Breakfast had found itself fighting against a wave of nerves currently growing larger in Isak’s stomach before the first class of the day at the start of actual lessons rather than simply a welcome party. Not helping matters in the slightest was none of Isak’s new friends were going to be in that first class with him, instead having it at other times of day.

“You took ‘Basics of Familiar Utilization and Bonding’ first thing in the morning?” Zyn let a slight frown show as he gulped down some juice.

Isak gave a shrug, nerves growing slightly. “Well yeah...is that bad?”

“My brother also had that as his first class. Says it was like dunking your head in ice water to wake up, which mind you he was actually a fan of. It was great growing up because he never used any hot water in the mornings!” Zyn was all too happy about this as he munched on a final piece of toast. “It was kinda hard for me to not pick up a frost spell when the guy was all about ice. It’s why he’s now an accomplished explorer of Yohuixtlan. And also why my sister-in-law is a frost troll!”

Xoco poured a bit more nectar into a saucer for Nelli to slowly drink from in a rare moment of not using the jungle troll as a reliable tree to hang on. That last tidbit caught her attention though as she set her feathered serpent down. “Really? Some of your family are trolls?”

“As of about 3 years ago, yes! And as of about 7 months from now that will be even more true!” Zyn said as Tonauac saw fit to silently yet quickly take notes on this revelation.

Isak held up a hand. “Uh, I don’t mean to interrupt that bit of happy news but can we go back to the part where I apparently signed up for the morning cold shower?”

“It’s one of the more...intensive classes, so it should wake you right up if you’re not already. But you’ve got Vidal so everything should be fine!” Zyn reassured his friend as the large rock man stood on guard while his master ate, turned ever so slightly towards Tonauac as though he was expecting another “cultural misunderstanding”.

Isak bit his lip, wincing a bit. “I just put that first because at the time, I had a rock that was not the coolest familiar so I wanted a fast way to try and figure out how to not be the laughing stock of the school.”

“No no, I get it.” Xoxo finished the last of her eggs for breakfast. “I dove right into Intro to Magical Linguistics. First class of the day! And then my roommate tells me that that’s the time slot with the…’rough around the edges’ professor.”

She made air quotes and the worry was as plain in her voice as it was in her eyes. Isak pat her on the shoulder with some effort, having to strain, reach, and stand up ever so slightly from his seat. “All in the pursuit of dreams and aspirations right?”

The jungle troll was able to give a smile uninterrupted for 2 whole seconds before Tonauac finished taking notes to finally chime in. “Exactly! Which is why I took Intro to Dueling!”

All present at the table, familiars included, shot him a surprised look. Even his own vulture familiar managed a blank stare. Seeing the surprised looks, the lizardfolk continued. “As it turns out, Basics of Magical Healing was just completely unworkable on these days. So I think to myself, ‘What better way to get healing practice than to get beat up and learn from experience?’ Well there are better ways, but that class comes later in the week!”

The table utterly failed to hide the looks of concern, which Tonauac took in stride. Ozzy stopped caring the quickest as he slunk across the table to capture a final oyster from Zyn who was trying to keep him from eating too fast.

“Tonauac.” Isak said as calm as he could. “I just made some friends, I’d like it if none of them had self-preservation instincts lower than my own...hey wait a minute, Zyn this is supposed to be your job!”

The drow nearly fell out of his chair laughing, scooping up Ozzy as he moved to stand and make his way to his first class. “No take backsies!” He said before racing off with his dirty plates to the kitchen drop off.

Isak groaned, rolling his eyes as Xoco stifled a laugh. “To be clear, cool experiments with mysterious familiars is of course still fine. Just...maybe don’t go looking for actual fights?” He said to Tonauac.

“Oh of course not! The fights will be coming to me as part of classes!” Tonauac’s vulture, Patli, snatched the last morsels of food from his plate as he got up to leave.

The remaining two had classes much closer to the main hall, and were afforded a bit more time before needing to run off to first classes.

“I’m holding you to the minimum amount of fun promise.” Xoco finally broke the silence to lightly elbow Isak, which Vidal had been carefully instructed was not a hostile action.

Isak cracked a smile. “Hey we still have that astronomy class together. That should be out of this world!”

