As Adam walked off the carriage, Vivienne and Janette could be seen coming out of the dormitory. With a shout half filled with anger and half filled with relief, Vivienne shouted: “Adam!”

Vivienne came over as fast as her leg could take her. As she got close to her son she said: “Just where have you be- What happened to your arm!?”

Before Adam could answer his mother, he had to deal with a squirming cub in his arms. “Don't be so loud mom, you're scarring the little guy!”

It was only then that Vivienne noticed the tiny cub in Adam's arms. Vivienne was simply confused about what was going on. “Just what happened Adam?”

“Can we get him something to eat and something warm to lie on first?” Adam asked, referring to the cub.

Janette, who seemed ready to give Adam some punishments, spoke:“Let's give the cub to Helen and Alfred for now. They just got back from checking if you were still at the wall garden. While they care for the cub, why don't you tell us everything that happened this evening.”

Adam felt a tad guilty for Helen and Alfred having gone to check up on him. Inside, Helen was at first grumpy with Adam, then she saw the cute cub he was holding and was immediately enthralled. She gleefully came over while asking: “Where did you find such a cute puppy?”

Janette spoke: “Good. Since you like the puppy, could you take care of it while we ask Adam where he has been?”

Helen nodded as she gave a worried look at his bandaged arm. She had been so focused on the puppy, she had not noticed his injury till now. When Adam tried to give the cub over, though, it fought to stay with Adam. While he was still a stranger, he was the least strange of everyone around. Helen looked disappointed at this.

Vivienne then suggested for Helen to grab a bowl of milk and Alfred to go get a blanket to put the cub in. Alfred had just been standing off to the side, unsure of if he could ask what happened to Adam or if he needed to grab anything for Adam's injury. The cub quickly hid in the blanket that was placed on a table in the cafeteria. However, it would not come out to drink the milk Helen brought, no matter how she coaxed it.

Adam gave a look towards the shivering figure of the cub under the blanket, before he reluctantly started to answer Vivienne and Janette's questions. By the time Adam finished his story, they were horrified by what he just went through.

Vivienne was just about ready to start spanking his behind all night for being so reckless. “Don't you ever do anything like this again! Do you hear me?!”

Adam was cowed by his mother's harsh voice. “I-I understand mom. It's just that the cub seemed so much like me, having lost it's family to a demonic beast. I just wanted to run, but I couldn't leave it behind!”

Vivienne was a little shocked by Adam's answer. While it should be expected that he was still affected by that night at Fort Erich, she had not known it was still so deeply rooted in Adam's mind.

Vivienne then sorrowfully hugged Adam as she said: “I lost Emilia and Alaric too. You are all I have left Adam. I don't want to loose you as well. Just, please don't be so reckless.”

Adam fiercely nodded his head as he hugged his mother back. Helen and Alfred had been half paying attention to everything Adam had been telling Vivienne and Janette. They had been unsure of if they were allowed to hear what was being said, but no one shooed them away. They were both frightened by Adam's story, but relieved to know he was mostly fine. They felt a little envious, though, when they saw Adam being hugged by his mother.

After giving Adam and Vivienne a moment, Janette then said: “That's all well and fine, but now we have to figure out your punishment! Also, we need to make sure we implement a method so you don't go running off again!”

It was decided that Adam would have to start working in the kitchen like Alfred. This was a mild form of punishment since it would reduce the time Adam played his flute in Madame's, which he liked to do. As for preventing him from running off again, they weren't able to come up with a good plan. They could always forbid him from ever going to the wall garden again, but no one felt that that was a good option.

After they finished dispensing Adam's punishment, everyone turned their attention to the shivering figure of the cub under the blanket. As it was, if it didn't eat the milk it could potentially die from starvation. Maybe it wouldn't die tonight, but it would be within the next couple of days.

Vivienne asked: “What should we do about it?”

Janette had her reservations about keeping a pet at Madame's. They really did not want other kids asking to keep things if they made an exception for Adam. Still, she really did not like abandoning such a sad animal when it couldn't even live on it's own.

Janette said: “Well, I don't mind us keeping it until it is a little older.... but I don't really want us to keep it at Madame's. After it grows a bit, we will have to give it away.”

Adam became alarmed. “I wanted to keep it though!”

Vivienne looked sadly at Adam: “Since you never asked for a pet, I have never had to tell you, but Madame's does not allow pets on the premises. Anyone could have allergies to them and they could cause some potential problems. We can't make an exception for this....”

Adam looked very disheartened as he heard this. He really wanted to keep the cub. Seeing this Janette said: “I won't throw such a young animal out to the streets, you can still keep him for a few months time. But after that, you will need to find another home for him.”

Adam could only give a small “Okay” in response as he worryingly looked toward the cub. After this, everyone started to try various methods to coax the cub out and get it to drink some milk, but none of it seemed to work. It just stayed inside the blanket, shivering in fright.

