“Chilled spiced cider, please. It’s a scorcher out there today,” Shijen ordered, taking up his usual seat by the window.

“Coming right up,” Yao said while bustling about the counter. “Do you want anything to go with it today?”

“Not today. I just need a drink.”

Yao brought the large cup of cider out and placed it on Shijen’s table. “There you are.”

“Thank you, Yao. Get yourself something to drink and have a seat. Tell me the latest.”

Never one to refuse such an offer, Yao took the seat across from his old friend and started jabbering. “Well, let’s see. Tomorrow is the first day of June, which of course means that the young Lang wolves will be heading off for their training exchange. This will be the oldest twins’ last year of training.”

“Any more news about that Dragon Tribe kid? The doctor hero one?”

“Nah. It would seem that he and the princess are just friends. My sources tell me that most of the princess’s communications are with the Bear Tribe. And if I’m remembering correctly, the dragon-- oh, what’s his name, Jaden, Joshin, Jingshu….” Yao paused trying to remember but eventually gave up with a shrug and resumed his thought. “Well, he is the same year as the oldest princes, so it’s possible that he didn’t really get to know Huo Lohse apart from when she was injured last year.”

“The Bear Tribe, huh? Isn’t that where the exchange is being held this year?”

“Yes.”

“And the princess has been writing to someone there?”

“Yes. Most likely her teammate from the tournament.”

“Ah yes. One of the late Bear Leader’s sons.”

“Although, there are some rumors that she’s writing to the older brother.”

“Which one was he, again?”

“He was Qingchi’s teammate in the tournament… one of the other finalist teams.”

“Oh, yes. Good looking kid. Tall. Seems like the friendly type.”

“And he’s the crown prince of the Bear Tribe. He will likely become the leader here in the next few years. Tadellos is essentially just a placeholder for his nephew until he comes of age, and if I'm remembering correctly, bears come of age at twenty-five? Does that sound right?”

Shijen ignored the question and frowned slightly. “I smell trouble. Partners with one brother while flirting with the other....” He shook his head and buried his face in the cider.

“It’s only a rumor, and she’s only fifteen. It will be interesting to see how things change as she gets older. And even if the rumors are true, there’s nothing saying that both boys would fall for her.”

“Have you seen the princess lately?”

Yao frowned as Shijen seemed to know something that he didn’t. “No. Have you?”

Shijen smiled. “She takes after her mother. Before Xini became Beta Lang, she was a heart-breaker, and it would seem that the Beta has been giving her daughter lessons this year.”

Yao laughed. “She’s trying to tame the tomboy, is she?! Well, good for her. Huo Lohse has been running with a pack of boys her whole life. The Beta has her work cut out for her.”

“Don’t be too sure, Yao. Huo Lohse is a smart girl, a quick study. And she inherited her figure and warm eyes from her mother with her father's striking features.”

“But she’s also stubborn and mischievous like her father. You remember what Ming Lang was like as a teenager.”

“The whole lot of them are like peas in a pod,” Shijen chuckled, “but it makes for some entertaining stories at the bar.”

“I’ll drink to that!” Yao lifted his flask.

***

Huo Lohse had been counting down to today since her birthday. As the Lang siblings arrived at the trading post set up at the foot of the mountain that marked the beginning of the Bear Tribe’s territory, she was literally bouncing up and down.

“We’re almost there!” Her exclamation came out in a sing-song way.

“Cool it, Lolo. You look like you’re trying not to pee your pants.” Lingdao laughed at his sister.

“I’m sorry. I’ve just been looking forward to seeing everyone for a long time.”

“Hey, we’re all looking forward to seeing our friends again, but a little composure goes a long way in these settings.” Rensui grinned.

"You need to keep in mind that we aren't home anymore, Lolo. The five tribes cooperate with each other, but they all have very different rules and cultures. I've heard that the Bear Tribe is particularly strict and quick to discipline deviant behavior, so you're going to need to keep yourself in check this summer," Qingchi added his sagely advice.

"They can't have a rule against being excited, can they?" Lolo laughed.

“Is there anyone in particular you’re so excited to see again,” Haowan teased.

Huo Lohse shot him a dirty look and redirected him. “I know Zhongyan is anxious to see a certain sphinx again. Hmm, Zhongyan?”

Zhongyan smiled and owned up to it. “It’s true. I’m looking forward to seeing Et’zana again. And what about you, Lingdao? Looking forward to snuggling up with Sarnai?”

