Nalai'dormata sat on top of the boulder where she'd positioned herself to startle the four Humans while they were distracted with the druidic ritual.

She was still clapping. Clop, clop, clop.

But hidden behind her back and her flowing and flower-studded, [Druidic] garments; her leg was busy keeping one hoof on controlling the feisty mosswolf pup she had found and decided to pick up on a whim.

It was not something she would usually do, since her people were the ones who had pushed the rabid predators into these magic-starved lands in the first place. It’s just that this one is still so young; and not too badly corrupted.

Despite how it was an old practice, and one she happened to disagree with… Nalai did this rarely since she knew that if she started dedicating her time to cleaning up such messes then she’d be a [Druid] caught up doing very little else with her life.

She was here to clean up a few dregs of the kind that always risked getting pushed into the inner regions of Doc Forrest when they sent another round of new beasts away from their realm; Nalai accepted it, but not to the point where she could just watch while their actions endangered their old allies.

The other Cloven would have said it was a waste of time, and talked about how the Humans were not numerous enough in the area to really notice, or complain.

Discounting the occasional strange individual, the one group of Cloven who you might find that generally disagreed with the practice was the [Druids] and so on occasion you might find one busy doing what they could to reduce the consequences. Even if it remained impossible to catch every mad beast.

As evidenced by what had taken place here a few nights ago, before Nalai caught up to the mosswolves she had been stalking.

"Greetings Humans," she began, in her theatre-trained bass voice. "I would take it you are the same ones who built this camp,"

The four looked scared, but not aggressive–yet.

The girl was backing up though, not a good sign: "I mean no harm, and I had naught to do with these aggressive beasts who found you,"

A half-truth at best, but the creatures were dead and essentially buried now anyway, so where’s the harm. "My name is Nalai’dormata. You are a fellow [Druid] I see,"

That much was certainly evident by the Human's newly fabricated garments.

They were still not responding, and so Nalai looked around the glade carefully, trying to think of what to say to coax their speech.

But then the mosswolf pup finally got loose and rushed straight past Nalai's outstretched leg, dashing straight for the boulder’s edge; faster than even the old [Druid] expected.

The small creature went fearlessly tumbling right off of the boulder, until it felt itself falling and released a frightened yelp.

Harold saw it happening the fastest and ran forward, but he was not even close to catching the pup. It hit the ground with a small thud, but was soon up on all fours again, growling with a lot of attitude.

Harold's wasps went to interpose themselves but he mentally nudged them back.

The tiny mosswolf was a lot less brackish than its parents, but it already had the beginnings of the same sacks of liquid along its back. It had noticed Harold's home-made mosswolf attire and was working up to attack, before admitting the size difference and growling fearfully, only to muster itself for another go. The glade was silent for a good 30 seconds as the behaviour repeated itself.

Eventually Nalai had seen enough, she cast a Spell before anybody knew to act, but luckily it seemed to target the pup.

Green light enveloped it and after the creature was done shaking it sat down with a final half-bark, looking up at Harold.

"Uh, what did you just do?" Asked Oscar, and Harold really wanted to know too.

The young [Druid] stretched out his hand to the small wolf-like, and clearly magic creature.

Nothing happened at first, and Harold gave Nalai a questioning glance. That's when the mosswolf struck and bit Harold hard enough for him to yelp and suck his fingers.

"Hey what'd you do that for, little shit," But Oscar was grinning, and the clearing’s silence was suddenly interrupted by a strange honking laugh: It was the Cloven, and the sound made the rest of the Human group smile too.

"How strange that you was not expecting a bit of pain after how you now flaunt the remains of the parent in front of the child?" The words left Harold feeling a bit queasy.

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"Did you expect a mosswolf pup to forget, because I cast a Spell to make it calm and accept the natural hierarchy here?"

"To be honest I thought you did something like what I've done to these wasps," Harold indicated his warriors.

