I don't really have much to say other than I hope you enjoy the chapter! Oh, and the chapter I will be posting next Sunday is the last one I have already written.

-owl

The first day of training had arrived. Training for what, Rollan still wasn't quite sure. He had gotten one day after arriving at Greenhaven to explore and get to know some of the people he would be interacting with often. Now he had to get down to business. Tarik had told him to join Lucette's intro level training class. Rollan didn't really remember what it had been called.

When he had woken up that morning, a letter was sitting on the side table in the common room. It read that he was to report to the training room in the west wing of the fortress. It didn't say at what time he was needed, though, so Rollan was just hoping that he wasn't needed at dawn.

After dressing for the day and grabbing the gray traveling cloak, Rollan made his way to the kitchens to find food to eat. Essex flew behind him as he navigated through the halls. Upon entering the room, he was greeted by the smiling faces of three cooks he had met the previous day at lunch.

"Good morning, Rollan," the head cook said, setting down a pan she had been washing.

He returned her smile, still amazed that people other than his life-long friends were happy to see him. "Morning, Jan. Is there anything left over from breakfast? I need to eat. then I think I might be late for training with Lucette."

One of the other two cooks laughed and pulled out a plate with a piece of toasted bread and an egg on it. "Tarik warned us you could be a little late. You might need to run though, Lucette is a very nice girl, but she will NOT be happy with you if you're late."

Rollan gave them a cheeky grin and ran from the room. He took a few turns through the halls as fast as he could go. Quickly that turned out to be a mistake. After only three turns he had gotten himself lost.

"Crud," he muttered to himself. Now he was going to be late for sure, and he couldn't find anyone to help him. Rollan was ready to sit down and give up, not wanting to get more lost when he heard a clicking sound coming from the end of the hall.

The black, white, and brown face of Bryer turned the corner and approached him. He barked once, a short, happy yip. Every step he took was accentuated by the clicking sound of his nails on the stone floor.

Once he was close enough, Rollan reached out and patted the dog's head. "Did Lucette send you to find me?" he asked.

In response, Bryer licked his hand and grabbed the corner of the traveling cloak and began pulling him down the hallway. Rollan laughed and followed the dog.

Five minutes later they stopped at a closed door. Bryer nudged it twice with his nose and Rollan took that as his cue to open the door. The door was solid wood, and quite heavy. The handle was an iron knob that was cool to the touch.

Inside the room was Lucette and a group of two boys and a girl around his age. They all turned to him as he entered. The girl and the taller of the two boys looked to be from Zhong. Both had dark eyes and black hair, beside them were a red panda and a tiger. Rollan couldn't tell the nationality of the other boy, his eyes were blue like a typical Eruan, but his facial features looked to be Niloan, as well as his skin being darker. Beside him was a coyote.

"Sorry I'm late," Rollan said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarrassment. "I, er, got lost."

Lucette laughed softly. "We figured, but don't worry, we waited for you. This is Kali, Taika, and Caleb. They have been training with me for just over a month now."

Rollan nodded to the three kids, unsure what to do or say. Luckily, fate was on his side this morning, or rather, Essix was on his side. She swooped in and landed on the arm of a training dummy, nearly unbalancing it, just as the silence was beginning to get awkward, drawing the attention of Kali, Taika, and Caleb.

As she preened her feathers, seeming to enjoy the attention of the kids, Rollan bent down to Bryer's height. He patted the dog's head a few times. "Thank you for finding me, I was going to be lost the rest of the day otherwise," he whispered to him.

Then he glanced around to make sure no one had heard him. He had his 'tough guy' reputation to create at Greenhaven, and couldn't risk losing any chance of it not even taking hold. Luck was with him, no one was close enough to him to hear his whispering.

Rollan's first training class with Lucette went fairly well. He surpassed the other students in things like close quarters hand to hand combat. However, he didn't do nearly as well in other things such as archery and fighting with weapons bigger than a small dagger. Overall the main thing he picked us was that the other three kids in the class had much better relationships with their spirit animals than he did.

Speaking of spirit animals, Essix shrieked and launched herself from Rollan's arm into the sky. Unlike her normal disappearing act, she hovered in front of him. Her head turned to look at him, and Rollan got the feeling she wanted him to follow her.

Holding on to that feeling, Rollan was quick to catch up with her. Once she saw him following her, Essix began to lead him across Greenhaven fortress. Rollan chased after her through hallways and up staircases. By the time she stopped and perched on a candle holder at the top of a staircase, Rollan was panting.

Essix tilted her head at the door she was in front of, and Rollan opened it and followed her through it.