POV Astral

She nodded toward the bed, indicating where he could set the shameful trainees down. The bears lowered their heads, before falling over, averting their button gaze from her stern disapproval.

Mathias’ smile broadened. “Oh my, what a look! You shouldn’t be so hard on your bears.” He thought of her bears as childish toys. Play things to comfort a lonely child.

“They have a job to do,” Astral replied, her tone firm and sure. The second bear fell over onto its face, disgraced. “I’ll deal with them when I get back.”

“Won’t the Sergeant deal with it?” Mathias plucked a worn brown bear from its resting place on her pillow. Sergeant Scruffy had seen the poor discipline of the newest recruits first hand. He would deal with it, but not now.

Astral took Sergeant Scruffy from Mathias. “He’s coming with me.”

Mathias’ smile faded but only slightly. Wisdom’s blues and kind pinks flared in his aura, as the optimistic yellows simmered. “You’re getting to be a young woman. I know that new places are scary…”

Astral arched a brow. She had walked fields of death and slayed legions of the damned. In her previous incarnation, she had traveled the known world, never staying long in any one place. Still, he says this? To his credit, he wasn’t aware of everything she remembered of her service to the Dark Emperor, nor was she willing to share the depths of the wonders and horrors she had borne witness.

Her hard stare ordered him to stop what he was saying. “I need someone capable of recon and inter-bear communication. There will be plenty of first years who will have safety companions with them. The sergeant here will use his bear network to keep an eye on things.” She nodded to herself as a thought struck her. “It’ll be important to rescue lost bears. We don’t need to add juvenile monsters to our list of problems.”

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Creative orange and pink dominated his aura, smothering the greens as yellows spiked back into life. Mathias smiled at her and patted her head. “Growing up is overrated anyway. Besides, I love your stories. It brings magic back to this world. We could all use a little more magic.” He winked.

He should know better than to say such foolish things.

Astral fumed, shutting her eyes against her frustration. There was no point in telling him that the bears were a valid defense for the young.

He was right in that before long, her bears would be of no use to her. She wouldn’t be able to communicate with them. All the more reason to ensure that they were well trained. A legacy bear was more powerful than an average off-the-shelf newly made bear. Legacy bears were hardened warriors and the most protective of companions.

“I need a minute to clean my room,” Astral said. She knelt to look under her bed, before reaching for the fiery, pink bunny-bear she needed.

“You have more important things to worry about right now. I’ll take care of it,” Mathias offered.

She grabbed onto the plush toy’s hind leg and pulled as it kicked at her in panic. The other bears pushed the bunny-bear toward her, chattering in their muted teddy bear language.

The bunny-bear wouldn’t have any of it. It spun onto its back and soft plushy maws bit down on Astral’s hand.

She grimaced at the plush toy, unimpressed by the bunny-bear’s violent outburst. Her humanity made her immune to the bear’s retinue of attacks.

Glass eyes gleamed in panic, realizing what it had done. Attacking its charge was a cardinal sin. The bears will deal with the crime on their own.

She grabbed the savage bunny-bear by the scruff and pulled it out as it tried to claw its way back to safety. Whoever had owned it before her had been merciless. In the end, she was victorious, pulling the savage bunny-bear into the light of her room. It hung limp in her hand, defeated.

She shoved the fuzzy pink bunny-bear toward Mathias who took it gently into his hands. It buried its face into Mathias’ chest, too humiliated to look Astral in the eye.

“I’ll send word when I’m due to return. Please place this bear and the tablet in William’s room,” she told him. She took care to write out her password onto a blank card.

William had shown a natural bond with the bunny-bear, and it too favored William. It needed more training, that much was sure. William of all people was the safest person for this unruly and potentially untrainable creature.

She’d let a natural bond form. While she was in the Mather’s home, Sergeant. Scruffy would see to it that the savage bunny-bear understood the basics of what was required of him.