their faces-they call them mouths.

I read with my main eyes while my stalk eyes watched the arisths run drills in the field. I love stories written by other worlds. Stories about heroes rescuing princesses in danger and falling in love. I wouldn't mind being the girl saved by a dashing prince-and I am well aware of how contradictory that is with my warrior's dream.

What can I say? I was still young.

The story holding my attention excited me; in the tale, a badly-treated human girl went to a ball to dance with a handsome prince.

Although I didn't understand the concept of dancing around a spherical object, I still found the story fascinating. Especially when the human ran away and lost one of her glass slippers. I guess glass slippers are very slippery. And why would humans dance with something they would easily lose while running on their odd two legs?

My most annoying bully, an aristh named Leehan-Garilion-Figtul, noticed me. He trotted over and read the data pad over my shoulder. Sweat glistened under his blue fur. He was a muscular Andalite with light tan patches on his shoulders and a thick fringe of long fur above each of his hooves. Most young males kept that fur trimmed short, but he left his long to show off his physical maturity.

I tried not to cringe at his presence.

{Hey, Big-Blade!} Leehan jeered. {What are you reading?}

I pretended not to hear and continued reading. The prince was leaving his castle to find the female whose foot fit into the slippery glass slipper.

Leehan made another remark. One too vulgar to repeat. Then, suddenly, he reared up and used his front hooves to push my hindquarters down. Snatched the data pad out of my hand and waved it above my stalk eyes.

{Gee, Big-Blade, I didn't know you liked fiction. Only babies read fiction. Baby!}

{Hey! Give that back!} I made a grab for the data pad in Leehan's grasp. He pulled it out of reach and swung his tailblade across my hand.

FWAPP!

The pain was like a hot laser burning into my skin. I flinched away.

{That's my data pad!} I shrieked. {Give it back!}

Leehan's front legs forced me to the ground again. He used his hooves to hold me down. I couldn't push myself up without pulling every muscle in my hindquarters, and he knew it.

Leehan's friends heard my outburst. I was surrounded in seconds. They pointed and laughed, which made me want scream. I could do nothing to get Leehan's weight off my back. Nothing!

{She's all blade and no whip,} Reshalla-Ergos-Perrlint, a tall dark purple female laughed. {Look at that hideous tailblade! It's so awkward and ugly like the rest of her!}

{Baby.} A thin aristh sneered.

{Wimp,} Yet another aristh snarled.

Leehan held the data pad high, {Semeir, Semeir, Semeir...when are you going to get your head out of the clouds?} He looked to his other friends, {Hey, you guys, listen to how stupid this is!}

Then he started to read.

{"Cinderella washed her hands and face clean, then went and bowed down before the Prince, who gave her the glass slipper. She seated herself on a stool, drew her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe and put it into the slipper, which fit like a glove. When she rose up, the Prince recognized her and cried, "That is the true bride!" The step-mother and the two sisters were horrified and became pale with rage. The Prince, however, took Cinderella on his horse and rode away with her..."}

Leehan was laughing too hard to continue.

I turned my face away from their jeering eyes and tried to ignore the jabbing hooves poking at my sides. Oh, how I wished a prince would come along to take me away!

{You're not even a challenge! C'mon! Fight me! You go on and on about being a warrior. Come on! Give me some tail! Here, I'll even get you started.} Leehan raised his tail to strike at me, his tailblade gleaming in the bright sunlight.

I cringed and waited for pain. Waited for-

FWAPP!

CLACK!

Another tailblade blocked Leehan's!

{Picking fights with a female is a good way to get yourself expelled from the Academy. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life running errands, Aristh Leehan?}

The bully on my back suddenly got up. {Sir! I...}

Reshalla and the two arisths standing beside her also jumped to rigid attention.

{It's him!} I heard one of the arisths gasp.

{Sir, I...I can expl-}

{Quiet, Aristh Leehan! And you,} the thoughtspeak boomed at Reshalla next, {...are supposed to meet Kalna for your level two morphology exam. I suggest you get going.}

Reshalla flicked her tail and galloped away as if shredders were firing at her hooves. She did not look back or slow down.

A shadow fell across the ground beside me. It swallowed the three sets of front hooves digging nervously at the blue-green grass. Strong, mature forelegs appeared in the corner of my left stalk eye. The fur was trimmed neatly, not left long like Leehan's.