Lingdao blushed. “Not exactly. I mean, she’s a nice girl, and her attention is flattering, but-”

“-but you don’t really like her that way,” Zizai finished for his twin. “We know… you’ve only said it a hundred times,”

“Poor Sarnai,” Lolo thought aloud. “She’s been trying to win you over for three years now, and the best thing you have to say about her is ‘she’s nice’. You know, there aren’t all that many girls to choose from at the exchange. Zhongyan already called dibs on Et’zana, so apart from me, there’s only Shanti and Ulana left besides Sarnai. Well, and I guess there could be some girls among the first years that we don’t know about.”

"Girls, schmirls," Zizai laughed. "There are other girls outside the exchange too. If we were limited to the few in the exchange, most of us would wind up as old bachelors."

"Mom never attended the exchange," Lingdao added, alluding to a point that he didn't quite land.

"Let's just worry about getting through this summer's training. There will be time for 'girls, schmirls' later," said Rensui.

***

They arrived at the Leader's Lodge about an hour into their hike up the mountain. The Bear Tribe was a little unusual. There were no central villages or towns to speak of. Homes, mostly log cabins and stone huts, were isolated among trees and terraced fields that covered the mountains. Some Bear Tribe families took advantage of mountain caves and tunnels to build their dwellings.

The Leader's Lodge was the closest thing the Bear Tribe had to a town. It consisted of one great log building, furnished like a lecture hall, to hold large gatherings in. From the lecture hall building, additional rooms branched out like a spider's web in strings of log huts standing on stilts and connected by decks and bridges of wood. Between the rows of huts were gardens, training fields, courtyards, an open pavilion where meals were served from a community kitchen. To the south, there was a large lake basin from which water was sourced using a pulley system of buckets powered by a giant water wheel. To the west, beyond the web of huts, lay terraced fields and gardens where a handful of farmers were employed to grow food for the lodge. The Leader's Lodge was effectively designed to be completely self-sustaining.

Huo Lohse looked around in awe as she followed her brothers to the front of the lecture hall which she later learned was called simply "The Great Hall". On the front steps of the hall stood a woman (in her late-fifties?) wearing a smart, matronly dress of dark blue and a stern expression. She stood at the head of a line of people dressed in servant's clothes.

"Good afternoon," the woman greeted the Lang siblings with a bow. "You can call me Matron."

"How fitting!" Lolo thought.

"I am in charge of making sure your stay here is comfortable," Matron continued.

"Good afternoon, Matron," Qingchi spoke for the group and the Lang siblings bowed in greeting.

"I gather that you are Wolf Leader Lang's children?"

"Yes, Matron."

The woman snapped and four servants stepped forward behind her. "Your rooms have been prepared, if you will please follow my assistants." She gestured to the servants behind her.

"Thank you," Qingchi bowed again to Matron and the siblings followed the servants around the deck to two lanes of cabins at the north end of The Great Hall. From there, the boys were led up one row-- for the row literally moved up the side of the mountain-- by three male servants, and Huo Lohse was led up the other row by a young female maid.

"In here please," the maid showed her into the room at the very end of the row.

Before entering, Lolo looked back to take in the view. It was spectacular! She could see all the way down the mountain to the small trading post at its base and then beyond into the valley below. "Wow! It's beautiful up here!" She turned to the maid. "Don't you agree?"

Clearly not used to this sort of conversation, the maid simply curtsied and ushered Lolo into the room. The cabin was snug with a doorway just over six feet tall. The room was set up with two beds and two sets of drawers to put clothes in packed closely together. A simple rug covered much of the wooden floor, and windows were placed in all four walls for optimal natural light. It was a small room but a cozy one.

"Will someone be sharing this room with me?!" Lolo asked.

"Yes, miss, if it's not too much trouble."

"It's no trouble at all! I've just never had anyone to share a room with is all. Do you know who my roommate will be?"

"Yes, miss. The Sphinx Tribe princess has been assigned to this room."

"Oo! Et'zana?! That's great!" Lolo's excitement was infectious and the maid's sedate exterior cracked just a little. Huo Lohse caught the maid's small smile and grinned at her. "Would you like to come in? You don't have to stand by the door."

The maid's face sobered again. "Excuse me, miss, but if you are satisfied with the room, I am expected elsewhere."

"Oh. Right. Well, next time then?"

The maid curtsied and left.

Lolo shrugged and started unpacking. Her bag was full of things that her mother had sent with her. In addition to her training clothes, her mom had sent her with a bunch of dresses, make-up, and hair care supplies. By the time Lolo had finished unpacking, her chest of drawers was quite stuffed.

Not sure whether she was expected to wait in her room until further instructions came or if she was free to explore, Lolo decided to risk the latter. She poked her head out the door and, seeing no one, started on a walk back down the deck of log huts. She made it all the way back to The Great Hall before she saw another person. The matron and her entourage were waiting for more guests to arrive. Lolo kept close to the wall to watch them from around the corner. Something told her that she shouldn’t disrupt them.

