The next morning Astrid wakes up to the sounds of hooves, cart wheels, and curses being shouted at someone.

“Viele?” Astrid says as she lets out a yawn. “What time is it?”

“The… sun… is up… morning all I am sure of… Did massssster sleep well?”

Astrid nods as she stretches. “Yes Viele, I slept wonderfully, thank you.” Astrid starts to stand up, causing Viele to revert to his tree ent form, picking the bag of meat and the pelts up they both go towards the gate. A line of carts are stopped in front of the gate, the steady stream of curses getting louder and louder the closer they get. When they get towards the front of the carts they see several well-dressed men yelling at the guards.

“What is happening…” A hunter says asking one of the drivers of the carts in line.

The driver runs a hand threw his hair. “It’s hard to tell but from what I can gather the noble in front of us is from a big merchant guild, but they apparently didn’t fill out the paperwork properly to participate in the festival here in two days, so they are yelling at the guard demanding to see someone above the guard’s paygrade.”

“Do you know if they are allowing foot traffic in?” Astrid asks as she walks by them.

“From the looks of it they are.” The driver says as he looks towards the voice, seeing the cute girl looking up at him he smiles. “Especially for cute girls like you.” He then looks behind her to see an angry looking ent covered in furs. The driver lets out a loud chuckle. “I don’t think your friend likes calling you cute.”

Astrid smiles. “Yes he’s very protective of his master.”

Astrid and Viele pass the hunter and the driver, they both stare at the strange duo. “That is the strangest ent I have ever seen.” The hunter says.

 “Well they say mage familiars are strange creatures.” The driver says letting out another chuckle.

Astrid approaches the guards with Viele following close behind, his eyes looking around for anything that could be a threat for his master. The various merchants in their wagons all staring at them as they walk by. As they reach the front gate the guard stops her.

“Hello young lady.” The guard says as he lifts his visor. “For what purpose are you entering the city this fine morning?” He then eyes the ent behind her warily.

“I went out hunting for my side job, I am currently a new student in the Flemmington academy.” Astrid says proudly. Her ears twitching as the man on the other side of the gate is still yelling at the guards, she notices he is now pointing at her and yelling something about letting everyone but him inside with goods.

“Do you have your paperwork?” The guard asks.

Astrid rummages through her pockets and hands over the student paperwork and the hunting license.

After a minute or two the guard hands the paperwork back, she turns around as she hears the yells getting louder and louder with every passing second. She turns around as she hears the pounding of feet on the ground. The man who was yelling at the guard is coming towards her, the guard following behind him yelling at him to stop.

“You are letting this child in to sell stuff but you can’t let me in due to one spelling error on my paperwork?” The man yells his face red in anger and his chubby hands raised in the air. His belly shaking with every step. “Girl! Girl! Over there the one with the strange creature, what is your name?”

“Astrid Thorn.” She says as she does a slight bow.

“Thorn…” The man says as he looks her up and down. “I see due to your familiar that you are a mage, I have an important question.”

Astrid nods. “Sure what is it?”

“Are you a noble, or someone of great importance?” The man says leaning forward getting closer to Astrid.

“No, I am just a commoner sir.” Astrid says as she takes a step back.

The man puts a wicked smile on his face. “Well Astrid, my name is Joseph Stockings and I am an important aristocrat that sells at the upcoming venue every year, yet I am barred from entering. May I ask how you are getting in to sell those furs yet I am here outside with the guards not even listening to my pleas?”

“I… I guess because I have all my paperwork and it is correct?” Astrid says. At this Joseph’s face turns even redder.

“How…. How dare a mere commoner talk like that to someone as great as I!” Joseph screams, the guards getting between him and Astrid.

“Sir you can’t do that even if she is a commoner.” The exhausted guards say.

“I… I will make sure you…” Joseph stammers.

“My kind Joseph, what are you doing out here causing a ruckus?” Another well dressed man appears from the gate.

“Baron Cliff!” Both guards yell at once. Bowing slightly as Cliff walks up.

“What are you doing out here Joseph!” Cliff says as he pats Joseph’s back.

