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Waking up to the feeling of something warm between her legs Chyla blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of the moonlight shining through her window, then preceded to look down only to be caught off guard by Yineh pulling her into a short kiss.

```

Chyla: Shouldn't you be asleep?

Yineh: Nope, it's almost first light.

Chyla: How can you tell?

Yineh: I just know. I always wake up a bit before first light so I can get in some morning playfulness. It's a good way to practice my sneaking skills, and also help others develop their own awareness skills.

Chyla: Does anyone else do that?

Yineh: Nah, just me... I think... at least I've never seen anyone else sneaking around this time of morning, unless it's a senior rammu doing something.

```

After a few long moments, the stars began to fade as first light prompting Yineh to pull Chyla into a long passionate kiss, then whispered into her ear not to take too long getting ready, before making her way out of the room.

Having not spent nearly as much time preparing herself as she would like, but knowing that she had spent too much time already, Chyla made her way to the pot room then to the common where Yineh, Vivica, and Kion were waiting for her.

Making the short trip to the main common the quartet were greeted by Teran who explained that Chyla was being reassigned temporarily to Yineh so that Kion and Vivica could join him on an assignment to watch over the Grigy-mu's daughter while she studied in the near wild and semi-wild areas.

```

Chyla: When you say "temporarily" what do you really mean? To me it seems like the future grigy-jhu would be spending years studying out on a near daily basis for cycles.

Teran: As cold as this may sound, that is usually the case--when there are plenty of active and potential grigy-jhu. In our case however, we have zero current grigy-jhu and only Moring and her younger sister Lyrina as potential grigy-jhu. To lose either would be devastating to the village. Which is why Moring is only being allowed a limited amount of time to study in the semi-wild areas during key cycle times. Usually she studies in the farmlands with a half dozen village custodian and coalition members surrounding her.

Chyla: Will there be custodian and coalition members around here this time too?

Teran: No, tradition disallows her from having any guards besides rammu beyond the farmlands. It also disallows the village governments and other bodies from fully restricting her ability to study in the wild otherwise they wouldn't be allowing this at all.

Chyla: That seems... odd... why are only rammu allowed to protect them past the farmlands?

Teran: Because history has shown far too many times that custodian and coalition members are so oblivious to life in the wild that they are more likely to put an grigy's life in danger than protect it.

Chyla: In that case, could I be assigned to watch her too? The more the better right, and I'm an outskirts farm girl with lots of experience in the near and semi-wild.

Teran: *contemplative hum* *looking towards Yineh* How heart broken would you be about this?

Yineh: I'd be per~fectly happy staying here to pester Enky... I mean help Wa-su with Li-li. After all I'd wager this whole swapping business is just Enky not wanting me around Moring. *bombastic laughter*

Teran: In that case, it's fine with me, and since Enky isn't here at the moment and it doesn't violate any rules of conduct that I'm aware of, that means it's approved.

Yineh: I'll catch y'all later than... Wait! Where's Enky if not here?

Teran: He's out running messages. We're so understaffed at the moment that he doesn't want people wasting time coming back to check the board. *awkward laughter*

Yineh: Anything I can do to help out on that front?

Teran: Nope. Trainees aren't allowed to help with normal task work without supervision by a senior rammu, and I'm pretty much the only supervisor left since Mirra-su vanished. Besides, you should be enjoying the trainee experience. It's a once in a lifetime experience, and in my opinion, amongst the greatest rewards for becoming a rammu.

Yineh: Will do. *playful smile*

```

After Yineh was out of the room, Teran handed everyone their supplies for the day and ran them through an exhaustive list of warnings and expectations as they made their way to the meeting spot.

Upon reaching the custodian station at the edge of the farmland Teran began running them through drills until a large group was seen approaching.

After a series of painfully formal greetings Chyla took her place next to Deca, a small pure white furred girl, with enchanting silver eyes wearing elaborate gold and bright pink clothing, whereas Vivica took her place next to Deca's mother Unica, a light silver furred, older female with dark blue eyes, who was wearing the usual safety hiking gear, and finally Kion took his place beside Moring, a chestnut brown furred girl with dark green eyes wearing a simplistic dark green with bright orange and pink accent hooded attire. Whereas Teran simply vanished into the forest to watch from afar.

