The great gates of Myroom, the Land of Light, stood tall and majestic in the fading light of dusk. Beyond, the sound of dulcet music could just be heard, and below that, the low rumble of the city, like the growl of a hundred bears in their hunting grounds. The gates stood unguarded, at least from this side, although there could be no doubt that innumerable protections waited within.

Standing a fair distance from the great gates was Maul. Sir Maul, technically, although the surly ursine eschewed the title. Such honorifics never meant much to him. He was here to do a job, to fulfill a duty. His entire life had been uprooted, just like that, in an instant. But his queen had spoken, and that was that. That was what had led him here. That was what had created this situation. That was why Maul had become Sir Maul, and why Sir Maul had become Ambassador Maul.

As the muscular, brown, bear form of Maul flexed unconsciously in the cool night air, he spent just a few moments, and not for the first time on this journey, contemplating the significance of that title. His queen had offered him like a present to a foreign dignitary, apparently a queen in her own right, and the foreigner had accepted. He was to serve as an ambassador between the two queendoms. Maul was a hunter and a fighter. He was no ambassador. He was no diplomat. And while he was no wordsmith, he could not help but notice how similar the word “Ambassador” was to the word “Embarrassed.”

Maul shook his head, alternatively aggravated by his new position in life and his own attitude toward it. This was an honor, he told himself. His queen loved and trusted him, and she was entrusting him with a great task. Was it difficult leaving the home he had known for nearly all his life? Of course. But Maul was a strong bear, and tough, and he could always be counted on to do what he could for the good of the queendom, for his family, and his friends. All of which, he realized, he might never see again.

With a heavy sigh, Maul closed his eyes tightly. This, this strange land beyond these gates, was his home now. He was, after all, Ambassador Maul. With one final flex of his muscles, he finally strode forward and approached the gate. It was massive, far larger than his own impressive frame. Maul, naturally, would never admit to being intimidated by anything or anyone, but these gates were huge, at least as big as those into his home city and the city of his queen. For such a strong and powerful bear, Maul felt decidedly small in that moment.

Casting aside his uncharacteristic apprehensions, Maul walked up to the gate and, with his great paw, knocked. There was a long moment’s wait before finally the gate swung open. On the other side stood two bears, one a light brown in shade, the other a bright pink. Maul blinked three times in succession at the strange appearance of the latter bear. There were, of course, strange creatures in the land he came from, but he had never once seen a bear with pink fur. Before he could say anything, though, the light brown bear spoke, her voice like honey.

“You must be Ambassador Maul. It is an honor to meet you!”

Momentarily distracted, Maul failed to notice as the pink bear launched herself at Maul. Maul tensed in defense, but it was too late. Had it been an attack, he would have instantly been in trouble, but it wasn’t. The pink bear wrapped him in a big hug and embraced him as if they had known one another for years. Maul had a moment to think about the word “embraced,” and how, like “Ambassador,” it sounded suspiciously like “embarrassed,” before the light brown bear spoke again.

“We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival, Sir Maul. The Queen sent word that you would be arriving, and we have prepared a place of honor for you, if you would follow us.”

The pink bear broke the hug and smiled at Maul, who did his best to return it, though it likely looked more like a snarl. Maul’s home had been a wild place, and the apparent order and civility of this new queendom was an alien landscape to him. But these two guards, if so they were, seemed genuine enough, and besides, Maul had sworn to his queen that he would do his best. Being here now, he slightly adjusted that vow. He would try.

The two bears from Myroom talked incessantly as they led Maul from the gates and deeper into the city. They passed countless other bears on their path, and at every single one, they would stop and introduce Maul. It was impressive that the guards seemed to know everyone personally. In fact, everyone seemed to know everyone else. Maul thought back to his home, realizing that he knew most if not all of them, as well, though they often did not interact. Everyone had their own place in his queendom, and they rarely moved around in other circles. Here, though, it seemed as though people were constantly in motion.

After a very long walk and far too many meetings with new people, they finally arrived at a massive structure unlike anything Maul had seen in years. At first, Maul assumed it was some sort of building or cave, because close to the ground, it seemed like there was a wide entrance, but the guards did not make a move towards it. Instead, they directed Sir Maul to look upwards. The structure was three or four times taller than he was, but seated atop the large structure was, for lack of a better term, a giant.

Maul stared up in shock. This giant was almost as tall as his own queen, and Maul had rarely if ever seen others of her kind. Surely, this must be the queen of Myroom. Maul thought on this for a long moment. Were all the queendoms ruled by giantesses? Had an ancient race of giants divided the entire world amongst themselves in some long-distant past, and these were the remnants? There were so many questions, and Maul had no answers, though it hardly mattered. He was here now, and this was his new home.

