Hey everyone, I'm back with a new chapter. So the last time was more than a month ago, I know, and that is horrible, but please don't kill me. Because I had a lot to do... and I won't bore you all with it, just please believe me that I had. But here it is, and enjoy it!

On her way to the training room, almost every single person Meilin passed stared at her. Some covertly, some unashamedly gawking.

Xue shook her head. 'How impolite.'

Conversations stopped in mid-sentence when she came into view, and once she passed, whispers followed her. The few who didn't stare sent her careful glances or self-conscious waves and nods, which were almost more telling.

'I maybe should have returned to being a Greencloak a little earlier,' Xue said.

Rollan was right.

'HA!' Rollan exclaimed. 'I. Was. Right!'

Meilin groaned and dropped her head in her hands while Abeke and Conor laughed.

'Meilin thought for sure that I could never be right about something,' Rollan said, smirking, to the adults, who all looked like they didn't understand what was going on.

'Aha,' Lishay said. 'Sure.'

'I'll continue,' Xue said.

The Greencloaks had heavy expectations of her. Meilin entered the wide and airy room and found Conor waiting with his wolf. The training area looked almost too large - much larger than the practical space she had used with the masters back home. She guessed the vaulted ceiling was meant for Greencloaks with winged beasts.

Rollan clapped slowly in his hands. 'Impressed.'

'Not funny Rollan,' Meilin simply said.

'I do think so,' Rollan said, nodding.

Meilin rolled her eyes and sighed. 'He is totally hopeless,' she muttered, trying her best to ignore the amused stares from the others.

'Glad to see you,' Conor said, rubbing his arm self-consciously. 'I was starting to worry I'd come to the wrong place.' 'I got a message with my breakfast,' Meilin said. 'They asked me to report here with Jhi as soon as I finished.' Conor nodded. 'Me too. I could hardly eat after the note.

Rollan turned a confused and strange stare at Conor, who seemed a bit uncomfortable.

I can't, um, I don't know my letters very well, so I had to get help to read it.'

Abeke flashed him a smile, and he returned it.

Conor reddened. 'Did it sound like a test to you?' 'Some kind of assessment.' Conor glanced at Briggan, then back at Meilin. 'I guess Jhi is on your hand?'

'Smooth Conor, smooth,' Xue and Rollan said at the same time.

There was a moment of silence, then everyone burst out laughing.

'Xue,' Meilin managed to get out. 'You're starting to become like Rollan.'

'That is not good,' Abeke said, wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes.

'Sure,' Xue said. 'I'll continue reading. If that's possible with you all,' she added quietly.

'She seems to prefer it much of the time.' Conor nodded, then seemed very aware that he had run out of things to say.

Chuckles.

Crouching, he stroked Biggan. Meilin watched him avoid her gaze.

'This is embarrassing,' Conor muttered.

'Only going to get more,' Xue and Rollan said.

Everybody chuckled.

'Xue, this is serious,' Meilin said.

'Just shut up,' Xue said, slightly grumpy. 'I'm reading.'

'No wait-'

'I'm reading and everybody who talks through me is going to get kicked in places they really don't want to get kicked,' Xue threatened, turning to the book.

'Jeez, no need to get grumpy,' Rollan muttered.

He was a simple boy, baseborn, uneducated, yet in one important way he was her peer - he had summoned one of the Four Fallen. Why him? Could it be random chance? If so, why her? Would random chance select someone as prepared for leadership as herself?

Meilin blushed a deep red as everyone looked at her, not all very nicely.

'It's okay,' Conor said. Everyone turned to him. 'It's in the past, and… you know. We all changed and all.'

'I think I'll be nice and read,' Xue said.

Rollan entered the room, the falcon on his shoulder. 'Am I late?'

Everyone laughed as they all realised how Rollan would say that.

'Yes,' Conor said. 'You were late. Logically.'

'Hey! I'm not always late,' Rollan said.

'Not always. Just ninety nine point nine percent of the time,' Abeke said.

Rollan opened his mouth, then closed it again. 'Fine.'

Conor looked up, relief stamped on his face. 'Glad you're here.' Some quiet understanding passed between them. What had she missed? Had they discussed her in private?

'Yes,' Rollan said.

Meilin shot him a look. 'Very funny,' she said.

'I do think so,' Rollan said.

'You know what I realised,' Abeke said. 'Reilin conversations are always hilarious.'

'Yeah,' Conor said, nodding amused.

With Zhong under attack, she didn't want to spend time worrying about such trivial things.

'Is that trivial things?' Rollan asked. 'You really need to sort your priorities.'

'The only one who needs to sort his priorities is you,' Meilin said.

