FSE

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The bed creaks beneath me in protest as I lean forward, smiling widely. "Thanks for the welcome," I say eagerly.

"Thankfully, you weren't wearing tight jeans," Nick says, after a moment of silence. "I've had a couple of mentees rip through a pair of jeans."

"Embarrassing," I say, chuckling. "Lucky indeed." I glance around the room. "What's next?"

Max nods at the wall they're leaning on. "There's a hidden door in this wall that leads to an elevator. That elevator takes us down to the hidden city of Manauni."

"There's a hidden city of Servians beneath nearly every major city in the world," Nick says, as soon as Max finishes. He starts to pace, gesticulating excitedly. "Servians don't breed as fast as humans do, so they wildly outnumber us, which is why we don't have towns and villages as they do, and also is one of the major factors that led to our defeat in the Fall. However, we do have technology that's far more advanced than theirs, and magic. We have a massive tunnel system that links all of our cities together, and we have Servians settled permanently in nearly every major wilderness in the world: Amazonia, the Alaskan and Canadian wilderness, the Arctic, most of the oceans. We have vast advantages now, as many of us are adapted to specific environments; you, for example, would do well either in northern forests, or mountainous forests."

"And some, like myself," Max interjects, smiling at Nick's excited speech, "are more well-rounded."

"You appear to get very excited about this, Nick," I say.

"I do," he says, the glint of passion in his eyes. "Partly because history is very different than what humans write."

"It's--what?" I blink, surprised.

"You know the old cliche, 'the winner writes the history books'?" Nick asks. I nod. "That's what happened. Humans defeated us and changed history--take the Black Plague, for example. There was no 'Black Plague' unless they mean us: that massive population drop was, in fact, the result of human deaths during the War of Ages that toppled Servian rule."

I stare openmouthed at Nick, not sure whether to argue or to ask why. "Don't steal my mentee from me, Nick." Ryan springs lithely back down the stairs, smiling at us. I would've thought he was being serious, save for that playful smile.

"I wouldn't dream of it," Nick replies, casting a grin back at Ryan.

"Anyway, I came back down because I heard you guys talking about the city," Ryan says. "Shall we go?"

I grin and drop to the ground. My muscles coil and tense beneath my furred skin, and I feel lighter than air. I stifle a gasp, then say, "Let's go!"

Ryan smiles and strides over to the wall behind Nick and Max, tapping it three times in measured succession. Apparently, it's some sort of sensor, as a panel of wood next to Ryan shifts back, then slides to the right. Ryan and Max step confidently into the dark corridor beyond, and I glance at Nick with raised eyebrows. He shrugs, feigning nonchalance, but I can see the fear in his eyes. "Not a fan of the dark," he says.

"That's fair," I say. "Come on; I'll be right beside you."

He smiles gratefully, and side-by-side, we step into the darkened hall. My bare feet--hindpaws?--barely even make a whisper against the cool ground, and even my hypersensitive eyes can hardly see an elevator door at the end of the hall. As I watch, Max and Ryan approach the elevator, depressing the call button as Nick and I catch up. "It's a massive underground city. The elevator is glass, so you can see it, but try not to move too slowly; we have a lot to explain, so don't get lost in the view," Ryan says, smirking at me.

"It's an underground city," I echo. "So I assume it has its own economy?"

"You are correct," Ryan says, nodding. "Most Servians run with the local currency and exchange rates--for example, Manauni operates with the U.S. dollar. Servians run our own corporations in the underground, but some of them expand their influence to the human world, partnering with humans and selling their products to humans."

"So there's not only a cycling of money in the hidden world, but between the two worlds, as well?" I muse. "Good way to keep the economy up."

"Precisely why we do it," Ryan says. "We're the richest nation in the world; of course, the world doesn't know that."

I stifle a chuckle as the elevator dings and opens. Ryan hadn't been lying--the entire elevator is glass: the walls, the floor and ceiling, even the benches on the right side are all glass. I step in, marvelling at the complexity of it. An elevator of glass...