The Ambassador looked at the two guards for a cue on etiquette. Where he was from, everyone respected the queen for her strength, although his queen had never been one for needless ceremony. In other queendoms, Maul assumed, queens demanded more reverence. But when he looked to the guards, they were neither bowing nor kneeling. The pink one, in fact, was waving! She waved excitedly at the queen, but, more surprising, is that the queen waved back! Maul scratched the back of his head, curious about this strange land and its odd customs.

Maul expected some sort of brief formal introduction and then maybe a short address as to his duties, followed by being quickly ushered away and shown to his quarters. Instead, though, the queen reached down off the large structure and, in a shocking moment, scooped Maul up and hoisted him up to her. She held him up like a child and showed him the entire queendom of Myroom in a slow sweep. It occurred to Maul that as she was showing him the queendom, she was simultaneously showing him to the queendom. He was, again, embarrassed, but not nearly as much as when the queen turned him around and gave him a big hug.

After a short time, she let him go, and Maul stammered out an introduction. “It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty.”

“You, too!” The queen said. “But please, call me Aloise! I’m so glad that Daneera sent you here. You’re going to have so many new friends!”

Maul turned his head away slightly at the attention, but the queen giggled.

“Everyone’s going to love you. Don’t be…emBEARrassed!”

“Well, what do you think?” Aloise asked.

Beryl, who was holding Aloise’s homework, looked back up at her girlfriend. “It’s cute. This is the short story you have to write for Lorekeeper’s class, right?”

“Uh huh!” Aloise said. “Did you like it?”

“I did,” Beryl said. “I like that you made yourself a character. And a queen, at that!”

Aloise giggled. “Yeah. I mean, I’d think of myself more like a president or something, but I thought it worked for the story. Did you like Maul?”

Beryl nodded. “He really seemed like, well, like a bear who came from Daneera’s. Speaking of which, though, do you really think you should use her name? I mean, we did promise…”

Aloise’s face got red instantly, which Beryl thought was tremendously cute. “I didn’t think of that! You’re right, I’ll change that to ‘your queen.’ Daneera would be so mad at me!”

“And, I mean…” Beryl said, hesitantly, “are you…sure…you want to end it with a, well, you know…a pun?”

Aloise grinned. “I thought about that fur a long time! But, even though it gave me paws, I realized that it’s a great ursine of quality than anything else!”

Beryl grabbed Sir Maul, who was sitting on the bed next to them, and threw him at Aloise’s face. “Stop it! I can’t bear anymore!”

Aloise laughed. Beryl laughed. Sir Maul, definitively, did not laugh.

Erik Sylvaine took a long, overdramatic sigh as he looked over the unhappy class. After a long moment, he said, “So…what have we learned?”

“Alright, class, everyone settle down," Erik Sylvaine said as he walked into the Family Living classroom. “We have quite the week ahead of us here.”

“Mr. Sylvaine?” Rimarra said as she raised her hand.

“Yes?”

“What’s with these dolls? They’re kind of creepy.”

The rest of the class murmured their agreement. Erik smiled slightly. “Well, as you know, we have been discussing over the past week or so the various difficulties that come with raising children. This week, you will all get to experience those difficulties firsthand!”

Lourima raised her hand. “Can I just go ahead and ‘nope’ right out of this right now?”

“I’m afraid not, Lourima,” Erik said. “This is for a grade. Now, on your desks you see the practice dolls. These are pieces of advanced technology designed to, at least somewhat, simulate the process of caring for a child. Each of you will be expected to care for your respective children over this next week.”

“How the **** are we supposed to do that?” Orida asked, once more annoyed that she had been talked into taking this class.

“Every so often, at more or less random intervals, your doll will ‘cry.’ When that happens, you will need to figure out what is wrong. It might be hungry, in which case you will need to feed it with those fake bottles you see there. It might have relieved itself, and you will need to change its diapers. It may be scared, and you will need to comfort it. We will be going over all the things you will need to do here in class today.”

“Oh, this is going to be fun!” Urassaya said, clapping her hands in excitement. “Do we get to quad up and work in fours like a real family?”

“Not this time,” Erik said. “We’re going to try this as single parents first.”

Urassaya raised her hand. “Um, we learned that we shouldn’t have done this as single parent teenagers for our first try?”

Erik frowned. “While I’m sure there is a lesson there, Ms. Vath, many single parents do a wonderful job caring for their children. Besides, I more meant, ‘what were some of the mistakes you students made that the rest of the class might benefit from knowing?’”

“Oh,” Urassaya said sadly. “Well, I guess I’ll go first. I learned two very important things, I guess. First, infants are not ready to fly, and second, my grip is not what I thought it was…”

“Oh, shoot!” Urassaya exclaimed suddenly.

“What’s the matter?” Daneera asked her. They were both in the locker room after gym class, and had just finished changing back into their regular clothes.

