“So this Sophie girl, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about her, would you?”

“As a matter of fact, I do,” Armsmaster replies.

The two of us are taking a break in the Armoury’s training room, as Armsmaster says if I focus too much on training alone I’ll burn myself out. I have to pace myself. However, I really need to get a handle on my control, given how much it’s holding me back. So, I’m currently working through some of the exercises both Mom and Armsmaster have shown me. They're pretty similar, all told, though Armsmaster’s techniques seem better suited to beginners like myself. Mom’s require a level of precision I simply don’t have yet. I have no idea, for example, how the hell I’m supposed to loop my mana through itself. It doesn’t make sense to me at this stage.

“Well?”

“Well what?” Armsmaster feigns confusion. She clearly knows what I’m after.

“Well what do you know about her?”

“Ooooohhh. I’m not telling.”

“What? Why not?” It’s not exactly like her to withhold information without good reason, so why now?

“Rules, remember? May not have to follow them, but I still respect them. Guides don’t talk about another Guide’s student. It’s considered uncouth, anyway.”

“Oh. Well, can you at least tell me what weapon she uses?”

Armsmaster sighs. “You aren’t always going to have the luxury of knowing your opponent before you face them, Val. Just this once, I’ll tell you a little, but you need to get used to the idea of thinking on your feet. Understand?”

I nod.

“Alright. She uses a spear, in a mobile style similar to what I intend to teach you, with a few key differences. Where you’ll end up favouring closing the distance to take them down hard and fast, Sophie prefers to harry her opponents, wearing them down with small injuries before going in for the kill, so to speak. It’ll serve a solid contrast to your mother’s methods, given she prefers to take sheer efficiency to it’s inevitable, yet brutal, conclusion. Sophie’s going to represent a challenge for you, for two major reasons. One, the sword is massively disadvantaged against the spear, given they have a longer reach and are harder to defend against with a blade, but if you can get inside her guard she’ll either have to protect herself or create some distance. Which brings me to problem two. Her fighting style will make closing in very difficult, given she’d likely prefer to stay out of your reach than use the opportunity to strike, but with luck your speed will still exceed hers, so if you can take her by surprise at the start and maintain your momentum, you have a solid chance of winning.”

“Okay. Think you could show me a few things to even the scales? She’s almost guaranteed to be more skilled than me.”

“Not as much as you might think, but yes she will be. Work your way through your mana control a bit more first, then I’ll show you what to do against a spear.

**********************

You okay, Huntsman? You’ve been awfully quiet lately, Sophie asked her Guide. She was making her way through the streets of Hortell to where her Dad said Aunt Tamaya lived, having decided she’d had enough sightseeing the past day. It was her first time in a big city like this, but she’d already come to the conclusion that it sucked.

All the buildings quickly began to look the same after the first few minutes of wonder, and to make matters worse, far, far too many people here were human. They kept staring at her ears and tail, like they’d never seen a wolfblood beastkin before.

Well, half wolfblood, if she was being honest, but she’d gotten basically all her looks from her Mom, so most couldn’t tell.

Regardless, the constant scrutiny was starting to put her on edge, so she was talking with Huntsman to distract herself.

“Yeah, just something on my mind is all.”

Wanna talk about it? Maybe I can help. This was an interesting change of dynamic, usually she was on the receiving end of that sentence.

“I appreciate the thought, kid, but this isn’t something you can deal with. A friend of mine was supposed to drop by last week. Usually when she misses a planned meetup she’d get a message to me or something, but not this time. It’s not a good sign.”

This a Guide? Maybe she’s got a new student, I hear you guys tend to focus on us pretty hard for the first month or so. You certainly did.

This was pretty out of character for the Huntsman. He was usually more laid back than this, even if he took his tutelage seriously.

“That’s precisely what has me worried. It’s rarely a good thing when this one gets a new charge”

What? I thought you guys like your jobs?

Huntsman chuckled. “She does. Loves it more than anything, really. It’s just her being out of the box means something big is coming. Not always, sometimes it’s cut off before then, but usually, it’s bad news.”

You’re deliberately avoiding saying her name. Just who is this?

“Rules, kid. I may skirt them where I can, but this is one I don’t touch. We may be friends, but she’s a scary lady when she wants to be.”

Huh.

By this point, Sophie had passed into the residential district, where the majority of Hortell’s citizens lived. Aunt Tamaya lived further up, not far from Cardinal itself, so she still had a bit of a walk ahead of her.