Nick sits and crosses his legs, glancing up at me. "Might want to sit; it's a bit of a journey."

"Really?" I ask, raising an eyebrow as I step to the back wall, leaning my back against it.

"Some fifty-odd minutes, to the ground level," Ryan confirms.

I chuckle and rest my head back against the wall as the elevator begins to move, crossing my arms. The amount of sensation I receive from the fur is surprising: instead of dampening sensations, the fur seems to enhance them, providing a fair amount of sensation from just itself. "I think I'll be alright," I say. I glance down and notice a pinprick of light shining up from below. That's the city, then.

The faint whirring of machinery fills the silence as we descend slowly toward the city. I can hardly see the rock surrounding us, much less the other three in the elevator with me, and the elevator only becomes more shrouded in darkness. Dark and enclosed. The light from below doesn't grow from the pinprick, and the amount of light from it isn't near enough to illuminate the elevator. I squeeze my eyes shut, focusing on my breath. I hadn't told Nick earlier about how much I hate the dark, and I very nearly regret it now. My closed eyes don't help, though, as images of the rock collapsing on us flash across the back of my eyelids. I let them fly open, feeling my heart thud in my chest as I stare into the dark.

Someone rustles over to my left, in the direction of the benches--Nick. "Lestri, you sure you don't want to sit?" His voice quivers, just slightly.

Inwardly, I curse myself. That's his subtle way of asking for help, and asking if I'm alright. I completely forgot. Not a good move. "I think I will, actually," I say, my own voice shaking slightly. I sidle over to where his voice originally emanated from, then ease slightly to the left and sit. Then I yip quietly in surprise and bolt to my feet. "Sorry," I mutter, grateful for the dark hiding my flush--I'd accidentally sat in his lap.

"It's fine," he replies, so quietly that it could've been in my mind. "I don't mind."

I frown a bit at the second phrase, but don't ask questions. Instead, I slip farther to the left and sit again, grateful to feel the cool bench instead of a warm body. I owe him one; that fear was about to drive me over the edge.

You owe me nothing. I jump and whip my head around, searching for the source of the voice. It's Nick, dummy, the disembodied voice says with a touch of amusement. I'm talking in your mind.

You're--what? I can...sense the amusement, somehow.

It's a rather simple form of magic, but not one that's commonly known, he says. Telepathy, of a sort. Given enough time, I can form a mental bond between myself and another--what I've done here. So, if you ever want to talk, you can contact me from anywhere.

Is this another form of magic your House specializes in? I send.

Of--of a sort, he says. Most Houses only specialize in one form of magic. The higher Royal Houses can specialize in two or three, and the highest of the high specialize in multiple. This is one that my House...invented, so to speak. It was already out there, but we were the first and only to harness it.

Ah, that makes more sense, I say, smiling. Is there a way to stop you from hearing my thoughts?

Once we finish, the connection sort of...shuts down, I guess, he says hesitantly. A thought from either of us can reactivate it...it's hard to explain.

That's easy enough to tell, I tease. He remains silent, but I can feel his amusement. After a moment, I take a more serious turn. Hey...thanks for that. You saved my hide.

I can sense his smile, as well as the reassurance that comes with his words. I know. That was not what I expected. Him resting his hand--paw!--on my left leg is even more unexpected, and I nearly shift away. Then I realize the emotion stemming from him is a sort of protection and fatherly love--he just wants me to be safe.

A moment later, he lifts his paw--finally--and shifts slightly. The comfort and reassurance remain, however, and I glance over at him in the darkness. We share unseen smiles, and I feel confident that I've found a lifelong friend--which is saying something, as my life could stretch out for decades and centuries beyond now. In a way, I feel the same about Max and Ryan. I know I've found a family to replace my own, to at least help fill the gap left by having to leave.

I let myself relax back against the wall of the elevator, still smiling softly. I feel...comfortable in this group, the first time in a long time that I've felt comfortable being around more than one other person. "Ryan," I say unexpectedly.

"I'm here," the other replies.

"Is my brother Servian?" I ask.

