The New Light of Hope: Books I to VI.

Chapter III: Receiving Apprentices.

Jemma:

Date: June 3rd, 2020.

We arrived at the Sun Chasers Division early for the ceremony where we saw Chief FalconTalon, CosmoPelt, and General BriarPatch waiting for us. Chief FalconTalon stood right up and asked us: "Are you two ready?"

Sadie: "We're ready when you are, sir."

Chief FalconTalon: "Then let's get this ceremony over and done with, shall we?"

Chief FalconTalon jumped onto Leader's rock followed by CosmoPelt as he sat down in his usual spot. "Animals young and old, gather for a meeting!" He announced. Everyone came gathered around the rock to hear what their leader had to say. "Today, two apprentices will be receiving another trainer that will help improve their training, their skills, and bring changes to their lives for the better." He explained to everyone in a clear enough tone of voice. Then he began to scan through the crowd until he stopped when he found the two animals he needed to speak to. "Fire. Ghost. Please step forward." He spoke. Just then two animals came up to the front of the crowd by his command; the first animal was a flame colored tod fox with a black tail, paws, and ears, and blue eyes; the second animal was a light gray he-wolf with a fully dark gray ear, a dark gray tipped ear, a dark gray chest, dark gray paws with slightly lighter gray coloring in the middle, dark gray and black flecks on his back, a gray tip at the end of his tail, and one blue eye on the right and a blind eye on his left with black spots underneath it. Suppose that's Ghost. I assumed; Chief FalconTalon continued on with the ceremony: "Now, boys, both of you have your own struggles as well as personal ones too. Therefore, I am going to give you two another trainer to help you two out with you troubles." He then looked at Fire and said: "Fire, your second trainer will be Sadie; Sadie, I know you will do your best to train Fire out to the best of your abilities and we will see if any progress has been made within two weeks."

"Will do, sir." Sadie added in as Fire walked towards her. Then Chief FalconTalon turned his attention towards Ghost and said: "As for you, Ghost, your trainer will Jemma, Sadie's sister; Jemma, I know you will also do your best train Ghost to the best of your abilities as well and we will also see if he has made any progress in two weeks."

"Sounds like I plan to me." I answered as Ghost walked up to me. Chief FalconTalon then looked at the rest of the Division. "In two weeks, we will see how well their training has improved. I trust Sadie and Jemma with training their newly received apprentices along with their main trainers, CloverPool and MapleTail. This is meeting has now concluded; you are all dismissed."

Sadie:

Everyone then left, leaving us with Fire and Ghost. I looked over at Fire but he refused to look at me, I croached down and said: "Look at me, bud." He slowly lifted his head to look at me where he snarled: "What?"

Sadie: "Now you listen to me, Fire--I will not tolerate this sort of disrespect from you, do you understand?"

Fire: "Affirmitive, Sadie."

Sadie: "Now, Chief FalconTalon paired me up with you to help you with what you're going through and my job right now is to help you and improve your training, but in order to do that, you're going to have to cooperate with me. Okay?"

Fire: "Okay."

Sadie: "Good. Now, let's begin. Follow me."

He did exactly that as we walked outside of the camp so that way we could start. We sat down after we found a spot that wasn't too far from where the Sun Chasers camp was. Then I turned to looked at Fire and asked: "Do you know why Chief FalconTalon chose me to be your second trainer?"

Fire: "Not really but I'm sure you're going to tell me, aren't you?"

Sadie: "Well, from what I was told, you've been struggling a lot ever since your family tragedy, but you never bother to talk to anyone about it or about how you feel."

Fire: "That's because if I did, they wouldn't give a single damn about it!"

Sadie: "Now, Fire, you know that's not in any way true. Your father and sister care and so does your trainer, the adults around you, and your friends."

Fire: "I have no friends and it's not like I can help that."

Sadie: "Well, what makes you say that?"

Fire: "No one bothers to talk to me and socialize with me and so I don't bother with them either."

Sadie: "Have you ever tried to start a conversation with one of your peers before?"

Fire: "Not once."

Then he trailed off for a brief moment, sat down and looked at the ground and didn't say another word for the next couple of minutes, afterward, he looked back up at me and confessed: "I'm broken."

Sadie: "How so?"

Fire: "It feels like my soul is broken just like my heart and my body as a whole. The moment I lost my mother was the moment I lost all of my joy, all my care, all my hopes and dreams, everything. I lost my mother and my happiness."

Sadie: "It's been really hard for you, hasn't it?"

Fire: "It has. And it's like my father and sister just simply forgot about her when they moved on from her death. But I haven't and I refuse to even talk to anyone about it or even listen to their advice because nobody would understand a single thing I tell he or she, nor would anyone show any remorse for me!"

Sadie: "Until now, that is. All you needed was someone to talk to about your troubles, wasn't it?"

Fire: "Yeah, I suppose so."

Sadie: "You know, Fire, it wouldn't hurt to talk to your father, your sister, or to your first trainer about how you feel. Keeping your feelings bottled up is an unhealthy mindset to have and talking to somebody about your fee,lings can really have you out if you just give it a shot. Your feelings are all understandably discombobulated which was built up by your grief and anger for the loss of your mother and you felt like you had no one to turn to because you felt like no one would listen to you when you spoke to them. The least that you can do is talk to the ones you trust the most if you ever feel troubled, and know that the memories of your mother will always be a way to remember her even though she is no longer with you anymore."

Fire: "You're right, Sadie. I mean, I guess I'll give it a shot."

Sadie: "Well, we're going to work on your social skills for the next two weeks and on your anger as well."

Fire: "All right, that sounds like a plan to me."

And that was the first stage of training the troubled lad on sending him down the right path, and there would be a lot more to learn as well.