With a container filled with braised rabbit meat in hand, Alec arrived in front of the Star Dorm gates. He gave a small nod at the guards and entered, heading for the large double doors of the blue building in front of him. When he was halfway there, the commu-crima in his pocket vibrated and he sighed.

Gael had slipped it into his hand earlier, saying that it was from Kreis. Alec did not have one, and never really thought of getting a commu-crima but he was told it was necessary for their situation. Having his own commu-crima made it easier for Gael to contact him about academy work and for him to receive updates on the thief case from Kreis.

Taking the green rectangular crystal-like device from his pocket, he saw the image of Gael flashing over a blue circle. With another sigh, he swiped a thumb over its surface and placed it in his ear.

"What? It hasn't been fifteen minutes since I left the house," he grumbled.

"I just wanted to check, okay? It's your first outing without me."

"The truth."

There was a moment of silence on the other end before the older man answered. "The braised rabbit..."

Alec wanted to laugh in frustration. Gael snuck a piece of his cooking earlier that afternoon and had been trying to take more. He did not mean to, but he slapped Gael's hand with the spatula and the older man had been grumbling in the living room until he left for Star Dorm.

"I left two containers in the preservation box," he said. "One container is for Mr. Rowe and his family, the other is yours."

There was a flurry of steps from Gael's side before he heard the sound of the door opening. He heard Gael's delighted laugh. "Thanks, Alec. I'll make sure to tell Rowe when he comes to clean today," he said. There was another pause before Gael spoke. "It's delicious, and I'm sure the kids would love it. Especially the twins."

Alec only gave a small hum before mumbling see you later. The moment he ended the call, he reached the dorm doors. He stood there for a few seconds, contemplating if it was a good idea to join Knox and the others for dinner. He still did not know what he was thinking when accepted the invitation earlier that day.

Part of his duties under Gael was to help supervise Star Dorm and serve as the assistant advisor for the freshmen Sentires. He could have just done his job to check on the students. But to join them for dinner?

A few more seconds later, he shrugged. Part of making these tasks easier was to have a good relationship with the students. Gael also mentioned that he had occasionally joined the first-years for dinner since the start of the school year. There was nothing wrong with doing his job.

But why did he feel uncomfortable?

A commotion from beyond the door pulled him out of his thoughts. It was later followed by the sound of claws scratching on wood, and he soon felt four connections reaching out to him through his sentiral power.

Without hesitation, he pushed the door open. Four little draelings flew up and clung to his body. The white draeling, Dia, was clinging to his right leg, while the red one named Uby clung to his right. Emera, the beautiful green baby drae, forced him to curl his hand around her body. Lastly, a familiar brown draeling happily settled himself on his shoulder.

As they nuzzled him in greeting, the uncomfortable feeling slowly disappeared and he resisted the urge to laugh at their excitement. Did they sense his feelings and went to comfort him? He smiled at how adorable they were. Their Draeyers were lucky.

It made him wish...

He shook his head. After Crimson, maybe being a Draeyer was not meant for him. Being able to form emphatic bonds with draes was enough. No need to be greedy. He stepped inside the lobby of the dorm and noted the four smaller doors leading to the areas designated for each year level.

The sound of running footsteps came from the door leading to the freshmen area, and Knox soon came into view. Not far behind him, Areisha Roselintine and Reinand Versulies came running as well. Their frantic faces turned into relieved ones when they saw the draelings clinging to him. A familiar head of blonde hair peeked through the door, and a large smile graced Solana's face when she saw him.

"See? I told you they went to Alec," she said to the other three. Solana then turned to face him. "Glad you could come! Welcome to Star Dorm!"

As always, he found himself silent in the force of the positive and enthusiastic attitude she always seemed to exude. All he could do was nod, as she led him towards the freshmen area.

"Thanks for coming!" Knox said from his right. "Oh, you brought food?"

"Braised rabbit meat," Alec said when they arrived at the freshman common room. There, he was greeted by River Uphelian. He gave a brief nod at the other young man.