“This stupid baby is crying! Again!” Urassaya groaned in frustration. “I swear, mine must be glitched or something. Nobody else’s cries as often as mine.”

“That’s for the Family Living class, right?” Daneera asked. “Yeah, I stayed far away from that one.”

“It’s a fun class, overall, even if it does have a very clear one-or-two parent family bias. But this frickin’ doll is driving me crazy. The worst part is that I forgot the bottle on the other side of campus, and I’ve tried everything else we went over in class. I need to get over there quick.”

Daneera did some fast calculations. “Well, at a good run, you can probably get there and back in about ten minutes.”

“No time! This things already been going for a while. It records how long it cries, you know. Mr. Sylvaine will know!”

“Well, five minutes then, but you’ll have to run with the baby.”

“That will jostle it too much, and still take me five or six minutes…” Urassaya thought for a moment. “I’m going to have to fly with it.”

Daneera gave her an unconvinced look. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“It’ll be fine,” Urassaya said, grabbing the doll by its arm and running for the outside door.

“I thought it would be fine,” Urassaya said. “I was wrong.” She indicated toward the doll on her desk, or more accurately, the wreckage of a doll. “This is going to hurt my grade, isn’t it, Mr. Sylvaine?”

Erik didn’t answer, but he, Urassaya, and everyone else in the room already knew. Instead, Erik turned his attention to the rest of the class. “So, high altitudes do not seem to agree with children. Did anyone else discover anything about children and the environment?”

“I think it’s safe to say that I did,” Ethal said sadly.

“Hey, Ethal,” Gale said cheerfully. “You ready for the meet this weekend?”

“You bet! I’m on pace to break my personal best! Maybe a record or two if I’m really lucky. How about you?”

The two swimmers were at the school’s practice pool, and Gale was already in her swimsuit. “You better believe it. I was just about to do a couple sets. Wanna do’em with me? I could use the competition.”

“You’ve got yourself a race, girl. Let’s do this!”

Just then, a high-pitched whine emanated from Ethal’s duffle bag, causing Ethal herself to groan. “Oh, damn. Hold on a sec.”

Even as Ethal spoke, Gale was already diving into the pool. She warmed up by swimming to the other side and back while Ethal ran through the process. When Gale returned, Ethal seemed frustrated.

“Well, it’s not hungry and it doesn’t need changing. It’s just crying to cry, I guess.”

“Needs comforting, maybe?” Gale ventured.

“Probably, but seriously, I want to swim! And what if this happens at the meet this weekend? This is bull shark.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” Gale said. “You’re a natural swimmer.”

“Yeah, and if I had a child, the kid would be, too,” Ethal said, thinking to herself. “Hmm. Screw it. Let’s swim. I’ll just keep the doll with me.”

“Uhh, do you think that’s a good idea? Isn’t it electronic or something?”

Ethal shrugged. “I’m sure students have given them baths in the past. They undoubtedly made them waterproof. Let’s go!”

“If I could make a note, Mr. Sylvaine?” Ethal said. “Maybe make these things waterproof in the future?”

“Maybe don’t submerge your child for…” Erik looked down at his notes, “…seven minutes next time, Ethal?”

Many of the other students laughed, particularly Orida, who was sitting next to the merfolk and her waterlogged doll. Erik refocused on her next. “And how did things go with your doll, Ms. Vise?”

“Are you even awake, Tack?” Sharaka asked as she landed another combo. “I mean, if you need me to play blindfolded or something, just let me know.”

Orida groaned and she gripped her controller tighter, pounding away on the buttons with her thumb, moving the controller to her left as if they had motion controls. A moment later, Sharaka finished the match with a simple leg sweep, which made Orida scream out her usual profanities.

“Well, that’s five to nothing so far,” Sharaka observed. “Usually you manage at least one or two wins. Parenthood getting you down, Tack?”

Orida stuck her middle finger out at Sharaka, who grinned at her. She then moved her arm to flip off the obnoxious doll that was currently seated at the end of the couch, staring directly at Orida.

“Let’s just do this, Scales! I’ve got you this time!”

“Oh, yeah, I’ve only beaten you five times today, how can I ever hope to do it again?”

“Ahhhhh!” Orida said as she selected her character.

“Are you sure you want to play that one?” Sharaka said with a sly grin. “I mean, I don’t want to tell you your business or anything, but…”

“Just ****ing pick!” Orida yelled.

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Sharaka said with a wink.

Just as the match started, Orida’s doll started crying, and Orida screamed out in frustration. The distraction allowed Sharaka to rush in and finish her off without getting hit once. Orida screamed, then threw her controller, and then threw the doll. When it didn’t stop screaming, Orida rushed over to it and stomped it until it did.

