Chapter 1: Daily Routine

The humid morning air touched my nostrils and my eyes opened slowly. Maybe it was tiredness, or maybe it was the humidity, but I didn't want to get up. Or maybe, just maybe, I didn't want to move from my husband's side.

I turned over to see Frank Halia sleeping and snoring up a storm. I smiled and got out of bed, Avealing slightly so that wings sprouted out of my back. I looked in the mirror to see wings that were mostly like a Northern Harrier's with a tint of likeness to a Red-Tailed Hawk.

"Buteo, you're up early." Frank said and I made my wings disappear.

"I'm going scouting today." I replied, starting to get dressed. "Plus I'm taking a class with me."

"Nervous?" He asked, getting out of bed so that he could wrap his arms around my neck. "You've been teaching for years, you're not going to fail with one class. You can teach them about the horrors of the Rethi and the wonders of Fang."

I slapped him playfully away.

"Many thousands of years ago, when Gaia was called Earth, these meanies called Rethi inhabited the planet. Though they called themselves the dreaded H word." Frank said in a playful tone. "But then they left the planet which soon encountered a plague. Only through the perseverance of Fang and his dealings with the demon from the sky did we get the process to Aveal. This made the survivors able to get through the plague and change into animals. They renamed themselves Drethiveal."

I shook my head.

Avealing nowadays was much harder than before. Back in the time of Fang, Dreth were able to change into three different animals. Now the ability to change into more than one animal was considered a miracle and to transform fully into any animal was considered near impossible.

Except for the Snow Leopards, the right hand Dreth of the Council of Ant.

"Maybe you should consider teaching," I said. "You seem to do a pretty good job at it."

"I want kids but...to actually teach them, no. Don't think I could." Frank replied.

"At least you'll be able to tell them good stories."

"But you'll always be the father that will tell the best ones. Any word on the adoption process going forward?"

I paused before continuing. I wasted time by walking over to the window, looking outward from the second floor.  There was a small pond and across that you could see some of a training course. During the time of the Rethi, the training course had been a golf course.

Now there were different structures, Drethiveal-made and natural plant formations, that Dreth would have to run over and around. Sometimes even doing mock battles. Gaia was a harsh mistress and you had to be prepared for whatever it threw at you.

Some, like a former student of mine, were afraid of the Rethi returning and so went to a special school to learn how to fight against them.

"It's not going well?" Frank asked.

"You know how it is," I told him. "All children are to be with their birth parents unless the parents have too many children already or the parents have died. With me being a teacher it's easier, but still doesn't seem like anything will work out."

"And with you being asked by the Council of Ant to be a warrior, they're probably delaying the process because of that."

"I'm not going to leave you. I don't want to always be on the move. When we adopt a child, I don't want him to have no sense of home."

"What do you think he'll Aveal into?" Frank asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Well I Aveal into a mixture of a Northern Harrier and a Red-Tailed Hawk. You Aveal into a Bald Eagle." I replied. "Hopefully we'll get another bird to the family."

"Except if he, or she, is a seagull."

With that both of us laughed. Yes, seagulls seemed to be feathery demons. When I was a child I had stupidly thought to feed one and found myself chased by a whole flock of them. All those who grew up in Flower Land had a similar story.

"Come back here!" Our downstairs neighbor yelled.

Sounds of little feet coming up the wooden ladder soon reached my ears. When the child came into view I didn't know how to react. I wanted to reprimand and hug him all at the same time.

But that was the duty of a parent, not me.

The mother came soon after, her hair now Avealed into sheep's fur, with an angry expression on her face. An angry expression that turned respectful when she saw me.

"I'm sorry, Buteo Ralph," She said, taking the hand of her son. "This shouldn't have happened."

"It's fine," Frank replied, smiling at the kid.

"Yeah," I seconded. "Young ones can be little nightmares. Plan to have one of my own someday."

She nodded and the little one ran back towards her. Her name was Debra and she was infamous for having her hair constantly Avealed as sheep's fur. It took great practice for her to do that and some Dreth, including myself, thought she should try to fully Aveal.

It was a sort of yearly thing that never ended up going anywhere.

Soon both mother and toddler were back on the first floor.

"Well, you should go now." Frank said, kissing my cheek. "There are young minds that need to learn the knowledge only you can provide."

"Oh shut up." I said, playfully slapping him.

I kissed him on the lips and then exited the house. The house I lived in was at the end of a cul-de-sac. The Rethi word that we hadn't bothered changing. At least for the most part. There were some that had created their own terms for it.

Walking down the large path down from the house, I spared a glance at it.