My savior addressed the others. {Leave.}

Nobody said a word. The only sound Leehan and his friends left behind was their retreating hooves.

Then I found myself alone with the mysterious stranger.

The forehooves beside me turned my way. I braced myself for a harsh talking-to.

{Arisths.} He sighed. I felt his eyes on me. {Are you okay?}

I was too shy look up or answer. My shoulders hunched. Was I in trouble, too?

{Easy there, I'm not going to hurt you.} The stranger came around in front of me. {They're gone now.}

I asked, {Am...am I in trouble?}

{No.} A delicate hand reached down. The long fingers tapered at the tips. {Here, I'll help you up.}

The kind words comforted me. I took the offered hand and looked up at the figure standing in the glare of the sun. My gaze traversed the furry, light blue landscape of strong legs, delicate shoulders and shapely arms.

He was strong, helping me up with little effort. I realized he stood a full head and shoulders taller than me. His eyes reminded me of green river crystals. In them, I could see the fire and determination of a warrior.

My hearts did funny things as soon as our eyes met. I'd been rescued by a very good-looking male!

And I was covered in grass. I made no move to brush it off. I didn't want to draw his attention to my unkempt appearance.

{Much better.} He tilted his head, {My name is Elfangor, and I don't put up with arisths picking on civilians.}

His name seemed familiar. I'd heard my step-sister and brother mention it before, but the reason escaped me.

{I'm Semeir,} I said shyly. {It's spelled just like the flower.}

Elfangor chuckled. {My mother grows those around our scoop.}

I laughed with him. I liked him already.

He was the only non-family person who had ever been this kind to me and meant it. Usually, adults and other supervisors were too busy to deal with trifles like mine. They didn't stop to chat.

But Elfangor was different. His eyes had a sadness about them. He'd seen things. You can always tell that about a warrior.

{You're hurt.} I heard Elfangor say. {Did Leehan do that?}

The pain of my slashed hand returned. It wasn't a deep wound, but it was painful and still dribbling plasma. I tried to hide it from him.

{I-It's just a scratch.} I said quickly.

I didn't want to get Leehan in more trouble. Any time I tattled on him, he came back ten times worse.

Elfangor reached forward and gently grasped my wrist. {Here, let me make sure you didn't get sliced too deep. You don't want that to get infected.}

I stood there while he used the leaf of a nearby derrishoul tree to wipe away the blood on my palm. Their leaves are naturally antibacterial, and perfect for disinfecting a superficial cut.

He spent a moment examining the wound before carefully pressing the leaf against it. The scrape stopped leaking almost immediately. And, oddly enough, the whole process was completely painless.

Off to the side, I glimpsed Leehan peeking around a tree. I remembered that I still hadn't gotten my data pad back.

Elfangor noticed him, too. He shot Leehan a glare that sent him running.

{There.} He released my wrist and twirled the used leaf between his index finger and thumb. Then he let it flutter to the ground. My blood created blue patterns on its pink surface.

Finally, I found it in myself to smile. {Thank you.}

My hearts kept doing flipflops. I began to wonder when they would escape and bounce down the nearby hill.

{Why do they attack you?} He asked me.

{I'm smaller than they are and I like to read fiction.} I answered sharply. {And I have this huge, ugly tailblade, too.}

I swished my tail so he could see my tailblade. The sunlight momentarily glinted off it's smooth surface.

{It's rather unusual to see a blade that size on a female.} Elfangor told me, bringing his tail around to compare our blades. Mine was no more than a few finger's widths shorter than his. {Don't feel bad about it. A lot of the warriors I know would cut off their own eyestalks to get a blade that smooth.}

I used my stalk eyes to peer at my tailblade with renewed interest. {You sound as if you know what I go through with Leehan and his gang.}

{I do.} Elfangor said. {There was a time when I was smaller, slower and more awkward than everyone else. My first years at the Academy were tough. Everybody used to gang up on me. Finally I just stood up to my worst bully-his name was Marrod. I told him I wasn't afraid of him anymore, and if he had issues with that he could take me up after lessons were concluded. I waited. He never appeared, and he never bothered me again.}

He looked at me with his stalk eyes and continued, {Perhaps Leehan just needs a good talking-to from you. Or you could just ignore him when he bothers you.}

{But he makes me so mad! I can't just ignore him!} I balled my fist and stomped my hoof angrily in the grass to get rid of the searing knot in the pit of my stomach. {He always has something really mean to say that embarrasses me in front of everyone. I hate him!}

