"Well, that was only mildly disturbing." Talin blew out a breath as the trio joined the stream of teenagers leaving the classroom.

Mina grimaced in agreement. "It's never fun when they bring up the Order's version of capital punishment. It is effective though. As hypocritical as it may seem the thought of losing your own humanity does wonders to keep the crime rate down.

Beside them, Sasha shivered. "I already had a close enough call. Just thinking that it could still happen is enough to scare me straight." The Order had a policy of taking the hard approach with first-generation Beast Tamers. When she had first come into her magic the teacher had taken her out of class and put her in with the other first gens. Orientation had been accompanied by a warning that noncompliance would result in an immediate transformation. The Order kept its secrets.

"You don't have to worry Sasha," Talin assured her. "Extreme measures like that are only used on the very worst criminals. You would need to seriously fuck up to be judged guilty enough for it to be administered."

The blonde mage shook her head sending her blonde curls cascading around her heart-shaped face. "On to more pleasant topics. We only had one class today. Exams are the only thing left and then we're free and clear for the rest of the month. Though, it's going to feel strange not having my sister there for the holidays."

"Why don't you spend the Solstice at my place, Sasha?" Mina offered.

"Are you serious!?"

"Yes, I'm serious." She rolled her green eyes. "As long as you don't mind the parties my Gran needs to host. Staying with a friend has got to be better than spending the holidays with Finn." All the first-gens were housed in the same dorm. Even though the bully had backed off when Mina and Talin were around, he had a bad habit of cornering Sasha when she was alone.

Talin reached out grasping both girls by their elbows and steering them down a deserted hallway. The trio stopped beside a large window at the end of the hall. This late in winter the sun had almost set and new snow was falling from the overcast sky. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one followed them. "Are you sure you don't want to check up on your sister Sasha? We can make it happen if you do."

Sasha gave her friends a sad smile. "Thanks for the offer Talin but I don't think it would be a good idea. Natalia would never forgive me for being part of the organization that's harmed her. I wouldn't if our positions were switched. I could have fought when I found out how familiars were made. I could have tried to get Natalia sent home. But I didn't. I was so sure she would come into her magic. We're twins after all. I kept hoping and praying, right up until the very last second. I made that choice, and now I have to live with it."

In a rare display of public affection, Mina threw her arms around the bubbly blonde. "I'm sorry Sasha. We can't replace your twin. But we'll still be your partners and your friends, and it sounds like you're going to need some over the holidays." Outside the snow continued to fall, blanketing the world in pure silence.

***

 "... So that's why Sasha will be staying with us for the foreseeable future." Mina finished, her small pointed chin thrust forward stubbornly.

Her brother heaved a put upon sigh. "What a pain."

"I think it's a great idea. Why don't you show Sasha to the guest room." Val grinned widely.

Mina blinked, slightly surprised at how little resistance her siblings were putting up. She nodded, grabbing Sasha's hand and heading to the guest rooms to the right of the sweeping staircase. The second the pair left the room Valeria smacked her little brother over the top of the head.

"Oww. What was that for?" Kane complained, straightening his glasses that had been knocked askew.

"You will keep any complaints about this situation to yourself Kane Aidan Estrall. This is the first time Mina has ever brought a friend home. A real friend. Not one of those pompous bootlickers who trail after all of us just so they can get in Dad's good books. You will be happy. You will be welcoming, and you will be a gracious host. Or so help me I will make your life so miserable you'll want to move in with your familiar. Do I make myself clear?" The normally bubbly seventeen-year-old glared angrily at Kane.

Kane's mouth parted in shock. Valeria almost never got angry. The fifteen-year-old would be the first to admit he wasn't the most self-aware person when it came to emotions. His big sister's unusually serious attitude was enough to clue him in that this was important. If only for his sense of self-preservation. "Crystal."

