355 One girl and a pack of wolfcats

"Alani! I need help!"

Remian's plea came in while Alani was on her way to meet Fel for a Psionics training session. "Whatever's the matter?"

"We need to find a princess a doggie!"

"So go to a pet shop."

"She doesn't want a normal doggie! She's sticking to my wolfcat Silhouette!"

"Then turn it off."

"She'll throw a tantrum and her grandfather would be mad at me!"

"So what?"

"Her grandfather is Zor'khan-dras!"

There was a short silence.

"I'm coming." Alani sighed, and called Fel to let her know what was up.

At least the communication crystals still worked with someone's personal mana. There was almost no ambient mana left to speak of; the burden of powering magic devices with one's personal mana was now greater than it had ever been. Even the little communications crystals could now completely exhaust the average mage after just a few uses, depending on how far the call had to reach and how long the call lasted. Most of the larger magic devices would need entire formations of magi or simply went unused.

Panic had completely overrun the northern midlands. Every day, more and more refugees fled south to the Wildlands. Some thousands of them wouldn't or couldn't flee that far and took up residence on the islands of the Midland Sea. Reef wasn't entirely comfortable with that, but he left them be, for now. If they did something to annoy him, though, serious consequences could happen.

Alani often had to communicate Reef's warnings and reservations to the Order of Light. As instructed by Darian, they were polite to her and usually took her warnings under advisement, but there was this one group of refugees who simply wouldn't listen to the Order of Light and wantonly killed some of Reef's subordinates, thinking to sell their corpses for good money.

That was when their island, their houses, and their entire settlement completely vanished overnight. Now, you couldn't even point out where their island used to be. Their fate had become a cautionary tale, and from that time on, refugees wanting to settle in the Midlands Seas needed Alani's direct approval.

On top of that, Alani still had to look after Group 2. She chased Gary every time he went off-schedule, hurried Juni every time he was going to be late, woke Siti up before she overslept, bribed Isabella to clean up after Jamie whenever she left things lying around in a mess and then imposed the bribe's cost as a fine to Jamie for messing up…

This kept her busy. Very busy indeed. Alani barely had time to study anything any more. There were many times she didn't know what to do or how to handle a situation. Because of that, Fel's Psionics and combat lessons were what she relied on.

No, she wasn't beating people up. She was asking Fel for advice. It was a shame she couldn't do so today.

***

Nai'khan-dras, meanwhile, was in Doggie-Lover Heaven. The moment she stepped through the archway in a deep part of Kara-Goth, she found herself in a large cavern filled with wolfcats of all sizes. There were dozens, maybe even a hundred of them!

"DOGGIES!!!" she squealed and jumped into the thickest part of Shadowflash's pack. "BIG DOGGIES!!"

She started grabbing furry forms left and right and cuddling them on the spot. There was a chorus of yelps, barks and one outright howl from a sleepy wolfcat who was no longer able to sleep peacefully. [Remian! You have brought calamity upon us!]

[Sorry! I didn't know what else to do!] Remian finally let his Silhouette fade without worry.

[You sold us out!!]

[I didn't mean to! I just thought she might bond one of the cubs as a Comrade…]

There was a short pause. Then, Shadowflash himself made a suggestion. [Which of the cubs is the naughtiest one?]

Carrie yelped. [NO!! Can you imagine the amount of trouble pairing them up would cause?! Bring her the quietest one!]

[How can we do that? Wouldn't that be sheer torture?]

Grandpa Zor'khan came to the rescue. "Little Nai, you should pick one of the little ones. The big ones are old already and won't live very long. The small ones will grow just as big and they will live longer."

Nai'khan-dras pouted. "I want them all!"

[Don't even think about it.] Shadowflash snorted.

Zor'khan turned to negotiations. "Two cubs, then. That should be enough."

"TEN!"

"Three? I don't even know if you can handle that many."

"Nine!"

Zor'khan frowned, losing patience. "Enough. Three is enough."

Seeing her grandfather frown, Nai'khan hesitated, then said in a small voice. "Four?"

Remian cleared his throat. "That's not how this works, Nai'khan-dras. When you bond a Comrade, you can't just take whoever you want whenever you want. You need to ask them if they want to go with you. Whoever wants to can do so, but you can't force them. You must never force them. That's why they're Comrades, not pets."

"Why can't they just be pets?" Nai'khan pouted.

"Wolfcats will never be pets." Remian said. "If you want a pet, go get a dog."

***

Back at the Dragon Empire, in the Imperial Kennel, the dog that Nai'khan had been walking the day she met Remian sleepily murmured a protest in his sleep.

[Are you forgetting about me?!]

***

"But it's different!" Nai'khan pouted. "Dogs aren't so smart! Doggies are smarter!"

(Nai'khan's Actual Dog: [HEY! I protest!!])

While the language wasn't entirely clear, everyone understood that 'doggies' meant wolfcats, not regular dogs.

(Nai'khan's Actual Dog: [That's not fair! I have a double-master's degree in Bone-Burying and Rabbit Chasing! It's fully accredited by the Imperial Kennels!])

(Shadowflash: [Yeah, but by Galactic Standards, I'm a Class 7 Psionic.])

(Vigil: [Even I am a Class 3 Psionic!])

Zor'khan, of course, was much clearer on the differences between regular dogs and wolfcats. Their abilities were simply incomparable. Just the physical capabilities of wolfcats alone left all dogs in the dust. The ability to climb trees, to use their tails and claws as weapons, their innate toughness and stamina… all of it were whole tiers beyond the normal dogs of Sorrel II.

All of them had inherent Psionic talents passed down in their bloodlines. Some of them even had a bit of magical ability.

Long story short, if Nai'khan ever found herself in danger, having a wolfcat protect her would be far safer than having a dog. Having three or four such wolfcats protect her would be an immense boost to her security, at least in her younger years.

"Everything depends on whether you can make them like you." Zor'khan finally concluded. "That's the bottom line."

Nai'khan's face fell. When Grandpa said 'bottom-line' that meant there would be no more arguing the matter. This also meant that everything was now up to her own efforts. He would not help her.

"Doggie?" Nai'khan turned to Remian hopefully.

Remian shook his head apologetically. "You'll have to handle this one yourself, Princess. I can only suggest you try to become friends with them sincerely."