Realising she wasn’t going to get much out of the Huntsman, which was a rarity, Sophie decided to change topics. Her Dad told her an old friend of his had come to stay with Aunt Tamaya, but was deliberately vague about it. He usually did this when he wanted to surprise her, which was too often for her liking. All he’d say was she’d brought her daughter with her, who herself was Sophie’s age, and would be attending Cardinal with Sophie.

So this mysterious visitor of Aunt Tamaya’s, any ideas who it is?

“Well, there aren’t exactly all that many people who your old man would call a friend, and I dare say you’ve met most of them already. I think there’s only really one candidate, to be honest. In a way, I can’t say I’m surprised. Golem always said she’d be coming back. Didn’t know she had a kid, though.”

It embarrassed Sophie how long it took her to figure out what he meant.

Wait. You don’t mean who I think you mean, do you?

“If you’re thinking of Ariel Endmarch, then yes I do. Though I’ll admit I could be wrong.”

No, I agree with you! Dad knows I’ve been wanting to meet her for ages, it makes sense he’d try to surprise me with it.

The thought of meeting her childhood hero buoyed Sophie’s spirits, washing away the unease from the stares she’d been getting all day.

Eventually, she arrived at what she was pretty sure was Aunt Tamaya’s house, she quickly checked the slip of paper her Dad gave her just to make sure.

Yep, this is the place

Sophie walked up to the front door, took a deep breath to steady herself, and knocked.

Shortly afterwards, her half-wolfblood hearing picks up a voice from inside the house.

“It’s alright, I got it Aunt Tamaya,”

She could hear the footsteps coming, then the door opened.

Before Sophie stood a girl about her own age, wearing a simple pair of pants and a shirt. She was only slightly shorter than Sophie, which was rare for humans her age, but caught her attention the most was her striking silver eyes and matching hair.

“Well shit. Of course this is where she went.”

**********************

Mom had told me about beastkin before. She had to have, given two of the conflicts she participated in involved their kind, but I hadn’t actually expected to meet one. I had yet to even consider the possibility, given recent events.

The girl I’m now looking at is a bit taller than me, wearing what looks like sturdy travelling clothes with leather boots, and a heavy backpack with a spear that appears a touch too large for her strapped to one side. She’s fairly athletic, given the shape of her arms, but lean. A hunter’s build, my instincts tell me, though I’m not sure why.

All this I pick up in the peripheral, as I’m largely distracted by the two wolf ears poking out of her wild black hair, and the black-furred tail on her lower back. Personal experience tells me her own attention is arrested by my hair and eyes, though seems quickly taken hold of by something else. Her Guide perhaps?

Realising I’m being rude in staring, I decide to speak first.

“Hi there,” I say.

Hearing me speak seems to bring her to her own realisation, as she quickly takes hold of herself and replies, “Uh, hey. I’m Sophie Anders, I’m, um, looking for Tamaya Hesting? I’m staying with her until the Academy opens?”

“You’re Sophie? Aunt Tamaya mentioned you’d be coming, come in, come in. That pack looks heavy.”

Sophie relaxes and grins a bit. “Heh, it’s not so bad once you’re used to it, but thank you.”

“I’m Valerie, by the way,” I tell her. “Valerie Endmarch.”

Sophie’s eyes widen slightly. “So it’s true? The Warbreaker is back on Aldor?”

I grimace slightly. I’m still getting used to the idea of Mom being the same person as the woman in her stories, though it’s certainly easier after that thrashing three days ago. I start leading Sophie into the house before replying.

“If by the Warbreaker, you mean my Mom, then yes.”

“That’s awesome. What’s it like?”

The question honestly throws me off guard for a minute there. Is she asking what I think she’s asking? Better make sure.

“What’s what like?”

Sophie shuffles a bit as we walk, “You know, having her as a Mom?”

I consider that for a moment.

“Well what’s it like having the Manhunter as a Dad?”

She pauses at that. “Ah. Right. Guess I didn’t really think that through.”

I shrug. “It’s fine. To be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t know about all that until about a week and a half ago.”

Sophie looks stunned. “What? How’d that happen?”

Just as I answer, we arrive in the dining room, just next to the kitchen. “It’s complicated. Maybe I’ll tell you later when we have more time.”

Aunt Tamaya seems to hear us from the kitchen as we approach the dining room, as she steps through just as we do.

“Sophie! How are you doing, dear?”

She grins and steps up for a hug. “I’m good Auntie. You?”

“Never better! Why don’t you set down your things there for now and we can chat for a bit? We’ll get your room situated later.” She gestures to the corner of the room as she speaks.

Sophie does as asked and takes a seat at the table.

