Horses tossed their heads in delight as Shaya’s Mounted Combat class wrapped up, students dismounting and feeding treats to their sweat-coated steeds. Those who had bonded with the animals they rode, such as Shaya, would stay to stable their mounts and brush them down after the class, deepening the bond further. Most of the students had no interest in doing so, and even a few of the usuals handed off their reins to Bari’s volunteers this time.

Like their steeds, each rider stank from riding hard in full armour on the unusually hot autumn day. Bari had them training in close order drills, each rider driving their steed within arm's reach of other cavalry to simulate charges against enemy ranks. They practiced in various formations, from simple lines to Zothiri’s complicated ‘lance’ formation, where a tight, narrow wedge of heavy knights would punch into a block of infantry.

Shaya felt bad for the horses, poor handling by some of her peers had led to more wear and tear as tense riders dug into their sides or sawed at their reins more than necessary. The same tension had led to more than a few collisions requiring healers to intervene on behalf of horse or rider, but luckily nothing catastrophic.

She was leading her enormous Jhagsdale horse toward the stable alongside Bri and Ralus when Bari rode up to her. The large bestial woman looked down at her from atop her own giant horse, her horns casting a long shadow over Shaya. Bari cleared her throat, then spoke with her usual guttural accent: “Shaya, can you stay a while after class?”

Shaya looked to her friends, who shrugged, then turned back to Bari, “I can spare thirty minutes before getting to my next class. What’s up?”

“Keep Marengo saddled then and join me for a ride,” she replied, “I owe you a conversation, if I recall correctly.”

“Got some energy left for me boy?” Shaya asked her mount.

The enormous silver stallion snorted as if insulted by the question.

Shaya laughed, mounting up in a smooth gesture she hoped worthy of her Sillanir ancestry. She turned to her friends with a grin, “I’ll see you folks after Abjuration!”

“Have fun!” Bri said, returning the smile in kind.

Shaya waved at them as she trotted to catch up with Bari, her friends returning the wave before heading into the stables. It only took Marengo a few seconds to pull up beside Bari, and both women slowed their horses to a walk.

“So,” Bari said, “what do you want to know?”

Shaya laughed, “Bari, I want to know everything. I’ll try to limit my questions though.”

The older woman frowned at her, “Why, thank you for your concern.”

“Alright,” Shaya said, “why did you leave me purple?”

“That’s it?”

“I need time to think,” Shaya chuckled, “I’m buying time with an easy question.”

Bari snorted, “A healer prioritizes critical wounds on their patient, especially if the injuries are severe enough to tax the patient’s body. I focused on the hairline fractures I detected across many of your bones and damage to the ligaments.”

“That’s all, eh?”

Bari’s eyes narrowed under her heavy brow, “No, I left you – and plenty of other students – with ridiculous looking superficial injuries to temper your pride. I find it especially critical after someone is first blooded in battle and in competitive environments like this.”

“Couldn’t leave any cool scars some of us might find attractive?”

“Gods,” she shook her head, “you’re just like my husband with this talk of attractive scars.”

“I dunno,” Shaya continued pushing her luck, “it sounds to me like you’re attracted to scars.”

“Hmph,” Bari looked at her, “Cyren is rubbing off on you. Hopefully not literally.”

Shaya flinched at the image, then laughed. “Alright, alright, point to you then.”

The beast-woman scoffed, “Don’t bother keeping score until your wit develops, cub. We’re not even in the same league right now – if you think Cyren is bad, you’re best not riding into battle alongside the Sillanir tribes.”

“Is that how you met my mother?” Shaya asked, just letting the conversation flow naturally and hoping that would get Bari to open up more.

“Yes,” she replied, “during the last Succession War, our tribes – like all the others – were called to support Astoria’s claim, as usual. We were from rival groups, but we worked together closely in some of the early battles and she rose through the ranks quickly as a skilled and merciless commander. Our losses mounted until neither tribe could support itself, to Devi’s grief, but that’s what brought us together.”