Ryan hesitates. "What was his name?"

"Mark," I reply.

"Possibly," he says, blowing out a short breath. "I know one or two Marks personally. How did he die?"

"We-we're not certain he did," I reply hesitantly. "He just...disappeared one day, into the depths of the Rocky Mountain forest. We never saw him again."

"I don't know, Lestri," Ryan says quietly. "I've never heard of a Servian who didn't have some sort of cover-up."

I sigh and stare down at the slowly approaching square of lights. "Then he's gone," I whisper. My voice cracks on the last word, and a silent tear slides down my muzzle.

I feel Nick nudge me gently with his mind, sending a comforting thought. I dimly acknowledge it and hug my knees, resting my chin on them. I'm here if you want to talk, he says.

Thanks. I stay quiet for a moment. I don't think I'm ready yet.

He acknowledges that with a flick of his thoughts and rests a paw on my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. I smile and stare down at the approaching light, letting go of my misguided hope. I can't help getting lost in my thoughts, though, and I feel the sadness blocking my throat as memories of Mark bubble to the surface of my mind. He was one of the few who I felt I could trust; maybe that's why his loss hurts so much.

Or maybe it's because the day he disappeared was my fifteenth birthday.

I shake my head violently to drive away the dark thoughts. It's time.

What?

I jump and glance over at Nick, startled. Sorry, I say sheepishly.

Don't be, he says. But you piqued my interest.

I smile slightly and lift my gaze, resting my head back against the glass wall. I meant it's time for me to spill.

Oh. I sense and hear as he sits up. I'm all ears.

I feel like I should tell the group.

You know we'll all listen, Lestri.

That's not what's holding me back, I say after a moment. It's that...I don't know, I just don't like opening up. It frightens me.

The paw on my shoulder squeezes softly. You need to learn to trust somebody, he says gently.

I glance at him again in the darkness. You could sense that? I ask, a little guilty.

Don't feel guilty about it, he says. It's almost as if you want to trust, you just...don't know how.

That's precisely it, I say with a mental sigh. I want to. And I do, in a way.

But not fully, Nick says. I nod. My advice is to just take the leap.

To what?

Take the leap of faith. I feel his earnestness through our connection. Even if you don't trust us, do things that require trust. That's the only way we can prove that we deserve your trust.

You... I pause, then rephrase my sentence. It's easy enough to trust you, especially in the privacy of our minds. It doesn't seem like we can hide much. But them...

Trust me.

Again, I find that I do trust him, to my surprise. I take a deep breath, then say, "He was my closest friend."

"Hm?" Ryan's the one to respond. He sounds surprised.

"Mark," I say. "He was my closest friend for years, even though we weren't really brothers. Maybe that's why we were so close. He was...in the years before he vanished, he was the only one who kept me company. The only one who kept me from feeling completely alone." I pause, swallowing hard, before continuing. "We could tell anything to each other. Anything. I'm the first and only one who knew about his secret..." I smile. "I still won't tell, by the way. But then...then came the day. He just...up and disappeared. I still remember it clearly. We were up in Garden of the Gods, in Colorado, and we were rock climbing: our parents and sister, him, and myself. I don't know how long he'd been missing, but we finally realized it when we were packing up to go at the end of the day.

"It took two months for someone to find him..." I pause. "Well, we assumed it was his body. A hunter found a decomposing body hanging high in a tree in Rocky Mountain National Park. They got it down, but it was so eaten away and decomposed that it was unrecognizable, save that it was male, for...obvious reasons. Authorities sent a DNA sample in, but it came back blank. No results. We were devastated. We had hoped to get to bury him...either way, we assumed the body and buried it as Mark."

There's a moment of silence as I finish speaking. Then Ryan says, "Thank you for sharing."

Nick simply wraps his arm around my shoulder. I miss him, I say mentally after a moment, resting my head on his shoulder. Badly. I never thought it would hurt like this... He was my favourite person in the world. We did everything together.

