“I’m Et’zana,” the tiny second year introduced herself.

Lolo had been looking for an opportunity to meet Et’zana all morning, but Zhongyan had been monopolizing her time and attention so completely, it was a difficult opportunity to come by. “It’s nice to officially meet you. Tell me about yourself!”

“I’m from the Sphinx Tribe. I was adopted by my aunt, Tribe Leader Dhaka’n, as a small child. I like to read and generally enjoy the exchange, meeting new and interesting people, learning about other cultures….” she trailed off. Standing at barely five feet tall, Et’zana was immaculate, not a hair of her shoulder-length, stick-straight, brown tresses out of place, not a wrinkle in her perfectly tailored clothes to be seen. If Lolo had an opposite, she was it. The sphinx princess oozed a delicate femininity, yet something about her seemed to warn that she was anything but helpless. Perhaps it was the sharpness of her narrow eyes, enhanced by dark make-up that gave this impression?

Just as Lolo was about to respond to Et’zana, Zhongyan returned from changing out of his dirty training clothes. “Are you ready to go to class?” he asked the sphinx, offering her his arm.

“Yes, thank you.” Et’zana said with a tinkling laugh, taking his arm graciously. “It was nice to meet you, Lolo.”

Huo Lohse had never seen Zhongyan act this way before-- so attentive and embarrassingly obvious. At least Et’zana didn’t seem to mind, but Lolo cringed and gagged simultaneously thinking about it. Shaking off her discomfort, Lolo trailed the couple toward the classroom, trying really hard to not listen to their flirtations.

Lolo arrived at the classroom to find Standig sitting predictably alone on the back row. True to her word (threat?), Lolo sat down at the desk next to him, and slowly but surely, the rest of the first and second year students followed her lead. Standig groaned internally, but ignored everyone admirably well.

“I haven’t officially met you yet,” Lolo said, turning to the last of the second years whose name she was unfamiliar with.

“I’m Shanti Bhuje,” the young woman in question responded with a relaxed, confident smile. “I’m from the Dragon Tribe.”

“Somehow, I’ve managed to not meet any of you guys from the Dragon Tribe,” Lolo mused.

“It’s easily done,” Shanti laughed warmly and pointed out a young man sitting toward the front. “My brother, Jadu, is a fourth year and unconcerned with social interactions for the most part, preferring the company of his scientific journals. I’ll have to properly introduce you to him sometime. And then the other two Dragon Tribe trainees…” Shanti looked around the room trying to locate her fellow dragons but didn’t see them, “aren’t here yet. They are both fifth years and also tend to keep to themselves but for their own reasons.” Shanti and her brother had the classic Dragon Tribe look, black hair, brown skin and rich, caramel brown eyes. But apart from physical appearances, now that she was really looking at her, Lolo was struck by how safe and oddly familiar Shanti felt, like an old friend with whom a relationship will always remain constant despite the passage of time spent apart. It was an unfounded instinct that Lolo simply couldn’t shake, and Lolo was predisposed to like Shanti for reasons beyond her comprehension.

“Well, I’m really happy to meet you now,” Lolo responded sincerely. “I hope we’ll be good friends.”

“You’re in my seat Daksu,” someone hissed in a cold voice that carried across the room and silenced all other conversations.

“I wasn’t aware that we had assigned seats yet.”

“I claimed this seat in class yesterday. And you, Utu, you’re in Yudha’s seat.”

The young man referred to as Utu stood up gracefully, choosing very intentionally to not take offense at the attack. “I don’t have any problem moving, Sattal, if it’s that important to you. Sharisip, there are two seats over there by a window with a view of the garden outside. I’d consider them an upgrade.”

The young man in the other seat stood up with less composure than his peace-keeping companion, but followed his friend to the seats by the window without arguing. Sattal took one of the vacated seats and another young man took the other, a blank expression on his face.

Conversations started back up cautiously after the tiff. Lolo turned again to Shanti. “Who is that?”

“You mean the one that started it?” Lolo nodded and Shanti continued. “That’s Sattal Ajigar, the Dragon Tribe crown prince.”

“And his friend, Yudha, or whatever his name is?”

