“...made it and sent it all the way to Mars?”

I asked Eagle who was crouched over the rover, inspecting it.

“I have no idea, however it seems to still be functional. My guess is that it’s in a sleep or shutdown state as it isn’t able to power itself off the sun’s energy - although I don’t see any solar panels.”

‘I’ll just leave it to him to figure out and for now focus on getting us out of here…’

By this point, I was close enough to start looking at the rover itself,

“But we can get out of here now right?”

and started walking around it, looking for something that would catch my attention. It was just small enough to fit in a one metre-cubed box with three wheels on each side. It was featureless other than two spindly arms and head protruding from the rectangular body. The surface was made of a dark, metallic material that glinted at odd light angles. Must have been what caused them to think it was a rare artifact. Eagle finished screwing in the last metal panel in place with the help of his dagger.

“Don’t see why not, but we should wait for a dismissal from the queen instead of leaving by our own accord.”

‘There’s no need to bow my head before a royal when there are three others…’

I began walking towards the exit to stir the queen to say something, knowing that she won’t let us leave without some sort of statement, threat or request considering we have their artifact.

“Eagle and Cato,”

As expected, the queen called out to us when it seemed like we were about to leave. I turned alongside Eagle towards her despite not understanding what she was about to say.

“.kcul you hsiw and swen taerg tiawa I .ssergorp your in detseretni ylhgih ma I that wonk and terces a tcafitra eht peek ot rewop your in gnihtyreve do you taht ask I ,ymedaca lartnec eht to yenruoj keew-three your otno traped you erofeB”

With an unwavering expression, I waited for Eagle to respond.

“.su fo detcepxe gnihtyreve od ot esimorp dna sehsiw dna tfig suoicarg your for you knaht We”

A courteous smile graced the queen’s lips, albeit a fake and well-practised one.

“.navarac eht fo tser eht to you ekat will egairrac a where eltsac eht of tnorf eht to detrocse be llahs You .lleweraf you dib and ecnarussa your yb desaelp am I”

The queen finished with a wave of her hand which I took as the cue to take our leave and headed out. Eagle picked up the rover using one hand with ease.

“We are just flying through my bucket list!”

Eagle exclaimed as we walked through the domineering double-doors where another elf dressed in a golden-trimmed, white robe bowed to greet us and gestured for us to follow him.

“First we, well I, got magical powers, then joined an adventurer’s guild, met not just any royalty, but a queen in flesh and will attend the top academy! And all of this in less than two months!”

I did not share his enthusiasm of the outcome, so far nothing we have done was of our freewill. We were forced to do as others told us, bent to their whims.

“And don’t even get me started on the fact that we know have a method of communicating with Earth - this will completely blow up the astrological field! With the information that there are species out there besides just ours…”

Eagle paused and turned towards me, another one of his dangerous glints flashed across his eyes. Those were the eyes of when he plots the unbelievable, to achieve the impossible.

Just like back during that one mission with Asher and the others where we were trapped in a five story building, surrounded and outnumbered fifteen to one.

‘He’s got a head where it matters, only when it matters sadly.’

The walls lining the castle’s interior were as encompassing and domineering as could be. Grand, speckless and made from the most polished marble which reflected everything that shone on it. Jewel-encrusted ornaments made of pure, refined gold and silver decorated the walls alongside the occasional portrait or two.

Countless maids and butlers walked past but despite their position, carried an air of arrogance and superiority - looking in our direction with suspicion. It took almost ten minutes to reach the front gates in front of which was a smooth, cobblestone roundabout where two carriages stood.

A sole guard protected the one we arrived in and six stood in front of the new one. Both of them had a similar design of a silver coloured chassis and golden streaks dancing around the edges, creating a random but methodical design.

[Cato!]

[Cato!]

The twins bounded across the gardens to meet us, their tails wagging behind them. All of the guards tensed up at the sudden commotion and paid close attention to us, while thinking we paid them no mind as we were mere children.

“Hey, how’ve you been?”

I asked them and started scratching each of them behind the ear. They closed their eyes and tilted their heads,

[Garden’s is nice-]

[Too small!]

[Outside!]

The two of them shouted the last part in unison.

“You guys remembered to make sure Eagle can hear you as well, right?”

The siblings looked at Eagle for a brief moment,

[Sorry.] [Sorry.]

“Anyways, we are getting into the carriage now.”