That's tough, he says. After another moment, he says, I'm here for you, Les. I freeze when he says that. Lestri? You--

That's what Mark used to call me. I lift my head from his shoulder, pulling slightly away from him as war wages in my head. Les. It was his nickname for me.

I--I'm sorry, I didn't know. I--

I smile, a small smile that barely lifts the corner of my lips, and cut him off with a flick of my thoughts. I pause for a moment, then say, It's okay.

What?

It's okay, I repeat, as I rest my head back on his shoulder. You've more than earned the right to call me that, just a minute ago.

Lestri, I... I can literally see his mind struggling for words, and my sad amusement must emanate across the link, because he straightens himself out. Thank you, Les.

I smile again. It feels...nice.

He reads the 'to have someone I can trust' part in my mind. And I'll always be here.

That's creepy, I tease, easing a bit closer to his warm body.

We rest in silence like that for a few moments, and I let my eyes close comfortably. We're almost there, he says finally, and I open my eyes, pulling slowly away from him as I glance down. He pulls his arm slowly back, giving my shoulder another squeeze before drawing his paw completely away. I hadn't noticed the shaft getting lighter--we're about to drop into the city. Three...two...one.

I gasp.

It's not at all what I had expected. What I'd expected was a city carved from the stone, of the earth's inner rock, lit either by giant floodlights or torches. I'd expected a city that was depressingly drab on the outside, devoid of visual wonder, an empty, dark cavern where thousands of hermits lived, secluded from the hostile world above while they pursue their studies in secret. I'd expected a hidden city.

I had not expected a glittering, brilliantly shining city that outdid even the grandest of human architecture.

Skyscrapers reach hundreds of stories up toward the ceiling of the vast cavern in stunning, gravity-defying twists and curves. Some even run parallel to the ground for a short distance before turning back upward. Houses rise only two or three stories, but even the most bleak rival those mansions of the richest in the world, carved from beautiful materials I don't know the name of. The roads are clean and well maintained, and the factories look like grand castles from the Renaissance. Suburbs surround the massive downtown complex, and even my enhanced eyesight can't reach into the farthest recesses of the cavern.

The cavern itself is dimly lit, both by streetlamps below, and by lighting on the...ceiling? Confused, I turn my gaze up and gasp again--I was met with a view of the night sky, complete with millions of sparkling stars. It must be some form of magic--no technology has been created that can transport the night sky God knows how far through dense rock. Clouds drift by as I watch, but they don't seem like images; everything about them appears as clouds on the surface do.

"What...what is this place?" I whisper, awestruck.

"Welcome," Ryan says, "to the Servian city of Manauni."

I stand slowly, hackles raising as shivers run down my spine, and spin in a slow circle. "I can't even see the walls of the cavern."

Ryan turns to me, smiling. "We created an artificial horizon. The walls of this chamber are ten leagues from each edge of the city--they're not visible from the ceiling even at the city limits."

"How is this possible?" I ask, still in a whisper.

"You remember how I said Servians are smarter than humans?" Ryan asks. I nod. "We had the technology they have now, at the end of the Middle Ages--which, in fact, aren't really the Middle Ages at all, but you'll find that out later. Almost all of the technology humans claim to have 'invented' are really just re-inventions, evidence of struggles to recreate what Servians already had made."

I back up and sit heavily on the bench, openmouthed. And yet, even as I struggle to grasp the reality of this, some small part of my mind can comprehend it--the Servian part. Even as I notice it, it seems to grow a little bigger, expanding and taking over from my human mind. Even though it currently feels so odd, so different than being human, I know it will soon become natural, and even dominant, over my human side.

"This is going to take some time to acclimate to," I say weakly, chuckling.

Max turns to face me. "You'll get used to it faster than you think," he says with a smile.

"You mean to say that you weren't just standing there, as awestruck as I was?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

He chuckles. "No, but I'm a sucker for grand views."

"We'll be here for you when you need us," Nick says, squeezing into the conversation.

I smile as well. "Thanks." I glance down below us, where an all-white, ornate building slowly grows larger. "Is that the welcome building?"