{So don't let him make you mad.}

I glared at Elfangor. He didn't understand as much as he thought. Or maybe I was too stubborn to admit he was right. {Easier said than done.}

{The best way to get rid of a bully is to ignore them. Don't even acknowledge they're there. He'll get bored with your lack of a reaction and seek out someone else to bother. If ignoring him doesn't work, stand up to him. He seems to like intimidating you, so tell him he doesn't scare you anymore. It might shock him into shutting up.}

{What if I just tail whip him until he cries?}

{Fighting is never a good idea. It should be a last resort when all other tactics fail.} Elfangor looked up. {Violence might stop a war, but at the cost of pain, lives and innocence. It's better to teach a bully to respect you by showing courage.}

My mood had grown sullen and dark by then. One part of me threw away everything Elfangor said. But the other clung to every word like a piece of floating debris in an endless ocean. {What amount of respect would a hideous little thing like me earn from someone in the military?}

I meant to think the words, not say them. Thinking aloud is one of my worst habits.

{Hideous? You? Who told you that?}

Sweat formed on my palms. A slow heat crawled into my cheeks until my face was practically on fire. {A lot of people say so.}

{Have you seen your reflection lately?} He asked.

I remembered the grass all over my fur. I hastily brushed it off.

{No. I groom myself without using my reflection as a guide.}

{Then come with me.} Elfangor shifted and walked towards the lake where I'd been reading earlier. Two arisths and a warrior were training nearby.

I followed Elfangor to the lake and stopped with my front hooves less than an inch from its edge. The water was so still and clear. I saw green crystals growing from its surface. They matched Elfangor's eyes.

{Now,} Elfangor directed my attention to the water. I only glanced at my pointed chin, large main eyes and wavering eyestalks. Nothing special there that I could see.

I guess Elfangor saw something I didn't. {Your eyes are very striking, Semeir. There's a fire in them. I can tell just by looking that you're always dreaming and determined. And your fur? It's the color of a derrishoul tree. If people these days call that ugly, then they need all four eyes checked.}

Reluctantly, I looked down again to see if what Elfangor told the truth. I just saw myself. Hey, maybe I wasn't so ugly after all.

{I guess I look okay.} I smiled self-consciously.

{See? Just wait until you get older.} Elfangor said.

He glanced off to the side. I followed his gaze. A spar between two arisths looked a little too serious. They were evenly matched, and one was bleeding from his shoulder.

I gasped. {Oh no...is that allowed?}

{No, it's not. I'm going to stop it. Take care of yourself, Semeir.}

Elfangor's reflection disappeared from the lake. I watched his retreating back with my stalk eyes. He ran right past Leehan, who watched the fight from the side.

The arisths looked awestruck when Elfangor charged in to break up the fight.

My mother always said I'll know it when I see my destiny.

I knew I just saw mine.

I wanted to be like Elfangor.

And in that same moment of realization, another one came to light.

My data pad!

I searched for my missing property with panic mounting in my hearts. The frame was made of transparent plastic. And that make it difficult to spot in the grass.

{Oh no, no, no...} I groaned to myself.

It wasn't under the rocks by the lake. It wasn't tucked between two trees. I wasn't in the long clump of grass. Leehan didn't have it in his hands anymore. Blast it! Mother was going to be angry!

{Semeir!} Elfangor noticed my plight. He called to me from the top of the hill where adults monitored the field, {Lose something?}

{My data pad,} I replied, not wanting to bother him again with my silly problems. {Leehan grabbed it when he knocked me down.}

{What does it look like?}

My thoughtspeak came out more heavily than I intended, {Transparent plastic with a screen on the front and buttons all across one side.} I held my hands about half a shoulder's width apart, {It's about this big. Ohhh, I hope it isn't broken! It took Mother forever to have it made!}

Elfangor hopped down the hill and peered carefully at the grass, separating it with his hooves. {Not here} He moved over by the tree where Leehan tackled me. {Not here either. I'm sure someone will find it and look up the serial number to locate the owner.}

He faced an older Andalite coming over the hill. He said something privately. The warrior nodded and walked away.

{That's just the problem! My step-father doesn't know what I'm reading. I'll be in serious trouble if he finds out I'm downloading things off his private computer. Please don't tell him what I do with it if you find it. Please!}

There I was acting like a small child. If I had tear-ducts, I swear I would have cried.