Perhaps too coincidentally, Nelli snorted after having finished her saucer of nectar before flying up to retake her place on Xoco’s shoulders. A task made far more difficult as Xoco was still tickled and laughing from having someone to cater to her sense of “humor”. After Nelli had settled in, and been given scritches, Xoco pulled a pocket watch from her book bag before clicking her tongue at the time. “Enjoy your classes? At least there will be a friendly face to make Astronomy less...upsetting?”

Isak returned her own uneasy smile with his own, standing with her as he finished the last bite of his meal and suddenly found himself having to crane his neck even further up. “Yeah! You too! Hard to stay upset with your face! Not...not that such a thing would be a thing. I mean- your face would- enjoy your classes bye!”

The human waved, turned, and left before Xoco was capable of seeing him turn even more red. No sooner than he had dropped off his plate and silverware was he shooting glances over his shoulders, looking around the emptying main hall in every hiding spot he could see. Isak was certain that Zyn would have been hiding in a trash can or something to witness that painful fumble, but after the dozenth worried glance over his shoulder he felt confident that it was only Xoco who would remember that. And his own mind whenever it decided to replay all his past mistakes.

A worry for another time, he thought, as he power walked across campus on cobblestone walkways cutting through tallgrass fields that were just maintained enough to give them that local flavor without looking like a mess.

His class on Familiars was located at the corner of a large building, mostly consisting of a covered amphitheater overlooking a field. As he found a seat towards the back, Isak couldn’t help but be reminded of an arena for sports, with the necessary modification of desks as opposed to just seats, at least on the one occasion his family had saved up enough for the cheap seats. The field itself had well manicured short grass and red dirt, with various bits of sporting equipment and obstacles set up throughout the green and red expanse.

Most other students had already found their seats and accompanying spaces for their familiars, if needed. Those with the largest found seating near the ground level, including one student with an actual dragon. The student was a bugbear of dark gray fur, and their dragon a complimentary burnt orange. All typical sense of giving dragons a wide berth gone as many other students seemed eager to ingratiate themselves to the bugbear lad, and he seemed more than comfortable with the attention as the final students took filtered in and found seats.

Which included the last few who had no choice but to sit close to Isak, who had been more and more aware of most students trying their best not to get too close to the never before seen elemental rock man accompanying the pale human. Isak wondered if that was all on Vidal, or just because humans seemed to be rare here, as he had only seen a few other humans and each looked to be from a different continent.

His musings were put on hold as the professor finally strode up to the podium that had thus far been standing awkwardly alone just at the edge of where the field met the amphitheater. He appeared to be a middle aged mantisman carrying only the smallest of books in one of his seven-clawed hands. The professor seemed to be going all in on the color blue with a deep blue carapace and a sky blue dress shirt and slacks in the mantis style. Only by the time that one got down to his ‘boots’, at least what mantispeople would call boots, did his wardrobe suddenly remember that other colors exist and settle on a well worn brown. Bright yellow eyes set in his head stood in stark contrast to the rest of him yet managed to look as welcoming as possible.

“Hello and welcome, dearest students!” His voice was multilayered and reached even the upper desks with little problem, even the slight trill buried in his speech just barely reaching Isak’s ears. “You may all call me Professor Manoka! I see we have a particularly wide variety of familiars to be learning with this year!”

Isak felt his eyes linger on him for a second as he said that, vertical blink seemingly confirming that as the human wondered if this was a good thing or bad thing. At the very least, the professor seemed quite jovial.

“Now, before we get started- and already we have our first question! How bold!” Despite not being capable of a smile in the traditional sense, the professor’s voice maintained its amiable tone even as a goblin girl raised a small hand into the air near the front row.

Even from Isak’s roost in the back, she already looked to be regretting her choices as she recoiled a bit at the mantisman moving from his spot at the podium to approach her.

“Y-yes professor uh...where is…your familiar?” She asked in the smallest voice she could manage while still being audible.

Isak had read about the strange laughs of mantispeople, really more of a high pitched singing trill, but it did little to prevent him from being caught off guard and flinch a bit at the strange sound. Many other students in the class had similar reactions, chiefly the black haired goblin girl now trying to melt into her seat.