'Hey!' Rollan said, indignant.

- but she couldn't help it, and that annoyed her.

'Miss Perfect isn't perfect?!' Rollan exclaimed.

'Rollan,' Meilin groaned.

'What?'

'Just… just read on Xue.'

'Nobody else has shown up yet?' Rollan asked. 'Not yet,' Conor said. Rollan scanned the weapons held in the racks against the walls: swords, scimitars, knives, spears, polearms, axe, staves, and clubs. 'Are we going to fight to the death?'

'Aha. Rollan was overdramatic back then too,' Lishay said, rolling her eyes.

'Now you get what I'm stuck up with on a daily basis,' Meilin said.

'I'd nearly pity you,' Lishay said. Before Meilin could say something she added. 'I've been stuck up with him' She nodded towards Tarik. 'since we were eleven so… I don't know what's worse.'

'You love me, don't disagree with me,' Tarik said.

'You'd wish,' Lishay said, but she was blushing slightly.

'They are not flirting with each other in front of us now right?' Meilin asked.

'Totally,' Rollan said, nodding.

'Nothing that exciting,' Tarik said, entering the room with two other men and a woman. All three wore green cloaks and were new to Meilin. They paid rapt attention to Essix and Briggan.

'Smooth, very smooth,' Lishay muttered.

Some of the others send her amused glances.

'We evaluate all new recruits to gauge their abilities.' Rollan looked at the other Greencloaks. 'Who are your friends?' 'Observers,' Tarik said calmly.

'Smooth right?' Tarik questioned.

'Not if you say it about yourself,' Lishay said, on a duh tone.

'Why do you get such things and I do not?' Tarik asked.

'Because she is with us and you are with them,' Meilin said, pointing first at herself and Abeke and then at Rollan and Conor.

'They'll assist you as needed. Pay them little mind.

'Easier said then done,' Rollan muttered.

'Luckily now there are no observers,' Tarik said.

'Usually,' Rollan said.

'That was once Rollan.'

'I still have nightmares from it.' Rollan shivered.

'You shouldn't have said that then,' Meilin commented. 'It wasn't a very nice things to say about his spirit animal and he kicked your butt for it. Seems fair.'

Everybody laughed.

I just want to put each of you through a few exercises.' 'Finally,' Rollan grumbled. 'somebody to stare at us.' The two men crossed to Conor and Rollan. The woman approached Meilin. She was thick but not flabby, and had a no-nonsense look about her. 'Meilin, could you produce Jhi?' Tarik asked. Meilin focused her attention on the simple tattoo on the back of her hand. When her interest was elsewhere, she hardly noticed the mark. But now she could perceive warmth beneath the image, a vague presence. She mentally called to Jhi, imagined a door opening, and then with a flash the tattoo vanished and Jhi appeared.

'It's so alike,' Lenori softly whispered.

Meilin gave a weak smile and nodded a bit.

'Well done,' Tarik complimented. 'Some who have newly learned to use the passive state struggle to release their animals. You did that swiftly, which is important. While passive, your spirit animals cannot aid you.' Meilin gave a nod and a modest smile. Although accustomed to praise, she was not entirely immune to its effects. She noticed the boys, particularly Rollan, watching her enviously.

Meilin smiled smugly at Rollan.

'Hey!' Rollan said, indignant.

Keeping her eyes on Tarik, she pretended not to care. 'Please allow your escorts to blindfold you,' Tarik instructed. 'We're going to test your awareness of your spirit animals without the aid of sight?' Meilin held still as the woman placed a blindfold over her eyes. 'Do you guys fight a lot with your eyes closed?' Rollan asked.

Some people chuckled while Rollan rolled his eyes.

Meilin had been thinking the same thing, but she never would have said it.

'Seriously?!' Rollan exclaimed.

'Read on Xue!' Meilin urgently said.

'This is-' Rollan couldn't finish his sentence because Xue continued reading, rather loudly, probably before Rollan could start talking and never stop.

'This will simulate a situation where your spirit animal is out of view,' Tarik explained patiently, as if the question had not been meant to rattle him.

'Okay, honestly, pretty smooth,' Lishay said.

Tarik looked satisfied.

'He's all happy because his girlfriend gave him a compliment of sorts,' Rollan said, smirking.

Both Lishay and Tarik turned a crimson red. 'Shut up Rollan,' they both said at the same time.

The Four laughed at it, and Rollan managed to get out. 'They really are impossible.'

'They have a thing with saying the same thing at the same time,' Meilin explained. 'They did in in Zhong a few times too.'

'Really? When?' Xue asked.

'You weren't there,' Meilin said.

'Oh. That sucks,' Xue said.

