“A lil’ scrap between the kids is like an everyday thing. They gotta learn how to use them fists after all!” - Leonard Lozen, retired squad leader, formerly of the Horst’s Hellraisers mercenary company.

Instead of words, the sight that followed the elven girl’s shout was one that almost made Valeria jump up in fright and surprise. Someone fell - no, leapt down - from a branch high up on the tree, a good ten meters above ground, and plummeted to the ground with alarming speed.

To Valeria’s surprise, the falling figure landed on all fours, their limbs flexing to absorb the fall, and bounced back to their feet almost immediately. The figure was tall, at first glance looking probably a bit younger than the elven girl, but on closer appraisal likely just her own age, just taller due to their heritage.

Valeria was not good at telling the gender of therian half-breeds - which the falling figure was, with white, spotted fur and hair, as well as a large, fluffy tail that swished to and fro behind her, as well as strongly feline features that was cut with some more human ones here and there - but she remembered how the blonde little girl had called her “big sis” earlier.

The half-therian girl lifted one of her hands and caught four falling orbs with it, just as she bounced back to her feet. The orbs were of clear glass, polished to transparency, and the girl’s hand resumed juggling them in the air once more as she spoke.

“You’re the newcomer, eh?” asked the girl with a curious look on her eyes. She was taller than Valeria by a head, but also more slender in build, the quarter-orcish girl being built broader and more powerfully. They stared at each other for a moment longer, before the half-therian girl broke the silence.

“Yo, Ayrie, get those boneheads to open some space. We can’t fight with them filling up the flat grounds,” said the girl as she glanced at a flat section of grassy land by the foot of the hill, where three large bear therian children easily twice Valeria’s size were play-wrestling together with another who looked the love child of a dwarf and a big ape.

The elven girl walked over and quickly shooed them away, which the far bigger therian children surprisingly obeyed in good humor, as the white-furred half-therian girl beckoned Valeria to follow her to the flat ground, the blonde little girl following along behind them.

“Hold on to these for me, ok, Aly?” asked the half-therian girl as she handed the glass orbs she was juggling to the little blonde girl, who held onto them with both hands as she smiled and nodded in return. Valeria did not miss how the little girl called the half-therian one her big sister, despite their obvious difference, but had not asked.

Instead, she followed the girl to where the rest of the kids had gathered around in a large, loose circle, and both stood to face each other in the center of the impromptu ring.

“Rules from pops, no fangs or claws, anything else goes,” said the half-therian girl. Valeria nodded in agreement, as she raised her meaty fists and took a stance. Partly thanks to her orcish heritage, she was big and broad for a nine year old girl, and very strong. Most human kids close to her age couldn’t fight her for long, and she was emboldened and confident because of that knowledge.

The slender therian girl took a lower pose, almost like a beast about to pounce on its prey, and while the two stared at each other at first, as they tried to take each other’s measure, Valeria was delighted to see that the therian girl pounced first.

Valeria swung a meaty fist at the charging therian girl, but the slender girl ducked under her punch and struck hard with her own fist - her hand was still a touch paw-like and made a somewhat awkward fist, but it still hit hard - against the orcish girl’s abdomen.

She had to step back a bit to absorb the blow, and when Valeria tried to grab the therian girl, she found that the girl had already circled to her side, and landed a second blow before she could retaliate. Despite her slender, almost lanky figure, the therian girl was blazingly fast, and packed a lot of punch in her fists.

Soon afterwards, Valeria found herself stymied and frustrated, as the therian girl circled around her and kept landing punishing blows to her body. Her own counterattacks mostly whiffed and hit nothing but air, and the few that landed, mostly caught the therian girl lightly, as she shrugged them off.

Before long Valeria found it hard to breathe, as her abdomen cried out in pain with every breath she took, and beads of sweat covered her brow as she panted for breath. The therian girl looked barely winded, and was just as fast and hard-hitting as when they began the match, despite how she moved around way more than Valeria did.

Finally, a hard blow directly to the solar plexus drove out the breath from Valeria’s body, and she slumped over to her knees as she coughed and gasped for air. The pain was nothing. She had been in many fights before, some against older teenagers even larger. It was, however, the first time someone her own age beat her fair and square in single combat like that.

“Not a bad workout, newbie,” said the therian girl, as she stood in front of Valeria, still bouncing on her toes, prepared to spring in any direction should the orcish girl turn out to still have a fight in her. If the girl sweated, Valeria couldn’t see it, but then again, with her fur most nobody would be able to tell anyway.

After it became evident that Valeria had no more fight in her, the therian girl approached and offered her a hand, to the cheers of the watching kids. Valeria took the offered hand, and was somewhat surprised by how the slender therian girl hoisted her to her feet with ease.

“Name’s Erycea. Erycea Edelstein. You can consider me the little boss around here, since my dad runs the joint,” said the therian girl with a teeth-baring grin. “What’s yours?”

“Valeria.”

“Well then Val, welcome aboard to the Free Lances, Junior division.”