Adam looked at the cub. He could still see it's soul and could easily tell it was still frightened. If they could fix that, everything else would be easy. Adam wished he could just tell the cub that they wanted to help and to not be afraid, but it didn't understand human language. Then a thought struck him.

Adam started to pull his flute out. The idea he had was to talk to the pup through the howls Adam has heard! It was problematic, though, as Adam did not know howls very well. All he knew was that the howls had emotions imbued within that helped determine their meaning. That was really far too ambiguous to help him, but he would still try!

When Adam started trying to play his flute, the others wondered what his plan was. Clearly he thought he could entice the cub out with some kind of music. As Adam played long tones that tried to replicate howls, the cub started to perk up under the blanket.

The first few notes Adam played were just him trying to get a feel for the howls. Then he started to experiment. He tried to fluctuate the notes as he played to put certain emotions into them and make them sound as close to real howls as his flute would allow. He then began to think more about the message he was trying to give to the cub, rather than how to play it.

As he played he tried to communicate with the cub. He played of sorrows and goodbyes from the rest of it's pack leaving it behind. He played of moving forward to trust and rely on new friends. To live and be happy.

As Adam played, he concentrated so much on the message he was trying to give, that he did not notice that minuscule amounts of spirit essence started to swirl and attach itself to his song. His song sung out and reverberated across the dormitory, waking some people up while others dreams were affected by his song.

Almost everyone at Madame's could have an attachment to this song. Most of them were orphans who had lost their family. Everyone who heard this song subconsciously understood the song. Everyone suddenly found themselves thinking nostalgically of their past, and their lost families, or thinking of a happy future that was just within their grasps. No matter what, this song seemed to bring some amount of relief to those who heard and understood it.

As Adam was finishing the message with the song, the cub finally stuck it's head out of the blanket before it started howling cute little sounds back at Adam. Adam couldn't really understand what the cub was howling, as it was different enough from adult howls to be unable to easily discern. Adam could see, though, that the cub had become a little less afraid and a little more calm. Unsure of how to answer the cub, Adam watched as the cub slowly drooped down and fell asleep, exhausted, as he finished the song.

Everyone was staring between Adam and the now asleep cub. They were thinking to themselves; “What just happened? Is this the power of a spiritualist?”

Helen was the first to act after Adam's song. She quickly had her own thought, while looking at the sleeping puppy. She grabbed a clean napkin from the table and dabbed it in the milk. She then carefully lifted the puppy up and held it in her arms as she brought a corner of the napkin to it's mouth. After sticking the corner in, the puppy seemed to subconsciously suck on it and started drinking the milk through the napkin.

As she continued to feed the cub, she gave a brilliant, gentle and loving smile. Even her soul seemed to shine with beautiful colors. Adam couldn't help but stare at this scene as his heart skipped a beat. After a moment of staring at Helen, Adam realized what he was doing and that it was not concealed at all! He quickly turned his head to the side while his face got a little red in embarrassment.

Helen noticed the quick movement of Adam's head and noticed his face was red, when she looked up. “Did you peep on someone again?” she teasingly asked.

Adam's eyes went wide with fright. “No that's not- It was-I”

Adam became tongue tied. While he wasn't 'peeping' on some one, he was staring at her. He didn't want to admit to either and was stuck between the two. Helen gave a triumphant 'hmph' as she went back to feeding the puppy.

Adam inwardly groaned as he looked off to the side. After he did that, his sight inadvertently flicked back to Helen for a moment. “Why am I doing that?....is it because I like her!?” Adam thought, shockingly.

Adam had heard that boys will stare at girls they like and he couldn't seem to help but stare at her! Adam also gave a fleeting glance at Alfred. Alfred's soul seemed to be in a confused state and Adam could not tell what he was thinking. Adam was starting to feel a bit of pressure to resolve the feelings between the three of them before it spiraled out of control.

After Helen finished feeding the sleeping puppy, it was far past time for them all to go to bed. Adam took the cub back so it could sleep with him, much to Helen's dismay. The cub slept heavily until early in the morning when Adam woke up. As Adam was stirring, the cub made a few whimpering sounds. It still seemed to be nervous of humans, but it let Adam pick it up without trouble. Adam then quietly left the room with the cub.

At the cafeteria, the normal troupe of boys was waiting for Adam. Even Helen had woken up early with a sleepy look. She became much more alert when she saw the puppy, though. While everyone else had referred to it as a cub, since it was a wild animal, Helen refused to call it anything other than a puppy. She ended up sitting right next to Adam with a bowl of milk to feed the puppy.

The boys weren't nearly as rowdy this morning as they normally were, since they did not want to scare the cub. The asked about what had happened, as they had not been informed as to why Adam came back so late, nor why he held a cub. After explaining everything, Franklin excitedly asked: “Hey Adam, what are you going to name the little fellow? How 'bout Fenrir?”

Darren interrupted: “It has to be strong. Why not Ragnarok?”

