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Shifting my grip on the wooden practice longsword in my hands, I look up as the rain continues to drizzle. “So why are we practicing aerial combat maneuvers in the rain?”

Neil, standing on the ground beside Astralux and triple-checking the straps on her saddle, looks up at me. “Since rain makes everything slick, you’re forced to have a firmer grip. It’s both a challenge and a way to ensure that you have good posture.”

I grab a hold of the saddle horn in front of me with my left hand—and we haven’t even taken off yet. Lyssa, standing beside Blythe nearby, snickers at my reaction.

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“You want to ride up to breakfast?” Astralux asks me.

“Actually, I already told Amon I’d walk with him,” I say.

Astralux tilts her head at me. And then she grins. “You like Amon.”

“What?! I haven’t even known the guy for two weeks!” I realize that Astralux is watching me tie a blue ribbon to the end of my braided black hair, and I sigh. “Okay, yes. I like him.” I finish tying the ribbon. “He’s been really nice to me.”

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“Alright, Estelle,” Neil says. “Blythe needs a break. Your turn!”

My stomach drops as I climb over the short wooden wall into the dusty practice circle. Blythe, still panting from his sparring, pushes himself up to his feet with a groan and shakes Lyssa’s hand. “That was some good maneuvers! I think at this rate I have no hope of beating you.”

Lyssa smirks, leaning on her longsword-shaped practice stick. “You’re learning. Give yourself time to find the right weapon for you.”

“Clearly, it’s not the club,” Blythe drawls. He sets his club down by the array of weapons, where I’m standing. “What are you going to pick?” he asks.

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The wind blows through my ebony wavy locks, and I can’t help sighing. “I don’t think we ever got to fly leisurely,” I say loudly to make myself heard over the wind.

Astralux chuckles. “No. Not so bad now, is it?”

“This is amazing.” Seated in a comfortable saddle on Astralux’s back, I stare at Adytol, sprawled along Mount Nordstern, one of the largest mountains of the Wintersong Mountains. I can see a body of water to the north, between the mountain peaks. “Are we close to the sea?” I ask, stunned.

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By the time I make my way back outside, calm enough again to face the others, Neil has returned and is chatting with Astralux, who has a leather saddle tied to her back between her wings and close to the base of her neck. They both pause and look at me.

“Find the restrooms alright?” Neil asks.

“You mean the one in my bedroom?” I ask.

“Oh no, there’s a couple of restrooms on the first floor, so you don’t have to go all the way up to your room.” Neil gestures with one hand, at the Wards’ Palace, his other hand holding a large sword against his shoulder that would take two hands to wield for most men. “If you go straight in and to the left you’ll find the two restrooms.”

I completely missed them. “Oh,” I say sheepishly.

Neil holds out the massive sword to me. “I’ve got a number of tests for you to try out. First, we’re going to test out your innate ability with weapons.”

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“Before you begin your classes,” Veremund says, “there are a few things I tell every Ward-in-training at the beginning of their training. There are also a few things I will ask of you both.”

I glance up at Astralux, sitting poised beside me in the Sunroom, though her tail continues to tap. Everyone else has been dismissed, leaving us with Veremund and Kalteratem.

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Chapter 4: Becoming a Ward

“Just be honest.” Astralux can’t stop wriggling, her tail tapping excitedly on the stone floor. “That’s always the best idea around Veremund and my father.”

I’ve been deliberating over a pretty blue dress and a white cloth shirt and dark gray set of slacks for many minutes now. I don’t know whether to look beautiful and confident, or appear at ease and blend in. Deciding that all I’m doing is telling Ward Veremund my intention to join the Wards, and wanting to be practically dressed in case training starts right away, I don the shirt and slacks, slipping on a pair of fresh white socks and slipping my foot into the new dark leather boots that have been provided to me.

It’s at this moment that I realize I brought nothing from home except my shoes, which are badly worn. If only I had grabbed something. Then again, when I had left the house to go the privy, I wasn’t expecting that I would never again step inside my house, and that it would have been set on fire.

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“And that’s when I called for help,” I say. I look up into Astralux’s face, her brilliant white scales appearing to glow by the torches around us as we sit in the Wards’ platform, called the Sunroom, at this late hour. “I’m glad you got me out of there.”

Astralux nuzzles my head. “I was so worried about you.” She smiles. “But I’m also proud of you. You just crawled into that mine to help, without question!”

“I can’t not help people,” I say.

“You are more of a Ward than you realize,” Ward Veremund says. I look up at him in surprise, because that had been my exact ponderings while in the cave.

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“Get me out of here!” Henry coughs, his eye disappearing from the small peephole between the stones for a moment.

“I’m going to do my best.” I step back, not wanting to add pressure to the rocks that cover almost all of Henry. Kneeling, I analyze how the boulders lay atop him. “Henry, are you in any significant amount of pain anywhere?”

“My left foot,” Henry says. “I’m pretty sure it’s twisted up.”

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As Ward Volkan sprints down the cobblestone road, Ward Thorn follows just behind him. I rush after them but Ward Amon slows me till we’re jogging along.

“Careful, I don’t want you wearying yourself to death,” Ward Amon says. “You will be of no help to anyone, then.”

By the time we reach the commotion, there are people everywhere around rocks piled along the side of the mountain. I make out metal carts and picks nearby and spot people, mostly men, with dust on their hands and knees. Miners, I guess, having escaped the collapsed mine.

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