The worst aspect of being a paladin in training? Waking up before even the sun rises. Ethan Calwood groaned as he rolled out of his bunk. Everything was sore. His muscles would strengthen, said his trainers. Ethan spent his entire life running around forests, which had built up his agility but not his strength. Training with weapons, wearing heavy sheets of plate metal all day, and learning to ride destriers took their toll on Ethan's lanky body.
The young man wearily made his way through the barracks toward the lavatory. He went over to a basin and splashed cold water onto his face. For his entire childhood, he had never been in a bathroom before. Now he felt like he could never live without them. Only upon his arrival to Hearthglen did he finally see himself in a mirror. When he first saw his dirt coverd face and ragged hair, Ethan felt a bit ashamed. Especially when the other trainees mocked him.
Before the others could finish getting ready, Ethan was already dressed and heading out of the barracks. However, he had to briefly stop at his bunk bed. With a swift move he got on his hands and knees and looked underneath the bed. A second later a silvery grey snout popped out and a tongue came out to lick him on the face. Ethan grinned
"You stay out of trouble, little brother. I just barely convinced the quartermaster to let you inside again."
More of a head followed and the face of a hyena looked up at him with gleaming large eyes. Ethan scratched the hyena behind the ears.
"Good boy, Stub. I'll be back by lunch!"
One thing about being a paladin was they admired simplicity. Breakfast was usually simple. That day it was a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, a sliced apple, and hot tea. Ethan scarfed it down quickly and headed out of Hearthglen's keep toward the sparring fields.
Badrinn Hammerstorm was there before his student as always. The dwarf looked up from the book he was reading and saw Ethan coming.
"There ye are, laddie! Punctual as always."
Ethan nodded in acknowledgement but he was never in a talkative mood in the morning. He yawned loudly.
The dwarf put down his book and went over to the weapons racks. He took out two training swords and tossed one to Ethan.
"I think we should focus on defense today, don't ye?" Badrinn suggested, before outright attacking Ethan. The young man might be taller than the dwarf but that did not matter when it came down to skills. Badrinn always enjoyed bruising his students, though he did not do so out of cruelty. Bruises were just brief reminders to learn from your mistakes, he said.
The dwarf swung at Ethan with the sword and the boy parried by catching it with his own. He shoved the sword aside and attacked with his own moves.
"Good! Ye always struggling with parryin'. But focus on yer basics. Hold the sword in the ready position at all times! Move yer right foot back, boy!"
The dwarf's rebukes were not just a way to keep Ethan learning but it was also a way to attempt to distract the student. Ethan had to both listen to Badrinn and also keep himself from being beaten black and blue.
After they finished sparring with swords, Badrinn gave Ethan a brief break. The dwarf was not as orthodox as the other teachers so he would not only teach his students melee weapons, but also ranged weapons. He thought paladins should have a well rounded education.
Ethan was working with a crossbow when he heard snickering behind him. He did not even bother looking back to see who it was. It was usually either Stockley, Durl, and Verril. They were the worst of them, but there were some others that also acted negatively toward him.
Badrinn heard the three sniggering and yelled at them to get back to their sparring. The dwarf smacked Ethan's arm, which the boy had learned quickly was meant to be a gesture of goodwill.
"Don't worra about those immature brats. Ye just get back to work."
Ethan raised his crossbow up and positioned it the way Badrinn told him to. As he aimed and fired, he imagined the target as Stockley's face.
Physical training was not the only thing Ethan had to deal with. He had always struggled to read but had quickly caught up with his peers in the last year of hard studying. Not only did he read in Common, but he was starting to learn Dwarvish and Orcish.
Every Tuesday and Thursday, High Cleric Alphus would teach the trainees all about the Light. Ethan always attended, his arms full of notes and supplies. He needed to know as much as he could. Most of the other students had known about paladins and the Light since childhood. Ethan's history with the Light was scant. He had only heard about it a few months before deciding to become a paladin. But it had just seemed right for him to do. He had heard all about paladins and their great skills at fighting and healing. And he saw a few in action on the road to Hearthglen. At first he had only been going to the Plaguelands because his father had told him to go there, but after seeing a paladin a glow with bright light, he knew why he was sent there.
Ethan did not ever show his peers, but he had once been able to call on the Light. A splinter had pierced Stub's paw and the wound got infected. The young man had not wanted to bother any real paladins with the issue, so one night he got out all of his prayer books and attempted it himself. And it had worked. A faint glow appeared in his hands, less light than a candle might give off, but enough for Ethan to cure Stub's paw.
He did not call upon it again after that. Guilt had wracked him since because first year trainees were not supposed to attempt using the Light. It was supposed to keep the trainees from abusing the Light for selfish purposes. Ethan would never do that, but he was afraid of being tempted.
Sometimes he wondered if any other students had done it yet, but he was not close enough with anyone for that kind of conversation. No, only Stub was his constant companion. He would have been entirely alone if his father had not relented. If Snowfur, a mysterious white haired girl that smelled of snow, had not offered to give him Stub. Back when Ethan went by another name. Grendel.
A mouse scurried along the undergrowth of the forest. It sniffed for any scrap of food it could and looked out for any threats. It was dangerous being in such an open grove, with the pale moonlight streaming down. Close by was a raspberry bush that caught its attention and it made a beeline for those delicious red berries. It did not notice Sapphire sitting on a nearby branch. If it had looked up, she would have been obvious with her bright white plumage and large blue eyes.
