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Even though you prefer other activities, like exercising and beating your brother in a sparring match (and possibly of doing something more intimate with him), than shoving years worth of knowledge into your brain in a span of a few months, the day has come where all the studying better pay off, Kaera. Starting off at year 1 at your age shouldn't be fun.

Chapter size: 3,364 words

Chapter 4: Placement Exam

(Avrew 18th-25th, Year 665 of the 4th Age)

At this moment in my life, I never felt terrified about anything like I did towards the placement exam, the key to my and Lárus's future. At first, it felt like an ordinary day with breakfast before Dágfárik, Róstran, and Rýnaki left for school; Lárus and I would be in the vicinity for the test within the next three-four hours. Not long after I finished breakfast, the nerves began to activate, and I started to recount all the knowledge I learned from the tutors. Then, negative thoughts appeared about the worst-case scenario.

It was a gorgeous day, the first in a long time, and I had plenty of time before I had to leave, so I alerted dad that I wanted to do an early morning jog around the trail he showed me. Maybe it will make me tired enough to not worry about the future. Lárus also wanted to exercise. Dad gave us permission, telling us to not take too long. I told him that we would go halfway and turn around.

My brother and I did stretches at the entrance before commencing our jog, wearing lighter layers of clothing. He didn't have his shirt on, and I couldn't help but take in his features, believing he was showing off. We began our jog, still not acclimated to the trail's rugged terrain. I took a breather for a few minutes when we covered half of the course, resting against a tree. He proceeded to sit right next to me, breathing heavily as I did while taking a drink from a flask.

"Ready for the test, sis?"

"Yes. You?"

"As I'll ever be." He handed me the flask, and I chugged half of its remaining contents.

"Save some for returning to the house."

I gasped for air after finishing the water, handing the container back to him. "Are you anxious about the exam?"

"Not really." I gave him the 'you aren't fooling me' look. Lárus may fool outsiders with his calm appearance, but I knew him better than anyone, even mom, to detect his tells like the tip of his tail twitching rapidly. "Ok, maybe a little. It's mostly about dad's reaction to the results if we failed his expectations."

Dad could be horrifying when he wanted to. The time he overpowered Lárus without breaking a sweat solidified that to me and, most likely him. "I hate to be the one receiving his wrath."

"That would be a problem. There's no way I would back down from someone threatening you, even him."

"Ditto, though dad would kick your ass like last time."

"That was when I was afraid that I hurt you. It will be different if it means to protect you. Dad would most likely win, but he'll feel it the next day." Hearing Lárus release a growl as he mentioned our stepdad filled me with concern. "Sorry about that. I've been doing that recently when my protective instincts kick in."

"What do you think about dad, Róstran, and the rest of their family?"

"At this point, they're still outsiders from my view. I know and appreciate the effort dad's making towards us, and I'll gladly accept more opportunities to bond with him, but he still has a while before I consider him family. Besides you and mom, I feel closer towards Róstran than anybody else in the house. For the others, I'm still neutral, even more than dad. They keep their distance, maybe considering us outsiders as well. I just realized something, you and mom are the only females in the family."

"Don't remind me about being surrounded by smelly males."

Lárus made a mock, offended expression. "I am not stinky."

"Bullshit. It drives my senses crazy, particularly when I'm in heat."

"Speaking of that, how's the potion treating you?"

"It's reducing my heat like it's supposed to, but I'm not enthusiastic about taking it. It tastes awful, and I hate the side effects like needing a bathroom urgently. What about the stuff you smear on your dick? How's it doing?"

"I stopped using it since Faore. I don't like my penis feeling like it's on fire for hours after applying it."

I was shocked that he wasn't using his potion during my heat in Argthanaw and the other from a few days ago. How my scent, even though it was subdued, didn't drive him insane dumbfounded me. "What do you do to make your shaft go back in its sheath?"