“All things considered, surprisingly ****ing well,” Orida said. “Sorry about the boot prints…”

“The smashed technology is of a bit more pressing concern,” Erik said, “but the sentiment is appreciated, I suppose.” He turned his attention to Rimarra. “Rimarra, what did you learn last week?”

“I learned that children are expensive.”

“Expensive?” Erik said. “This project shouldn’t have cost you anything.”

“Well…”

“Thirty dollars?!?” Rimarra said, incredulously. Kimberley Talon stood there with her arm out, staring unblinking at the other girl. “Come on, yesterday it was ten!”

“Yeah?” Kimberley said. “And yesterday, that thing cried four times total. Today? It ruined my whole flippin’ day. I’m trying to do my poses and katas, and I’m stopping every few minutes to shut that stupid thing up. You can’t just bait and switch me like that! Besides, it’s your project, not mine! I’m not even in that class.”

Rimarra sighed. “Alright, fine, but I’m almost out of money, and I don’t get my allowance until Sunday. Will you watch it again today for twenty?”

“No way. I’m out,” Kimberley said. “Get yourself another sucker.”

“Oh, come on, Kimmy! I thought this kid was going to be fun, but it’s just soooo annoying! You’ve got to help me out just one more time!”

“You don’t need to tell me it’s annoying!” Kimberley said. “Look, Rimarra, I’m sorry, but this is your problem. I’m out.”

Before Rimarra could protest further, Kimberley walked off, leaving the other girl with her annoying baby doll. Exasperated, Rimarra looked around the halls for someone, anyone, who might be willing to take care of the doll so she wouldn’t have to. She had almost given up when her eyes fell on Asher. He was, as usual, standing next to his locker, looking like he was off in his own little world. Rimarra took a deep breath and walked over.

“Hey, Asher, could I ask a favor?”

“Huh?”

“It’s really easy, and I’ll pay you for it.”

“Wha…?”

“Asher? Are…are you with me here?”

“Huh? Yeah, yeah. What’s up?”

“A favor?”

“You need a favor?”

“Uh, yes. Look, I need someone to look after this doll for a while. You would just need to pretend-feed it and change it and stuff.”

“Oh, wow. Is that from Sylvaine’s class?”

“Yeah! How did you know?”

“Oh, I took that last semester,” Asher said. “It was super chill. I liked it.”

“Oh, so you’ve already taken care of one of these! That’s great! Will you watch mine for a while? I’d really appreciate it. And like I said, I’ll pay you!”

“Huh?” Asher said. “Oh, sure. I could use some cash. How about…fifteen bucks?”

“Fifteen?” Rimarra said, thinking. “I suppose fifteen for-”

“For the weekend,” Asher interrupted. “Yeah, fifteen for the weekend seems fair.”

Rimarra stared at him for a while, then nodded enthusiastically. “Deal! Here, here’s fifteen dollars. I’ll get the doll back from you Monday morning. Thanks, Asher!”

“Well, whatever you spent money on,” Erik said, “it didn’t seem to help. According to your doll’s log, you didn’t do anything to take care of it for the entire weekend! No offense, but I haven’t had anyone ignore a doll that long since Asher last semester!”

Rimarra’s face grew red, almost as red as when Asher had pulled the doll out of his locker that morning to give it back to her. Erik looked around at the class.

“Well, this project clearly could have gone better, but hopefully all of you learned a little bit about what it means to care for a child. In the future, though, maybe you should all take a few tips from Ms. Viiran.”

Suddenly, all eyes shifted over to Lourima, who stiffened slightly at the attention. The doll on her desk was the only one in the classroom still completely intact. After a long moment, she slumped. “I knew I should have just taken the ‘F.’”

“Daneera!”

Daneera looked over at Kerik, who she thought was still chopping wood on the other side of the clearing, but was in fact just a few feet away from her.

“What are you yelling for, K?”

“I said your name like six times, Babe. Everything okay? You look a little lost over there.”

Daneera looked down at her hands. They were covered in dirt, which she had rubbed in herself as she was absently rolling a rock around over the past few minutes. She and Kerik had been camping for the weekend. Kerik’s boarding school owned a large tract of woodland that they had not yet expanded the school into, and during the summer months, the students were allowed to go camping if they cleared it with the school. Kerik had, although he had neglected to mention that his girlfriend would be joining him.

After a long moment, Daneera realized that she hadn’t actually answered Kerik. “Yeah, K. I’m good. Need something?”

He walked over to her and sat down. She was sitting beside a tiny stream that ran through the woods, barely more than a creek, just watching it flow. As Kerik plopped down, Daneera shifted her weight closer to his larger frame. He pulled a few blades of grass and rubbed them between his fingers for a long moment, then he looked over at her, his gray eyes soft and searching.

“What’s wrong?” He said.

Daneera stared back. She considered just dodging the question again, but it was hard to deny Kerik when he looked at her like that. So instead, she sighed heavily. “Summer’s almost over, K. I have to go back in just a couple of days.”