"Nothing so crude," The Cloven did not seem to appreciate their presence. "A wasp would not understand unless forced, but a mosswolf has a natural sense of loyalty, if you cannot gain it without such Spells you do not deserve your Class."

The words made Harold grimace. Maybe there’s more to these Spells than I realise.

Livia finally decided to speak up, "So, how come you are here to surprise us, on the wrong side of the Human lands, are you not usually meant to stay out?"

Nalai glowered her way. "I sense the Mark on you Human, I do not know why you feign ignorance," The words seemed meant to provoke a reaction, and the Cloven was studying Livia closely; but when the words did not provoke anything but surprise it made Nalai reconsider. "Is it not feigned, truly? Are you not System chosen?"

When the question produced nothing but nervous glances between the four who started to back off again, Nalai decided on a different track of questions.

"About this fire here, why have the Witcher-shrooms been lit, when no [Shaman] has been present to do the rites?" Livia blanched at the words, which prompted Nalai to go on. "I see one of you has somehow gained knowledge of these treasures, even their use. Did she push for a leadership role after drugging you with it?"

The words provoked a rather grim silence, but the three boys did not react how neither Livia nor Nalai expected.

Kalle decided to speak up, with both brothers looking supportive behind him: "Back then we were in fear of our lives still… Leaping at shadows, with me, who was meant to be leading, unable to focus on anything but the pain. Certainly it’s true that after the rainbow mist… We calmed, perhaps unnaturally; but we considered the prior combat objectively for the first time then, and even managed to focus on her words for a couple of hours before the exhaustion caught up."

Nalai seemed to be taking the words seriously, but she was still listening for signs of manipulation.

"And after that she made sure to confirm more than once that we were not having regrets, maybe she spoke when we were most impressionable, but even sober I did not see anything wrong with her words, she was focused on Humanity as a whole throughout, and not her own role."

Somehow the young Caster seemed to feel exactly what sort of information she was looking for, or else something strange was going on.

Nalai looked back to–and locked her strange, square pupils on–their supposed leader, before giving a reluctant nod.

Livia breathed a heavy sigh of relief and nodded to Nalai… They were the ones who fully understood how she could have taken that opportunity to direct all the loyalty that the drug, and not to mention the relief of survival, was inducing in the boys; towards nothing but herself and her plans, but she'd spoken instead of Humankind as a whole.

That was what a [Shaman] was meant to do with such tools.

Harold could tell the mood was relaxing and so he finally decided to shoot his shot. "Nalai, uhm, will you teach me something of the true druidic ways of the Cloven?"

They had not even exchanged names yet. "Naturally not, what possesses you… We are not allies in this age, I do not know what kinds of stories you must have grown up on to consider asking such a question," The words were delivered like a death knell, and Harold looked very dismayed, but then he remembered the pup.

"Could I at least take care of this mosswolf then, and learn more of its nature?"

In stark contrast to the last question, Nalai actually smiled now as she considered her response. "That was my intent with picking it up from where it was left by the parents, it is not a creature that belongs in the forests of the Cloven."

The kinder words made Harold approach the small creature with delight. He reached out to touch it, and Nalai narrowed her eyes at the Spell she could see charging.

He activated [Touch of Chaos] and the very nature of the creature was changed. Its many sacks on the back were smoothed out and removed, all but three, that ran in a line along the spine and provided cushioning.

When he was done not much else had visibly changed, other than how it only looked slightly sturdier. But Nalai had the magic to sense what had truly occured.

Thankfully Harold had listened to the words of the senior [Druid] and not touched the sense of loyalty the wolf had; it was still fit to make choices of its own. Rather Harold had focused nearly all of the Spell's energy on increasing its intelligence, despite knowing what a challenge that might prove to their relationship.

Nalai could not help but nod in approval, like it was her apprentice’s success. Right up until Harold spoke once more.

"I'm gonna call you Mossy!"