The children and Edith approached the skill school. The school grounds had many buildings and areas for all sorts of experiments and training. The children walked on the school grounds while looking curiously at the sights as Edith led them to the admission office together.

Parents could be seen with their children sitting at different tables. The sight almost looked like humans with their pets; most of the parents had prominent human features with only slight animalistic features while the children were the complete opposite.

The very young kids like Vogel and the rest looked completely like a normal animal while the older ones had more humanoid bodies. There were children who seemed to be around six years old, with long wings and feathers instead of skin, walking with their parents. Some dog children around the same age were walking on all fours even though they had humanoid bodies. Their nature was still in them despite their bodies. There were also people with ram horns, goat ears, rhinoceros horns, horse legs, cat tails, lion manes and many others there with their kids.

Even with all the people there, the hotel-like office didn’t seem crowded at all. There was room for everyone. Not only were there chairs for people to sit on, there were also wooden perches for birds and mats for quadrupeds. The sheer variety was astounding.

Vogel could not believe his eyes when he saw a young wolf and a goat sitting casually next to each other on a mat.

The children and Edith didn’t have to wait long before someone called their number from behind a counter. This office would mark the number of its visitor as soon as they entered through the front door and by using mind magic, that number would also be known by the visitor.

“Hello, Lieutenant Edith, How are you today?” A merry looking young lady with fluffy dog ears welcomed them at the counter. She seemed to know Edith.

“Hello, Lula, How are things?” Edith returned the greeting with a smile as she took a seat. She and Lula had known each other from the military.

“I’m good. I’m good… Whose children are those lovely birdies?” She motioned at Vogel and the others.

“A friend of mine asked me to enroll them in some skill classes”

“Oh… and where is that friend of yours?”

“… She isn’t here” Edith answered, straight faced.

“Well… The kids can definitely still apply to skill classes but if they fail those classes, their parents will be the ones who end up paying for re-enrollments” Lula looked at the kids to advise them against biting off more than they could chew.

The school didn’t mind the absence of a child’s parents when enrolling. Most of the children in this city were all like Vogel and the children, raised within teaching arrays that rapidly developed their brain functions. So, even a child was considered responsible for his or her own behavior.

“That’s alright! They’ll only take one class each beside the elementary body magic class” Edith said.

It was conventional for every child to take elementary body magic to learn to transform their bodies into a more human body. To the people of this city, having human bodies was more convenient for everyday activities and communication. However, it wasn’t mandatory and many adults liked to live with their animal bodies normally.

The children knew what the elementary body magic class was for which was why none of them voiced their disagreement.

Edith motioned for the children to tell Lula the class they wanted to enroll in.

“Elementary wind magic”

“Elementary wind magic”

“Elementary wind magic”

They all picked the wind magic skill class.

“Aunt Edith” A meek voice called out to Edith, it was Seva.

“Yes, Seva?”

“Um… Can I enroll in another class as well?” Seva spoke shyly.

“You certainly can but it isn’t really advised since this is still your first time taking classes. You should wait for a while until you’re comfortable in your classes and then increase your workload as much as you like”

“Then… Then I’d like to take the elementary water magic class as well” A hint of enthusiasm could be heard from her.

“It’s going to take you a lot of effort to juggle three classes for your first time. Will you be able to handle it?”

“Yes, I’ll do my best!” Seva said with determination.

“Alright” Edith turned to Lula “Sign her up for elementary water magic as well”

The others all turned to look at Seva with surprise.

“Sis, are you sure you’ll be alright?” Iola said.

“Yes, I’m sure” Seva replied.

“Wait, I didn’t know we were going to do that. I want to take a third class as well” Maethas didn’t want to be out done.

“Sure, what class do you want to enroll in?” Lula said.

“Uh… I’m not sure yet. Hold on let me think”

“Sigh… Please excuse our brother, he could be a bit… enthusiastic. He’s only going to take two classes” Vogel told Lula.

“No, No. Bro, I’m really going to take a third class. I just still haven’t figured out which one to-“

Iola lightly smacked Maethas’ head before he could finish his sentence. She gave him a look as If telling him to shut up. As soon as Maethas saw that look in her eyes, he immediately cowered and shut his mouth.

“That’s enough, both of you” Edith reprimanded them both at their behavior.

“It’s ok. They’re like that all the time” Adrian teased.

“Can’t we just…” Unknowingly, Vogel had snapped a little from his impatience before toning it back down “… finish registering before we start smacking each other’s heads?”

“Ehehe… I can see why your friend didn’t come with them” Lula giggled.

“…They have their moments” Edith said, dead-pan.

In the end, Maethas, despite Edith’s warnings, enrolled in earth magic along with the wind and body magic classes, Seva enrolled in water, wind and body magic and the rest enrolled only in wind and body magic.

Lula filled out a form for each of them and gave them their IDs. The schedule of the classes was written on its corresponding building. There were buildings for elementary, intermediate and advanced magic classes. All the classes’ times were fixed and attending a class was only for people to fill in the gaps in their knowledge as well as doing hands on applications of magic. Most of the work was done by the students themselves.

The children were each given a small smooth sphere with a hook on it that could be hanged on their necklace. This sphere contained the knowledge they required for their classes. Lula advised them to finish digesting the information in this sphere before going to class.

That sphere worked in a similar fashion to the stend’s necklace except this one would transfer the knowledge inside of it directly to the holder. The time it would take to transfer the information depended on several factors but the one they had wouldn’t take more than a single hour.

On their way out of the office, they bumped into a man with hair that covered his head and face, making it look like a lion mane; this coupled with his piercing eyes gave him a fierce look. He held a cute kitten with golden fur in one of his giant hands which didn’t fit the look of his giant body. The kitten was sleeping soundly in his palm as he held it gently.