Kerik nodded. “Yeah. I mean, we knew it was coming.”

“I know, but it just sucks, you know?” She threw the stone she had been playing with into the stream. “It’s not fair that you’re stuck here!”

Kerik smiled softly. “It’s not that bad. At least you can visit pretty much whenever you want.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same,” Daneera said. “There’s so much cool stuff out there that I want to share with you, friends I want to introduce you to, that kind of thing.”

“I met two of your friends that one time.”

“I’m serious, K! I just want to bring you to the school, even once! You should see the gym, the pool, even the science lab is worth checking out!”

“I know, Daneera, but I can’t. You’re one of the lucky ones. I don’t know if you know how lucky you are.”

She looked at him hard. “I’m not talking about me, K. I’m saying it’s not fair to you! Why do you have to be stuck here?”

Kerik stared for a short time, and then stood up and walked a few feet away. Daneera watched him go and waited, and after a while, he spoke again.

“You know, Daneera, sometimes I wish we weren’t real.”

“Huh?”

He sighed. “You know, like, characters in a movie, or in a book or something.”

“Kerik, what does that have to do with anything?”

“It’s just that, those characters always seem to know exactly what to say. You know, some guy’s girlfriend is upset, and the guy says this perfect thing to make her feel better. I wish I could do that. I wish I had something to say that would make you feel better. I really do. But I’m not good with words. I just want you to not be sad.”

Daneera was on her feet before she knew it, and her arms were around his neck before either of them could blink. They embraced for a time, and then she kissed him. After a moment, she broke away.

“I’m not sad, K. Not exactly. I just want to share it all with you.”

Kerik shrugged. “Maybe I chose not to have those things.”

“What do you mean?”

“Before we were born, maybe,” he said. “Like, maybe before I was born, I was told only one of us could have all that luck. Because if that happened, I’d have said to give it to you.”

She stared, then shook her head. “Well, if you did, that was dumb, okay?”

Kerik laughed. “Look, Daneera. Honestly, I don’t need all of that. Sure, this school kind of sucks, and sure, I would love to leave, but it’s okay. Really, it’s okay. I have everything I want.”

“Like what?”

“Like you,” he said. “Sure, not all the time, but enough for now.”

“But there is so much time that we lose,” Daneera said. “So much time that we don’t have each other.”

“Maybe we don’t, but we’ve got today, Daneera. We’ve got tonight. And we’ve got tomorrow.”

Daneera smiled and pulled him in close, so their lips were only a finger’s width apart. “Today,” she said, and she kissed him. She broke off and said, “tonight,” and kissed him again. “Tomorrow,” she said again, and kissed him a third time. This was a much longer kiss, until she finally broke that one off, too. “But you are wrong about one thing, K.”

“What’s that, Babe?”

“You know exactly what to say.”

"There you are, **** ****!" Orida stomped angrily in Antony's direction, turning many heads. "You **** lied to me, you **** bitch!"

"It's called acting, Orida, heard of it?" Antony rolled his eyes, unimpressed. "And besides, language."

Sharaka stepped in and put a hand on the kithkin's shoulder, keeping her from exploding. "You know, he has a point."

Antony sized her up, pleasantly surprised, as Orida snarled something about betrayal. "Thank you, Sharaka, cursing is such unbecoming and ineffectual language."

"Exactly," she replied, and stepped closer to him. "You don't call people **** **** when you could tell them what limp gnat-brain, smug snake-heart, festering groin rot, craven waste of air they are," she continued, eerily even, "or that you'd gladly break their spine in five, get off to them being eaten alive by the rats in Takenuma Alley and then piss on their corpse."

Antony opened his mouth to reply, saw the absolute murder in Sharaka's eyes, and thought better of it.

Sharaka took another step, effortlessly towering above Antony. "Now get lost, little ****, before I take yet another page from Raiker's book and show, don't tell."

Antony slowly backed away, not daring to turn his back on the viashino, and broke into a dead run as soon as he got past the corner.

Orida blinked, nonplussed. "...'little ****'?"

Sharaka shrugged. "He's full of it. As the wise quote goes: 'trying to be all fancy and calling someone a “blight on the world” simply has a different energy and weight to it than calling them a **** ****. You wouldn’t use a rapier in the same situation you’d use a folding chair'."

"...yeah."

Sharaka smirked. "You could add some variety to your folding chair storms, though."

Orida flipped her off.

Daneera glanced to her side.

Sharaka had slowed as they got to the main doors of the school, pupils narrowing and hands tensing into claws. Tryst and Gale walked past them, engrossed in a discussion about swimwear. Daneera followed her gaze out in the courtyard - and her blood ran cold.

