The very next morning Lexy stretched and climbed out of her bed. She got her equipment in her bag, put on a new hoodie, and grabbed her bow and arrows. Lexy exited her bedroom waking up before the barking Varikin now by her side the two head for breakfast.

The two-headed downstairs headed down a hallway and entered the dining room. Lexy sat down at the large table a seat away from Thokath,

“So Lexy, are you going to help the doves today?”

Lexy looked up at him,

“Nah I think they will manage for a day without me besides I was wondering if”

Lexy paused her throat felt like sandpaper,

“I know you’re related to but uh did you know my dad?”

Thokath froze and looked up at her as if he feared the question she asked,

“I’m sorry Lexy restate the question?”

Lexy scratched her neck,

“my dad you or did you know him?”

Thokath gave a shaky sigh and turned his face away from her slightly,

“ya . . . I knew him and if you’re gonna ask what he thought of you, no I don’t know that either.”

Thokath paused and continued,

“we’ll he died ten years ago, and I never got to know him that well. I was only nineteen at the time and our family doesn’t exactly throw family reunions often as you would think or like for that matter. I’m sorry if I wasn’t much help but I don’t think you would have liked him he wasn’t a very nice person, to say the least”

Lexy’s expression looked crushed and a few tears were leaking from her eyes. Thokath turned and saw her face. His expression quickly changes to slightly stressed and worried

“oh no, don’t cry please don’t- “

Lexy broke into full waterfalls of tears. Thokath stood up, walked over to her, and scooped her up into a hug. Lexy doesn’t resist the hug and rests her head against his shoulder,

“shh i-it’s okay I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said it that way I’m such an idiot. Is it because something came up?”

Lexy between hiccups and sobs nodded.

Thokath sighed,

“I’m sorry I’m probably the worst guardian ever?”

Lexy slowed her crying and shook her head,

“no, you’re here more often than my mom is you play games with me and let me explore the forest. You let me keep Varikin and told me the truth. I would rather deal with the truth than a bunch of lies, you give me a roof to sleep under and a warm bead plus most of all you care about me last night was proof of that.”

Thokath began messing with her hair and gave a soft smile,

“Yeah, the way you say it makes me sound like a big teddy bear.”

Thokath gently puts Lexy down,

“Hey, do you want to go downtown and get an ice cream?”

Lexy giggled,

“Sure it’s okay if Varikin stays?”

Thokath looked over at Varikin,

“I think he will be okay if we leave him alone for a bit.”

***

Thokath and Lexy headed to a local ice cream place. Lexy got pistachio and Thokath got chocolate chips with cookie dough. The two sit down at a booth and begin enjoying the ice cream.

“So Lexy have any ideas on what you want to be when you grow up?”

Lexy looked at him and blinked,

“I want to find a way to help people and no not a doctor I don’t think I can handle that I mean help people like maybe be a police officer or a firefighter and before you say yes I am aware of my height but just because I’m shorter or seemingly weaker doesn’t mean I’m worthless it doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be allowed to dream its why-“

Thokath looked into Lexy eyes and now saw the fire in her eyes,

“why you practice with knifes hand to hand combat you don’t want to be useless I think I understand you a lot better now”

Lexy looked down at her ice cream and then back to Thokath. “Oh and thank you for the ice cream”

Thokath gave a soft smile. “Of course now as much as I love spending time with you. I’ve got to go back to work.”

Lexy nodded. “Yeah let me just go use the bathroom really quick.”

Thokath nodded and watched Lexy leave when he heard the door to the shop open. He looked up to see four people enter the store with dark black outfits. One man was Tarvos without his mask while another had long light green hair. The one with green hair was female, her haunting orange eyes set on Thokath. She took a seat across Thokath and smirked,

“Tell me, how much did they pay you to care for the child?”

Thokath clenched his fists, his blood boiled as he gazed at this woman with the rage of a hurricane.“Not a coin Elvira.”

The woman’s smile frowned. “You know who I am, then you should know what happens to those who stand in my way.”