“Lolo?” a familiar voice queried from behind her, and she wheeled around, startled, to see Philige standing there. “What are you doing here? Didn’t they tell you?”

“Hi, Philige!” She was enormously happy to see a familiar face.

“Shhh!”

Lolo dropped her voice to a whisper. “Oh. Sorry. What were they supposed to tell me?”

“All trainees are to get themselves cleaned up and dressed to be at the pavilion for dinner by 6:30.”

“But that’s in three hours!” A maid was walking by and noticed the pair talking. Philige nodded to her as she passed then grabbed Huo Lohse’s arm and pulled her in the direction of her room. “Philige, what’s wrong?” Lolo pleaded as she struggled to keep up with his pace.

“I’m really, really sorry. I don’t have time to explain it all to you now. Go back to your room before anyone else sees you, get cleaned up, and come to the front steps of The Great Hall at 6:25. I’ll meet you there and help you find the pavilion.”

Lolo was more than a little flustered. “Philige, have you heard from my brothers?”

“I’m sure they were told what I just told you. You’ll see them tonight.”

“Phili-”

“Go, Lolo. I’ll see you soon.” He tried to comfort her with one of his warm smiles, but it only seemed to distress her more. “I promise I will explain tonight. Trust me?”

Lolo watched him leave and returned to her room with her head positively spinning. “Why can’t I leave my room? Where is everyone? What am I supposed to do all alone for three whole hours?! Why can’t I see my brothers until dinnertime?” Something triggered in her memory. He’d said “my home is not a happy place, Lolo.” So this is what Standig had meant?

Lolo returned to her room and had a good cry. She was disappointed to not be able to see anyone until dinner, angry to be confined to her room, anxious about being left all alone, and nervous to spend a summer in a place like this.

An hour passed in miserable thought. She laughed a little to herself. “Well, at least that’s one hour down!” Prying herself off the bed, she figured she might as well start getting ready for dinner. “It’s time to test mom’s theory of tactical advantages.” Lolo had been training (her mom's word) all year on how to properly do her hair and compliment her outfit with make-up precisely for this year’s exchange.

Finding a small mirror in a corner, she got to work brushing, twisting, and pinning her hair up. Next it was time to pick a dress. “What would mom recommend?” She laid three dresses out on her bed: a green one that complimented her eyes, a red one that paired nicely with her skin tone and would go well with a bright lip, and a formal black dress with a nice shape to it. The black color seemed to best suit her current mood, so that’s the one she put on. Make-up time. In keeping with her current angst, Lolo went dark. It was all very moody and dramatic when she was finished, but she felt a bit ridiculous and wiped most of it off again.

Another hour down.

Et’zana arrived at 5:40. “Hey Lolo! You look nice. I’ve got to hurry to get myself ready. Too many travelling delays made me run late.” Et’zana was buzzing around the room at a dizzying pace.

Huo Lohse, who was quite happy to finally have another warm body in the room with her, jumped up to help. “Et’zana, how about you get ready, and I will unpack for you?”

“Really? That would be great!”

“Do you have a specific way you like to organize things?”

“Just make sure everything goes in the drawers neatly folded, please. I'll reorganize it later if I need to.”

“Got it.” Lolo got to work, and Et’zana started fussing with her hair. “How was your trip, Et'zana?”

“My mother required me to have an escort to the edge of the Bear Tribe territory, but she assigned the task to Mu'tarahe. He is... how should I put this... really old.”

Lolo laughed. “And slow, I take it.”

Et’zana clicked her tongue and winked at Lolo's reflection in the mirror. “Bingo! So, how was your trip?”

“The trip part was fun. The waiting here in my room all afternoon has been less fun.”

“Yeah. What’s up with that?” Et’zana stopped messing with her hair long enough to glance at Lolo.

“I don’t know. The only thing I can think of is that it must be a Bear Tribe… thing. The people here don't seem to like socializing. Or maybe they just don't know how to socialize.”

“It’s so strange, because Philige and Standig seem so normal! Well... Philige does anyway. I guess Standig’s peculiar tendencies make more sense now.”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t know him two years ago. Do you remember how at the very beginning of last summer, Standig sat by himself in the dining hall at mealtimes, and how it took him a while to warm up to our group?”

“I guess so, yeah.”

“Well, the year before that, at the Phoenix Tribe exchange, he was like that the entire summer. I don’t think I heard him say more than a handful of words that entire exchange.”

Lolo frowned. “You’re right. If this is how guests are treated in the Bear Tribe, I can only imagine what living here would be like… and how that would affect me.” Thinking about it made her eyes well-up again, so she changed subjects before her tears could ruin her make-up. “What’s it like in the Sphinx Tribe, Et’zana?”