Three snotty vedalken were cornering a short viashino, eyes downcast and books held close to his chest. He looked familiar? Of course - the shy boy with a light step and a passion for biology she had met while camping two summers ago! He was from Sharaka's tribe, but Daneera never saw them together. His name was... Tialan? No, more like... Taylen?

Her trail of thought were cut short as the vedalken shoved Taylen behind a corner. Moments later, Raleris put an end to whatever conversation he was having with a very thoughtful Lumina and returned to watching over the courtyard. Daneera's eyes darted up to where she knew the security camera to be, right outside the door.

Daneera jumped in front of Sharaka, putting both her hand firmly on the viashino's chest. "Wait."

Both Tryst and Gale immediately stopped. Tryst's playful smile didn't fade but her gaze sharpened as she scanned the courtyard. Gale frowned and her eyes glazed over, as if she was trying to hear some inaudible melody. There weren't many other students around at this hour - Daneera's friends had waited for her and Raiker's usual overtime.

Sharaka's glare fell on Daneera. She could almost see the viashino's fuse, burning down fast. Daneera had stared into the eyes of many dangerous creatures, and the mounting fury in Sharaka's gaze had the hair on her neck standing in dire warning. Daneera steeled herself. "We're going to help you."

Sharaka stood to her full height, as if daring to say she needed help protecting her kin. "How."

Daneera tugged Sharaka's backpack off her shoulder, still holding the viashino's gaze and forcing her voice level. "Right now you're playing with Orida in the LAN room downstairs. How is Sharaka doing, Gale?"

Gale took the backpack. She looked mildly confused and frustrated, but she replied readily enough. "Wiping Orida out, usual forecast."

Daneera nodded, reaching for dozens of many-legged friends with her magic. "Right. Tryst-"

"Raleris, right?" She tugged down her already alarmingly low-necked top and smirked naughtily. "On it." She strode toward the older man with her characteristic strut.

Daneera raised her arm to the door frame. "I'll take the camera." A small swarm of magical orbweavers climbed out of her sleeve and up the wall, toward the closed-circuit device. "The vedalken will trip down some stairs and get home in embarrassed silence with a few bruises. Taylen will get back safe and sound. There will be no trouble with Vane or nobody else, because nothing serious is going to happen. Is that right, Sharaka?"

Sharaka took a deep breath, the fury in her eyes still burning but focused into a sharp edge. "Nothing too serious."

Daneera couldn't hope for much more, honestly. She stepped aside. "We've got you, Sharaka. See you later."

Sharaka turned the corner and jammed her elbow into the ribs of her largest prey, slamming her tail into his calf as he went down with a breathless gasp. She turned to take care of the rest, and her eyes stopped on Taylen. He was terrified, eyes wide and hands pinned into the wall by a block of ice, but most painful of all, he looked surprised.

He was surprised Sharaka was there for him.

She barely blocked the spell aimed at her head. Half her arm was quickly encased in ice. Sharaka nearly immolated the mage on the spot. She forced the mana in her arm instead and shattered the ice block over his head, knocking him out. Sharaka turned on the last one.

"Wait-!"

She grabbed him by the collar of his expensive shirt and pinned him against the wall, pressing her wrist on his throat so he couldn't call out. She spared a glance to the other preys. Injured, but whole and alive, and likely to stay that way. Good. This is good, Sharaka. Stick to the plan. She rounded on the last vedalken. "Listen to me, you putrid sack of blue ****. You ever speak of this, you ever come near me and mine again, I will bury you. You'll never see me coming. You'll never see anything again," she snarled, breathing smoke in his eyes. "Understood?"

The vedalken opened his mouth. She twisted her wrist, pressing harder. He made a strangled sound, eyes filling with tears, and nodded frantically.

"Good scum," she spat, and kneed him in the stomach. He left the vedalken to puke his soul out and knelt beside Taylen. She breathed a jet scorching hot air on his ice bindings, which immediately cracked. Taylen freed himself and started blowing what warmth he could manage on his hands. Sharaka didn't smell blood on him - she didn't smell anything but fright and surprise, to be honest. She stood back up, avoiding his gaze. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should have known but I didn't, I-"

Taylen hugged her tight, knocking the air out of her beyond his strength. "Th-thank you, Shaka. They… I couldn’t…”

Sharaka's heart clenched. Her hands hovered over his shoulders, feeling unworthy. "It's alright," she croaked, barely forcing words out of her throat. "Go now."

Taylen craned his neck to look at her, confused and hurt. He worried she looked down on him. Forge bless him...

...she owed Daneera an apology.

"My friends are covering for me, Tay," Sharaka managed, "I have to return to them. We'll talk later."

Taylen reluctantly let go of Sharaka, took a deep breath, nodded and quickly vanished into the nearby brush, taking the long - but unseen - way to the tribe grounds. Good thinking. Sharaka turned back to the school, looking for an unlocked basement window as she thought about shame and family.