{Don't worry, Semeir. I'm pretty good at keeping a secret.} Elfangor winked a main eye. {Come on, let's look for it. Eight eyes are better than four.}

{It's not interfering with your training?}

{Not at all.}

Elfangor and I walked around together, looking for the data pad and asking people if they had seen it.

No luck.

We talked while we searched. Mostly about dealing with bullies and the subjects that interested us.

Elfangor turned out to be such a fun person to talk to that I forgot to keep track of time. It kept getting later and later. I should have been home before dusk, but Elfangor was too enchanting. He was the warrior, the dream prince I've always imagined. Everything I wanted to be.

I couldn't bring myself to leave him.

{Don't you have classes to attend?} Elfangor asked. The question veered far off the course of our previous conversation about bullies.

{Uh...} I looked away. No point in lying. {I skipped it today. The classes for females are so mind-numbingly boring. Level one botany, ugh. Flowers are pretty, but there are already hundreds who can name plants and design a scoop.}

Stars began to appear. Lights were being lit in the fields.

{Too idealistic for plants.} He sounded amused. {That's a new one.}

{You won't tell Veilla, will you?}

Veilla-Yossgil-Bisken was my botany instructor. Old, unmarried and so strict you couldn't scratch an itch without asking her permission. I didn't like her. I didn't like how she wanted to turn everybody in her class into brainless plant people. You'd think she had no life outside of flowers!

Elfangor blinked. {She's still teaching?}

I said, {Yes.}

{I remember her, and I sympathize. She cracked me over the head with her tail, once, because I fell asleep during one of her lectures.}

{You, too?} I smiled at him. {She yells at me for daydreaming all the time. I can't help it. She's so monotonous and-}

{Semeir!}

My mother galloped over the hill. I could recognize her hoofbeats anywhere. Mother was lovely with large main eyes as gold as the gold in our sky. People say I look just like her, but my fur is lighter in color than hers. I don't think any female will ever be prettier than my mother. At least not to me.

{Semeir-kala, what have I told you about playing out this late? Come along! Your step-father is worried!}

I felt my hearts skip a beat. I barely noticed Elfangor's curious look. {He's home! When did he arrive?}

{Hours ago. We've been waiting on you all night.}

My step father was a spy for the Andalite government. He had several alien morphs, including a human one. Because of his job my family moved around the planet a lot. Just in case somebody tried to come after us. We never entered space with him, however, because his work was top secret. Mother knew all the details, but she never told my siblings or I anything beyond where he went.

Yes, I had a step-father. I never knew my real father because he died in combat just two days before my birth. My brother always said our father, his name was Daskamar-Eritoff-Hymnora, was a proud warrior who served the people well.

Like the Princes in the stories I enjoy reading so much.

Like Elfangor.

{I'm being called.} I sighed reluctantly, looking towards my newfound Prince, {I must go home now. Step-Father was on a mission in...I think it was sector seven, BSG-two-six-ten-eight.}

Elfangor's stalk eyes perked up. He looked between Mother and I. {His name wouldn't happen to be Naskor, would it? Naskor-Rygaan-Fillisk?}

{Greetings, War-Prince Elfangor.} My mother said. She looked surprised like the arisths out on the fields. {I am Adoria-Cooraf-Hayelin. I didn't know you were familiar with my husband's line of work.}

Elfangor nodded. {I flew a mission based on his data last year. The Yeerk outpost-} Then his thoughtspeak switched to private. He and my mother spoke at length before I could hear them again. {-and I'm glad he got out of there. I wish him luck on his next pass.}

{Thank you, and thank you for watching over my daughter.} Mother said kindly. {Semeir? Let's go.}

Elfangor politely nodded his head. I shot him a pleading look, hoping he wouldn't mention the data pad. Mercifully, he didn't, and Mother ushered me away.

{Take care.} He told me, his eyes tilting in a smile that lit up his face.

I smiled back. Elfangor turned and cantered back into the field.

{The people you run into,} Mother said, shaking her head at me. She was smling, too.

At home, I usually talked the most. I loved to make up stories about beating up Yeerk monsters.

But that night I was quiet. Step-Father didn't bother rebuking me-he and I weren't close and all discipline was left up to Mother. And Mother didn't yell either.

My brother, Tetrof and my older step-sister, Coofani, noticed my silence. Who wouldn't?