“Wonderful question!” He pointed to her with two arms for emphasis, and there at the end of his lower right arm a small creature phased out of invisibility clinging to his appendage. He held his palm up and the small blue scaled creature with a long tapered snout and curling tail scurried into it, using its new perch to stare at the bemused class and sniff the air. “This is Nsanza, azure pangolin and she will be helping me with an important demonstration! Some of my colleagues would have you believe otherwise, but the spell of unity will be the greatest tool in the arsenal of a wise mage! With it, I may see as Nsanza sees. Hear as she does, smell as she does. Which is sometimes to my disadvantage as her sense of smell is quite powerful! But I digress. Senses are shared between mage and familiar, telepathic communication is possible, and with advanced skill you may remotely cast spells through them!”

The professor set the azure pangolin down on the podium as he walked out from behind it to address the class. “All of this will depend on your skill with this spell as well as the bond you have with your familiar. To establish a learning trajectory for each of you, I will be calling you one by one to the field to conduct a short series of tests and determine your bond level. Do not fret! There are no wrong answers, only opportunities for improvement! You may talk amongst yourselves so long as you keep the noise level down. Don’t try to find out where the ‘too loud’ line is!” Even that final warning was delivered in a way that made determining how much of a threat it was to be difficult at best.

Students were called up alphabetically by last name to complete a number of tests that seemed to be adapted to fit any number of familiars. Flying familiars even got a series of illusory rings conjured into the air to pass through at the command of their mages. After each short task, Professor Manoka would ask the student a few questions though to Isak they were inaudible from back here over the low buzz of other students' conversations around him. Conversations that had thus far not included Isak, though that may have been from him not knowing anyone here, or from Vidal still being too intimidating of a guardian. Even as the bugbear and his dragon failed to scare off any conversations and actually seemed to be an obvious center of attention.

Isak told himself it was for his benefit, as it let him study how the trials were playing out. They all followed a simple pattern of instructions whispered to the student, the student giving orders to their familiar, and then a few questions asked to the student. Obstacle courses of varying sizes were the main trials for the familiars themselves, up to and including a small tabletop course for the most diminutive familiars right next to the gauntlet of large obstacles for the largest of magical companions.

Having the last name of Moreno put him in almost exactly the center of the hour and a half long class, steeling himself with a smile and making his way down the steps to the field as the goblin girl who had gone before him and the previous center of unwanted attention gave him a thumbs up as she passed.

“Ready Moreno?” The professor asked, standing at least a head over the human as he gestured to stand before him.

Isak nodded. “I hope so, sir.”

The mantisman nodded, making a series of complex hand gestures as he uttered a spell of Analytic Sight Isak didn’t recognize. He leaned in to whisper to the human. “First, have him zig zag through those bamboo poles, touch the gray stone at the end, and zig zag back through to us.”

Isak gave another nod and a determined look as he repeated the instructions to Vidal word for word. Professor and student then watched as the rock man immediately followed the orders exactly, moving with surprising grace for such a large being as his movements were appropriately enough best described as flowing like water. Not a single bamboo pole was even nudged as Vidal completed the task fast enough to draw an excited smile from Isak.

“How long have you had Vidal as your familiar?” Professor Manoka immediately asked.

“...okay so kind of since a week ago but it only really counted since yesterday?” Isak said with a shrug, fully realizing this made him look like a madman.

Professor Manoka didn’t skip a beat as he fired off his next question, with Nsanza perched on his shoulder and paying just as close attention to all goings on. “And what familiar would you prefer?”

“Not a single one! Vidal’s the best!” Isak immediately went on the defensive, looking incensed at the mere idea but relaxing as he heard the mantisman equivalent of a chuckle.

“There are no wrong answers but there are good answers. Good answer!” The professor said as he clicked his mandibles and his antennae twitched a bit, looking like he was thinking of something before speaking once more. “Now, just a few more trials and questions!”

All of which Vidal completed with ease as Isak made a mental note to check the maneuverability of Vidal’s other forms later, though he had a growing suspicion that this form was well suited to a flowy movement style. Each physical trial followed by a mix of questions asking for personal information to opinion. From the first spell Isak had learned, to how he felt being away from home. His answers to those two in particular being a simple illusion spell and nervous yet excited to be out of the Western Wastes.

Every answer elicited a similar response of clicking mandibles and twitching antennae, though Isak swore the clicking was faster and the twitching more pronounced each time. Isak made it through the tests far more relaxed than when he had started, now bearing a broad smile as he looked on with pride to Vidal completing the last trial of correctly striking at only the correct illusory nightspawn colored bright yellow as opposed to bright blue making slow swipes at Isak.

