Ferendolia

The Seventh Ringlet

   Kandice wasn't nearly as sentimental.

   Mentor of the Seventh Ringlet, the ivory-skinned, fair-haired elf was already pacing back and forth.

   Ivy and Wren's classmates, the rest of the Seventh Ringlet, stood at rigid attention, chins up and shoulders back. The two hastily moved to take their places in line. Kandice had been especially strict these past few weeks, and with good reason. The Sevenths that stood before her were the only graduating class in Ferandheim, and their outcome in the Assessment would be tied to her own success as a mentor.

   Wren glanced around the clearing. The training grounds, which they were most commonly referred to as, was the place in Ferandheim where the sky was most visible through the thick vegetation that leaned in from the surrounding cliffs. The area was designed for the practice of combat and magic, set aside from the rest of the village in case of incident. The grounds were mostly reserved for use by the training Ringlets and their mentors, though other elves could also be allowed access to the basin on certain days.

   Wren peered down the line to see which of their classmates had already arrived. He recognized Embry, a short girl with a proud face and strawberry blonde hair, and Kendall and Kendra, two coffee-skinned, dark-haired twins.

   Near the end of the line was Lynn, a close friend of his and Ivy. She was the only one with her hands not at her sides. Instead, they had busied themselves with weaving her hair into a sort of braid-bun behind her head. Spotting Wren, she leaned forward and mouthed, "Took you long enough,"

   "Junho," Wren mouthed back.

   Lynn made to reply, but a sharp look from Kandice silenced their already-silent conversation. Lynn rolled her eyes and pursed her lips, as if whistling. 

   Next to Wren, another pair named Ford and Calder were engaged in their own silent discussion, theirs much less conspicuous and therefore succeeding in avoiding detection.

   Five more minutes passed, and the last Sevenths arrived: Felice, fiddling with her Ringlet uniform, and Aaren, a delicately-built elf trailing just behind their companion. They had been chatting, but immediately fell silent as Kandice swept her eyes over them.

   "Thank you, Felice and Aaren, for the late start," Kandice spoke at last, crossing her arms in front of her, eyebrows arching. "Because of you two, we will be going on an extra twenty minutes. Now..."

   Kandice began to instruct them on the day's lesson while the Ringlet shifted into their usual clusters, or "cohorts" as their mentor formally called them. Naturally, Ivy, Lynn, and Wren gravitated towards one another. 

   The other six Ringlets had just begun to file down from the markets, giving the Seventh a wide berth while simultaneously glancing over their shoulders to observe their routine, as if hoping to absorb some of their mastery by studying them from afar.

   They were just about to begin when the sound of wing beats prevaded the air. Wren looked up to see a figure staring down at him from the branches above. An amica, a chimera, with the body of a white cat and the head and wings of a barn owl. His heart-shaped face tilted slightly as he peered down at the Sevenths, cat ears swivelling. Almost as soon as the chimera had been spotted, eyes turned towards the entrance. From among the trees, another silhouette was picking their way down to the basin. They emerged from the shadow of the trees and their features were illuminated. 

   Immediately, the Seventh stood rigid.

   This was Meredith Belhavia, elf to the amica and the Seventh Ringlet's final member.