“That’s Tamkhee Yudha. He’s the son of the Dragon General.”

“So they are the other two dragons… and they typically keep to themselves, you said?”

“Thankfully,” Shanti nodded and then covered her mouth as though scolding herself for saying something unkind.

Lolo smirked. “Sattal seems like a bully.”

Shanti flushed but nodded cautiously. “He has a bit of a reputation for being a troublemaker. Tamkhee’s the only one who seems willing to put up with Sattal. I don’t know Tamkhee super well because I tend to stay clear of the company he keeps.”

While Shanti talked, Lolo tried to get a read on the two new arrivals and dredge up the rumors she’d heard about their high-profile fathers. King Ajigar was a reclusive leader that she’d only ever seen once or twice at a tribe leaders’ meeting at the tournament grounds some years ago. The rumor was that his wife had broken his heart, leaving him shortly after giving birth to their son. Sattal would be that son. Piecing this together, Lolo determined to give Sattal a little extra grace. On the other hand, General Yudha was a bit of an enigma. The rumors were that, with King Ajigar’s grief-induced isolation, the Dragon General had stepped up to fill the role of tribe leader-- the silent, true power behind the throne. Perhaps Tamkhee stuck by Sattal to keep tabs on him? Lolo’s mind momentarily explored the potential for a conspiracy there as she stared unseeingly at the back of Tamkhee’s head.

Feeling eyes boring into his skull, Tamkhee wheeled around, scowling, to see the little Wolf Tribe princess staring at him. Making eye contact with Tamkhee, Lolo shuddered slightly and averted her gaze. It was just another unfounded instinct, but Tamkhee seemed to emit a malicious aura (though, she was cognizant of the fact that she’d primed herself for that particular impression by speculating about sinister plots mere moments before catching his attention).

Lolo was about to ask Shanti about the two boys that had moved to the desks by the window when the wolf elder stood up to start the day’s lesson.

“Standig, what are your plans for the evening?” Lolo caught the bear’s arm before he could stand up completely from his desk.

“Why?”

“Well, if you don’t have plans, I was thinking of inviting everyone to go swimming in Crescent Lake before dinner. It’s hot outside. You should come!”

“Pass.”

“Oh. You don’t like swimming?” For the first time, Lolo allowed her cheery disposition to be tainted by Standig’s surliness.

Standig almost felt guilty as he watched her hopeful expression fall. Almost. “You’ll have more fun without me.”

“How can you say that?!” Lolo protested readily. “It won’t be the same without you.” Standig snorted. That was a bold assertion as they had never been swimming together before. “The group won’t be complete without you,” Lolo clarified.

Standig sighed. “Maybe next time.”

“You mean it?!” Lolo bounced, her cheerfulness immediately returning. “I’m going to hold you to that.” She turned to declare her swimming plans to the rest of the first and second years who eagerly agreed to join her.

“Will Standig be coming?” Fortus asked, glancing casually in the bear’s general direction.

“He said he’s busy today but promised to join us next time,” Lolo announced, and Fortus grinned in amusement.

“What have I gotten myself into?” Standig scolded himself.

The oppressive heat of June drove more than just the first and second years to the lake. Within a few minutes of arriving at the lakeshore, they were joined by most of the rest of the trainees.

“Couldn’t get Standig to join in the fun, huh?” Philige observed more than asked as he took a seat next to Lolo. She had found a large fallen log from which to dip her feet into the shaded shallows.

“Standig promised to come next time.”

“Really? That doesn’t sound like something he’d say,” Philige regarded her with playful suspicion.

“Well, he actually said, ‘maybe next time’, but I’m choosing to interpret that to mean that he promises.” Lolo suddenly squealed and squirmed, making a face and finally grinning at Philige’s confusion.

“What are you doing exactly?” Philige asked, mildly entertained and searching for the cause of her behavior.

“You should try it! Put your feet in the water and hold really still. This time of the year, there are a number of baby fish in the lake, and they like to nibble.” Lolo squeaked again as one of the nibbly fish found a particularly ticklish spot between two of her toes.