“What happened?”

“Despite their opinion,” Bari continued, “the Zothiri are not the most skilled martial force in the Empire.”

You’ll get no arguments from me.

“The Kelahkese garner the most amount of practical combat experience since the Titans have a heavy presence in their lands and focus their assaults from the ocean at the start of each war. We Sillanir are often called in to help them when the Empire is unified, granting us plenty of experience as well. Yet when a Succession War begins, we always find ourselves on opposing sides of the war, throwing away the lives of our greatest veterans while the eastern kingdoms just...politick.”

“That sounds frustrating,” Shaya nodded, the story making her recall faint memories of her mothers arguing about that.

“Devi agreed with you,” Bari shook her head, “she found the entire situation madness, and wanted our grand chief to sue for peace with Kelahk. ‘Let the easterners play their games’ she would say, ‘without wasting our blood on it.’”

“Sounds sensible to me,” Shaya said, “but the treaties that unified the southern kingdoms behind Astoria and the northern ones behind Vynderwynd are ancient. That’s not something rationality can overcome easily.”

“You have the right of it,” Bari said, looking off to the horizon where the sun blazed over the Jade sea, “Devi’s ‘suggestions’ were declined and she was warned not to speak of them further. But, despite how bloody that war was, Devi used her cunning to minimize casualties on both sides of the war, often times ignoring orders from our superiors entirely.”

“We know that’s not good,” Shaya said, referring to Azreon, “what happened?”

“She was recalled by the grand chief,” Bari kicked her steed into a canter as they climbed one of the artificial, grassy hills in the dome. Once Shaya caught up, she continued, “Devi didn’t take kindly to being dressed down by someone who had failed to overcome the enemy herself, yet continued to throw our lives away against them anyway.”

“Did she challenge the grand chief for control over Sillanir?”

Bari chuckled, “It’s not that simple, but yes.”

Shaya waited for a response, but prodded when one wasn’t forthcoming: “Did she win?”

They crested the hill and let their horses rest. Bari and Shaya scanned their surroundings, eyes resting upon Quill as he lunged at Storm Breaker and nipped at his heels. The large gryphon leapt away from the attack with a flap of his wings, landing to face the gryphlet and issuing a squawk of challenge. Quill recovered from his attack and lunged again, using his wings to gain some speed in the air.

Shaya giggled as Storm Breaker let Quill pounce on his foreleg, crashing to the ground melodramatically. The little gryphlet let out a triumphant screech as he stood upon his vanquished foe, then a surprised one when his keen eyes noticed Shaya watching them. He took off towards them, three legs pumping to close the distance as fast as he could.

“He misses you, you know,” Bari said.

“I know,” Shaya sighed, “I plan on studying here as much as possible, if that’s alright with you.”

“Of course,” Bari said, “I think he’s pretty close to learning to fly, I wouldn’t want you to miss that.”

Shaya wouldn’t, watching as Quill leapt into the air a few times, flapping his wings as if to gain altitude, but falling to the ground each time. Marengo shuffled nervously as the gryphlet approached them, the sheer size-difference between them irrelevant to the horse’s natural instinct to avoid predators. She pet his neck to calm him down, then handed her reins to Bari as she dismounted.

Shaya walked down the hill towards Quill, waving at him in encouragement: “You can do it little guy!”

Quill leapt into the air again, flapping his wings. Shaya’s heart soared as he gained a bit of altitude for his efforts before dropping back to the ground and continuing his run. As stubborn as she was, he jumped once more, flapping hard. He climbed a few feet into the air, but started to drop down.

Before he could drop more than a foot, Storm Breaker flew up to him and Shaya felt a burst of aether from the adult gryphon. As Storm Breaker slowed his flight to match Quill’s, the gryphlet’s wings carried him a bit higher into the air, as if the wind was holding him aloft.

