Hey, I know that this fandom is kinda empty, so I'm going to add another story! The premise of this story is that, while I have read a few stories that had the idea 'what if Rollan didn't get the Nectar' i had the idea, what if he got it a year before he did in canon. This will be a multi-chapter story, I'm not currently sure how many chapters there will be, but I'm thinking I'm going to be posting a new chapter weekly. Please let me know what you think!

One last thing: If you are reading this story, please go check out my other Spirit Animals stories! The most recent one (not counting this one) needs input on what I should do for the second chapter. I have a few options, but I'm not sure what way to go...

Anyways, I hope you like the beginning of this story!

-owl

Rollan was not sure what to make of the rumors that children his age (barely eleven) were being taken off the streets and then showing up in orphanages the next day. According to the rumors, no harm was being done to the children, and they often stayed in the orphanages afterwards. Rollan would rather die than return to an orphanage.

None of his friends had been 'collected' yet. Red and Digger were too smart to get caught by city officials, and Smarty had been doing an exemplary job of following their example. Rollan, however, had been getting sloppy recently, and there had been quite a few near-misses. He could only hope his luck held out until the city gave up on their project — whatever it might be.

As it turned out, his luck ran out, and his hope was quick to follow. He had been scrounging around near the market and had gotten distracted by some of the food stalls. It had been so long since he had had anything warm. He wasn't going to steal anything, though. But, so as to take away the temptation, he went to leave the market. The next thing he knew, he walked right into one of the militia.

Oops.

His head bounced off the man's armor and he fell to the ground, landing hard on his backside. The man looked down, a calculating expression on his face. Before Rollan could say anything, though, the militia man had his mind made up.

"You're coming with me," the burly man said, grabbing Rollan tightly by the upper arm. He pulled him up and began to walk. As they walked, the guard muttered to himself, "You look to be the right age."

Rollan had no idea what that meant, but there was no way of getting away at this point.
"Where are you taking me?" he asked.

"Doesn't matter."

"You sure make riveting conversation," Rollan snarked back.

The man glared at him and the rest of the journey was spent in silence. At one point, Rollan saw Red and Digger in an alley. They watched him pass with wide eyes, but did nothing to draw attention to themselves.

He was dragged halfway across the city, no one interfering, just watching as he was moved along. As Rollan was dragged up the steps into city hall, the militia man handed him off to a young-looking Greencloak.

She was not much taller than him, Rollan noticed. Her black hair reached her shoulder and was chaotically curley. Her dark skin and eyes announced her Niloan heritage. There was a dark mark on one of her cheek bones. Her spirit animal, maybe?

"What's your name? Have you been given the Nectar yet?" She asked.

Rollan shook his head. "Rollan. And, no, I haven't."

"Then you will be receiving the Nectar of Ninani," she said as she led him through the building. "In Concorba's attempt to reduce bonding sickness, they have been rounding up kids your age and giving them the Nectar." She stopped talking for a moment as they approached the end of a hallway and ushered him into a room.

"What will happen to me after this is over with?" Rollan asked before she could resume her train of thought.

"If you summon a spirit animal, you may join the Greencloaks. If you choose not to, or don't summon one, you will be placed in one of the orphanages in the city."

Rollan grimaced at the thought of returning to an orphanage, then looked around the room. Though small, there was a high ceiling, giving the impression of being bigger. Near the ceiling, windows ringed the room, letting in shafts of sunlight. In the center of the room stood a simple table, and on it was a bottle full of liquid. It had to be the Nectar.

The Greencloak looked sheepish as she turned back towards him after closing the door. "I apologize, as much as it is assumed that there is a better chance of summoning if there are animals present, the only one that will be here for you is Kyron." She moved her head slightly and the mark disappeared from her cheek as a monkey appeared on her shoulder.

Rollan watched the monkey —Kyron — warily as the Greencloak approached the table and grabbed the bottle from it. Kyron never took his eyes off him.

Then it was time for Rollan to drink the Nectar. The woman lifted the bottle to his lips and let him take a small sip. He took a half step away as she removed the Nectar. Then he fell on his knees. The building rumbled, and Rollan was concerned that there was going to be an earthquake. The sunlight streaming through the windows suddenly seemed to dissipate, and there was a flash of light and everything returned to normal.

Now there was a falcon in the room, her powerful wings sending gusts of air through the room as she flew. Her feathers were brownish gold, white speckling the breast. She gave one quick, piercing, screech and landed on Rollan's shoulder.

For a second, Rollan could see miniscule details around him. The porous walls, the intricacies in the wood grain of the table, the woven fiber of the green cloak the woman was wearing. Then his vision returned to normal.

"That's —" the Greencloak said in a hushed tone. "That's Essix." Then she seemed to come back to reality and as she rushed out of the room, she called back to Rollan. "Stay right there, I'll be right back!"

Then Rollan and Essix were alone. Rollan chose to use the time to think. He could honestly say, never in his life had he thought that he would summon a spirit animal. Now his options stood that he could either join the Greencloaks or be placed in an orphanage.

His thoughts were broken when Essix flapped her wings, as though saying, 'pay attention to me.' She was watching him closely, her sharp eyes tracing what seemed like every miniscule feature on Rollan's face.

Rollan was reaching up to touch her wing when the young Greencloak reentered the room. Behind her stood a tall man with dark hair and an otter sitting around his neck.