Chapter 2







"Wake up! Time to get a move on!" After two days of

traveiling they had come to a nearby village. Today

the Bear was going to go to the town center and look

at some of the other children that wished to become a

Shang.



Alanna walked into the Square behind the Bear and took

a seat on the nearby waterfall. The Bear walked up and

down the line of children and told a few to stand near

Alanna, to the rest he said they could all go home.

For the remaining seven or so he showed them the same

move that he had showed Alanna. For the next hour he

spent time with the children and everso often sent one

home. By the time he was done with all his testing, he

had two remaining, He told those two that they would

be leaving the next day and to say goodbye to their

parents.

The next morning the two children with their horses

and other things were waiting out side of the inn

where the Bear and Alanna were staying. As soon as

the Bear and Alanna had their gear in place and the

horses were saddled they set off on the last leg of

the trip.



On the way to the school, Alanna began to get to know

her two companions. The boy was named Travis. He was

six and his father was the local medal smith. The girl

Elizabeth, of Beth as most people call her, was also

six and her father and mother ran the local tavern.

For the next few days they got to know each other well

enough that some would even call then friends. That

night The Bear told them they would be at the school

at around noon the next day.



Alanna stayed awake that night and thought of all the

adventures she would have once she became a Shang. She

fell asleep and had pleasant dreams the whole night.



When Alanna arrived she couldn't help but think how

big it was. It wasn't that tall but there were a lot

of buildings. They were shown to their rooms and

Alanna was paired with Beth, and Travis had the room

next door. For the rest of the day the Bear showed

Alanna and the other children around until it was time

for dinner.



At dinner Alanna, Travis, and Beth were introduced to

the rest of the students who were training at the

moment. The three took a seat at a half-empty table

and started to eat. One person at the table look over

and smiled while saying "What a bunch of babies they

won't even last the first week with out going home and

crying to their mommies" The group at the other end of

the table started to laugh.



Another student walked up behind them and looked at

the newcomers. "Welcome to Shang" She said as she held

out her hand. Alanna shook it "I'm Rachel, I'm the one

in charge of you for the next week, just until you get

the hang of where everything is and the schedule."



For the next week Alanna woke up and performed tasks

like cleaning the older Shang's rooms and washing the

bathrooms and tables. After a month, of this she began

to learn other thing like how to speak other

languages, and when the noon bell rang she began to

learn hand to hand fighting. When she mastered the

basics, she began to learn harder skills and started

to learn how to handle other weapons. The first

weapons she mastered was the staff she spent three

months being drilled on it until she could do all the

moves in her sleep



Thanx to all ya'll who have helped me- Feirysong

And Satrn68 t(he one who thinks she is the

cute one!)