Helen got fed up with the boys. “Why use these terrible names for such a cute puppy? Why not Ruffles or-”

As the group started fighting over a name for the cub, Adam looked at the little guy. In Adam's mind, wolfs naturally have a beautiful silver and white coat. Thinking of that, Adam finally said: “I think I like Silber.”

Seeming to pay more attention to Adam then the others, the cub looked up when Adam spoke. Seeing that reaction, everyone felt a little defeated. It seemed that Adam would get the final say and he like Silber. Helen gave a little frown as she said: “Well, while it is not the cutest, it's better than their ideas.”

A little while after that, Adam left Silber with Helen as they boys went off to train with Hansen. The wounds on Adam's arm weren't nearly bad enough to keep him from training. Silber was a little reluctant to be left behind, but it had gotten a little used to Helen from eating the bowl of milk she brought over.

The responsibility of who was to take care of Silber started to become a headache later in the day. While Helen did not mind looking after it at all, she still needed to work her normal times. Adam also had to work off his punishment in the kitchen. Silber was not really comfortable with anyone else so one of them had to watch over it. Janette let Helen have the day off while she tried to figure things out, she started to regret letting Adam keep the cub for even just a few months.

Later that afternoon, Adam was interrupted in his kitchen duties to be brought to Janette. Wondering what it could be, Adam quickly went to her office. Before Adam even entered the office, he knew something was weird. With his sight he could see that his mother was also there as well as a man Adam had never met before.

Knocking first, Adam politely entered the office. Janette was the first to speak: “Adam, welcome. This man here is lieutenant Thomson from Hessler's standing army. He has come in regards to that demonic bear you encountered last night.”

Thomson then greeted Adam. “Hello, Adam, I was hoping to get some more details about the encounter from you.”

Adam answered a series of questions for the lieutenant. Adam was getting quite tired of answering the same questions over and over again to everyone who asked. Still, Adam tried to stay polite for the lieutenant and answered everything, as he wanted to make sure the demonic bear got taken care of.

After the conversation was all said and done, Thomson suddenly asked something that surprised them all: “We were also hoping that Adam could come along with the regiment that will be assigned the task of dealing with this demonic bear!”

Vivienne became quite alarmed. She did not want her son going out to encounter this bear again. “No! Why would you even want to take a young boy along? Can't your soldiers do just fine by themselves?”

Thomson was a little startled by Vivienne's vehement reply, but it was understandable. Thomson calmly explained: “We want to make sure we kill the right bear. Adam is the only one who has seen it so far. There is a small chance that there is a second demonic bear around and Adam should be able to verify that the bear we kill is the correct one. He is a spiritualist with a unique sight, so he should have no trouble easily identifying it. He will be protected, don't worry. We would not have him fight the bear on our behalf. We will be sending a spiritualist and a few of our martial artists to take care of the bear. There will be no issue of safety for your son.”

Vivienne's heart was in turmoil. She really did not want to send Adam out there, but if there was a chance that there was a second bear out there and only Adam could tell if they got the right one... she did not want to be responsible for a family being killed by the other surviving demonic bear because she held her son back.

Janette spoke up: “Vivi... I know you don't want him to go, but you should still let him choose. You've been all about letting him make his own decisions these last few years, you shouldn't do any less now. No matter if he chooses to become a spiritualist or follow a mercenary path, he will end up leaving. You need to learn to let him go and trust him.”

“I know that! But... he my only son, I really don't want to loose you Adam.”

Adam then spoke: “I do kind of want to go mom... I will most definitely never fight that bear again, you can count on that! I got lucky last time, I know. I just think that there is something more I can learn if I go with them!”

Vivienne gave a worried and defeated sigh. Janette then said: “Don't forget though Adam, you still have responsibilities here. If you decide to go, I will certainly extend your punishment from before and you will have to find someone to look after that cub. Do you understand?”

“Ugh, yes, I understand.” Adam said in a slightly depressed tone.

“Don't just shove Silber off to Helen, either. Find a way to get it so that cub can be looked after by others. Helen should not shoulder the entire burden of looking after it for you.”

Adam's ears started to burn with embarrassment and guilt. He thought it would be fine to just let Helen take care of Silber. “Okay, I'll work something out.”

Thomson had just been watching this exchange from the side. The army had no right to force children to fall in rank with them, so he could not intervene in the process of their decision making. After that had finished, though, he finally said: “The regiment that is assigned to taking down the demonic bear will be ready to leave around noon tomorrow. I will come to take Adam along shortly before then.”

This announcement left Adam, Vivienne, and Janette a little surprised. They all thought it would be a few more days before they would leave. Hessler considered this demonic bear as a serious threat and intended to swiftly deal with it. Adam was going to have to work hard this evening to find a way to get Silber to more comfortable with others so he could be looked after by them.

After Janette saw Thomson off, it was a mad scramble as Adam tried to prepare everything for tomorrow.

[AN: Christmas kinda put this chapter on a week delay sorry about that XD Should be going back to one chapter a week now.]