“Hmm. Well, it's not really like the Wolf Tribe or the Bear Tribe. We care about appearances and social status, and we prize intelligence, book smarts, and reading. A lot of people there prefer reading to human interactions. I'm a little weird because I've always liked both. We have the most wonderful library though!”

“I’ll admit, I’ve never been much of a reader.”

“That's a shame! Someday, I will introduce you to some of my favorite books.” Et’zana smiled as though she was talking about her best friends.

The time ticked by much faster with someone to talk to. Suddenly, Lolo realized the time: 6:18.

“Et’zana, we need to go. Philige told me to meet him at 6:25 on the steps of The Great Hall, and I’m fairly certain that he meant 6:25 exactly.”

Et’zana didn’t argue, and the two girls walked out and started jogging a little down the wood plank path toward The Great Hall. When they arrived, it was 6:25 on the nose, and Philige was waiting for them.

“You made it. I was beginning to worry.” Philige smiled at the two girls. “Good evening Et’zana.”

“We are exactly on time. Why were you worried?” Lolo teased.

Philige gestured for the girls to follow him. “The Bear Tribe is going to be tough on you, Lolo, no offense.”

“None taken. In fact, I could have told you that myself already.”

Philige laughed, but it sounded hollow, not like the warm laugh she was used to from him. “One afternoon, and you’re already feeling it.” He shook his head. “In the Wolf Tribe, time together developing relationships and strong family connections are a way of life. You care about people above everything else. I respect that about your tribe. Here, solitude, order, reflection, mindfulness, meditation and self-mastery have taken over our way of life to a point that, I believe, is no longer natural or desirable. People here generally don’t talk with each other unless they have specific business to discuss or they share a living space, and even then, many people prefer to keep to themselves.”

“Is this how all bears live?” Et’zana asked.

Philige sighed heavily. “No. It’s not. This is the way of life for those who live here at the Leader’s Lodge. The rest of our tribe, those that have scattered across these mountains, also study meditation and prize mindfulness and reflection, but they have kept those values in balance with other worthy aspects of living.” Philige’s expression was difficult to read in the fading light, but Huo Lohse sensed a profound sadness in his words.

“I’m sorry, Philige,” she said, her own miserable feelings slowly resurfacing.

“What are you sorry for?” Philige perked up. “I’m glad you’re here, Lolo. This summer is going to be tough on you, but I’m hoping that you’ll rub off on us a little while you're here.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, I hope you will be brave enough to be yourself despite the challenges ahead.” Philige stopped. Pointing a little way ahead of them, he said “that’s the pavilion. That’s where you need to go.”

“Aren’t you joining us, Philige?” Et’zana was surprised.

“I’m sorry, but I have other matters to attend to tonight.” He turned to Lolo. “Keep your chin up, ok?” With that, he turned back toward The Great Hall and disappeared.

***

Huo Lohse was relieved to see all six of her brothers already seated together at a table. Zizai saw her enter the pavilion and gestured toward a collection of available chairs at the end of the table. As Lolo approached them with Et’zana, Zhongyan’s face lit up. He had saved a seat for the sphinx princess and waved her over. Before taking her seat, Lolo looked around for her friends. At the next table sat the Zugeers, the Bhujes, Fortus and Insaltus, and four boys Lolo had never seen before. They must be first years.

“Has anyone seen Durfein or Standig?” Lolo asked, taking her seat. Her brothers looked at each other, all shaking their heads in turn.

“Sorry, Lolo. We just got here a couple minutes ago,” Zizai said.

Lolo scanned the other table again and waved as she caught Shanti’s attention. Shanti smiled back and nodded in Lolo’s direction. “Maybe waving is not Bear Tribe-ish enough,” Lolo pondered as she observed that, for a space full of teenagers, it was disturbingly quiet. Her thoughts were derailed by an enormous young man entering the pavilion and taking the seat next to her.

“Standig? What happened to you?!” Lolo whispered. Standig had to fight hard to suppress the smile playing at the corners of his mouth. At sixteen, Standig had hit a major growth spurt and grown from the six feet even Lolo remembered from last summer to an impressive six feet and five inches. And he was still growing. Even for a member of the Bear Tribe-- known for producing tall, built people-- his growth had been extreme over the past year. “Um. I’m not sure I’ll be able to lift you for the spinning blades maneuver anymore,” Lolo teased.

Standig lost the fight against his smile. “It’s good to see you, Lolo.”

"Did you get my letters? It would seem that I was right about you not liking to write, so I don't know for sure if you ever received mine."

"What letters?" Standig seemed genuinely confused.

"You mean, you never got them?"

Standig shook his head.

"That's strange."

"What did you write about?"

"Nothing too interesting. Just about day to day life."

"Hm. Sorry I missed them."