“Daneera!”

Sharaka looked over at the door of the LAN room when Orida yelled her friend’s name, surprised both that Daneera would be down there and that Orida of all people would yell her name. She smelled the deception a moment too late, though, as Orida used the momentary diversion to land the match-ending blow on the screen. Sharaka exhaled sharply and glared at Orida, who smiled contentedly with herself.

“Hey, guys,” Daneera said as she approached the two players. “Bad timing on my part, I take it?”

“****ing perfect timing, I’d say,” Orida said with a smirk.

“That was real cheap, Tack,” Sharaka said, “but I have to give it to you. ‘Course, you know this means you’re not winning another match today, right?”

Orida glanced over at her friend, stared for a moment, then shrugged. “Worth it.”

“What are you guys up to?” Daneera asked, just to have something to say. She knew the answer perfectly well.

“Playing VITAL,” Sharaka said dismissively.

“The new one?” Daneera asked.

Orida shot her a look over her shoulder, though Daneera couldn’t see her eyes beneath her shades. “The new one? Are you looking at the ****ing screen? You don’t game much, do you birch b*tch?”

“Nice one,” Daneera said, unbothered by the gamer.

“We’re rockin’ retro today,” Sharaka said. “Old school system, OG VITAL. I haven’t played this in years.”

“Oh,” Orida said. “So you’re gonna blame it on rust now, huh?”

“Blame what,” Sharaka said without missing a beat. “My two losses, or my eight wins?”

Orida flipped her off. “The wins are just luck. I’m on a roll now.”

“One win is not a roll.”

“Can’t have a ghostdamn roll without one, can I?”

“Hey, Daneera.”

The young huntress jumped at the small voice from the back corner of the room. She had not noticed Antine sitting back there, apparently watching the other two play. Daneera forced herself to smile at her friend despite her surprise.

“Hey, Antine. How’s it going?”

Antine answered with a small whimper.

“Everything okay?”

“Don’t mind him,” Orida said. “He’s been doing that a lot today.”

“What’s the matter,” Daneera asked.

“Something about the game’s been bothering him,” Sharaka said, still staring at the screen. “Doesn’t like the violence, I guess.”

“No, it’s not that,” Antine said, then leaned in toward Daneera, his long ears folded down. “Daneera, I think I’m freaking out.”

“Why?” Daneera asked. “Are you feeling alright.”

Antine looked around conspiratorially. “Daneera, don’t you see something wrong with the game? Look closely.”

Daneera watched the screen as Sharaka and Orida battled. She had seen the two of them play fighting games like this before, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Orida was playing aggressively, but Sharaka was reading her like a book, and soon won the round, to a small curse from the kithkin under her breath.

“No, not really. Maybe you should go see Kala in the clinic or something.”

“It’s just a ****ing game, Fox-*****. It’s nothing to freak out over.”

“Yeah,” Sharaka agreed. “It’s no big deal.”

Antine whimpered, but he seemed to steel himself. “Well, I mean, who are the characters in the game? You know, who can you pick?”

“It’s the first game in the series,” Sharaka said. “It’s all the original cast.”

“Sure,” Antine said. “But, I mean, your character there. She’s a Viashino with a firebreath attack, right?”

“Yeah,” Sharaka said. “So?”

“And, I mean, isn’t her name…well…Sharaka?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t you think that’s an odd coincidence?” Antine said.

“Not really. It’s a common name.”

“Okay, but…” Antine hesitated, but Daneera urged him on silently. “Orida, I mean, your character is a Kithkin girl with a club. And her name is Orida.”

“Common Kithkin name,” she said as she swept Sharaka’s leg, who jumped backward to avoid it. “What’s your ****ing point?”

“She has black eyes.”

“It’s just a couple of coincidences,” Sharaka assured her.

Daneera’s brow furrowed. “I usually don’t believe in coincidence.”

Orida rushed in at Sharaka, but ate a roundhouse kick to her character’s head that knocked her out and gave Sharaka the round. As the character select screen came up, Antine pointed frantically at the screen, where there were eight small character portraits and eight names.

“Look at that one beside Orida,” he said. “Who’s that?”

Orida glanced over. “That’s Pendulum. Know your **** lore, noob.”

“In canon, he wins the first tournament,” Sharaka added.

Antine ran his paws over his vulpine face. “Don’t you find it a little odd that there’s a character that shares a name with you, AND one that shares a name – and a physical appearance – of your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my ****ing boyfriend,” Orida said, shooting him a dirty look. Antine sunk back slightly. “We just, you know, hang out, and stuff.”

Antine gulped, but still point to the screen. “But, now, what about Beryl!”