“This rabble has held me up due to a spelling mistake on my paperwork!” Joseph says his face lightens up when he sees the baron.

“Oh... sorry Joseph, they are just doing their job, you know the rules.” Cliff eyes the guards. “You may let him and his caravan in, he’s someone I know.”

“Yes baron!” both guards yell as they bow again.

As Cliff and Joseph both walk away talking and laughing, Astrid can just shake her head as she walks into town, Viele in tow.

The first place they both go is to Blackclaw’s shop, upon opening the heavy wood door Blackclaw looks up from his desk, his eyes going wide as he sees his new little hunter.

“Why hello, didn’t think I would see you again alre…” Blackclaw’s mouth drops open as he sees the tree ent. “So… that is your familiar?”

“Yep! So, mister Blackclaw where can I put these skins at?” Astrid says with a smile.

“Follow me to the back, we have an inspection area.” Blackclaw beckons Astrid and Viele to the back of the shop.

When Astrid goes into the back of the shop she sees piles and piles of cloth, tools, and leather scattered everywhere, a pungent odor filling the air. Blackclaw points at an empty bench telling Viele to place the skins there. Viele spreads them out on the bench, awaiting Blackclaw’s review.

Blackclaw lifts the quillboar skin. “Hmmm, this is a good quillboar skin, minimal damage, no obvious knife scarring from the skinning of the animal, since it’s a quilled animal skin of good quality I can pay… eighty copper, not as good as a scaled skin but the quills do provide extra defensive buffs to the gear it’s used on. And… this one right here.” His eyes widen as he sees the jet black fur. “Is this a… devourer pelt?”

“Yes it is!” Astrid says with a smile.

Blackclaw just shakes his head. “It’s good quality, devourer fur is actually harder to get due to they are so fast and dangerous creatures, so how about this since I like you, I will give you a silver coin for the devourer fur.”

Astrid’s eyes go wide. “A whole silver for it?”

Blackclaw nods. “I can make amazing armor for people of a … stealthier persuasion with it, and it’s usually in high demand that is why I can pay more for it. Grand total is one silver and eighty copper. Go to the front of the shop and one of my assistants will bring you your money.”

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“Oh, also before I forget, I have this bag full of meat that I can’t cook, is there any shops nearby who would buy quillboar and devourer meat?” Astrid says pointing at the bag.

“Well, if you want I can pay you twenty copper for the meat, make it an even two silver, cheaper than going out and buying food for all my workers.” Blackclaw motions a nearby worker to come and bring the bag of meat to the cooking area. “If that is it then go ahead and head to the front of the shop, one of my workers will bring the two silver to you.”

Astrid nods and starts turning around, as she does she feels a large furry paw on her shoulder.

“Oh, before you go, I want to say something, take good care of my nephew, he is still wet behind the ears but give him some time, he will grow up to be a good man.” Blackclaw says patting Astrid’s shoulder as she turns beat red again.

“O…kkay.” Astrid says nervously, running to the front of the store as he lets her shoulder go. When she gets to the front of the store she waits for around five minutes before a short beastwoman with jet black fur comes out and hands Astrid two silver coins. After saying thank you Astrid leaves the store, heading down towards the school, Viele following behind closely. Upon reaching the gate to the school she sees a familiar face, after thinking about it momentarily she realizes it is the mage teacher that was testing mana during the entrance exams yesterday, beside her is her minion. As Astrid moves closer she can hear the two arguing loudly.

“Welll how was I supposed to know he was married and that she would come home right then and there!” Amy says in anger at her wraith.

“Maybe due to he was rich and had woman’s dresses in his closet? Maybe that was a hint! And now due to all the drama due to you getting caught I got punished with you! Maybe next time you are hungry do it to some poor sap that won’t go and have his wife yell at the dwarf so you won’t get me punished too!” The wraith yells back throwing his hands into the air.

“Ummm… Ms Amy?” Astrid says timidly. Causing Amy’s head to swivel almost unnaturally to look over at her, Amy’s voice and demeaner quickly changing to a friendlier tone upon seeing Astrid.

Amy has a greatly exaggerated smile on her face. “Why if it isn’t the cute little elf girl from yesterday, how can I help you this hot morning?”