For a while, the group walked in a rigid and awkward silence.

```

Unica: *loud, but not yelling* Freedom!

Vivica: *perplex* Pardon?

Unica: *excited smile* Free-dom! No more stuffy guards, just you kids, us kids, and Te-su... *loudly* Hey Te-su! You going to come be social? *short silence* No? Okay fine, be that way, act like Mirra-su. *raspberry*

Vivica: You seem very familiar with him.

Unica: Oh, yeah. Me and Te-su and dozens of other rammu in every village go back a long way. I've been wandering carelessly and barely avoiding death in the wild since I was your age, or younger, depending on how long you've been a trainee. Though not so much after becoming a mother. *awkward laughter* *nearly inaudible whispering* I can only sneak out here and play around when I can con someone else into taking over co-schooling for a day, and I can talk Airina into letting Deca stay the night. Though it's tough to choose between the wild and some good long adult time, if you know what I mean. *wink*

Vivica: *blushing heavily*

Unica: Okay girls! Who wants to play a new game?

Moring: What kind of game?

Deca: Does it matter?

Moring: Good point. Anything's better than reading a book all day while looking at plants, bugs, and dirt.

Deca: And rocks don't forget the rocks.

Moring: *groan* How could I ever forget the rocks... that was a long day... I never want to grind another rock into powder ever again.

Chyla: I thought the farmers did that.

Unica: They do, but it's important that the grigy know all the traditional ways to prepare ingredients, at least according to Nyina, and I'm not going to disagree with a Grigy-mu about what a grigy needs to know... again... *shiver* That was a--very long lecture.

Vivica: Nyina... That was the previous Grigy-mu, so Airina's mother correct?

Unica: Correct, and I'll go ahead and give you a point, get one hundred more and I'll give you a treat. For a bonus point can you tell me at what age Nyina become the Grigy-mu?

Vivica: *contemplative hum* I want to say thirty?

Unica: Correct, and for an easy third point, what age did Airina become the Grigy-mu?

Vivica: Eighteen.

Unica: Now for a slightly tough dual history point, what is the name of the most famous Grigy-mu in Ankarok today, and what age did she become the Grigy-mu?

Vivica: I was just reading about her, Mossca and thirty-seven.

Unica: Now for a tricky three pointer. *devious smile* What is the name of the Grigy-mu between Mossca and Nyina? I'll double entire point score thus far if you can tell me the age she became a Grigy-mu too.

Vivica: That would have been Eldric's mother... *contemplative stare* I'm fairly sure Kylola said her name was Koring, but I honestly have no idea what age she became the Grigy-mu.

Unica: Don't feel too bad about that, it's not like it matters, and I'm just impressed you knew her name... Even if you are friends with Kion. *nearly inaudible whisper* I hear he's not very talkative anymore, seems to be living up to his reputation quite well.

Deca: Are you going to get to the game, or just keep quizzing, uhm... I'm sorry I forgot your name already. *awkward laughter*

Vivica: Just call me Viv.

Unica: Okay, but only because I'm going to quiz her more while you two are busy. *mischievous smile* This will be a "berry" fun game. If you take a look around us, you might be tempted to think that we're surrounded by many of the same berries, but in fact we're actually in the middle of several types of berries. One of which is poisonous. The first one to bring me all the berries documented will get as many points as they have unique berries. Multiplied by three if they correctly guess the poisonous one. If neither of you bring me a full set by the time I flip my timer five times, whomever has the most correctly documented berries will win. After the game, we'll have a "berry" exciting lecture about all the types of berries and their uses. Along with a bonus section about the three types of poisonous plants that hopefully your rammu protectors will keep you from touching.

Chyla/Kion: *synchronized affirmative nod*

Unica: Pens... pads... pounce!

```

Chyla followed closely behind Deca as she raced around the immediate area, collecting samples and jotting down brief notes about each one.

About half way through the race, Kion bumped into her rather roughly, nearly knocking her to the ground.

```

Chyla: What gives?

Kion: Sorry, I tripped.

Chyla: Be careful. I know Te-su said to watch Moring closely, but don't forget to watch where you're stepping too.

Kion: Understood.

```

Seeing Deca running away towards another bush Chyla chased after her.

```

Deca: Darn another repeat...

Chyla: Maybe you have them all?

Deca: Nah~ I glanced at Moring's book while you were lecturing Kion. She had two more than I do.

Chyla: What about...

Unica: *shouting* No helping!

Chyla: *awkward laughter* Sorry...

Deca: *nearly inaudible whisper* Twitch your ear towards the tree.

Vivica: *shouting* No helping.

Deca: *scared* Eep! She has as good of hearing as Lyrina...

```

After following Deca between another half dozen trees and bushes, Chyla turned towards a rather odd thud sound to find Kion laying face down on the ground. At the sight of her brother laying motionless, Chyla ran towards him, only to be stopped by Teran.

```

Teran: Fail, return to Deca's side immediately.

Chyla: Bu-

Teran: *intense stare* Return to her side--immediately.

```

After a short moment of staring into Teran's eyes, Chyla felt a sense of terror unlike anything she had ever felt, yet her concern for her brother forced her to push past him and continue running towards Kion.

Upon reaching Kion, she pushed him over on his back and checked his breathing to find that he was breathing slowly. As she began to mentally panic, unsure of what to do next, she felt a small hand rest on her shoulder.

```

Moring: Please step back, and refrain from touching him further. As mother would say, I realize you're concerned, but you are only in the way.

Chyla: B-but I-

Moring: *kind smile and pleading eyes* Please trust me.

```

Feeling a strange mixture of helplessness and reassurance, Chyla stood up and walked away from Kion, only to freeze in terror at the sight of Teran glaring at her from beside Deca.