'Relax and follow instructions.'

'How I hated it when people used to say that,' Xue muttered.

A hand took Meilin by the elbow and led her several paces. With great care, she retained a sense of where she stood in the room. She waited for perhaps a minute. 'The animals have all changed position,' Tarik announced. 'I now challenge each of you

'That sounds ridiculous. I challenge you,' Rollan said, chuckling.

to point out the location of your animal. I respectfully ask the animals to keep silent.'

'You know what I realised,' Rollan said. 'Essix listened to him.'

Meilin strained all her sense but could neither hear nor smell anything. She thought about the vague presence she could feel beneath the tattoo when Jhi was in dormant state, and tried to sense a similar presence around her. Nothing.

'And that's the difference between the Bile bond and the Nectar bond,' Meilin said. Lenori nodded.

'You know by the way who is really inhumanly good in this?' Tarik said.

'Tell us,' Rollan said. 'If he's going to say Lishay I don't know what I'm going to do.'

'No, I mean inhumanly good even for someone who has spend more than two decades with their spirit animal. Lenori.'

Everyone looked at her, and she smiled a little modestly. 'I guess.'

'I do agree with that,' Xue said, and Meilin looked at her surprised. 'You said they were bad students!'

'You said what!?' Olvan exclaimed.

'You were. You always blatantly and completely ignored a very important thing. And I will not say what that is. But I do agree that Lenori was good at such things.'

'It has something to do with the dreams,' Rollan said. 'It would explain why Conor is so good in it too.'

'Thanks for the confidence in my skills,' Conor muttered.

'Sorry, I'm just being logical,' Rollan said.

Conor raised an eyebrow.

'You can raise one eyebrow?!' Rollan exclaimed.

'Yes?' Conor questioned. 'Why?'

'I can't! It's unfair!' Rollan complained.

'Very unfair. There are worse things in life than not being able to raise one eyebrow,' Meilin said.

'I bet you can,' Rollan said.

'Yes. But this conversation is useless so let's continue the book,' Meilin said.

'Good, Conor. Very close,' Tarik said. Meilin kept her face composed but felt disappointed. Could Conor have a stronger connection to his spirit animal than she had to hers? He couldn't even use the passive state!

'Not top priority to a good bond Meilin,' Xue said,

'I know,' Meilin simply said.

Maybe he had made a lucky guess. 'I'm sorry, Rollan, you're way off,' Tarik said. 'But good job, Conir. Briggan is moving and you're tracking him well.' Meilin silently ordered Jhi to make herself known.

'How many times do I have to say it, ordering your spirit animal around isn't going to help at all,' Lishay said.

'Sorry. But I didn't know that back then,' Meilin said.

'It's okay.'

From the start, Jhi had obeyed her requests, but Meilin still felt nothing. 'Meilin,' Tarik said. 'if you're unsure, rely on your instincts.' She didn't want to point randomly, but maybe Tarik was giving her a hint. Maybe her awareness of her creature was something felt only at instinctive level. That might explain why Conor was good at it - she doubted his problem would be too much thought.

Everybody laughed at this, while Meilin blushed a definite red.

'I don't think that anymore,' she said when everyone had quieted down.

'It's okay,' Conor said.

'It was very rude though,' Abeke said.

'Yes,' Meilin slowly said. 'I'll keep my mouth shut.'

'Good idea,' Abeke agreed.

Following a whim, Meilin extended a finger to the right. 'Not even close, Meilin,' Tarik said, with a touch of humour in his tone.

Meilin sent him a death glare, and he raised his hands.

'Sorry.'

'Good idea,' Meilin muttered.

'Did you learn that death glare from Lishay or something?' Tarik asked.

'No,' Meilin slowly said.

'We just have a few similarities. Good at kicking people's butt, good at giving death glares, both having rather… different guys who like us.'

'Exactly,' Meilin agreed.

Meilin pointed to the left. 'Better, but still far off,' Tarik reported. Meilin had to wrok to keep her expression neutral? She silently demanded for Jhi to reveal herself. Once again, she sensed nothing.

'But was that really because of the Bile?' Meilin asked.

'Probably mostly,' Lenori answered slowly.

'The other part was me not wanting to open up to Jhi, yeah I know,' Meilin said. She took in a deep breath. 'Okay.'

'Not bad, Rollan,' Tarik said. 'Not good, but you're doing too well for it to be chance. Conor, you're a natural at this.' Meilin tried not to feel flustered. She had never attempted to sense Jhi like this. Had the boys practiced? Probably.

'Oh yes, I tied a blindfold before my eyes and send Essix up in the air and pointed at her, Rollan said. 'And the louder she screeched the closer I was.'