It, like the rest in Native Lakes, was wooden and was two stories. It wasn't very big as the majority of the day was spent outside. Around some houses, the little ones were playing around while the parents cooked up a small breakfast.

I smelled some bacon, a rarity that was brought in by a Snow Leopard, and waved to the family that was cooking it.

As one of my feet stepped onto the black grass that had once been Rethi road, as most Dreth didn't use mechanical vehicles and horses were a rarity most roads were gone, and heard someone shout, "Hey, Redbutt!"

I managed to keep my groan silent as I turned to face Nidae Boris. His cheerful face hid the dark nature of his job.

"Don't call me Redbutt." I said sternly, knowing it would do no good.

"But your butt always stays red. Always." He replied. "You should really get that problem looked at."

Nidae's job was to transport rogue Dreth for judgment and sometimes he had to capture them. He had been all the way to farthest part of Redwood so that he was standing in the ocean that lined the West Coast of this continent.

Luckily that meant he was gone the majority of the year. But he always returned like the plagues from the time of Fang.

"So you're finally back from your last adventure?" I asked Nidae.

"Yeah it was...well...the Council of Ant has agreed to let me take a two year break." He said, his voice seeming to break at one point.

"Holy hum!" I said and then looked around to make sure no one had heard me.

Luckily the parents were too concerned with controlling their children. Those parents were probably feeling somewhat jealous that I would only be dealing with teenagers while they had to deal with children much younger.

"What...what happened?" I asked, feeling concern for this asshole who every now and again I started to think of as a friend.

"I...I don't want to go on about it." He replied, avoiding my gaze. "I don't even know what happened. I mean the mission was simple: chase down Sal Ray."

"So he tried to escape punishment?"

"Yeah. Ray had committed bestiality and fled."

I shivered. Some Dreth thought that the ability to turn into animals made bestiality a thing of the past. But that wasn't true. Just because we could turn into animals didn't give us the ability to truly become one. We would always be Drethiveal and they would always be animals.

Looking at Nidae I could see he wasn't telling me something. In that moment I dearly wished I was good enough friends with him to ask what was wrong. In that rare moment I truly cared for his wellbeing. He wasn't the sort of Dreth to take a year off his job, even when he was nearly dying.

"So, you and your butt buddy getting it on?" Nidae asked making that rare moment of caring gone from my mind.

I guess I could try to care by reminding myself of his defense mechanism. But he was too annoying to care for long.

"My husband and I are doing fine." I said, starting to walk down the black grass.

My shoes making a pleasant sound against it that I tried to focus on. I also tried to focus on today's lesson's plan and about doing a small mock scouting mission. It shouldn't cause any problems but with Gaia being the harsh mistress it was, anything could happen.

Even when you planned everything out to be safe.

"Does he comment on that fine butt of yours?" Nidae said, starting to ruin any chance of me keeping calm. "What color is his butt? Is it the same black color as my fine gorilla derrière"

"If you're also going to ask if Frank calls me Redbutt, the answer is no." I said.

"You know you've hung around me too much when you start completing my jokes."

"I haven't had much choice. How is your friend?" I said, trying to give him a reason to leave me be.

"I've only been back two days. He's been busy making repairs to Native Lakes' defenses." Nidae replied.

Every village had some form of defense, besides warriors who tended to fight outside villages, and those tasked with keeping those defenses safe. Safe from both Descendents and warring villages. The Council of Ant kept us secure, but couldn't always erase differences completely.

"Ash Tidae." Nidae said with a smile. "Is he still going around with a rhinoceros horn?"

"Every full moon, like always." I said while trying to understand how anyone could stand being around Nidae so long.

Suddenly a group of little ones ran in front of us. By their faces I could tell that they were vainly trying to Aveal. I laughed softly as I recalled that same look being on my face when I had been young and deciding what to Aveal into.

Nidae and I got off the street that my house was on. Out of three other paths to go down, I decided to go left. This would lead me to the school, a building that the Rethi had used for a 'club house', and where I needed to be.

A huge plus would be that Nidae wouldn't be going there.

"Does he talk about me?" Nidae asked, a smile still on his face.

"Everyone talks about you." I replied with a shrug.

"I know that. But does he talk talk about me?"

I sighed, shaking my head. Nidae was egotistical but could this be...no, no it couldn't be.

"Does Ash talk about me? Like...um...ah..." Nidae said and his usual brown skin now took on a blackish hue around his cheeks.

"Are you blushing?" I asked, too shocked to say anything else.

"Um? No?" He replied, trying desperately to reverse his Aveal.