“Lieutenant Edith, Surprised to see you here” His deep voice resounded in the children’s ears.

“Officer Bezir” she acknowledged “congratulations on your first born!” Edith said as she looked at the small kitten.

“Thank you”

“You here to enroll him in some classes?”

“Yes” he sighed “These days, you can’t start them early enough”

“Your son is barely a month old, that’s plenty early”

“With what happened two years ago, it’s never too early… I almost regret bringing him into this world” Bezir mumbled

“Don’t say such things. That incident will never happen again” Edith reassured him.

“It shouldn’t have happened at all in the first place… yet, here we are”

“That incident was traumatizing… on all of us”

“That day, I barely got to his mother in time… Both of our families were together at our house that day… But I barely managed to save her” He lamented, the sorrow and horror was visible in his eyes.

“You are not the only one who lost someone. Most of this city did”

“Hmph… You’d think the elders in sky city would have retaliated. But what do they do? Tell us that hiding is the best course of action. That’s some crap” Bezir snarled.

“Enough! Watch your mouth in front of the children” Edith solemnly said.

“Y-You’re right… I… I got a little carried away” Promptly, Bezir came to his senses.

“There was nothing that could have been done then. Don’t beat yourself up over it” She said “take care of your child” With that said, she walked away with the children.

****

“What was that all about?” On their way home, Maethas couldn’t help but ask what was on all the children’s minds.

“Just a broken man with a broken heart” she replied.

The children had immediately looked up information about this ‘incident’ that happened two years ago. The only information they could get, was that a strange explosion happened near the base of the giant tree covering this city. The children remembered seeing that gray chunk in the tree that looked like it was rotting.

“Why isn’t there more information on this incident in the necklace?” Adrian asked.

“The information in the necklace consists of undeniable facts only… The events of that incident have so many versions told from so many sources that nobody knows what to believe” Edith answered.

“There should at least be some information on the culprits” Adrian said.

“Whoever did it managed to flee. No information has been released on their identities”

“Could it have been a magic beast?” Vogel asked.

“No, this city has been designed to ensure complete protection from magical beasts and the few strong ones that come our way are stopped by our military forces. This has been the case since the city was founded… That explosion on the other hand, was something none of us had ever seen before. Not even the elders in sky city know what it was”

“If you no one knows what it was then how can you be sure something like that won’t happen again?” Adrian questioned.

“That’s enough questions for one day. All you need to know is that we took our precautions to make sure nobody comes near this city uninvited” Edith avoided the children’s gazes and looked straight ahead as she talked.

****

Together, the company went home. The whole house was empty and quiet except for the presence of a single yellow canary bird sitting on a cushion in the living room.

“Mom”

Seva was woken up from her nap on Edith’s shoulders by Maethas’ shout as he flew towards their mother.

“Did you have a good time with aunt Edith, children?” Ava’s jovial voice could be heard in the room. She was speaking using a human language, unlike before where her voice was heard directly in the children’s minds.

The kids started to talk about the day’s events. Seva kept talking about how nice aunt Edith was, Maethas talked about the food that they ate, Iola and Vogel talked about the skill school and their classes while Adrian kept silent. One look at him and Edith realized he was still thinking about their exchange with that officer and the talk about the incident.

Edith let out a soft sigh. Those kids are really a handful, she thought.

“You should quickly study the information in the spheres and go to sleep. I’ll wake you up tomorrow for class” Ava advised the children.

Promptly, the children went to a room upstairs and started digesting the information within the spheres. Only Ava and Edith were left in the living room.

“Tea?” Ava flew into the kitchen. The cupboard opened on its own as two teacups floated out onto the kitchen counter.

“Ah… My lady, let me” Edith hurriedly stood up from her seat to help Ava.

“Settle down, Edith” Ava chuckled “Consider it a small gift for today”

Edith hesitated but sat down in the end “Thank you, my lady”

Two different colored stones flew out from the cupboard at Ava’s command. They merged together above the cups and slowly turned into two separate streams of liquid water that poured into the cups. She put in an extra multicolored stone, one in each cup.

A soft hand grabbed each cup and the water inside of them started to heat up. By the time, the cups were laid down on the living room table, the water was already boiling hot and the fragrance of tea hung in the air.

A woman with bright blonde hair dressed in a white one piece dress sat opposite Edith. She was Ava in human form.

The two women quietly drank their tea. The sunset could be seen from the adjacent window. The crown of the giant tree covered this town so the light of the sun would only shine on the city on the break of down and when the sun was setting. The gentle light from the setting sun accentuated the peaceful feel in the living room.

“Your children are very smart, my lady” Edith spoke courteously.

“I see they’ve gotten rather close to you” Ava said with a smile “and very quickly, might I add”.

Edith responded with a light smile.

Ava looked at the setting sun as her thoughts drifted to memories of the past.

“I didn’t think that raising your own child would feel different from raising any of you when you were young… but everyday I’ve spent watching them play with each other or even bicker and have these small fights… it gave me this feeling that I… that I can’t describe very well” Ava suppressed the choking in her throat as tears started to well up in her eyes “I wish we could have raised them together”.

“I’m very sorry for what happened back then, my lady” Edith tried to console her.

Ava suppressed her tears “Don’t be… He died protecting what we built”

“Thank you, Edith, for today” she continued.

“My pleasure, my lady. You can call for me anytime” Edith said.

Ava laid down her cup and wiped the tears in her eyes, her expression hardened as she said “Report back to Demogo. He has some tasks for you to do”