"Close enough," Ryan says. "It's actually the capitol building. The city government meets there, and it's where new arrivals are greeted."

"The city seems dead," I say after a few moments, glancing around at the streets.

"Well, yeah," Ryan says, chuckling. "Only a few of us are nocturnal."

I shake my head, amused, watching the capital approach. A dozen or so meters above the roof, the elevator suddenly shudders to a stop. "This elevator is only to be used by new arrivals and their associates." The new voice seems to emanate from the elevator as a whole, startling me with its sudden intrusion.

Ryan sighs. "Connor, you know me well enough to know I won't use the elevator without meritable reason."

"Ryan?" Connor's voice asks. "How do you come with a new arrival? It's five days until the full moon."

"Honestly, Connor, I was hoping you'd have some guesses," Ryan admits. "The only thing I'm certain of is that Lestri is one of us."

After a moment, Connor sighs. "Customs is gonna have my ass, but I'll be damned if I don't trust you, Ryan," he says. "I've gotta apologize in advance, Lestri, for our current state of...ah...disorganization."

"No need," I say. "I'm honestly not surprised; from what I hear, I'm the first known case of this."

"Yeah." Connor sounds distracted now. "Well, I'm gonna let y'all in, but try not to cause trouble; Lestri's arrival is going to cause enough upheaval as it is."

"Will do," Ryan says. He turns to me with his arms crossed.

"I heard the man," I say, rolling my eyes. "Honestly, you're more likely to cause trouble than I am." He raises an eyebrow as the elevator begins to move again. "Fine! Maybe not, but you get what I mean."

There's no time for more as the elevator walls darken and opaque, then halts, dinging as the doors open. The capitol building is a hub of activity, even this late at night, but I barely recognize the figures. They're all humanoid, but every single one is unique, and very few resemble animals like Ryan or Nick, or even myself. In fact, I see very few with even similar colours to me. "Wondering why so few of them look like you?" Max asks. His voice makes me jump and turn, surprised. "Sorry for startling you," he apologizes. "But your species, and your specific colour pattern, is only shared by descendants of your royal family. My race, Meshinans, are descendants of a royal family as well, although ours was comparatively less powerful than those of most of the animalistic royal families."

"All descendants of the same...?" I turn halfway back and look out over the crowd again. "Royal families? You're royalty? I'm royalty?"

Max nods. "They used to be mainly inbred, to keep the lineage pure. Fifth or sixth cousins was as far out as they would marry, and it was often closer. After the fall of our race, very few kept to those practices. Most of those who did died off quickly, but some remained." Max smiles. "My mother was one of those that survived. However, she successfully married and reproduced with a human, and so I still have the same color pattern, with the exact same colours, as my royal family." Our small party begins walking across the capitol building, toward the front doors. "You have to be careful, though; while some royal families are distinguishable by breed, there are many more that are only separated by colour and pattern. My own race is one example; Meshinans represent several royal families, only distinguishable by our colouring. Nick here, on the other paw, is from one of the more prestigious royal families, pureblood Jekal."

I grin, sensing Nick's flush. "Oh, don't embarrass the poor guy in public," I chide.

"How'd you know I flushed?" Nick asks, sounding surprised.

Of course. Our bond isn't activated. I smile again. "Must be the Servian senses," I say.

"I didn't get anything, and my species says I should have sharper senses than you," Ryan says, and I glance to my left at him in surprise. "You really are something else, Lestri."

Max catches up to me on my right. "See how everyone quiets down when you walk by?" he murmurs in my ear. I nod, though I only noticed once he said that. "It's not just your arrival time; it's something else about you, for sure. I can't quite place it yet, but it's like...dignity. Pride."

"Royal blood for sure," Ryan agrees, seeming to pinpoint what Max was trying to say. "I just wonder why it doesn't show up in his blood..." He trails off.

I flick my tail, slightly annoyed. "I should probably look in the mirror when we're more alone," I say, with a quiet sigh. "I have no idea who I am."

"That might be a good idea," Ryan says. "For now, let's just get you through Customs; there shouldn't be much traffic, given the time and lack of a full moon."