Eagle opened the door and was climbing inside.

[Don’t want.]

[Too small!]

“Don’t worry, it’s just for a little while. Afterwards we will be going through many forests where you can run around.”

[Ookaayy.]

[Yayy!.]

They both replied and followed me inside. Eagle had already let loose on the rover and started to disassemble it.

“To make sure we’re on the same page, we’re going to be taken to a caravan of other people which is going to travel in the same direction as us. The trip to the academy is going to take a few weeks, right?”

Eagle’s attention was focused only on the rover. He had removed the panels from before and was now messing with the circuitry.

“Sounds about right. Speaking of which, your knowledge of the language sucks so we’re going to work on it.”

As he said that, he paused his tinkering and pulled out a small notepad from his pocket. I took it and started flipping through the pages. Words written in blue ink were sprawled all over, leaving no empty space.

The pages were split into three columns, the first listed an English word, the second had what I assumed was the translated equivalent and in the third was the pronunciation made up of English letters. This went on for the entirety of the note pad, each page had both sides completely scribbled all over.

“So this was what you did while I was out cold?”

I asked Eagled and flipped back to the first page where what looked like an alphabet was.

“Yup, for starters you’ll have to memorise the entire alphabet before we get to the caravan. So...about 30 minutes?”

Even before he said that I was already going over all of the different characters, imprinting their shape and form to memory. Underneath each was the english equivalent for their sounds.

“Right, and by the time we get to the academy you’ll expect me to hold a fluent conversation.”

I responded and looked over the cubs. One of them took the comfier seat lining the other side of the carriage, while the other resided on the floor right next to it. The carriage jerked forward and started moving, the clitter-clatter of the horse’s hooves could be heard even from inside.

“Of course not, even I took just over a month to get that far, and that’s with the knowledge of a dozen languages. You only know English properly, and several others just enough to hold a conversation. The goal will be to memorize everything in the notepad by the end of the first week, simple sentence formation for the next week and casual conversation by the third.”

As Eagle said that, he took off several more side panels and placed them on the seat next to me. At this point the rover was stripped naked, all of the wiring, electronics and other components inside the chassis exposed. Two solar panels were taking up the remaining empty space on the floor as they were connected by wires to the main body and couldn’t be brought far without disconnecting them.

I brought my attention back on the letters, by some odd stroke of luck, they all resembled English letters. Well most of them anyway.

‘Thank god these aren’t like the loopy writings the Russians use, or the weird curvy-arabian styled ones.’

As the carriage was pulled forward, the sounds and shapes were ingrained into my memory. One of the important aspects that was trained to death back in the Organisation was memory retention. Memorizing facts, plans, pictures, information at a glance and being able to recall it perfectly. I could have taken one glance at the first page and learned the alphabet from memory if needed be.

However, that would dedicate too much of my brain just to recall the information, slowing my progress. Which was why by the time our carriage arrived, only all of the basic letter sounds and the way they look were memorized.

Seeing as how we came to a stop and I accomplished my goal, getting to know who you’re traveling with

‘Always better to know who you are travelling with, especially in this case as we are just kids - very few questions will be aimed at us.’

“Come on Eagle, time to meet our neighbours-”

Eagle turned towards me with the most distraught look. His eyes were scrounged up, his bottom lip all curled up. The entire ride he was messing around with the rover and for the last minute or so took out his laptop out as well.

“You can continue to mess around with it afterwards, let’s go.”

[We coming too!]

The twins shouted across my mind as I faced the door. They barged through it as soon as the handle clicked open and disappeared from view. From the surroundings and the carriage’s speed we must be somewhere in the middle section of the city. A bit past the nobility but a bit before those of the merchant and knight status.

As Eagle and I traversed around we made mental notes of the different carriages present and the number of guards around. In the end, our group was made up of about fifty merchants and several dozen mercenaries that would guard everyone during the trip.

About half of them were standing around a wooden board stuck in the ground in front of a red tent with a golden trim. Eagle did his job as the translator and explained that it was the outlined path everyone will take. It didn’t make much sense why people with different destinations would take such long detours. So we decided to ask around and figure out how things work.

While Eagle did all the talking and investigative stuff, I stayed not too far behind, memorizing the long-ass list of words in his notepad. After talking to some of the merc’s and merchants it appeared as though the adventurers guild would host runs from various cities to other cities.

