Chipper had a few more words to say about the general orientation before he suggested that they might want to move another 10 to 15 yards away and listen to what a large snake was saying to another group of people. Dascha couldn’t control a shiver of deep-seated fear as she saw the size of the snake. Easily 16 feet long, the snake was covered with irregular splotches of color and possessed a thick, muscular body that was wider than her witch’s thigh.
Walking over to the snake’s area, Dascha realized that one of the other familiars that had listened to Chipper’s orientation was walking directly beside her. This familiar was about her size but was definitely not a cat. He moved with an odd gait, almost a gallop. She recognized him to be something her witch had called a “ferret.” His black button nose and dark eyes were friendly and welcoming. The swirl of broken lines that covered his body would make him difficult to spot in the woods or fields of her home territory, but on the cleared ground of the gathering area, just made him look exotic.
They walked a few more steps before he broke the silence, <<Hi, there. My name is Stinky. Or at least that’s what my witch calls me.>>
<<My name is Dascha.>>
<<First time for me. You too?>>
<<Yes.>>
<<I’m finding it pretty scary. I wasn’t sure what would be here, but I didn’t think anything like this.>>
<<Me either. I guess we just have to go with the flow. We can figure out what’s going on later after we get more information.>>
<<Yup.>>
<<<>>>
The new attendees formed a semi-circle around the giant snake. He was easy to see, positioned on top of the pile of rocks and warming himself in the sun.
<<My name is Sandy, and, yes, I’m a snake. Get over it. All of us that can work with magic and witches and mages have a common bond. The rule here is that none of us eat each other and none of us attack each other outside of the combat fields.>>
Dascha heard more than one gulp from those around her as the shock of that statement echoed through her bones.
<<The reason for the Familiar Trials gathering is so that those of us that are familiars to witches and mages have the ability to be trained to support our partners. In order to do that, we maintain a ranking system. The ranking system tracks your abilities through the multiple dimensions and capabilities while teaching you the skills that a non-familiar simply doesn’t have.>>
The snake paused briefly to wait for any questions. When none surfaced, he continued, <<The ranking system runs like this. Coming into your first gathering, everyone is unrated and unranked. That puts you in a classification of “juvenile.” This means that you have no standing to participate in any of the combat trials. You have no ability to challenge or respond to a challenge. However, this is your entry into being rated and ranked in relation to other familiars.>>
Pausing, the snake sat patiently, turning its head to stare at each of the listeners in turn. Only the flickering of his tongue as he tasted the air in front of him betrayed the presence of more information forthcoming. After a while, he continued, <<The remainder of the rating system is fledging, expert, master, and adept. Most of you will eventually attain a rating of expert or master. Hopefully, at the end of this gathering, or possibly the next, you will have achieved a ranking of fledgling. That would indicate that you have started to learn your craft as a familiar.>>
One of the canines that was sitting in the circle listening to Sandy spoke up, <<What if we are not a bird? It doesn’t seem to make much sense to me to call us fledglings when we don’t have feathers.>>
<<Fledgling doesn’t simply mean feathered. It refers to someone that is new at trying out their skills and entering into maturity. Since that’s an adequate and fairly accurate description of what you will be at that point, that was what the ruling group of the trials agreed on for the ranking.>>
Seeing no other outstanding questions, the snake continued, <<The next ranking is that of expert. This ranking assumes that you are capable of an aggregate score of 30 in the different areas that the trials define. Since not everyone has the same skill areas or specializations, it was decided any accumulation of points in the different areas will give you equivalent ratings. Someone that is an expert familiar has worked at broadening their speed, strength, and basic skills to be an asset to their witch or mage. This is different than simply acting like a battery. You will have achieved a level where you are capable of making contributions to the goals of your partner.>>
Once again, the canine that had asked questions before interrupted, <<You are talking as if familiars and witches are partners. Most of the witches and mages that we know do not expect us to be partners, but simply expect us to be there and used as they see fit. What is the difference?>>
Sandy raised his head higher and curved his body tightly. The questioning canine reared back as if fearing a strike. When the snake answered, his mental voice was precise and controlled. He said, <<If your relationship to your witch or mage never passes beyond the use and abuse of you then you will never be ranked within the Familiar Trials. Those of you or your witches that are incapable of truly bonding will never have as powerful a working relationship as those that can grow in their respect and reliance on each other.>>
A new voice entered the discussion. <<Those of you that are not willing to work on the relationship and prefer not to get involved emotionally with your bonded magic user will remain as juveniles in the rating here. Those of you that are working on establishing your worth are considered candidates. Those of you that have started to contribute to the relationship and have mastered base level skills and power levels are considered fledglings. When your relationship reaches a point where you’re making independent contributions to the objectives of your magic user you are considered an expert. When you finally reach the age and maturity in your bond of equal partners you are considered a master.>>
As the powerful, cold voice ceased its speech, there was a downdraft of air from massive and powerful wings as a giant raven landed on the rock pile next to Sandy. Tucking wings that could easily span 7 feet against his side, the iridescent black bird with the wicked looking talons and beak stared at each of the listening newcomers in consideration before turning back to look at Sandy.