A few minutes later, Philige’s feet had also been swarmed by fish. “Ack! How do you stand it?!” He pulled a face that gave the impression of being in torturous pain and tensed his legs in an effort to prevent himself from flailing wildly. Lolo giggled at his apparent distress. “Ugh, I can’t. Oh, that feels too weird.” Philige withdrew his feet from the water gently, so as not to frighten off all the fish.

“It takes some getting used to,” Lolo admitted with a hearty laugh, withdrawing her own feet a few moments later to stand up on the log.

“I’ll get out of your way,” Philige offered, scooting across the log towards the shore.

“Don’t bother,” Lolo said with a mischievous grin. Retreating a few steps back, Lolo got a running start across the log and launched herself into the lake with a little front flip and a small splash. She came up to spit a small stream of water and swam a short distance to find her nearest brother, Rensui, to wrap her arms around his neck from behind and yank him backwards into the water.

“What the…!” Rensui’s exclamation was interrupted by a mouthful of water. He came up spluttering and whipped around to snatch at his attacker. “Lolo! I should have known.”

Lolo had swum just out of his reach and was cackling maniacally, so Rensui resorted to shoving a large wave of water in her direction, splashing her full in the face. Lolo turned to wipe her eyes as the onslaught of Resui’s retaliation continued, only to be captured moments later as Rensui dove at her, grabbing her around her upper arms, pinning them to her sides. Lolo shrieked as Rensui picked her up and haphazardly threw her back into the water. She came up laughing and water-blinded and started splashing indiscriminately in all directions, catching more than a few onlookers in the face.

And thus began an epic water battle.

“Nice! Thanks for the assist!” Lolo nudged the arm of her unexpected ally who had rescued her from the relentless splashing from Haowan and Ulana as she’d been forced into the deeper lake water. “You are one of the last few people I haven’t officially met yet.”

“Kuchezan Utu. I’m a fifth year,” he offered her his hand and an easy smile in greeting.

“Lolo,” she took his hand and returned his smile. “Where are you from?”

“The Panther Tribe. My father is the tribe leader.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Lolo said, standing up as she found the shallows of the lake bottom once more.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Lolo.” Kuchezan similarly found the shallows and stood up, exposing his beautifully dark, rich skin tone. He was quite slim, and unusually lanky, like a sapling competing for light in a mature forest. However, he carried himself with much more poise than his stature gave him credit for. Lolo observed with a smile that his movements could have been a dance if put to music. “You are one of the Lang siblings, I assume?”

“That’s right. I’m the little sister.”

“You fit in well with your brothers,” Kuchezan contemplated. “Apart from having the family ‘look’, you all like to play hard. That must be a family trait as well.” Lolo laughed and agreed whole-heartedly. “Hey, Sharisip, have you met Lolo yet?” Kuchezan called out to his friend, the same one that had changed seats with him earlier.

“I haven’t,” Sharisip tread the short distance to join Kuchezan and Lolo. “I’m Sharisip Daksu, youngest son of the Snake Queen,” he introduced himself with a shallow bow, and Lolo did her best to imitate the gesture in the neck-high water. Sharisip’s most noticeable feature was his dark, intelligent eyes that seemed to suggest a level head; he struck Lolo as a good friend to have in a crisis and a bad enemy to make.

“I gather that you two are close friends?” Lolo asked, pointing between Kuchezan and Sharisip.

Kuchezan nodded. “Our tribes are close to each other, near the eastern intersection of the north and south roads. We always travel together to get to and from the exchange.”

“It’s convenient that you live so close to each other.” She turned to Sharisip, “it’s nice meeting you,” then back to Kuchezan, “behind you!”

The warning came just in time for Kuchezan to lean forward, narrowly avoiding the arm trying to catch him around the neck. Lolo was quick to return Kuchezan’s earlier favor and splashed the would-be-assailant in the face, forcing him to turn his face to the side and back up slightly. Qingchi laughed as Lolo pursued him a short distance to her own detriment. He scooped his little sister up and carried her kicking and giggling toward the shore where Lingdao grabbed her ankles and Zizai caught her wrists to swing her back and forth, letting go on the count of five to launch her back into the lake with a happy scream and a giant splash.