"I discovered a trick I can show you when you feel you're ready, but not now. We need to return to the house, or else dad would have to throw us to the exam's location." We got up and immediately dusted ourselves before jogging back to the house. I was curious about what technique he discovered to calm his erection, especially after he mentioned to me when we arrived at the backyard that it could assist me to the point I didn't have to drink my potion. When we have free time, I will enjoy taking him up on that offer soon.

Lárus and I rode in silence toward the exam inside a carriage with mom and dad. I stared out the window, making a pseudo exam in my head as last-minute preparations. We arrived at the institution our step-siblings were currently learning in. A female Fenri with white fur guided my brother and me to a secluded section in the school; mom had a smirk and a glint in her eyes when she told us about her and dad having fun in the town before leaving us.

Approximately twenty-eight other Fenri were taking the exam, and they ranged from mostly pups to around my age. They gave my sibling and me glares as we entered, telling us that we were filth. We ignored them as we took the desks close to each other, with a wide gap separating us.

The administrator explained to us the purpose behind the placement exam. It gave a way for intelligent people to skip a couple of years and for those who dropped out but wanted to continue their education. I looked at Lárus out of my peripheral vision as the administrator mentioned rarer reasons like we were in. He explained the rules for taking the exam. It would be two hours of test-taking, a thirty-minute break, and a final two hours of taking the test. Math, History, Frí, and Science were the bulk of questions from basic to advanced in difficulty with sprinkles of other subjects mixed in. We were to mark the letter we believed was the correct answer, and we would start at year 1 if we were caught cheating. After the test was over, the officials would grade our exams and give the results within a week. Unanswered questions were marked as incorrect. We turned to the first questions after he told us to begin.

At first, the questions were easy, just elementary level material that I even remembered mom teaching my brother and me when she had the chance, mentally saying the answers as I marked them. Four times three is twelve. The ruler of Canir is Alpha Prime. Radclyff Oreyn was the first foreigner to Canir and become Alpha. They started to progress in difficulty and not revert course. X equals three. Hey, my stepdad's the answer to this question. Was it C or D for this? I don't know. Science was kicking my ass hard once the basic questions were over. I swear the random questions had no business existing in this test. How was I supposed to know who the philosopher from Hu-Jan was?

I turned my eyes over to the right, and I noticed my brother was encountering problems with the questions. He spent more time than I did on the questions that were a step or two above an elementary level, rubbing his forehead, tapping his writing utensil, or just staring at the paper. I wanted to give him encouraging words, but the gap made it impossible without someone noticing and risked disqualification.

I returned to my problems, observing that I was in a similar situation with Lárus. They were just progressing into year 7 territory, and time was almost halfway over. I spent more time than necessary on the previous level, which would fall short of my objective. It just so happened that the first question had to be an essay on the importance of the Sack of Syi Caelora. The timer became my saving grace when it signaled lunch break.

The test-takers' lunch location was in the cafeteria with the students. Lárus and I were the last to arrive, and we were met with cold shoulders when we tried to find a group to sit with after obtaining our food. By Faer's mercy, we beheld Róstran sitting by himself, eating a sandwich, so we walked up to him, and he elated to have us sit with him.

"How's the test?" Róstran asked.

"Rough," Lárus replied. "I believe that I have half of year 6 remaining."

"I just started year 7," I answered. I turned to Lárus. "By the way, the first question is an essay."

"Fucking great."

"Relax, brother."

"How can I relax when it's becoming obvious that I won't reach year 10 material and failed dad's expectations?"

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm in the same boat as you, and I doubt dad won't stop loving us regardless of the results... I hope. Just know that I'm with you as best as possible without the administrators believing we're cheating."

"I have a tip for you," Róstran offered. "From what I know of this test and others of that magnitude is it's better to finish as much as possible, so the speed is crucial. However, random guessing is terrible, so I suggest you stick to one letter, and if you don't know the answer within a minute, depending on if you need to work it out some or time is running out, start filling it in every single time. I suggest going with C."

