Rogue Firefury

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A FLEDGELING

The dining room was already filling with its first batch of Blade students and a handful of the trainers. Tiene looked for Lexie, the girl who befriended her the first day she arrived, but there was no sign of her yet. Fortunately for Tiene, some of the others who joined in that day were there and shouted her over. She readily went to sit beside them. "Good morning, everyone," she smiled. "I'm sorry, but I didn't catch all your names last time."

"No worries," said one of the boys, "you have more names to remember; we only have yours, and it isn't exactly a hard one to recall. I'm Keeaen Redfeather, from Tranquillien."

"Hello, Keeaen," Tiene smiled. It was good to have someone in the group who also came from Quel'thalas. He went on to introduce five others in the group. A human, Zachery Alston, from Stranglethorn, a couple of night elves, Thil'las Dawnflower, he came from Auberdine in Kalimdor along with Shenyssea Windswift from Darnassus. There was a dwarf, Emmek Steelfall, from Loch Modan and his cousin Tishleen Stonegem, she came from Thelsamar. That left Lexie, of course, the other human in the group - wherever she was - but Tiene already knew she came from Lakeshire in the Redridge Mountains.

Being unfamiliar with some place names, Tiene was astonished when they told her how far some students had travelled. It seemed this was a favoured guild indeed. They looked up as a rather tired looking Lexie appeared. She was adjusting a scarf around her neck and yawning as she approached the table. Tiene smiled at her and budged along on the bench to allow her to sit beside her.

A moment later, she noticed Sauren taking his seat at the centre table. His eyes were scanning the room, searching. Once he found Tiene, he smiled warmly. She smiled back.

Lexie noticed the exchange and looked glumly down at her plate. Tiene leaned down to see her face. "Are you alright, Lexie?" she asked.

"Yes. Just tired."

"Didn't you sleep well?"

Shenyssea and Tishleen tittered, and Tiene looked at them questioningly. They suddenly adopted straight faces. She turned back to Lexie. "Are you okay for training then?"

"I'm fine!"

Tiene backed off. Lexie had made it clear she wanted to be left alone.

As the trays of food arrived at the tables, the students delved in and engaged Tiene in conversation. Five of them were also new starts, although they had come about a week before Tiene. Lexie, had been here about three months, Keeaen told her quietly, but she preferred to hang out with the newbies. "Truth is she's struggling with areas of the training", he whispered. "But, Lexie has been a great help to us, showing us where things are and giving general advice on how to survive as a new member."

It seemed Lexie had done helping Tiene for the time being, however, because she wasn't for looking, let alone speaking to her today.

The students were told they would receive their schedules once breakfast was over. Lexie had previously warned the others the first few days were making sure they were fit by having them perform various exercises, chores and obstacle courses. They had heard that some of the obstacles were daunting, so some of the group were nervous. Tiene, however, couldn't wait to get started.