Alec handed the container to Knox's outstretched hand. The black-haired twin opened the lid a little and a delicious scent wafted from it. Knox closed it quickly. During the brief moment the container was opened, all heads turned to Knox and the food container.

"I'm suddenly very hungry," Solana said, eyes on the food he brought. "Let's set the table! Alec, you can stay here in the living room while we do that."

Saying so, she grabbed the braised meat from Knox and dashed towards where Alec assumed the dining area was. He sat on the sofa as they watched them go. The draelings clinging to him, moved around so they settled on his shoulders or his lap. He ended up playing with them a few seconds later.

As he did so, he felt a gaze from his left. From the corner of his eye, he saw Areisha Roselintine looking at him from another sofa. Like a few days ago, in their confrontation at Detrian Lake, he could feel a bit of anger and wariness from her. He did not know about the anger, but the wariness was definitely aimed at him. The few times he encountered her so far, although she hid it well, he noticed how...afraid she was of him.

The silver thread connecting him to Emera pulsed as the little draeling sent something to him. A feeling of her love for her Draeyer, and how worried the baby was when said Draeyer encountered big and unknown people. Emera felt sad whenever Areisha got angry and could not make friends because of this. The draeling felt even sadder when her Draeyer got angry at herself for doing that. It took him a few moments to parse what she meant. He immediately felt like he got dragged into a sensitive topic.

Areisha Roselintine had issues...and it wasn't any of his business. He conveyed this feeling to Emera and did his best to instill into the baby not to share stuff that intruded into her Draeyer's privacy. He did the same to the other draelings on his lap. He received their confusion but distracted them by tickling the spot beneath their wings.

The door to the dining room opened to reveal the youngest freshman sentire occupant of Star Dorm, Keiver Eltryn. He pulled the apron he was wearing off and looked at him with a shy smile. "Dinner time."

----------

"This is the best braised meat I've ever had," Solana said, before shoving a forkful of the rabbit meat into her mouth. The others around the table nodded, busy finishing their own food. Alec felt himself smile at her comment.

Knox paused and looked toward him, causing Alec to hide his smile. "Did you make this, Alec?"

He nodded.

Knox's smile grew bigger. "What did Gael say?"

"Nothing," he said. "He snuck a piece earlier, and decided that he wanted it all so I slapped his hand with the spatula."

There was a brief pause before the twins started laughing. "I wish I was there to see the look on his face," Knox said.

"It must have been priceless!" Solana nodded.

Looking back on his memory of Gael's expression, he remembered the shocked look on his face. It was immediately followed by a small pout and he proceeded to sulk towards the living room. Alec coughed to hide his laughter at the memory.

The thread from the brown draeling pulsed, and he sent a feeling of confusion for his amusement. Alec immediately felt happy that the little one was getting better at using what Alec called "emphatic threads" that Draes used. So, he sent a feeling of amusement at the image of a grown man sulking like a child. The baby was still confused but seemed to accept his answer.

"It's fascinating," Reinand Versulies said from next to River Uphelian. The latter gave a nod of agreement.

"What is?" Alec asked.

"Your eyes glow," he said. "I thought it was my imagination at first, but they do glow a little from time to time."

Alec resisted the urge to cover his eyes. "It happens when I'm using my sentiral power."

An expectant silence filled the room when he brought up his sentiral power. It would seem that everyone was really curious about it since his display with Reinand and the brown draeling. Sentires usually only talk about their power with close friends and family. But Gael mentioned how the Sentires in Star Dorm were allowed to disclose their powers within the confines of their dorm and had been sworn by Oath to not discuss it outside its walls.

"I'm happy that you'll have people other than me to discuss your sentiral power with," Gael had said. "Though sentiral powers differ from each other, Sentires can still learn to improve their control from fellow Sentires."