"Thanks for the advice."

"Anytime. I know people in school scraping by using C, and they're dumber than both of you. You got this in the bag. Also, ignore the essays; they're meant to be traps."

"Appreciate it.

"Looks like you finally made a couple of friends, Róstran." Upon hearing the masculine voice that was still changing to a deeper tone, Róstran covered his ears and put his head down with a whimper. Lárus and I turned, facing a Fenri grinning in white fur with patches of dark grey on him, notably around his right eye.

"Leave me alone, Aðalstænn," Róstran responded without lifting his head up.

"I'm dead serious when I say that I'm glad you've found people that share similar interests."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I guess even the rejects can find each other after all." Aðalstænn started to snicker. He opened his milk container and poured it over Róstran, laughing as he walked to a garbage can.

"Are you going to clean up your mess?" Lárus growled. I did too. I wasn't as enthusiastic for a fight as him by a tiny fraction, but observing an individual browbeating another that was smaller and weaker, mainly when it was someone I cared about, like Róstran, made my blood boil.

"What did you say?" Aðalstænn met our growls with his, erecting his fur. We both got up, causing him to step back as we towered over him.

"Guys, don't do this," Róstran begged. A teacher and Dágfárik intervened before the situation could escalate. Aðalstænn backed off, but they didn't treat Lárus and I any better even though we were defending our adopted brother.

"Let's go clean you up," Dágfárik uttered to Róstran, and they started to leave. He stared at Lárus and me. "You two better not disgrace my dad's name anymore today."

The teacher had an evil grin on his face, and he had muscles underneath the thick fur in the middle of shedding. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Only halfway done through the placement exam, and you're already getting into trouble. Oh, how much would I enjoy it if the administrators were merciful and gave you two the passing grades to be here."

Lárus and I were summoned back to take the test for the remaining period. I followed Róstran's advice, skipping the essay and guessing C on questions I didn't know the answer to or took too long to figure them out. Looking at the clock when I neared the end of the exam, I realized that I still had time remaining, so I went back over to the questions I believed to know the answer after working them out, namely some of the derivatives and revising passages. Still having time, I bullshitted on the essays just so I didn't leave anything blank. Since they were traps, I figured they weren't worth a lot of points.

Mom and dad were waiting for us outside the school when we walked out along with Dágfárik, Róstran, and Rýnaki. They went into their carriage while we went with the parents. Being confined in a tight space with them, our senses went wild by perceiving signs that mom and dad had sex while they were away.

In celebration of finishing the test, dad allowed my sibling and me to spar against him not long after reaching home. We arrived at the training ground, receiving our wooden weapons from him. He removed his shirt, readying in his defensive stance. I charged at him, realizing my mistake quickly as he overpowered me. My vision blurred as the fake sword smacked me across the face when I tried removing it from his hands.

"Charging at an opponent blindly will give them the advantage," dad uttered. "Suppress that urge as a Direfenri, and size up your adversary. You never know if they are experienced like me or not. Sorry about where I struck you. You good to continue?"

"Yes," I answered, rubbing the bruise.

This was where Lárus showed his natural talent, to my surprise. He came up with various maneuvers to execute on dad. Attacking together, we made him trouble by keeping track in two opposite directions. I came at him from the front while Lárus was charging him from behind. Dad stepped to his left, making us collide with each other, and we turned to face him. Having both of us in his view, dad had an easier time blocking our attacks though he still had to increase his effort to hold us off. Lárus tried flanking him whenever he had the chance while I tried diverting dad's attention by making rapid strikes against him. My sword stopped abruptly, and my eyes widened, observing it in dad's grasp. Soon, I was on the ground, weaponless with Lárus on top of me, defeated and tired.