Thokath put his hands together,

“Then you should know who I am and that Azriel wouldn't trust the guardian with just anyone. After all Tiera’s lullaby will play at dawn.”

It was as if the room chilled to sub-zero. Elvira, Tarvos, and those with them stilled like statues, eyes wide. Lexy came into the room and Thokath stood up. “Come on Lexy, let's head home.”

Lexy eyed the people who were still. “What's their problem?”

Thokath shrugged. “Nothing, they just got a little scared.”

Lexy looked to Thokath who had a mischievous glint in his eyes.“If you say so.”

***

Lexy groaned when she woke up to hear barking. “This will never end will it?”

She heard a short bark and sighed,

“Fine, I’m up.”

Lexy then got dressed in a light green hoodie, a white t-shirt, and a set of black shorts. She grabbed her bag of equipment and headed out of her room. Lexy frowns when she sees Varikin give an innocent expression.

Lexy glared,

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

The two then head downstairs, go through a hallway, and enter a dining room. Only to see Thokath and the others aren’t there. She turned to one of the butlers,

“I'll be off now if Thokath comes back, you know what to tell him.”

The butler nodded and the two left the dining room and then the house. The two reach the forest and Lexy puts her hand on Varikin. Lexy began to think of reality, then opened her eyes to see she and Varikin were now in reality, in front of the rebellion's door. Varikin turned into his ferret form and hopped onto her shoulder. The duo entered the base and headed into the cafeteria.

Lexy saw Katie making soup and putting out large bowls of fruit. Cody talking to Miko and Kuma trying to talk to Kanki. She was going to go and talk to Miko and Cody, but she felt a tap on her shoulder, and she turned to see Jackson. Lexy straightened her back,

“Oh hello captain, is it time for another training exercise?”

Jackson shook his head,

“yes and no. I thought it was long overdue for you to get one of these.”

He pulled out of his bag a nicely folded blue vest that has the letters k nine-unit embroidered into it along with a wolf crest above it.

Jackson scratched the back of his neck,

“you’re supposed to get one once you’re a part of the squad. But I’ve been lazy so far. And yes, I have a training exercise planned for you. Come on.”

Lexy smiled, put on the vest, and followed Jackson to the training area that was now cleaned up, but all around was targets. She then saw Leo in the room standing next to two large crates of arrows and in hand a recurve bow without a string on yet.

Leo turns to her “hey how much can you handle on a bow?”

Lexy smiled,

“sixty-five pounds.”

Leo nodded and put a cord on the bow.

“Alright, that should do the trick here.”

He handed Lexy the bow and a handful of splitter arrows in a fur-lined quiver.

Lexy smiled and put on the quiver. She turned to Jackson,

“Alright, I'm going to guess that you did this for a reason.”

Jackson smirked “yes actually these arrows have blown up in our faces or nearly killed us when we try to use them. Thus, the only person who can use them is you and I must say are a force to be reckoned with when put in your hands. So why waste a powerful resource.”

Lexy nodded now understanding,

“got it.”

Leo came up to her,

“I made the bow to be more travel friendly. Push that button.”

He said pointing to the button on the handle.

Lexy did so and she and Varikin watched in awe as the bow collapsed down to a thick stick four inches long. She smiles “thanks, Leo.”

Leo scratched his neck,

“Thanks, kid but the point of this is a magic test actually.”

Jackson noded,

“Yes, depending on certain aspects of your magic, you can determine how many arrows you can split from one.”

Lexy nodded and Varikin looked around,

“So she's going to hit as many as possible with one splitter arrow?”

Jackson nodded,

“precisely.”

Lexy turned to Varikin,

“Can you get off my shoulder? The weight might throw me off.”

Varikin nodded and hopped off her shoulder. Lexy presses the button on her bow and it expands back to its original state. She draws a splitter arrow from her quiver and loads it into the bow. She focused her energy on the arrow. Dark purple energy spreads into the arrow and turns it near to pure black and purple.

Lexy after a long moment releases the arrow. It whizzes through the air and with a screech it splits into fifteen arrows. All a direct hit. The targets collapse into the magic and then with a hiss their dust.

