The following days are windy and chillier but not rainy, so we are left to play in the courtyard. Part of it is now a muddy puddle, limiting our playfield.

Balout joins us back, he says he was with his father in the meanwhile, helping at the man's bakery. With so little space we can just make some basic exercises with the medicine ball and a few push ups followed with stretching. While Balout is taking a nap, exhausted by what is our daily regimen, the girls and I go over our numbers again.

I make sure they memorized them in the right order, know how to use their finger joints to count and I also make them do some basic additions and subtractions using pebbles. They are more willing than one could expect. Maths can look boring for children. Either I'm a captivating tutor or the possibility of another candy is motivation enough.

I'm a pragmatic man, I bet on the candy.

On the morrow it is a rainy day. That means we'll get cooped inside, but that also means I may cox Ms Tarina into teaching me how to write the numbers and maybe even some words.

At the workshop, two surprises are awaiting us. First: Balout got switched with a new kid, second: there is a new kid.

Name's Anfers, a black haired, tall kid for our age, He seems better fed than us. His haughty smile is missing some teeth, he brags he lost them fighting while training to be a guard like his father “the stick was unavoidable, but I rolled under it and my face hit a rock”, and he “didn't even cry about it” (yay, whatever floats your boat mate).

His mother is one of the seamstresses downstairs.

All around he seems an enjoyable fellow, A bit reckless, pretentious and full of shit, but that isn't unexpected in kids our age. He must be uneasy around strangers, in an unknown environment and is overcompensating to manage anxiety, trying to impress both the girls and me.

He is much interested in Melodi: she is the first beast kin around his age he met and is eager to compare their physical prowesses. Beastkins are well known for being stronger than humans and are often found in the town guard.

I know better than him and wouldn't try confronting Melodi, but wont stop him either: the show will be a welcomed distraction, a nice way to gauge the fruits of our training and a lesson of humility for the boy.

But it will have to wait: it's still raining cats and dogs outside and another surprise awaits us.

It is a gift from Ms Tarina: she bought four wooden plates with a small border edge, they are covered in the finest sand. Now I get some much wanted slates to write on.

We all thank her the way she likes best: a hug and a smooch on her plump cheeks. Ms Tarina purrs in happiness, satisfied with her return on invest, smothered under her students.

The day is spent learning how to write the numbers, Anfers is paired with me and is at a loss, he didn't learn counting yet and gets bored by our meaningless activity (to him).

Their numeral system is quite a mess. There are no zero, 16 signs for the 16 numbers, but a “hexhex” (16 times 16) is its own sign too (a hex is an hexagone and a hexhex is like two hexagones one in another). It reminds me of Roman numerals: simple signs, easy enough to learn but not good to write big numbers nor to make calculations.

Anders is bothering me a lot, erasing my sand drawings to peeve me and it takes all my patience to not kick one more tooth out of his mouth. I'm the adult in the room and endure, even taking the time to teach him the first numbers, to give him something to occupy himself.

Ms Tarina is delighted with our progress and calls it a day when the sun takes a peek through the clouds in the afternoon.

We are to snack in the courtyard and are left to our games after that.

We start with a simple training like yesterday as most of the courtyard is still too muddy to run on. Anfers keeps up with us, at least he may not have lied about training at his father's place.

On our break Anfers grab the opportunity to measure himself with Melodi, while I make sure Gel memorized all the numerals and knows how to write them, using mud for ink and our fingers as pen on the cobblestones, these are dire times.

Anfers gets thoroughly beaten up by Melody, his stance is quite bad, even I can tell, and she sweeps his feet with a low kick three times in a row, making him fall into the mud head first on her last win.

We all laugh our fill at the sight of the boy covered in mud.

I see his eyes burn with anger and frustration, I can feel a crisis approaching, but before I can act, Gel's lets out the drop of water that breaks the camel's back:

She is laughing as I've never seen her before, from ear to ear and says “so much for the guard if you cant even stay on your feet, does earth and rocks taste that good ?” she mocks in a clumsy taunt (seriously that was bad, we'll have to work on that).

I can precog the incoming storm as Anfers rises up and I interpose myself between them.

“Get out of my way, you sissy lady's pet !” he growls at me.

I cross my arms in front of him, I cant deny the insult, I'm even assuming it (not with pride, i'm not that shameless)

I cross my arms in front of him. Melodi seems at a lost, not knowing if she should help me or not, her tail swinging nervously.

I hear Gel's annoyed voice coming from behind me:

“what does that make you ? If he is a sissy, what about you who just crawls in the mud at his feet ?”

I facepalm on the inside, before remembering they are both just children, easy to provoke. Her taunting strikes the bull's eyes on Anfers (and you don't want to make a bull angry).

He roars and charges at me trying to punch me in the face, his move is so awaited that I see it coming from miles away.

I just half step closer to him, his guard is wide open, and trip him while avoiding his arm, using his own momentum to throw him down. He wasn't expecting me to close the distance and falls butt-first into the mud after a full tumble in the air. (apparently they don't teach ukemi around here)

Melodi snickers and Gelcaria laugh like a drain. This seems to push Anfers past his limits, his eyes are all watery both from humiliation and pain.

He shouts at Gel “Stop making fun of me you... you.. akolaïte”

I've never heard the word before, but I can infer it is an insult. Melodi is as lost as I am, but Gel stops laughing at once, her amethysts eyes are now bright with fury and her smile turns into a full of threat snarl.

Anfers managed to poke the dragon and dragons are way scarier than bulls.

I catch Gel as she pounces irately on the kid, push her down and lock her arms in her back.

“let me go, I'm going to hurt him ! Kick his teeth off!” she struggles in my grip. She might be stronger than I am, but now that I grappled her arms in a painful lock she cant do much.

One of the seamstresses comes out, probably attracted by the shouts. We are usually a calm bunch, we may laugh (especially the girls giggle) but never do we shout like this.

“what is going on here ?!” Her shout in turn attracting Ms Tarina and mom outside.

We are so fucked.