***

Cerra glared into the leonine eyes of the young chimera they had been charged with training. The past ten minutes had been spent locked in a staring match with the apex familiar. A thin coat of downy golden fur covered her upper body. The fur on her lower body had a different texture, though it retained its tawny coloration. The young chimera's nose was merging with her face as her jaw thrust forward slightly. A pair of fuzzy round lion ears poked out from her scruffy hair, alongside a pair of bony nubs that were the beginnings of the young beast's horns.

Behind the chimera, Graydon ran soothing fingers along the pale greenish gold scales of their charges tail. The tail, which took the form of a serpent was around two feet long and as thick around as a pair of fingers. The first-gen had removed the band holding shut the snake's mouth. He wore a pair of thin gloves enchanted to turn aside bite marks. Even with precautions what he was doing held some risk. Carefully he pried the jaws apart examining the snakehead's developing fangs. "No signs of venom glands yet Sir." He reported to Master Gideon.

The Master Beast Tamer nodded from where he leaned against the wall, observing the trios handling of their charge. At no point were the novices to be left alone with the apex familiar. For their own safety as well as if they screwed up somehow. Beside him, Lux added a notation into Tria's profile. "Alright, I suppose that's enough for today. Since her fangs have begun to develop we'll leave the band off. Better for us if she can work those jaws. As one of her primary weapons the sooner she becomes accustomed to using them the better. All three of you should stop by the enchanters and have your novice whites spelled to deflect bites." As Master Gideon spoke he walked up behind Tria and clapped his hands loudly just behind her ears.

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The young chimera flinched instinctively. Her ears lay flat against her head as she broke eye contact with Cerra. She growled unhappily. With the lineage of three different kinds of animals warring in her mind she was basically a bundle of instincts right now. It would take time for her human intellect to reassert itself. Gideon continued speaking to Cerra. "That is a good use of such a harmless ability Cerra. Lions do not like being looked in the eye. They see it as a dominance challenge. Your ability to go minutes without blinking is proving very useful. It can be a double-edged sword though. Be careful never to lose a staring contest, I don't want to imagine what would happen if you do."

The quartet left the young chimera's stall and made their way towards the exit from the Apex quarters. The tower walls left them in full shadow as the sun was just a gleam of light on the horizon. From the opposite side of the courtyard, a loud string of expletives erupted into the quiet winter air.

***

"Lying fucking Beast Tamers! I hope you enjoy spending the afterlife in the Devil's shithole!" Eli shouted as loudly as he possibly could, despite the fact that no one was around to hear him. He was alone with the sound of his own voice. The act of rebellion soothed the bubbling rage within him. Giving vent to his anger helped him ignore the sick dread growing in his gut.

After the third time they had paraded him out for examination, the Master Beast Tamer's had erupted into excited chatter and declared him to be an Apex Familiar. He had been moved to this pen surrounded by thirty foot stone walls. A prison within a prison. Eli didn't even have any fellow inmates to offer him comfort now. The sixteen-year-old had been huge and hulking for his age during the awakening ceremony. Today he had lost a good three inches in height and plenty of muscle. He was still fit, but it was slimming down and becoming more streamlined. His once blonde hair had darkened in hue to a rich chocolate brown according to his handlers. Eli had to take their word for it. He hadn't seen a mirror ever since he drank that cursed potion. Other than his shrinking size the only change so far as he could see was the set of whiskers growing on his face. Even those Eli could only see clearly when he crossed his eyes.

Eli might seem like a muscle brained fool but he paid attention when his captors were talking. According to them, his eyes had changed becoming the beady black of a rodents. The change in his eyes was what had set off all the excitement about him. Apparently, while his eyes were normally black they would change to all colours of the rainbow glowing with an almost otherworldly light. The only difference Eli had noticed was near perfect night vision. The Master Beast Tamers had called him a 'Treasure Seeking Rodent', which was supposedly a rare familiar with peerless senses. So not only was Eli turning into an animal but one that sucked at combat. Only his strong magic would help him in a fight. It certainly wouldn't help him escape. From what he had overheard he was going to come into that last of all.