“Umm… I need to get into the school but the golem who takes the paper and allows us in, I don’t see it.” Astrid says as she looks around some more.

“Oh, that dusty old thing? Don’t worry about that for now, due to… unforeseen circumstances I am currently in charge of gate duty till classes officially start here in a few days. And I already know that you are a student here so you can go on in.” Amy says as her lips seem to twitch trying to keep up the smile.

Astrid does a meek bow and rushes through the gate, Viele shambling along behind her.

“Oh, before I forget, since you are a new student I am not sure if anyone told you but the starting tomorrow afternoon, till the morning classes officially start, we have a small festival where students can buy a lot of cheap stuff they need for classes, and there will be food, and they even sell bounded pets, which are sort of like, extra familiars. They are really good for mage types who are more towards summoning, like nature magic.” Amy says as she looks at the ent.

Astrid nods and waves. “Thank you for telling me! I will make sure I am there!” Astrid then turns around and continues towards the dorms.

As soon as Amy sees that Astrid is out of sight she reaches back and grabs her wraith familiar, bringing him in front of her, looking Sheckith in his face. “I remember a certain report last night, it stated the elf had a strange mimic snake, not a tree ent as a familiar.”

Sheckith just shrugs. “Ehhhh… mimic snake, tree ent, oak tree, azura tree, same thing.”

Amy holds her head with her free hand and sighs. “Damnable wraith, you are lucky I still feed you, seeing how useful you are.”

As Astrid gets close to the dorms she starts to see a lot of familiar faces from yesterday, all walking around, talking about various things. She then sees Shortclaw in the distance, the orange and black fur standing out from the throng of individuals.  Astrid starts to jump and wave her hands in the air. “SHORTTTCLAWWWWW!!!!” She hollers, when Shortclaw notices her she runs up to him. “Hey! Good morning Shortclaw!” She says excitedly.

Shortclaw smiles at the enthusiastic elf. “Hey Astrid! Good morning, did you sleep good?”

Astrid nods in reply. “Yep, slept good, especially after the good food from the inn.”

Hearing those words Shortclaw runs his claws threw the fur on his head, scratching nervously. “I… I’m glad you enjoyed it. Oh, also Astrid, ummm…. You can say no if you want to, but I was wondering… see there is this thing tomorrow for the students and locals… and err… I was wondering if you would like to go to the thing with me… maybe?”

“The festival? Sure!” Astrid says happily.

“I’m sorry I knew I s… wait what? I mean yes!” Shortclaw says smiling. “So…I… I guess meet here tomorrow morning?”

Astrid nods. “So what are you planning to do today?” She asks, the smile still on her face.

“Oh…. Here in a little bit I need to go help my uncle, he has a stall at the festival this year!” Shortclaw says proudly.

“Oooooo! Then shouldn’t you be going to the shop as soon as you can?” Astrid says accusingly.

“Yeah… I should… ummm… well… err… bye…” Shortclaw waves and walks away, looking back randomly as he does watching Astrid wave back.

“Viele.” Astrid looks over at Viele as she lets out a sigh. “Do you think we have enough coins to buy much at the festival tomorrow? Daddy always said that it’s good to give gifts to friends, but not sure if I have enough.”

“What…coinsssss….?” Viele asks confused.

“Oh yeah… I doubt you used money…. I can see how that question was a little stupid.” Astrid says getting highly embarrassed.

“Do… not… worry… masssstterrrrrr….” Viele says trying to crack a smile. Viele’s smile then turns to a frown as he jumps towards Astrid’s side. A loud cracking noise is heard, causing everyone to turn, seeing the tree ent being thrown as the tail of a red lizard hits it. Viele flies past Astrid as her eyes grow wide, turning around and running towards Viele.

“Viele are you okay!” Astrid says worriedly, tears starting to flow from her eyes.

“Viele… told… master… alwaysssss… protect….” Viele says as he shifts into his original form.

“Looks like your familiar got into my familiar’s way when we were walking by, riff raff primitives should watch where they are walking.” A shrill, but familiar voice seems to cackle.