“And there we have it Mister Moreno.” He said in a surprisingly calm voice for once. “Some...interesting results. Please see me after class so that we may discuss them.”

The human nodded, still bearing his smile as he walked back to his spot at the back of the amphitheater and the professor called on the next student. Isak almost missed a step as the “see me after class” finally hit him all at once to have his eyes grow wide and pupils even wider as a dizziness took over and he nervously laughed off his misstep to any who may have seen it. He was completely unaware if there were any witnesses as the world was spinning and all sound muffled right up until he found himself in his seat again and he stared down at the golden furred kuyavarin striding up to the trials with a waist-height mammoth in tow.

“See me after class...that’s...that’s never good, right?” Isak muttered to himself as he gripped the desk so hard his knuckles went bone white on already pale hands. “Could be...could be he never saw a test that good? We did great, didn’t we Vidal?”

Though he was certain that none others could hear him, Vidal still managed to give a confirmation. “I followed your orders as stated, Master Isak.”

“Yeah...yeah so...so it could still be good. That’s a thing that could happen. Maybe just...never seen something like you Vidal. Wants to ask more about you?”

Isak didn’t let up his panicking and feeling his blood turn icier as the last of the students completed their trials and Professor Manoka gave a short summation of what could be expected in the next few classes as well as the semester as a whole.

“Now, next class we shall begin with the basics of this spell and its theory, as much of this class will be built upon that foundation! Enjoy the rest of your first day!” The mantisman said as a light tone from a wall clock just beside the exit sounded to inform everyone that the period had ended. Students quickly filed out and onto their next class in a small favor to Isak, who lingered in his seat for a time until enough had left that he could force himself to stand on unsteady legs and meet Professor Manoka down on the field as Vidal followed.

“You...wanted to see me sir?” Isak asked with a weak voice.

“Indeed.” His unsettling calm tone had returned. “There is good news and bad news. Or perhaps interesting news.”

“....okay?”

“The interesting news is that your bond level with Vidal is...well I’ve done cursory tests immediately after the ritual of familiar binding and even those had higher results.” The mantisman clicked his mandibles again.

Isak’s mouth ran dry. “That sounds like just bad news?”

“It is interesting news.” The professor corrected. “In all my studies and field experience, I have never witnessed a bond level so low. Then again I have never witnessed a familiar quite like yours, so the two may be related.”

“But-” Isak’s voice broke a little. “I...I did all the things? I gave Vidal directions...and then he did the things? And...I thought we did fine?”

“Simple completion is but one aspect. How a familiar looks to their mage and reacts to their reactions, their emotions, their instructions. It is the core of a bond with a familiar, the building blocks of the magic used to raise a beast above its unthinking brethren to a dutiful mage companion. Even newly bonded pairs have some level of connection. But he? He acts as though he were clockwork. Ticking away in a precisely predictable way without any emotion there.”

Isak grit his teeth before responding. “He just...he’s not the emotional type that doesn’t mean he’s bad!”

“Not bad at all, and quite capable in raw ability. But raising your bond level with him will be quite the task.” The mantisman placed his upper right arm on Isak’s shoulder. “If I may say so, I am an expert in my field. And while this may be unprecedented I have no intention of letting you fall by the wayside! You have my word that I shall see you through such an odd situation!”

Though his happy tone had returned, Isak felt anything but such an emotion as it sounded an awful lot like this was a charity case in dealing with a defect. The human nodded, avoiding eye contact as he asked if there was anything else or if he may get to his next class. The profesor shook his head, and gave parting words of encouragement that many a powerful mage had come from unexpected places.

Isak didn’t respond as he walked off, hefting his book bag over his shoulder as he looked to Vidal with a worried frown. As soon as they were in the hall and away from most others, he cast another worried glance to the rock man.

“It can’t be that bad, right? I know you’re not that bad. You’re the best familiar anyone could ask for, Vidal. Just gotta...well just gotta balance the other end of the equation. Plenty of room for me to improve, huh?” Isak said with a weak smile as he checked the scroll bearing his class list again. “If things were easy I wouldn’t be me...which might have some advantages. Well let’s just get through the day huh buddy?”

“The sun shall rise once more, Master Isak.” Vidal said in that familiar unwavering tone.