'I meant-' Meilin started but Rollan went on.

'I, by the way, have figured out how Conor is so good in it. He smells Briggan.'

There was a moment of silence, then everyone laughed.

'What?' Rollan asked.

'Nothing,' Conor said. 'Then Meilin should be able to do it too because Jhi smells a bit too. And Briggan doesn't smell much more,' he quickly added as Meilin raised an eyebrow to him.

'I give up,' Rollan said. 'Read on.'

'Care to try one more time, Meilin?' Tarik asked.

'Not after what you did,' Meilin muttered.

She pulled off her blindfold. 'I feel nothing.' She looked to where Jhi strolled near one wall of the training area, led by an escort. 'It's not unusual,' Tarik told her. Meilin watched Conor's finger follow Briggan, staying on the animal even when the wolf reversed direction. Essix flew around overhead. Rollan seemed to be able to identify which half of the room the bird was in, but not much else. 'How can I improve?' Meilin asked. 'You can already call Jhi to passive state,' Tarik acknowledged. 'so earning the truth of your beast does not seem to be the problem. I imagine it will take time to strengthen your connection. Part of that includes your receptiveness to her.'

'He got it correct in one try,' Xue said. 'It's strange how someone trained by two people who were such bad students is himself a rather good one. Although, he can learn some things too, so he isn't really…' she trailed off for a moment. 'I'll just go on reading.'

Meilin nodded. Jhi always obeyed her orders so what had gone wrong? Perhaps Tarik was right.

'Tarik is always right,' Rollan said. 'Unless he says he isn't in love.'

Everyone laughed at the blush on Tarik's face and as he murmured. 'I train them and am nice to them and this is what I get back.'

Perhaps the panda was trying. Meilin frowned. Maybe she was the one unable to receive the cues. Aside from Jhi's obedience, they weren't very close. What would it take? Deep affection? Mutual understanding? It was hard to respect such a docile, slow animal. But Jhi was her spirit animals. There would be no other. Meilin knew she had to make it work. 'You may remove your blindfolds,' Tarik invited.

'Why would that be an invite?' Rollan wondered out loud.

Meilin glanced at the weapons on the wall. The wooden swords were obviously practice gear. Many of them arms look real, though some of them could be blunted. With or without help from Jhi, Meilin expected she could dominate either of the boys in just about any form of combat.

'Yep,' Rollan muttered, and Meilin smirked a bit.

Such a demonstration would be satisfying, but would it be wise? Her father had always told her to keep her abilities private so she could surprise adversaries in times of need. 'Next we'll try a physical exercise,' Tarik announced. 'All three of you will go to the far wall.' He indicated the wall he meant. 'You'll run across the room and touch this other wall as high as you can, then run back and strike the suspended bag with all your might. Ask your animals to enhance your efforts in any way they can.'

'So you did tell them to try that,' Lishay said. 'In Zhong I kept thinking you had never said it before, until you mentioned it in the swamp.'

'Of course I did,' Tarik said. 'It's probably just that…' He stopped talking.

'Just that?' Rollan questioned, both of his eyebrows raised.

Tarik got a small smile on his face, and finished his sentence saying. 'Just that these four are a rather strange team and you should wonder if what you tell them won't go in at one ear and out at the other.'

'That isn't true,' Rollan grumbled.

'Not with me, but I could agree with you,' Meilin said.

'With all of you at some point,' Tarik said.

'We don't do that anymore,' Abeke said. 'Because if we don't listen during training two certain people will get caught up in each other instead of getting caught up in training us.'

'You have no idea how many times I have to clear my throat to get their attention back to us,' Meilin added, adressing the others.

'That's not true,' Lishay said.

'It is. Even only because you knew exactly who we were talking about,' Meilin said.

'Read on Xue,' Lishay muttered, as the others, except for Tarik, chuckled. She and Tarik were too busy trying to hide her blush.

Meilin surveyed the canvas bag hanging from a beam near the fall wall. Suspended by a chain, the bulging sack was taller than her and looked heavy.

'And hits heavy,' Rollan said. 'I still couldn't get it to swing the last time we did that.'

'I could,' Meilin said triumphantly. 'And so could Conor and Abeke. I mean, not as much as Tarik, or Lishay, but pretty hard already.'

'You did well indeed,' Lishay agreed.

'And Rollan, you could get some movement in it, more than the first time,' Tarik said.

'As if that's so difficult,' Rollan muttered, but he did look a bit happier.

So that was it this time. How did you find it? I have summer vacation by the way so I can (probably/hopefully) update more often. But we'll have to see how it goes. I will try to update the next chapter soon. Well, review to let me know what you think, and for the rest... bye!