Astrid turns around to see the familiar face of Elizabeth. “You…!” The only words Astrid can get out of her mouth in anger.

“I’m surprised you primitives could afford to get into this school, well I guess eight silver is not much at all, but I bet your family had to scrounge for years just to get it.” Astrid says, an evil smile on her face. “Even your familiar is subpar not like my ember lizard, Leviathan, couldn’t even stand near him without your familiar running right into his tail!”

“Lies!” Astrid yells. “You got your familiar to attack me and my familiar protected me!”

People start to murmur as Astrid yells this.

“What proof do you have? Do you have anyone who vouches for you?” Elizabeth says, still smiling.

“I seen the elf’s familiar run right into the ember lizard’s tail without provocation, so the elf attacked our dear Elizabeth.” Someone near Elizabeth says. “Yeah! That is what I seen!” Various other people come forward and say.

Astrid’s mouth drops. “Why…. Why are you lying for her?”

“Why don’t you just go back to your forest where you and the rest of your kind belong… Primitive…” Elizabeth says with a sneer.

“You… YOU!!!!” Astrid stammers, her anger taking over.

“Then duel me right now, if you win I won’t bother you anymore, if I win you must leave the school, immediately! Magic and familiars duel only, of course.” Elizabeth says as she eyes the bow.

“You are on!” Astrid says, tossing the bow and quiver to the side, Viele slithering up to her.

“Then it’s… on…” Elizabeth says as the students all back away, forming a circle. After the circle gets big enough a smile appears on Elizabeth’s face as a small fireball appears in her hands. “This is going to be fun crushing you. Leviathan, destroy her familiar!”

Two snakes slither from Viele’s body, running their way up Astrid’s and wrapping around her arms.

“Give… them… mana… will… cast…. Root wall… and Root spike… for… you…” Viele says as he transforms into his ivy form and charges forward to the amazement of the entire crowd, even Elizabeth loses concentration causing the fireball to disappear.

Two blades then appear on Viele’s arms as he charges at Leviathan. He dodges to the side as fire erupts from the lizard’s mouth. Continuing his charge, he runs to the side of the lizard, sticking one of his arms out he runs it across the lizard’s side, causing the lizard to jump to the away while letting out a roar. The blade not penetrating past the scales but was still able to damage a few of them. “Damn it! I will need to cut the underbelly to do any damage to this beast.” Viele thinks as he dodges another flame attack from the lizard.

“Nothing can hurt Leviathan, his scales are too strong!” Elizabeth cackles again, forming another fireball in her hand. “And due to my parents, I actually know a few beginning spells!” She then throws the fireball at Astrid, it slowly moving towards it’s target.

Seeing the fireball fly towards her Astrid starts to panic, remembering the snakes on her arms she tries to concentrate, she needs a wall and fast. She imagines a large wall of vines in front of her, defending her, she then feels her arms starting to get weaker and suddenly a wall appears in front of her, the fireball slamming into it causing the vines to ignite and quickly burn away, but the fireball was blocked.  Astrid then focuses again, this time imagining a large spike of roots and plant matter, remembering what they looked like when Viele used them, she moves her hands forward pointing at Elizabeth. The snakes then drain a large amount of mana, causing a large spinning spike to fly at Elizabeth at high speeds.

Elizabeth starts to panic as she sees the spike, far faster than anything she could ever expect, not knowing any defensive spells she raises her hand trying to create a flame throwing spell before the spike hit her but it is flying too fast. She closes her eyes as the spike gets inches from her chest.

“Milady?” Elizabeth hears, opening her eyes at the familiar voice of her guard Siegfried. She sees his face then looks down, his hand is wrapped around the spike, he caught it before she was impaled on it.

“Sorry about the delay madam, your father is in the city and I had to report to him, but I have returned now.” He says before looking over at Astrid and the two familiars who are now no longer fighting but going towards their masters.

“Damn.” Astrid mutters as her eyes seem to close, her whole body seems to be drained of mana, unable to stand or even stay awake she passes out on the ground, getting picked up and carried off by Viele as she does. The last thing she hears before she is fully out of it is. “Damnable elves.”