***

Luke paced around his stall scraping his hooves against the wooden floor. After the passing of autumn, his hands were all but non-existent. His feet too had transformed into hind hooves. The last few weeks had been spent in agony as his nose receded into his skull, his jaw pushed forward as his skull stretched into a different shape. The most disorienting change had come as his eyes migrated to the side of his muzzle. Luke was no longer a predator and now possessed the wider range of vision of a herbivore. He glanced over at the trough of food one of his handlers had filled with 'treats'. Wishing him a happy Solstice. How could he be happy when he was turning into a beast of burden.

The 'treats' served only to underscore his miserable situation. Without hands, he couldn't even pick up the food to gnaw on it and was forced to eat from the trough by lowering his head and snatching at the food with his mouth. His handlers seemed to take a twisted sense of pleasure in rubbing the entire situation and his lack of control in his face. Luke found it harder to maintain a form of resistance than his neighbours, two of whom were newly changed like him. From the lectures, the Journeyman gave to his Novice handlers it was due to the fact that the structure of his brain was changing along with his skull.

"Alright Lucky. Your stalls all clean." One of the novices, Finn declared. Having just finished spreading a fresh layer of straw over the floor. The boy closed the stall door moved to the tack room, turning on the sink and scrubbing his hands vigorously after cleaning out the stall. His partners Din and Danner sprawled on a pair of stools as they watched him. The duo were cousins and third-generation beast tamers. Their parents weren't particularly powerful, neither magically or politically. Collectively the trio was probably the least compelling set of Novices in their year. Still, none of them wanted to be sent to care for the farm animals. They were just animals, not familiars, not magically inclined. Even the Order found the thought of eating a being that was once human to be distasteful. Finn counted himself lucky that he was showing a gift for alchemy. If the worst happened and Finn flunked out as a proper Beast Tamer, he just might be able to swing an apprenticeship with Master Grace.

Even with a backup plan, Finn would rather not take his chances. Finals were just around the corner. With some luck and a prayer to the gods, the three of them should be able to pass.

***

The rider guided his steed to the small way station tucked beneath a lonely stand of pines a week's ride from Antica Retreat. His face was hidden in the cowl of his cloak. His breath frosted in the air as he dismounted taking his mare by the reins and guiding her into the shed that passed for a small stable. Two other horses were already put up inside but the rider spared them not one glance. He rubbed the mare down briskly, grateful that the horse was fire aligned. Her body was toasty warm even in the chilly depths of winter.

He poured a measure of oats into the trough, making sure that his ride had food and water. With a final pat, he left the stable, the door closing behind him with a squeal of long untended hinges. The snow crunched underfoot as the rider forged a path through the freshly fallen snow to the way station. A beam of light pierced through the hole in the thick curtains covering the windows. Away from the heat of his steed, the rider shivered in the cold as he stopped in front of the door. He knocked promptly three times, paused, and rapped twice more. Soon after he heard the sound of locks disengaging and the door creaked open.

"About time you got here." The distinct, cultured voice came from the man standing with his back to the door. "I hope there were no, complications."

"None, just the weather." The rider assured his compatriot. "There's a reason most people stay close to the Retreats at this time of year. The remote trails like this one are especially treacherous in the winter."

"Fair enough." The man allowed, his hands held close to the fire crackling merrily away. "It's the same reason we agreed to meet here. But it can be... annoying. So what has prompted you to ask for a face to face meeting brother?"

The rider laughed heartily. "It would appear that our patience has paid off at last. It's been a bare three months since the Awakening Ceremony and Antica Retreat has already found two of them."

"Finally. You've been there for what, five years now?"

"Closer to six. But I shant make my move any time soon. It's early days yet. If the Seer's predictions prove true the Retreat should find several more in the next two years."

The man tilted his head, still not turning to face the rider. "And then. Once they are identified will you move? Our eldest brother's patience is wearing thin."

"Not until the time is right. I'm more eager to be done with this farce than any of you, but I will not allow recklessness to be my undoing. Besides, it's not as though we suffer a detriment from waiting. Let the Anticans handle their early training. When we are ready we can swoop in and reap the benefits." The rider drawled smoothly a dark smile curling his lips.