Jackson nodded,

good now see if you can push yourself further.”

Lexy nodded and pegs on another arrow. This time she kept it on longer. She released the arrow. The second it was released it was quick as a commit and before she could blink another fifteen targets are gone. She stared,

“Well, I think the limit is fifteen. Because I just speed it up.”

Leo looked with a smile,

“I think you're right. Another fifteen went missing, maybe try a little more.”

Lexy nodded and loaded the bow again and closed her eyes and concentrated instead of just holding it longer. It didn’t take long for hissing to be heard and before anything could be said the arrow exploded.

Lexy coughed when she walked out of the explosion covered in soft burns,

“I think I can check exploding arrows off my bucket list.”

Leo hummed,

“Alright, this means I'll have to adjust the magic capacity for now. Just don’t do that again and you will probably be fine.”

Jackson nodded,

“good now let’s see how well you do in the field.”

Leo huffed,

“Here we go. You did that cursed door trick without telling me didn’t you?”

Jackson only smirked,

“maybe.” He said in a sly tone.

Varikin and Lexy watched when the world changed to where the five were now standing on a hill covered in tall grass and trees that had targets hidden around a trail leading down the hill. Jackson turned to Lexy,

“Alright, hit as many as possible and as fast as you can go.”

Lexy nodded and readied an arrow. She began to head down the trail and quickly spotted ten targets. She closes her eyes and concentrates on the arrow hitting her targets. The arrow splits into ten they wiz around her and then hit the targets. She quickly continues and loads another arrow into the bow. Lexy began running down the hill and passed five targets she spun on her heel and fired her arrow. She hits four.

After hitting ten more targets she reached the bottom of the hill to see Varikin, Saylis in her human form, Jackson and Leo all standing there as she had never left. Lexy walked up to the four confused about how they got there, “wait what?”

Jackson looked to Leo, “how long was that?”

Leo hummed his blue marks brightened a bit, “five minutes.”

Jackson nodded, “good. Tomorrow I want a bit faster, you’re dismissed for today.

Lexy's expression softened about the question she’s about to ask that had been on her mind for a while now, “hey do any of you know the last name of the royal family?”

Leo looks at her curiosity clear on his face “ya it’s Blood lander why you ask”

Lexy gave an expression Varikin has never seen on this girl, absolute and utter dread. As if the words from Leo’s mouth came to life and stole Lexy’s soul, “nothing I’ve. . Got to go see you guys tomorrow.” As soon as she left with a hurry in her steps Varikin tried asking, “Lexy what’s wrong?” But Lexy just ignored him. He jumped onto Lexy’s shoulder and frowned.

Lexy pressed the button on her bow and put it in her bag. She walked out of the training room to see Magi, “hi Lexy? Are you ok?”

She huffed and kept walking while Magi’s eyes narrowed, “I didn’t expect you out of anyone to be hiding secrets, huh.”

Lexy walked faster trying to ignore Varikin’s questioning stare when she exited the base, “Lexy! What is up with you? Why are you bothered by the royal family's last name so much?”

She stopped, “i- It doesn’t matter. Just a forgotten friend.”

Varikin doesn’t have to look at her to hear her guilt, her anger, her frustration. But most of all he could tell she was lying. Lexy leaned down and put her hand on Varikin’s scruff. She closed her eyes and thought of the veil. She opened her eyes and was greeted by a lush forest.

Lexy sighed, “Let’s just go home, I need to take my medicine”. The two walk through the forest silence between the two. Lexy and Varikin reached the end of the forest and Varikin hopped off Lexy and went back to his normal form. He puts on his allusion and the two-resume walking to the mansion in silence. Lexy and Varikin enter the mansion to see Thokath staring at the chessboard. Thokath turned to see Lexy and flinched, “oh sorry you scared me kido. Are you hungry?”

Lexy sighed, “I’m going to go to bed, but could you ask one of the maids to make sure Varikin gets some food.”

Thokath nods “s-sure thing.”

Lexy almost stopped at that she had never heard Thokath stutter. She shook her head and decided to go to bed.