"Listen, I have to go teach my class. Afterwards I'll see if Ash would like to have dinner with you." I teased.

Before he could reply, a man came running towards us. His body was completely blackened and the scent of burning was thick. I panicked for a moment, thinking that he was burning alive. Then reasoning set in and I could tell that part of him had Avealed and the parts that were burning were his clothing.

"Hey, nice to talk to you, Redbutt." Nidae said. "But I think I should help this piece of toast to a doctor."

The 'piece of toast' turned to see Nidae as the man went over to calm him down. I did admit he had a good way with people from time to time. But his emotions were both too annoying and subject to change for me.

I was thankfully allowed to get to the school without anymore interruptions. The 'piece of toast' had come from the direction of a shield generator that was used solely in hurricane emergencies. If any hurricane got to the point where it would demolish Native Lakes, the shield would be turned on.

Entering the school I was glad that the number of times the shield had been turned on was limited.

"You're going to Redwood next year!" I heard one of my students shout in surprise.

"Hello, Buteo Ralph!" All of them shouted once they saw me, then broke out into giggles.

I spent a minute arranging things on my desk. The teenagers were the ones to wake up the earliest for classes and some of them weren't morning people. One of my students was snoring away at his desk and I could hear another in a different classroom doing the same.

There were three teachers for the teenagers, two for those younger, and anyone older had to wait until a teacher of sufficient knowledge arrived to the village. The exception to the latter were those that went to seek further schooling elsewhere.

"Who's going to Redwood?" I asked once I had settled down for the morning.

"Me, sir." A student around the age of seventeen years old replied.

"Giondal Smith." I said with a sad smile. "What's the occasion?"

"Family." He said with a small blush. "Mother got a job at a training facility. You know, to prepare in case any Rethi come back to Gaia."

I inwardly groaned. Many Dreth, including myself, liked to pretend that the Rethi would never come back. It was a lie, those greedy creatures wouldn't give up anything. Not forever. All of us were living off of borrowed time.

"I'll miss you." I told him with a sad smile. "But your mother will be doing noble work and I'm sure you'll be a noble swan."

"When do you think they'll come back?" Another of my students asked. "I'd love to be on the front lines against them. They wouldn't stand a chance!"

"Do you know what war involves?" I asked and she went silent quickly. "War isn't noble and it isn't glorious."

"Is that why you aren't a warrior?"

"Partially. But mainly due to me wanting to start a family in one place."

The class was silent as I pulled out some notes. I looked over them and decided which would be most important to prepare them for the trip today.

"Where do we live?" I asked.

"Native Lakes in the state of Flower Land." They replied as one.

"What are the first lines of defense?"

"The guards and traps."

"Where are you to go if Native Lakes is under threat?"

"New Venice to speak to the Snow Leopards. But only as a last resort."

"Why as a last resort?"

"The Council of Ant allows each village to take care of their own differences. A ruling by the Council is not to be given lightly."

I nodded and was glad this sort of pop quiz was answered without any wrong answers. If things were to go wrong they could go to New Venice. At least if they weren't able to get back to Native Lakes for whatever reason.

"Today I have a treat for you." I said, crossing my arms as I moved to the front of the desk and sat down. "We are to go a short distance away from Native Lakes. This will allow you to see more of your home and be prepared for the dangerous world we now live in. But before we go I'm going to need you to answer an important series of questions: What wildlife are we not to kill and why?"

"Wolves because they are emissaries of Fang who Avealed into a wolf." They said with a smile.

"Remember in extreme circumstances you may kill a wolf. Slightly injuring a wolf is fine as the wolf may need some persuasion not to attack you."

After that we quickly got prepared for our adventure for the day. Giondal seemed to take more interest than was usual and I assumed that was because this was one of the last times we'd be seeing him. Most Dreth didn't travel far from their home village.

My students were all well behaved as we made final preparations.

"Giondal," I said once everyone was ready. "As you will be leaving us soon, you get to choose our path for the day."

"Really?" Giondal asked, a huge smile forming on his face. "I mean...you don't usually take us out scouting and you sure don't let any of us choose the path."

"Gaia is full of surprises and I want to make sure you will do well when you leave Native Lakes."

Walking out of the school I felt no tension in the air. All of them were care free and making jokes. Even the more nervous students were taking some time to relax.

Training courses were on either side of the black grass and I watched the Dreth. Part of me wanted to be a warrior, to defend Natives Lakes and the rest of Gaia, and that part was hard to control at times. But whenever I thought of Frank and starting a family, my itch to fight died down.

I was a scout of Native Lakes, I did things just as important as any Drethiveal warrior.

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