I sigh again. "This is going to be a nightmare, isn't it?"

"A...a little bit," Ryan says hesitantly.

"That doesn't inspire confidence, Ryan," I say dryly.

"It wasn't supposed to," he replies. "Hopefully Connor got his lazy face over here..."

Turns out he did, though he's certainly not happy about it. Customs does indeed prove to be a pain, harassing us for a good half hour before Ryan and Connor can convince them that I'm truly Servian. Connor leaves us once we're through, but only after giving Ryan an earful about how he expects to be repaid.

"He's annoying," Nick comments.

"And the award for understatement of the year goes to Nick!" I tease, elbowing him.

"Ow! Hey!" he complains, as I evade his playful grabs for my hair.

"Get it together, younglings," Ryan says, stifling a chuckle. "Save it for later."

I chuckle and turn to Ryan--which is right when Nick gets me, with two fingers to my side. I swat him, trying not to laugh. "Where are we going?" I ask, as a car key materializes in his palm.

"My house," Ryan replies. "We'll spend the next few days there."

"Few days?" I ask incredulously. "Ryan, I still have classes!"

"We'll come up with an excuse for you," Ryan replies, angling toward a rather fancy-looking car. "You need to decide whether you want to go back to the human world or if you'll stay here, and that'll have to be after the next full moon."

"Five days?" I run a paw through my hair with a groan. "What're we going to do in the meantime, then?"

"That's partly up to you," Ryan says. He hits a button on the key, and sure enough, the car beeps. "Load up. It's not a long distance, but without magic, it could take a good while, and I'd rather not walk." He checks his watch. "At least, not with the bargoers and clubbers heading home soon."

We pile into his car, and he starts the engine. Instead of pulling out, though, the car lifts out of the spot, floating to above the roof of the capitol building. I yip in surprise as it accelerates forward, and Nick and Max laugh. "Hovercars." I shake my head. "What else should I know about before being surprised by it?"

"Well, I don't completely understand how it works," Max says, "but that image on the ceiling is actually the sky. Everything that you'd see and feel if you were on the surface happens down here at the exact same time and place. The entire nation runs on nearly fully sustainable energy practices, and as a whole, we're far more advanced than humankind. We nearly did away with A.I. after one tried to wipe us out and nearly revealed us to the humans, but our tech is extraordinarily advanced compared to theirs--as you can see. Our economy is far more stable, thanks to our lifespans and the willingness of the entire nation to be fiscal."

I rock my head back, working my jaw but finding my tongue won't work. I glance over at Nick and give him a helpless smile. He responds with a chuckle, but he does lean forward and say, "Let's not overwhelm the poor guy tonight. I mean, he Phased an hour ago! Give him some time to adjust."

"Nick is right," Ryan acknowledges. "Sorry, Lestri."

"You're good," I say. Something about Ryan's attitude seems...off. I take it and roll with it, though. "I'm already starting to get adjusted."

"Trust me, you haven't even begun to unlock your true capabilities," Nick says. "If you're of royal descent that we can't place, you're bound to have magic that we've never heard of, even in fairy tales."

I chuckle. "I'm excited to surprise you," I say. "I suspect my left eye will be one of the first of those."

"Your left eye?" Ryan asks.

"It can see right through my hair as if it wasn't there--I almost didn't notice that my hair had grown out when I Phased," I say.

"That's probably just your enhanced senses," Ryan says.

Shutdowns like that are part of the reason I don't open up, I say to Nick in the privacy of our minds. Then, out loud, I say, "I'm not so sure about that, but we'll see."

"So we will," Ryan agrees.

I glance at Nick and find him watching me. What?

You handled that well, he says. When Ryan shuts someone down like that, they generally shut up. It'll teach him to tone it down a little if you stand up to him like that.

Hopefully. I smile a bit as the car descends. As soon as Ryan declares it safe, we hop out and approach his house.

"I'm not here much, so it won't be particularly clean," Ryan says as he opens the front door. "But, then again, it won't be particularly dirty, either."