Sapphire spread open her wings and launched off the branch. She tried her hardest to keep her flight smooth and silent, but an audible flapping caught the mouse's attention and it dove out of sight. With an angry flapping of her wings, she landed where the mouse had been and made an indignant hoot.
"You did not need to move your wings so much. The air will carry you. Trust it," A deep voice told her.
Bushes moved aside as a great hulking bear entered the clearing. He looked down at Sapphire with an ever stern expression.
Sapphire had not learned how to speak in animal form. Feathers disappeared and she got larger as she turned back into her own very human body. Sapphire pouted.
"I'm sorry, shan'do. Next time I will try better," She said sulkily.
The bear snorted. "Not try. Do better. This owl form seems to be your favorite. Is that right?"
Sapphire perked up and nodded vigorously. She could do two animal forms already but it was the snowy owl she preferred. The power of flying and being able to go just about anywhere is what drew her the most to it. She also had little fear of heights.
"Then you must learn how to be a proper owl," Cerelial demanded. When he first started to train her, months back, Sapphire had been scared of him. He never spoke softly and often lost his temper when she grew distracted. His harsh tactics did work though, because she overheard him once saying to his nephew Lethumo that she was becoming a decent druid. That was very high praise coming from him.
She supposed that was why other druids did not really like him. Lethumo's uncle was not fond of being indoors. Other druids avoided him and indeed the name of his kind of druid did not inspire much comfort. As a savagekin, Cerelial rarely interacted with other people and preferred to stay in his bear form at all times. Only twice had Sapphire seen him as a night elf and the differences between him and other druids was drastic. Even as a night elf, he looked very much like a bear. Thick fur covered his skin. His hands and feet were both clawed like a bear.
Cerelial turned his head to look to the east and snorted. "It will be dawn soon. Go on home."
Even as a bear, Cerelial was still a night elf at heart. Sapphire's classes took place mainly at night, which forced her to sleep most of the days. It was not that bad of an adjustment, but the first few weeks Sapphire had difficulty traversing the forest at night. Arms and legs were crisscrossed with tiny stinging cuts. By the end of each class, leaves and twigs would find themselves into her hair.
Sapphire started to collect her notes and reagents. Unlike her, Rot did not adjust to night learning. He lay passed out on one of her books. She picked up the undead dog and stuffed him into one of her long coat's pockets.
She headed back to Nighthaven. As a place mostly full of night elves, it was busy during the night and especially as dawn approached. Those who stayed up were about to head to bed, and those who had been sleeping were just starting the day. The house that Sapphire lived in with Lethumo, Kiefer, and her father wasn't very big but it was nice. A simple night elven home.
Rot jumped out of her pocket and ran straight into the house. The girl dumped her belongings on the grass out front. No one stole anything in Moonglade. Sapphire turned into an owl again and flew up to the second floor, which was very open and airy. Arthas despised that aspect of the house. Sapphire glided through to the back room, where Arthas sat at a table. She landed on the book he'd been reading.
Arthas reached up and scratched Sapphire's feathery head. She hooted appreciably. With that, she turned around and waddled over to the opposite chair and hopped down. Sapphire transformed back and laid her head on the table.
"I'm so tired..." She moaned. It was true. Cerelial had kept her busy all night with physical labor. From flying around attempting to catch mice, to learning how to defend herself, and having to spent tedious hours collecting rare ingredients from plants.
"I would be too if I spent all night hugging trees and conversing with squirrels," Arthas replied playfully.
Sapphire sat up and puffed out her chest. "I don't talk to squirrels! I terrorize them! I am the great owl of the night!"
One of the bedroom doors creaked open and out came Lethumo, still half asleep. He looked at the two humans.
"I saw her once setting out piles of acorns for them," He said sleepily.
Arthas looked over at her, smiling wryly. Sapphire huffed. "That was bait!"
"I believe you fully," Her father remarked sarcastically.
Sapphire folded her arms, suddenly distressed at the teasing. Her night had been long and she was tired. It seemed Arthas could sense that so he held his hands up to humor her.
"Fine, fine. Why don't you go to bed, great terror of the skies?"
The girl nodded, then held her arms out as he rose out of the chair. He rounded the table and proceeded to hoist her into his arms.
"One day you will be too big for me to do this," He grunted. Sapphire wrapped her arms around his neck. She doubted that. He was so big and tall meanwhile she was tiny. She tried to nestle her head against him but she nearly poked him with one of her antlers. While she remained small, her antlers had grown. They were nearly half a foot tall now, with two clear points on either antler.
Arthas took her to her room and dropped her onto it.
"Good night," He said before leaving. Sapphire hissed at him.
"No! You forgot. What am I to you?"
She saw his hand tighten on the doorknob, knuckles whitening with tension. He looked back at her.
"Seriously?"
Sapphire nodded eagerly, willing to stay up all day and annoy him until he said it. She grinned maliciously when he hung his head and sighed.
"Fine. Good night, my crown jewel. When you die, its going to be painful," He added that last sentence with a dark tone.
The girl did not care. She flung herself back onto the bed and cocooned herself into her blanket. Though the two of them still had problems, it had gotten better. Sapphire did not flinch as much when he came near her and he let her get away with little things. Like the nickname. Lethumo always called her little saber cub, and Kiefer always addressed her as princess, but Arthas had never assigned her any other moniker. To him, she was Sapphire. So she came up with crown jewel herself and forced him to use it. Sometimes he needed reminders however.