Alec reached up to pet Uby who was on his shoulder. "My sentiral power allows Draes to see me as one of their own," he said. "It also allows me to communicate with them to some extent. It's only limited to their emotions, so I still have to decipher their meaning when the message is too complicated."

"As one of their own? Then what do draes think of you?"

Alec chuckled when he remembered practicing with the draes in the Sanctuary. "The adult draes think of me as more helpless than a draeling as I do not have scales, armor, or wings so they are more protective of me. The baby draelings think of me as some kind of sibling that they can frolic with."

Everyone had stopped eating when he said that and had looks of fascination and awe on their faces. Alec shrugged off their looks.

"Then, what about the Bonding with Blip and I this morning?" Reinand asked.

A feeling of happiness surged through the thread between him and the brown draeling—now named Blip. It appeared that the little one liked his name.

Alec had sworn an Oath not to talk about emphatic threads that all Draes seem to have. There was also no need to lie. It was normal for Sentires to hide some aspect of their powers. He opted to change the topic.

"I think the both of you would've Bonded eventually," he said. His hand reached out and ran a hand over the brown draeling. "You named him pretty quickly. Why 'Blip'?"

Figuring that the topic of his sentiral power was over, Reinand dropped his curiosity and answered. He looked away and scratched at the back of his head. "Throughout the years, I've collected some names that I would like to give to my drae if I was ever blessed to have one," he said. "It came in handy."

Knox chimed into the conversation. "If I remember correctly, there were prettier names in that collection," he said. He ignored the grumbling of his red draeling.

Rei gave a smile that was both happy and frustrated. "He did not like Eleera and Pasha. He nearly chose Boof but changed his mind when I said Blip."

A chuckle came from Alec, causing pairs of wide eyes to fall on him. He ignored them and as he stroked Blip's head. "Some draes prefer simple names, I suppose," he said. "I knew a drae who was elated that I named him after his scale color." He fell silent as he remembered Crimson. It still hurt...but it hurt less than before. He shook his head and continued to give Blip his attention.

Alec tapped Blip's nose. "You like your name because it's short and you like how it sounds, don't you?" he said to the baby. Blip answered back in a happy tone, which caused Alec to sigh in amusement. "As long as you're happy."

Blip then flew across the table to finally return to his Draeyer. "Still, I'd like to thank you for helping with the Bonding. I know you still had something to do with it," Reinand said. "I am forever grateful."

Alec wanted to refute him. But doing so would ruin the atmosphere.

He was having a surprisingly fun time with them. It felt new...and nice.

He nodded at Reinand before he resumed eating. The others followed suit, and they continued to discuss how their first day of the semester went. Solana soon took over the conversation with the chaos that ensued during her cooking class. Something about a classmate, who had been cutting up chili peppers, and screaming bloody murder after coming back from the bathroom.

Alec winced at that one.

-------

The twins walked him to the front door of the Star Dorm. Along the way, he encountered the teaching assistants of the advisers for the higher years. They gave each other nothing more than a simple nod in greeting, before passing by each other. From the wary look they gave him, they probably heard of the incident with Professor Gravis and the way he tore into Professor Kenan at the lounge.

He did not mind.

"Thanks for coming," Solana said, cradling a sleeping Dia. "I hope you enjoyed yourself."

"I did, thank you for inviting me," he said, petting Uby who was on his shoulder. "Keiver's cooking was amazing."

"You don't know how happy you made him when you said that," Knox said. "He'll probably invite you to come and try his experimental dishes one of these days. I think he'll even ask for your own recipes."

"Tell him I'll accept," he said. "But for my recipes, they're all meat-based."

"He'll be happy no matter what as long it's something related to food and cooking."

With that, he stepped out of the dorms into the night air. He wondered if Gael had dinner yet. The man seemed to always forget it was dinner time unless Alec knocked on his office door.

He shook his head. Gael could take care of himself. When the call ended earlier, he sounded like he was getting ready to devour his share of the braised—.

Alec stopped. From his shoulder Uby started to growl, causing Dia to wake and growl as well.