The lights flicker on--about a dozen of them, set into an arching ceiling that covers the entry hall. Several smaller rooms lead off of it, but most of them have their doors closed. Up ahead, I can see a large, circular room, with a kitchen off to the left, which seems to double as a dining area. The walls are not uniformly coloured; instead, they change colours every few feet, gentle gradients transitioning reds to blues to greens to yellows to purples. It's slightly overwhelming, and I catch myself blinking rapidly. I settle the anxious habit as we walk through the entry hall.

I try to get a glimpse into the other rooms in the halls, but the only ones that are open are plain, single-colour rooms without furniture or windows. It's possible they're set aside for practising magic; that would explain the various burn marks and holes in and on the wall. Ryan leads the way down the hall to the circular room, and it's not until we step into the vast open area that I really grasp how expansive it is.

The room itself is probably about fifteen meters across at its widest point, with stairs spiralling up it to the various levels, starting opposite the entry hall. A television is set into the wall just to the right of the entry hall, and the kitchen is its own little alcove in the left wall of the room. There's another hallway a few meters beyond the television, and a room about halfway between that hall and the staircase. Couches and chairs fill a depression in the centre of the room, all angled away from the stairs and toward the television. Massive skylights allow the natural light from outside to shine in, and the lighting in this room seems attuned to the level of light from outside, keeping the room slightly dim, details fuzzy, colours indistinct. I can only imagine how colourful this room must be during the day.

"Welcome home, Ryan," a gentle voice says, echoing through the chamber softly.

I cast my gaze around the room again, speaking softly when I do speak, as if speaking loud would ruin the setting. "You traded this for a small college dorm?" I ask Ryan.

"I prefer simplicity," he replies, in the same hushed voice. "If I'd had a choice, I'd have taken an apartment over this."

I nod. "Fair; however, you should come clean it out every so often." I stifle a sneeze, but another follows seconds later. "If I recall correctly, certain species are more sensitive to dust than others," I say dryly, "though I expect yours truly is an oddity."

Ryan turns to me with a smile. "Nah, wolves are among the few. It'll be clean by tomorrow," he promises. His good humour seems to have returned.

"I don't particularly mind, honestly," I say, stifling another sneeze as I rub my right eye, then yawn. "Can you show me to my room?"

"Nick, would you do that? I'm going to start cleaning now," Ryan says.

"Sure," Nick says. Then he strides toward the stairs, obviously expecting me to follow. I glance at Ryan in surprise, and he motions for me to follow Nick. I smile hesitantly, then chase after Nick.

I catch up to him at the second-floor landing, panting just slightly. "He seemed kind of out of it," I say as he leads me down another colourful hallway with more doors.

"Who?" he asks distractedly. "Oh, you mean Ryan? Yeah, he gets like that sometimes. A little too much in his head sometimes."

"Ah. That's understandable," I say, trying to peer through the cracks of the doors into the rooms, to no avail.

"Yeah." Nick stops at the final door in the hallway, nodding at it. "Go ahead and place your paw on it; it's a type of sensor technology, similar to that of the hidden door in Pop's and Ma's, except this one only has your pawprint, Ryan's, and mine."

"So only some privacy," I say, amused, as I place my paw on the centre of the door.

"Precisely," he replies, smiling. A white light scans my paw; then the door hisses and slides to the right. "We'll be waiting in the morning. You get some rest--you obviously need it."

"Thanks," I say, nodding wearily as my exhaustion comes crashing down on me. "'Night."

"Goodnight, Les." He smiles warmly at me, then ducks around me and darts down the hall.