The adventurers would carry scrolls with information or valuable supplies to other guild buildings in exchange for a small reward. However, a merchant or group of merchants would often place a request for an escort mission that would coincide with the timing that the adventurers tasked with fetch would leave.

Should they accept, then they would form a large enough group to protect the caravan in return for an even greater profit from the run. All of the traders would then pay a fee to the merchant who hosted the run in exchange for protection.

Once everything is figured out, a list of all the cities required to be visited would be created and the logistics left up to the mercenaries to figure out. In the end it was a messy process at best, and downright nightmare at worst.

The idea itself was similar to public transportation, all they needed to do was make these runs at set dates and times that would match up with other towns, so that there is a constant flow of people and guards.

Me and Eagle weren’t sure if anyone had thought of this, or there were unseen issues with this idea. Regardless, we decided to hold off on proposing it to the adventurer’s guild and save it as a bargaining chip in the future. The last issue was the final carriage protected by the aforementioned six guards.

Not the mercenaries around the caravan, but the same six that were in front of the palace. The carriage had a design identical to the one back then and its protectors didn’t allow anyone to come within several meters.

‘Were we traveling with a stuck-up noble?’

‘Fucking hope not.’

The last matter before we went back inside was to get the twins with us.

‘Speaking of them, I wonder where they went... haven’t seen them since they took off earlier.’

I did a three-sixty to look around but had no clue where to start looking.

[We here!]

[Behind!]

Cheerful as ever, their voices rang across my mind. I inwardly smiled and turned to face them. There they were, two adorable pups two-thirds my size, seated with their tails wagging behind them.

“How did you know to come back?”

I asked, ‘perhaps it was amazing timing, or they’re able to read my mind…?’

[We can!] [I can!]

The two of them responded immediately.

‘Hold on, you guys can just read my mind?!’

[I said, yes.] [Yup.]

‘Holy shit, that’s amazing. Can you read anyone’s mind as well?’

They shook their heads,

[We try,]

[But it stops.]

[Mhm, others no like.]

They were finishing each other’s sentences, so their communication must be telepathic for the most part. I must have attracted quite a few gazes as I stood in one spot, looking at the cubs.

‘What do you mean they don’t like? Can they tell you are reading their minds?’

[Don’t know,]

[We read for a bit then,]

[Something stops us,]

[Then they look around]

[With scary face.]

As much as I wanted to find out more, their attentions were drifting. I looked over at Eagle who gave me an affirmation to signify that he heard what they said.

‘Alright then, since you can read my or Eagle’s mind, I will ask that you don’t unless it's an emergency or I tell you otherwise. Okay?’

Both of them gave a soft bark in response and walked up to me. I looked towards Eagle who was likewise standing beside me and processing the information he just heard - no doubt already forming some sort of hypothesis.

“Anyway Eagle, can you put the rover back together and get some response from whoever is on the other side?”

No longer being the center of attention, the twins broke out into a small-scale playfight.

“Sure, it will take me about ten minutes but afterwards we should be fine. No promises on how good the communication will be because if they didn’t put in a microphone and speaker, and I doubt they did, it will be tough.”

Eagle answered with a nod and waited for me to respond.

“Better than nothing, call me over once it’s ready.”

“Will do.”

With that, Eagle went towards the carriage while I looked down at the twins.

‘Now what should I do with you two…’

Considering that the trip outside of the city will take a while, tiring them out will be for the best. It’s also been a while since I had any reflex or avoidance practise. The two stopped messing around and looked at me expectantly.

The blue and green striped balls of fur must have read my mind again.

‘What did I just tell you?’

[We’re sorry.] [Sorry!]

“Anyway, until Eagle calls us in, you two have a single job. You have to try and touch me with your nose. It’s simple, just start as close to me as you can, and everytime you touch me, you have to start from a farther distance.”

[Can’t you run?]

[Yeah! That cheating!]

“Don’t worry, I will try to remain in one spot. I might take a roll or leap to the side, but will go back immediately. The first one to touch me six times wins, the first touch doesn’t count for each of you. Also, no mind-reading.”

This should teach them how to engage an enemy as it is rare to start from point-blank range. Granted I never taught others and have no experience dealing with animals so this is a hastily modified game, but it should work. Not only would catching meals become easier, but defending themselves in the wild should as well.

Perhaps it was their instinct kicking in, or just general common sense, but they started on opposite sides of me. Both of them reached out with their paw and touched me, no point in trying to dodge that - they were right next to me.