"What's wrong?" Solana asked.

He did not answer and instead turned his gaze to the trees surrounding Star Dorm. His eyes narrowed at a particular area.

"One of you call the guards. The other make sure that no one comes out until I confirm what it is," Alec said.

"What—"

Sprinting toward the direction he found suspicious, Alec did not get to hear what Knox said. Uby flew by his side, using his small body to twist and turn around the trees and branches. He did not tell the draeling to go back, knowing that he might need his help in some way.

Under the darkness of the trees, Alec found it hard to see at first, but years of being under the night sky as a hunter helped him adjust quickly. Soon enough, he spotted human footprints on the ground and traces of broken branches and plants.

A man. Small in physique. Inexperienced when hiding traces—or simply leading me to a trap.

But the latter was unlikely. If he was the target, then they should have known about what he could do and not exposed themselves like that.

Reaching up, he placed a hand on Uby's head. "Uby, ask our friends in the area if they've seen a human not long ago."

Uby did as asked and his thread reached out, forming four of them which spread out in different directions. Soon enough through his thread from Uby, he got confused feelings from three other draes. The last one was a feeling of being startled by a frantic black figure.

East.

He changed direction and moved. Running faster, he soon found more traces of the person. Uby's growl caught his attention and when he looked up, he found a black figure not so far from him. Alec let himself slide on the ground as he bent low and picked a rock. When he straightened, he threw it. The rock soared into the air before hitting his target on the back. With a pained cry, the man fell to the ground while trying to reach for his back.

Alec arrived and pinned him to the ground with one knee, grappling his arms behind his back.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Spare me, please! I only got paid to do this!"

"Got paid to do what and by whom?"

"I don't know...some guy in a robe from the city," the man squeaked out. "He told me to tell him the schedule for the kids with draelings in this dormitory."

Alec's hand tightened. It did not take him long to understand what the "robed man" the intruder mentioned wanted to do. Animal traffickers were disgusting guys and just as bad as fucking poachers. They probably wanted to know when the students went out with their draes into Serene City so they could schedule a kidnapping.

As for why they want draelings that already had Draeyers, instead of the ones moving about freely, Alec did not know why. But he would still stop it if it was the case.

This was Gael's job. So this was Gael's mess.

But he wouldn't be opposed to lending a hand in disposing of some of those people if it came to it. He was not known as The Slayer for nothing. His contacts in the Wildlife Protection Bureau often said, in a joking manner, that he should just work for them. His name alone would scare the traffickers and poachers into leaving the area he visited.

He wondered if he really was that scary, but it did not matter in the end. Whether they knew it was Slayer coming for them or not, they either ended up in prison or some had their ashes dumped onto the ground. He was the hunter and they were his prey.

With a swift hit to the side of his neck, the intruder fell unconscious. Alec reached into his pocket for his commu-crima and called Gael.

The man answered in the first ring. "What's wrong?"

"How do you know something's wrong?"

"I know you won't call for a greeting or a simple update on how your night has been."

Alec paused before shaking his head to focus. "I caught a man skulking around Star Dorm. He told me some guy in a robe from the city asked him to spy on the Draeyer students."

There was a pause before he heard Gael's serious and cold tone. "Trafficker in the city?"

Alec was glad that Gael came to the same conclusion as him and just as fast. "I have the same suspicion."

"Fuck it! It's the first day of the semester and I can't even relax because of these damn bastards!" Gael shouted. From the background, Alec heard the sound of plates and utensils being dumped into the sink. "I'm heading over."

With a swipe on his device, Alec ended the call. He then grabbed the man's collar and proceeded to drag him back. From the tone in Gael's voice, he knew that the intruder would not have a very pleasant night.

-----------

Alec's mantra starting from now on: Gael's job. Gael's mess.

Also Alec: *hears traffickers and poachers* Slayer would like to join this mess.

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Still an update on Saturday. I just want to celebrate finishing all my requirements for graduation!