"I'm impressed," dad spoke. "You're starting to exploit one of our traits as a Fenri. We perform better by working as a team. Even with my skills at handling multiple opponents, you were more of a challenge than I initially anticipated. You, Lárus, seem to have a knack for strategy and enjoy combat. However, you two need to work on repressing that urge to charge blindly into every fight, and your skills with the sword need improvement. Just swinging it won't cut it. That's enough for today. Go ahead and clean up, and we'll see how you did on the placement exam within a week."

I woke up in the middle of the night with a sudden urge to use the bathroom, so I left my bed, dressing in a bra and panties. Poking my head out the door, I noticed the coast was clear and the bathroom was available, quickly entering it. Once I finished relieving myself, I started to return to my bedroom when I encountered Róstran walking quickly towards the bathroom, breathing rapidly. He appeared to be inside his head because he almost bumped into me, jumping at the last second.

"Hey, Kaera."

"You ok?"

Róstran tilted his head towards the floor, shifting his feet. "Yeah, I am, and it was just a bad dream."

"You want to talk about it in my room?" His head lifted, and his eyes widened as he observed me only in my underwear. "Don't worry about me." I gave him a warm smile to calm him.

"I guess it couldn't hurt."

At this point, Lárus decided to appear from his chamber, also wearing underwear. Only Róstran was fully clothed. "Something the matter?"

"Róstran just had a bad dream," I answered. "I was wondering if he would like to talk about it in my room."

"Remember when we cuddled together as pups when either of us had a nightmare and mom gave us a lullaby to make us fall asleep?"

I chuckled. "How could I forget?"

"Uhh, I don't think I want to go that far," Róstran responded, blushing.

"That's alright. I won't force you, but the door is always open if you want to do it in the future."

"Ditto," Lárus spoke. "Mind if you tell us what your dream was about?"

"I was basically surrounded at school by people laughing at me after I just got pantsed."

"Was the guy that dumped milk on you a part of that dream?"

"He was the one that dropped my shorts." Lárus and I growled a little at Róstran's answer.

"Does it often occur at school, him picking on you?" I asked.

"Him and a few others if Dágfárik or Rýnaki aren't nearby."

"Why?"

Tears started to form in Róstran's eyes. "Take a look at me. I'm the runt of the litter. For a standard Fenri, I'm below average in every measurement, and I also don't take an interest in any typical activity for a male Fenri." He took a deep breath to calm himself down a bit. "By the way, thanks for helping me. I just didn't want the situation to deteriorate further since you two are Direfenri, and I know they tend to cause collateral damage."

By a miracle from Faer, I actually managed to embrace him. "When we make it to year 10 with you, you know that you could rely on me for assistance."

"And me," Lárus added. A feminine yip echoing down the hallway from our parents' room forced us to cut our gathering short, and we started to enter our rooms. "Just out of curiosity, brother, what would you put if you were to write an essay about the Sack of Syi Caelora's significance."

Róstran snorted, obviously back to his usual self. "The fewest words possible, it forged an alliance between Canir and the Elves in Aeyis. Any more words are worthless, something the administrators should consider in removing essays."

The following days felt like years as Lárus and I waited for our exam results. At least we had more free time since the tutors were dismissed, so we hiked the trail, did some more exercises, and relaxed in the pool to take our minds off the anticipation. Exactly one week after we took the test, the scores came in by mail, and dad was the first to observe them. Waiting for him to speak was agonizing, and he maintained a neutral expression. I swear he was secretly savoring this torture. A grunt snapped my head to attention.

"These results weren't what I was expecting." Fuck. I didn't do spectacular on the test. From my brother's expression, it was safe to assume he had the same thought as I. "You scored better than your sibling, Kaera. Lárus, you still need more work. However, all in all, you two did well enough to skip school all the way to year 10, which was the goal, so I'm still impressed and proud of you." We turned to each other and gave a high-five in celebration, elated. "How does dinner at the Carnivorous Hangout sound as a way to celebrate the achievement?"

"Hell yes!" Lárus and I responded together, giving another high-five to each other.

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