I watch his rapidly receding form for a moment, pondering why he would've run like that, then shrug and step into the room. The door closes behind me with another soft hiss, and I glance at it. "No turning back now," I sigh. I feel like I've aged a dozen years in a day...and it's only been nine days since I've discovered all this. At this rate, I'm going to feel like an old man by the end of the year. I cast my gaze around the room, gathering in the low-lit blued paint on the walls. It's probably more white than it is blue, but the lighting certainly makes it look a deep blue. A desk huddles against the wall to the left of the door, nearly blocking the entryway; a queen-sized bed waits enticingly across the room, with a mid-sized dresser to its left; a wardrobe looms on my right, though it seems rather small compared with the size of the room; a window stretches nearly the length of the right wall, about a foot taller than I am and stretching all the way to the floor, gazing out into the silent night; and a small bathroom sits in an alcove in the left wall. Servians and their alcoves, I think, smiling slightly. I really don't have much privacy if Ryan or Nick decided to walk in on me. The window...I don't even want to think about what could happen with someone at the window. A tall ceiling domes over my head, reaching up maybe twenty feet at its apex, three skylights set into it, evenly spaced, with a line of lights running between each, again matching the outside lighting levels.

I shake my head in awe and stride over to the bathroom, splashing my face with water before starting hygiene. I avoid looking at myself while performing the self-care exercises, but I know I need to face reality. Once I've finished all of the distracting activities I can, I take a deep breath and look up--and gasp. I see what Max and Ryan were talking about when they said I emanated dignity and pride: I can feel it reflected back at me in the mirror. The top of my muzzle is black, starting at a point just behind my black nose and arcing diagonally down my muzzle to my jawbone, where it spreads and covers the rest of my head and the back and sides of my neck. The underside of my muzzle is white, and that colour trails down the front of my neck to my collarbones, where it splits and covers the tops of my shoulders. It splits again at my shoulders, circling around in thin lines down to right beneath my underarm, where it meets and shoots down my sides. At my hips, the white stops abruptly and makes a circle around my waist, and I can see it begin to triangle down below my pants. The black continues uninterrupted down my back, but it leaps over the white lines to cover my chest and belly, as well as my arms. Both of my shoulders are adorned with black stars. Lithe muscles coil and tense beneath the fur, clearly visible as I twist and turn to examine myself. I curl my tail around myself and run a paw through the extraordinarily soft, fluffy fur, black until the very tip, where it's capped off with white. A gold eye gazes back at me as I raise my gaze back up, my blonde hair covering my left. I take a deep breath and lift the haze of hair.

I stare at my reflection, nearly openmouthed, for a few seconds, trying to comprehend the shocking image: my left eye looks unnatural. Red and blue swirl around the pupil in a yin-yang-like pattern, and the spots the two colours can't cover are black as well. I blink, but the image remains. It almost looks like two daggers of black sparring with a red-and-blue yin-yang around my pupil. I let my hair fall and cover it again; the only thing that changes is the reflection; I still see through the hair with that eye as if it weren't there at all. Magic. It must be magic of some sort.

After another moment of watching myself and twisting and turning to better see the body, I sigh and back out of the alcove. The bed calls insistently to me, but I force the temptation away again, instead searching for something I could use as a bolster. To my surprise, there's one in the closet, specifically tall enough that it won't hurt my knees to meditate with it. I almost have the audacity to wonder how Ryan knew exactly what I needed, before remembering that he's been living in the same dorm as me for over three months. I pull it out and settle into a seated position, samurai-style, and begin to meditate.

The twenty minutes seems to take much longer than normal, due to the cluttered quality of my thoughts. Finally, though, my internal timer hits zero, and I flick my eyes back open. The lights slowly dim further, and I glance up, startled. They continue to dim, though, so I shrug and stow the bolster back in the wardrobe. I sigh then, combing my fingers through my hair. "So help me," I whisper, though I'm not sure who I'm saying the short, informal prayer to; I don't even know if the God I used to believe in can exist in such a world.

As I climb into the bed, the lights reach a level where I can hardly see silhouettes, and that just by the natural light from outside. I realize that the lights were attuned to my thoughts as I had gotten ready for bed. I shake my head, amazed. So much advancement. It's another minute before I realize the bed has no covers. Not that it matters; my fur keeps me plenty warm, it seems. Almost unconsciously, I curl my tail up between my legs and hug it to my chest, burying my muzzle in it, as I doze off.