The snake hissed in irritation, and responded, <<I was going to tell them about the rating, George.>>
<<Generalities first, details later. Have them move on, you are backing up the flow.>>
Without any further word, the raven launched himself into the air and departed for another area of the field leaving behind a swirling cloud of dirt in the air and shivers down the spine of the listeners.
Still hissing, Sandy continued at a very rapid speed, <<Ranking is defined by both qualitative and quantitative metrics. We also will look at your major witch rating. When you go to the trials you’ll be judged on competitive merit, technical merit, and artistic application.>>
At the end of the rapid speech, the snake lowered its body and tucked its nose inside of its coils. Dascha jumped a little when she heard a voice directly next to her say, <<I think my mind just blew up.>>
Dascha turned her head to the right and saw that sometime during the snake’s presentation a snowy white bird with a long tail had landed next to her. She had never seen a bird like this and had no idea even how to address it. The bird must’ve realized her confusion since it continued talking after a brief glance at her. <<My name is Trey, and I’m new in the whole familiar thing. I’m bonded to a mage who’s as clueless as I am, so when it was recommended that I come to this shindig, we both thought it was a good idea. So, I’m here. Oh, and I’m a firebird.>>
Much more slowly than the firebird had spoken, Dascha replied, <<My name is Dascha and my witch, and I are both very new to this also.>>
A sharp poking into her side reminded her of her other companion, prompting her into additional speech, <<My friend over here is named Stinky.>>
The small black cat listened only with half her attention as the cheerful whit
e firebird began to babble about every aspect of his life, his family history, and apparently the state of the universe. Trey and Stinky were soon holding an animated conversation, bouncing comments and ideas back and forth, all while happily interrupting each other.
Dascha simply couldn’t cope with anything else right at the second. She felt overwhelmed and underprepared. Faced with the cheerful, confident speech of the bird and ferret, she felt even more inadequate.
What if she couldn’t learn enough to help Zhanna? What if she couldn’t make an emotional connection? The thought that she would fail her witch was a sharp icy stab into the center of her chest. She wanted to hide, crawl under a bush, hide in the closet. Something, anything, to give her enough quiet time to think.
That was not an option. Dascha just needed to focus and keep going.
Chapter 5 - Exploration
Activity was going on everywhere. There was a sense of purpose to it and a definite direction. The strangeness of both the location and the situation kept Dascha unsure of herself and in the unfamiliar position of having to try to catch up with the thoughts of everyone around her. She was used to being the fastest to think, the smartest one around. That wasn't happening here.
Instead, she was playing catch up. Like the slowest runner in the race that was straining just to keep from being lapped. She trailed after Trey as he determinedly maneuvered his way around clusters of familiars, over or under obstacles, and from orientation group to orientation group. Along the way, the three of them acquired a few more lost and lonely newcomers.
Dascha was surprised when one of the wolf hybrids from the group that had posed questions during the snake’s presentation joined them. Huge for his kind and unusually calm, the wolf, who went by the name of Jack, seemed to be fascinated with Trey’s constant chatter and cheerful outlook.
Trey’s attractive personality also gathered up another cat. A battle-scarred, inarticulate tomcat had wandered over to the group behind Trey and introduced himself as Kevin and promptly shut his mouth. He was a bit of a mystery to everybody else, but they cheerfully accepted them into the group.
The five of them wandered from discussion to discussion, listening in on the orientation topics without much conversation. It was a different way of training than any that Dascha knew. In this case, it was a show then tell, rather than the reverse. While the alteration of everything she had been taught made her fur ruffle, after listening to various speakers, she could see why this might be a viable approach.
They rambled over the entire grounds, listening to full presentations or snatches of conversation. Eating when they felt hungry, listening and trying to absorb the rest of the time. Occasionally, their orbit touched the wandering of one of the few humans at the gathering. This person held a unique position according to the conversation she had overheard. He was the gathering’s storyteller. It was his responsibility to entertain and educate with the use of stories and occasionally short ditties.
As of yet, she hadn’t heard him really telling any stories, but she saw him often chatting with the other gathering participants, most often smiling but occasionally frowning. She became more curious as the day went on. It was an itch that wasn’t going to be able to be scratched since she hadn’t managed to be where he was talking at any one time.
It was late afternoon by the time they had made almost a whole circuit of the grounds. Dascha had been standing by one of the larger empty areas at the gathering site. She had noticed it from the flight overhead with Glenfrey. From the air, it looked like a round head with tentacles. A closer view showed a smooth-topped, translucent rock with a pinkish crystalline cast in the center. Radiating out from the rock were wide riblets that resembled the roots of a large tree. While the center stone was highly polished, the arms were a totally different story.
There was a peculiar texture and smell to the radiating arms. Looking down at one of them Dascha could see lots of little holes, almost as if someone had made stone foam. Even without bending over she could smell the scent of salt and an odor reminiscent of eggshell.