In flight, Quill crossed the last hundred yards to her in short order, crashing into her with an ecstatic wark as Storm Breaker flew over them. Her little friend had grown a foot in length and gained no small amount of weight, so they toppled to the ground together as he careened into her. Shaya laughed as Quill immediately squawked in triumph again and began preening at her wild hair, as if the strands were feathers in need of cleaning.

“You did so well!” Shaya squealed as Quill turned to kissing her face, his tongue poking her cheek and nose like a finger. She gave his feline hind quarters a scratch, his tail rising with pleasure.

Between Quill’s kisses, Shaya looked up to Bari as the older, larger woman rode over to them: “Are gryphon’s innately magical? Is that how they can get such large bodies into the air?”

“Yes,” Bari’s eyes sparkled with a joy Shaya didn’t see often, “the average gryphon can channel a small amount of primal Sapphire – air magic. Storm Breaker, as his name might suggest, is more unique than that and can channel a greater range of power.”

“Primal? As in, from the Titans?”

Bari nodded, hesitation crossing her once-again guarded features. "It’s a... complicated matter you’ll learn more about in later years of study, but in many ways gryphons are no different than Titan spawn. Some even believe that prior to the Titan Wars, most naturally magical beasts were independent from their Titan’s control.”

“Incredible,” Shaya said, looking at Quill with no less sympathy, “I rescued Quill from Titan spawn that I think were trying to corrupt him and his parents, so they must be different.”

Bari simply nodded again, her expression growing distant as she watched Storm Breaker bank in the air and land a few dozen yards away from them again, eyes on Quill.

“So,” Shaya said, bringing their attention back to their discussion, “did my mother win?”

“No,” Bari said after a moment, her face tightening at the memory and suggesting more to the story, “she lost and was exiled from Sillanir.”

“Is that when she met Phaedra?”

“No, actually,” Bari shook her head, “they had grown up together at an orphanage in Imperial City, before the war. Devi only came to Sillanir when Phaedra rushed off to join the Imperial military, feeling abandoned by her childhood friend. But that’s a story for another time.”

“What!?”

“You need to get to your next class,” Bari frowned down at her, “otherwise I’ll never hear the end from Basillo.”

“I think you could take him,” Shaya provided, giving Quill some intense scritches before she left.

“Probably,” Bari chuckled, “if I cared to solve my problems with violence. But I wouldn’t mistake his rigidity for stupidity, he’s capable in his own narrow-minded way.”

“I’ll take your word on that one,” Shaya scoffed as she stood and brushed the dirt off her pants, “before I go, tell me something I wouldn’t know about her at all.”

Bari’s mouth quirked into a smile, “Phaedra wasn’t her first lover, and you’re not her first daughter.”

“What!?” Shaya’s eyes widened, “You can’t just drop that on me when I’m about to leave!”

Bari cackled, “Then be careful what you ask for.”

“I have a half-sister somewhere?” Shaya continued, Quill leaning into her hand as she scratched his head, “How much older than me is she? Any other siblings?”

“Say your farewells and mount up,” Bari ordered, “we can chat some more on the way back, but that’s it for talk of Devi today.”

“Good bye Quill,” Shaya said, taking a knee and giving him a gentle hug, “I’ll be back later, I promise!”

He complained as always, but let her go with minimal judgment, at least.

“So,” Shaya said as they rode back at a trot, “what happened with the fire at the stables? Did they catch whoever set up the alchemical bomb?”

"I can’t talk to you about that,” she said, "while I appreciate that you and your friends helped us save a dozen more lives than we would have without you, that’s Academy business and you shouldn’t talk of it further.”

“What about Lan?” Shaya pressed, “He’s been missing for several days now, does anyone know what’s going on?”

“Leave it, Shaya,” Bari replied with a hint of warning in her tone, “it’s not on you to solve the world’s problems, you’re just a student. Leave the investigations to the professionals and focus on your studies. The Academy will release a statement soon.”

“Fine,” Shaya relented with a sight, “it’s not like I have the time to look into it anyway. But I’m here to help if I can.”

Bari snorted again, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”