“One more thing, if you miss, you have to go back to where you started, and once you’ve started there will be no stopping mid-run. Come at me with all you’ve got!”

This might seem like a silly or pointless game, but there is so much involved in it. The person dodging has to pay to multiple sources of movement at the same time and being able to not only avoid, but anticipate their movements. Along with that is the obvious increase in reflexes, agility and so on.

The biggest advantage is for the attackers. Since they’re in direct competition, they cannot co-ordinate in order to get me into a situation where I can’t dodge. Instead, they have to plan their moves in such a way that the opponent would mess up or force me to act that they themselves can capitalize on it.

The power in their hind legs gave them enough momentum to immediately get me even after two steps, they were simply too fast. However, by the time they were four paces away, the real challenge started.

At that distance I had enough time to dodge their leap without a problem. They tried it several times before realizing that simply charging at me won’t work. At that point it became a game of stalking. Making slow circles around me.

I always kept them in my sights, never one behind. Little known fact, keeping enemies within your line of sight helps staying alive.(it) After a minute of fruitless turning on the spot, waiting for them to attack, I grew somewhat bored.

“If none of you get me six times before Eagle calls us then I win, which means I will be better than both of you.”

Low growls came from them as they responded to my provocation. But other than that there was little reaction.

‘Right, they won’t care who is better a whole lot…’

“How about this, the one who wins gets belly rubs and can sit next to me on the ride out of the city?”

[Belly…]

[Rubs...?]

[What is that] [Is like ear-scratches?]

“Oh hoh,”

I paused for a dramatic flair,

“It’s a hundred times better.”

‘Or so I’ve heard people say…’

This time a glint of excitement flashed across the eyes. A bit of rivalry won’t hurt. The blue-coloured one charged forward and the other followed suit.

I expected them to do another simple charge but was surprised at how quickly they learned. They changed their direction and leapt at an angle to me only to come at me from a closer distance. It would have worked if they did not mirror each other movement’s allowing me to sidestep them both.

From that point it became a flurry of movement. As soon as they missed, they would walk to the distance they were at before and rushed at me again. Each time not only changing their approach, but baiting out the other. They realized that if they wanted to get me, then they needed to fake out the other and have me dodge their attack.

‘It took me a while to figure this out back then, meanwhile Asher figured it out in a matter of minutes and played me to his advantage.’

I let out a breath of air. The cubs were still circling around me and I took the time to reminisce about practising with Asher.

‘How I miss those days…’

If not for my flexibility and essence, this would have been over the moment they figured out the trick. Not only was I forced to constantly roll out of the way, but use impromptu martial-arts to bait or redirect their attempts at jumping on me. The easiest way so far was the basic move taught in aikido, where you would take hold of your attacker and throw them in the direction of their own attack, using their momentum, while placing yourself behind them.

It worked for a while in the beginning when they attacked from opposite sides as I would redirect one and turned towards the other. Preventing any form of follow-up. The problem was that these were executed at a blistering speed, to the point that anyone not using essence would have no chance to see anything but slow circling of the pups followed by blurs as they charged.

Both of them managed to get me from four and five paces after five minutes, but the last one gave them trouble. At that distance it would take them two leaps to get to me in a straight line, and two more if they chose to take an indirect path. However, that gave me more time to react to them and see what they were planning.

“Cato!”

Eagle came in a hurry. It was less training than expected, but no harm done.

“Time’s up!”

I shouted with a bit too much energy to the cubs as they collapsed onto the ground. Eagle jerked his head back and lowered his eyebrows for a second at my exclamation.

[You’re too fast.]

[No, you like slime.]

[Right! Always slipping between.]

The two complained while panting on the ground.

"Were you playing a game?"

Eagle stared at me slack-jawed.

"No, don't even answer that. Cato, organisation's personal devil playing a game with a cubs. Wait, what kind of game involves having cubs trying to jump you?"

I regained my posture and wiped any emotion from my face.

"Have you even played a game before?"

Ignoring all of that, I changed to subject.

“Did you get it to work?”

Eagle nodded his head, his eyes wide open.

“The messed up part, well not counting you having fun, is that I know that voice. You’d never guess-”

“Who is it?”

I cut him off, not wanting to play this game again.

“It’s the main intelligence headquarters from the Organisation, our, Organisation.”