Trey came streaking through the air and plopped onto the ground right in front of her. <<Dascha! There are three of these areas. What do you think they are? Some of the guys say they smell funny, but I can’t smell a thing. What do you think? Have you touched them? What do you think??>>
<<I don’t know, Trey. I was just trying to figure them out. Maybe we can find out together what they are, or we could have somebody explain.>>
<<What a good idea! I will go find somebody right away.>>
Shaking her head in amazed amusement, Dascha continued to examine the stone root. She had not found any danger to it, but a well-honed sense of survival kept her cautious. Getting more adventurous, she soon was tapping it with her paws, scratching it with her claws, to no conclusion. Finally, she laid down on it. At first, nothing happened. Then, the world changed.
The light was dappled, and she could smell the rich scent of growing vegetation. Cautiously she stalked, moving so skillfully that even the birds kept singing. Closer and closer she crept.
The feel of the ground in the moist and thick vegetation that grew around her seem perfectly normal. A small part of her brain was trapped away in the back of her mind, fleeing in fear from the sensory input about someplace she had never been.
Suddenly, a feral hog charged out of the underbrush to her right. Dascha was frightened, terrified in fact. The only experience she had with hogs of this size had been horrible. Much larger than she was, the porcine monster had an uncontrollable rage and insanity, that no one ever could address.
She glanced around herself frantically looking for a place to climb. She heard the hog crashing closer to her and a vast calm settled over her body. The sense of someone else’s emotions, someone else’s confidence was a subtle blanket, suddenly shielding her and protecting her from fear and providing direction.
She could tell that her paws weren’t shaking and she glanced at them just to make sure that they were hers. <<Oh my God, they’re not! What is happening to me? >>
Dascha had expected to see her small black paws at the end of her legs. What she saw instead was enough to make her mind jibber in confusion and barely controlled terror. Her paws were huge! They must’ve been as big as her whole body!
Calm settled once more over her roiling emotions. She heard an undertone voice say calmly to her, <<Breathe. Just breathe.>>
Closing her eyes and drawing air deep into her chest and holding it for a few seconds before exhaling, Dascha arm wrestled her fear into submission. Only when she could feel the emotional knots start to loosen did she open her eyes. Opened her eyes into the huge, unblinking stare of a massive tiger.
<<Don’t do that!>> yelled Dascha, as she sprang backward.
<<Much better than screaming in fear, little one,>> responded the deep rumbly mind voice of the tiger. He seemed to be purring at her and this confused Dascha tremendously.
<<What did you do?>> she asked.
<<I responded to your presence at the circle of sharing,>> he replied. <<Lying down on the transfer arms is a request for anyone that has relevant skill or experience to come and share with you.>>
<<But… Oh my goodness>> Dascha was so confused and so disoriented she had no idea of what even to say. The big cat waited for her to regain her composure for a few seconds but apparently decided that she was too rattled to continue.
<<You must be a juvenile. I bet you don’t understand what the sharing spaces are for and I have just frightened you badly. Is that correct?>>
Dascha simply nodded her head yes. The tiger took that as an invitation to continue explaining and seated himself comfortably. Gazing at his audience of one for just a moment, the big cat made a strange chirping sound and lay down. Dascha could fee
l her muscles loosen up like water pouring out of a barrel. At least it didn’t look like he was going to attack her any second, so she sat down to listen. However, she carefully sat on the grass and avoided the stone tendril.
The tiger began, <<For the most part, familiars learned by watching and sharing rather than some form of formal class like our humans tend to use for education. These sharing circles were created to share memories of real events so that one familiar could teach multiple others hard-won experience and skills. Of course, some people have different abilities to absorb that type of expertise transfer. And some people simply cannot learn this way. It is, however, one of the most prevalent methods of teaching at these trials.>>
Dascha was now intrigued, and asked, <<So I could learn how to kill a wild hog by riding along on your memory?>>
<<Within certain limitations, yes. For instance, right now you are too physically small to use some of the techniques that I was trying to transfer. You could learn to be someone that warns of danger but was obviously unable to tackle a 200-pound hog and rip her throat out.>>
<<This bears thinking on and I am most grateful for the explanation. Also, I’m very sorry I yelled at you. Okay, maybe not very sorry, but still sorry.>>
Once again, the larger cat rumbled his amused purr of laughter. Dascha gathered her dignity together and turned to walk away, holding her tail up high, the tiger called after her, <<My name is Dinesh, and you are welcome to yell at me anytime.>>
Chapter 6 – Mingling
The others in her group had been busy while she was busy exploring the sharing circle. When she finally caught up with them, Trey chattered at her excitedly about what they had learned about the upcoming schedule and some of the other things that they could do while they were there. He showed her proudly that he had a clip-on badge now that said his name and classification, in this case, juvenile. It was marked with a plain circle. He was chattering so much and so rapidly that she almost couldn’t understand him.