{So...what happened to make you late this time?} Asked Tetrof. {Did you save the day from a giant mutant tree?}

My brother was large for his age with big ears and thick eyestalks that I used to pull on when I was very young. His fur was dark metallic blue. Darker and longer than Step-Father's. Mother often said he looked just like our real father. He was a year older than me and preparing to join the military academy.

Coofani had almost reached marrying age. Legally, she was an adult and preparing to start her own scoop a short trot away. I thought her almost as pretty as Mother. She was a delicate estreen with long, thin legs and a perfect little tailblade. Step-father had her with another female, though I don't know the details of that relationship or why they separated.

She appeared at Tetrof's side and folded her hands together. {Were you hiding again?}

Hiding. I was excellent at disappearing. I'd curl up behind a patch of bushes or a thick circle of derrishoul trees and read my fairytales. Nobody could find me. My fur blended in with the surrounding fauna.

{No. I wasn't hiding.} My main eyes rose to meet their excited faces. {I met a Prince today.} I blushed and dug my forehoof into the grass. {It was like those stories I read.}

{Oh...} Coofani smiled at me affectionately. She reached back to smooth some fur down on her flank and asked, {Did he sweep you off your hooves?}

{No...but he did make me forget to keep track of time.}

{What was his name?} Tetrof asked excitedly, playing along. He thought I made it up!

Still digging a rut in the grass with my hoof, I answered, {His name was Elfangor.}

Coofani's hands fell to her sides. Tetrof's eyes bugged out. They looked at me as if I had just given them the most shocking news in the universe.

{Elfangor! War-Prince Elfangor?} They cried in unison.

The reaction startled me.

{Yes. Why?} I asked.

{Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamt-}

{Coofani!} My eyes widened. I'd met him, and I'd had no clue who he was. My history lessons hadn't covered his involvement in the war. I just knew he was a huge hero, and I made myself look like a complete moron in front of him!

Then I remembered his face. My cheeks heated. Elfangor was a very handsome Andalite. Nobody ever mentioned that.

I couldn't believe it. A prince did come to my rescue!

Coofani smiled at me with her slender stalk eyes. {Look, Tetrof. Semeir is in love! Isn't that cute?}

{Oh Coofani, stop. I am not!} I turned my blushing face away from them both.

{Suuure you aren't.} Tetrof smirked. He shook his head while trotting away to feed.

Coofani reared up on her hind legs and cantered off to help Mother trim the shrubs outside the scoop. Leaving me alone with my thoughts.

Maybe I was in love. In love with a great hero. One of the greatest Andalite warriors alive. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul.

I daydreamed about running through the grass with him. Daydreams were all I had. Why would Elfangor trouble himself with someone like me again?

{Semeir?}

I turned my stalk eyes to Step-Father's serious face. He stood right beside me, tall and imposing, yet I felt no attachment to him. Never did. In fact, I always resented that Mother married again. I did not resent Step-Father. He was a good male Andalite and he took care of the family, but...the principle of the thing irked me!

If I loved someone like she loved Father, I wouldn't marry again if he died! Ever!

{Yes, Step-Father?}

{Please don't play with my computer again. I've just entered sensitive information into the databank. You might mistakenly download it along with anything else you add to your data pad.}

My hearts paused upon him mentioning the data pad. I worried he would ask to see it. He didn't-much to my relief.

{I never go into anything with a password.} I said.

{I know. But for safety's sake, ask me next time.} He reached out and brushed his hand over the top of my head. {And please don't stay out so late. Your mother worries.}

{It was an accident. I'm sorry.}

Step-Father sighed quietly. {Listen...don't get too enamored with Prince Elfangor. My situation is growing dangerous. We might have to move scoops again soon.}

Move? Again? My hearts sank. Tetrof had no trouble moving schools, but I hated it. I would have to scout out new places to hide out and avoid a different set of bullies like Leehan.

{Must we?} I groaned.

{Yes, unfortunately. It goes with my job. It's for your safety.} He patted my head again. {Get some sleep, Semeir.}

{It's still early.}

{And you're still young yet. Do as I say, Semeir-kala.}

Then Step-Father left me to join Mother in the field outside our scoop. They ran together, two dark shapes holding hands under the four crescent moons.

I folded my arms and shut my eyes.

Moving again. Great. I got to be the fresh new target for whoever ran the field at another school.

Meeting Elfangor was too good to be true after all.