“So how are your parents? It’s been a while since I Iast visited them,” Aunt Tamaya asks.

“Mom’s doing well. She wanted me to tell you your idea for a touch-based healing potion didn’t pan out, though. Dad, on the other hand, is still pretending his leg doesn’t bother him, but we can all tell.”

Aunt Tamaya frowns a little. “Will he need me to stop by again? There should be enough time before enrolment begins.”

“No, he’s alright. It’s not gotten worse or anything, but it still acts up when it gets cold.”

At that moment, Mom steps in from the kitchen, a large metal tray with a plate of cookies and a kettle of tea with cups floating with her. “Did I hear that right? Alex was injured? What happened, why wasn’t I told?”

Aunt Tamaya turns to Mom. “We didn’t say anything because it was handled fairly quick and the injury’s non-threatening, just persistent. Alex didn’t want to worry you unnecessarily. As for what happened, a Wraith popped up in one of the villages bordering the woods he’s got his hideaway in. He was the nearest person with the training to take care of it, so he did. It went poorly.”

Mom frowned. “A Wraith? He should have been able to handle it easily, what with Spiritseeker and all. It’s the whole reason we sought it out.”

Aunt Tamaya shook her head. “It was closer to going Feral than we thought, Ari. It turned on him the winter before, so we’ve had it contained.”

I could practically feel my Aspect latch on to the mention of a Feral Relic, and it took all I had not to ask about where they’re keeping it.

Meanwhile, Mom’s frown only deepened at Tamaya’s words. “He went after a Wraith underequipped? What was he thinking? He knows he’s unsuited against spectrals, it’s a miracle it didn’t kill him.”

“You know Alex. He plays the gruff loner, but he’s always been the first into the fire, that’s never changed. Besides, he wasn’t completely outmatched. Marian had started working on a treatment for his arrows after Spiritseeker turned, so he could damage the Wraith. It was still experimental, though, which is why it managed to injure him.”

This whole time they were both talking, Sophie had been staring at Mom with what I’m pretty is a starstruck look on her face. Mom eventually notices and turns to her.

“You would be Sophie then?”

She gapes for a bit, before realising she had been spoken to. “Um. Yes. Ma’am. Miss.”

Mom chuckles. “Calm down, Ariel’s fine. Alex would never forgive me if I made you stand on ceremony.”

Sophie nods faintly. Mom notices, and raises an eyebrow. “He’s been telling his tales again, hasn’t he? You of all people should know he exaggerates as naturally as fish swim.”

She blushes. “I know that. It’s still hard not getting caught up in them, though.”

“Believe me, I’m well aware,” Mom says. She cocks her head in thought. “You’ve been walking for some time now, yes? Are you up for a quick spar?”

Sophie pales. “With you?”

That causes Mom to crack a smile. “Definitely not. No, Valerie’s in need of a training partner closer to her level of skill. Between her Guide and myself, her other options are a bit out of her league.”

Aunt Tamaya frowns at Mom, “What about the cookies? We spent all morning on those.”

Mom waves it away, “They’ll still be there when they’ve finished. Besides, it can be a reward. If they don’t put their all in? Then more for us.”

She looks at Sophie. “Well?”

Sophie seems to think for a moment.

“Okay.”

Mom smiles and claps her hands together. “Excellent. Grab your spear and come with us out back.” She turns to me and says, “Valerie, it might be for the best that you don’t use your Aspect for this, so I got you a training sword to spar with. It’s already outside.”

“Thanks Mom.”

Sophie looks back from where she was retrieving her spear. “Woah, hang on. Why can’t she use her Aspect? I can’t exactly turn mine off, so that’s hardly fair for her.”

“Valerie? Would you like to explain?”

I turn to Sophie.

“My Aspect let’s me summon a series of weapons that are similar to Relics. If you tried to block one of my attacks, you’d end up damaging the spear pretty bad, and I’m fast enough that you’ll likely have to do it at least once.”

She gapes at me, likely from what I assume is the absurdity of having my own personal Relics without concern of them going Feral.

“That’s insane.”

“Once you’ve progressed in your control a bit more, you’ll be able to blunt your weapons when you summon them. It just requires a degree of precision you don’t quite have yet.”

In response to that, I turn back to Mom, “Armsmaster says I’ll soon be able to make my weapons blunt, once I’ve gotten a bit better at my control.”

She nods. “That’ll be good in future, though for now you’ll need the training sword.”

Sophie walks up with her spear, still looking slightly too large for her.

“Alright, let’s go,” she says.