“Hey, don’t talk bad about Beryl,” Sharaka said. “She’s a franchise mainstay in VITAL. One of my favorite characters. In fact…” Sharaka moved her character selector off of Sharaka and on to Beryl.

“Well, still,” Antine said, absently rubbing his left elbow with his right paw. “I mean, long dark hair, pyromancer…” he hesitated, “big facial scar. Doesn’t that sound like someone you know?”

“That freshman Scar?” Orida said, rushing into a flame burst from Sharaka. “She’s a centaur, dumb-ass.”

“No, I mean Beryl! You know, Beryl? Our friend? Dates Aloise? We were hanging out with her, like, this morning?”

“Oh, sure,” Sharaka said, backing away from Orida in the game. “Now that you mention it, Beryl does kind of look like Beryl.”

“And back to the character screen, do any of you know Aerik?” Antine asked.

“Of course I ****ing know Aerik,” Orida said, trying to break through Sharaka’s block. “He’s in most of the games, too. His freeze is stupid good if it hits, but it’s easy to avoid.”

“No, not Aerik in the game! Aerik in school! I know he doesn’t hang out with us much, but he’s still our classmate!”

“Oh, yeah,” Daneera said, starting to get a little worried about Antine’s point. “I was in cross-country skiing with him last year.”

“See, this can’t be normal!” Antine yelled. “That’s five characters who have the exact same name, appearance, and powers as students at this school! And the game came out, what, twenty years ago?”

“Thirty,” Sharaka said, unconcerned, as she knocked out Orida again.

“And we’re in high school! It doesn’t make any sense!”

“Maybe our parents liked the game a lot when they were younger,” Orida speculated through gritted teeth.

“How would they know Beryl would get scarred?!?” Antine said. His whole body was shaking now as he seemed to be on the verge of an existential crisis.

“I would not worry about that, young fox.”

“Mr. Venn!” Sharaka yelled. She had smelled him coming, but the distraction made Orida look back in shock. This allowed Sharaka to finish her off with an Immaculate Win. Orida swore loudly, but the newly arrived Raiker ignored her.

“Excuse me, Mr….” Raiker paused and cocked his head to the side. “What is your last name, anyway.”

Antine whimpered. “I don’t think I have one.

“Wait,” Daneera said. “What do you mean, you don’t think you have a last name?”

The young foxfolk shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s never really come up before.”

“Yeah, but you should still know,” Daneera said.

“Well, what’s your last name?” Antine shot back.

“I don’t have one,” Daneera said.

“So how is that any different?”

Daneera shrugged. “Because I know I don’t have one.”

“None of this is important,” Mr. Venn said. “Mr. Antine, I need to have a word with you.”

Antine’s eyes grew wide. “I don’t think that’s a good idea for me.”

“Would refusing be better?” Raiker asked.

Antine slowly shook his head, then looked over at the screen. “Hey, isn’t ‘Raiker Venn’ one of the final bosses in this game?”

Raiker sighed, and then lifted his ornate cane and slammed it down on the ground. Antine, still looking at the screen, scratched his head. “Did you just pause the game, Mr. Venn?”

The image on the screen was not moving. Raiker smiled wryly. “That, and a great deal more.” He indicated toward Antine’s friends. Sharaka and Orida were still sitting on the couch, but neither one was moving. Daneera was looking toward her English teacher with a suspicious expression, but she did not blink. Finally, Antine looked back at Raiker, expecting a cocky smirk. Instead, Raiker was looking at him with something closer to pity.

“I am sorry to say, young Antine, that you are coming dangerously close to a secret. A terrible, horrifying, world-shattering secret. So I need to ask you, young foxfolk, do you really wish to know this terrifying secret?”

Antine thought. For approximately a quarter of a second.

“No. I don’t want to know.”

Raiker stared at him, surprised, and then simply chuckled. “A boring decision, Antine. But undoubtedly wise.” He gripped his cane, gave it a little flourish, and then struck it against the floor a second time. The room was filled by a bright light for a moment, and then Antine blinked awake.

“Umm,” Antine said. “What were we talking about?”

Daneera shrugged. “Something about the game, I think.”

Sharaka chuckled as she knocked Orida’s character out. “I think you were suggesting that Orida play a different game.”

The sound of Orida’s profanities rang through the game room for a few long moments before she gently set the controller down, glared at Sharaka, stood up, walked over to Antine, and started screaming in his face.

“You distracted me, you lousy, **** son-of-a-****! You **** **** dumb-*** **** ****! You **** **** **** ****…”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Daneera said. “Look, why don’t we just hang out and play a completely different kind of game?”

“Sure,” Sharaka said. “I just got this new one. Apparently, it’s based off a novel or something.”

“Oh, yeah?” Daneera asked. “What’s it called?”

“It’s called The War of the Wheel. It’s about-“

“I think I need to go,” Antine said. He was out the door before anyone could stop him.