Sora sneezed.

Raelynn patted her on the back, holding out a pack of tissues like the kind, yet obnoxious soul she was. "You sure you're OK to be here, Sor?" she asked, concern written across her face.

"She'd be in bed if she needed to be, imbecile," Silver muttered, sparking off a whole new argument as Sora blew her nose.

She turned to her quieter teammates, silently edging away from the bickering duo, having no desire to try and stop the pair. "So... you guys have any idea why Oz dragged us out here?" she questioned, eyeing up the yawning twins.

Oz had dragged the seven of them out at some godforsaken hour in the morning before promptly vanishing on orders from something called 'the Dragon Council'.

Sora was betting it was a council of dragon riders, and possibly their dragons too. There was a bit of a hint in the name, if she was completely honest.

Still, council or not, she still didn't have the slightest idea about why they'd been dragged out so early.

"Twin, twin," Eir nudged her sibling. "When do you reckon he'll be back? An hour, or two?"

Eisa grunted, her face pressed against her sister's shoulder, eyes fluttering shut every now and then. "Dunno."

"Hopefully soon," Sora said, muffling a yawn as she disposed of her used tissues.

All of them were tired.

Callum had even fallen asleep on top of a very happy Beatrice. Though she doubted the redhead would be falling asleep anytime soon. She looked far too happy.

"Dammit!" Raelynn stood, ignoring the sharp glare from Silver. "Where is that annoying halfwit?"

"You actually know what a halfwit is?" Silver stared at her scathingly. "Isn't that a surprise..."

"Oy!"

Sora rubbed her head, quietly praying to whatever god was out there to make the pair of them shut up. She did not want a headache. Especially not when she'd be joining in with whatever exercises Oz would be making them do.

As if by magic, and Sora briefly wondered whether it really was, Oz appeared behind the bickering pair. A hand landed on each of their heads rather gently compared to his usual punches. "What—"

Raelynn leapt to her feet, startled, an elbow lashing out blindly.

He caught her arm, one eyebrow arching. "And what do you think you're doing?" he asked, staring at her sceptically. "Oh, are you telling me you want more training later? Alright then, I'll come and get you after you've finished this little task I've found for you."

"But—"

Silver snickered.

Oz glanced over at her. "What's that Granny? You want to join too? Excellent," he said, a wide smirk appearing on his face at their horrified expressions. "I'll nab you too, but before that..." He unfurled a scroll, passing its contents to the silverette. "That's what you've got to do for today. Have fun, my cute little students."

Eir shivered, watching as he walked away from them, waving a hand over his shoulder. "Is it me, or did that sound like a threat?"

"You aren't the only one thinking that, twin."

Raelynn scowled, clearly unaffected by Oz on the whole. "Why'd he give you the scroll?" she grumbled. "He could've left it with me."

"Clearly I'm the more responsible one here."

"No way!"

"Shouldn't we just look at the scroll and see exactly what it is we're supposed to be doing?" Sora asked, eager to stop the pair from wasting any more time. There was no telling what horrifying task Oz had chosen for them to do.

Silver rolled it open, showing it's contents to the lot of them with a puzzled expression. "Shopping."

Sora blinked, dumfounded. "Eh?"

"Oz... expects us to buy stuff?" Raelynn asked slowly, confusion plastered across her face. "What does he want? Toiletries? Bath bombs? And why the hell can't he get it himself?"

"We're going to be getting things for ourselves, actually," Silver said, glaring at Raelynn pointedly. "You know... to help us with that little test coming up."

She huffed, folding her arms as she sunk lower in her seat. "I thought it was a written test."

"Of course it isn't, imbecile!" Silver snapped, folding her arms. "We're going to be dragon riders. Do you really think we have time to sit behind a desk and write essays?"

"Isn't that what the people in charge do?" Raelynn asked, innocently tilting her head as she stared at her irate teammate.

"Tch. If you ever become part of the Dragon Council, I'm defecting to the Wastelands with no regrets."

"Silver," Eisa began, perking up from her sister's side.

Eir leant forwards. "Did you by any chance... just make a joke?"

Silver sputtered, scowling as she glared at all of them. "None of your business."

"Um... fellow teammates..." A soft voice broke through their conversation, every eye fixing on the stammering red-faced boy who'd finally decided to wake up – much to Beatrice's displeasure.

"Fellow teammates?" Eir peered at him.

Eisa stared solemnly, speaking levelly. "You don't get out much, do you?"

A low rumble sounded from Beatrice's throat, dark eyes glaring at the twins as she folded her arms across her chest, pulling everyone's attention to her.

Sora had no idea what to think.

"Did you just growl at us?" Raelynn bolted to her feet, eyes wide. "That was so cool! Can you teach me how to do that?"

"Well," Beatrice drawled, pointedly ignoring her teammate's crestfallen face as she turned to address the rest of the group. "Back to the matter at hand... What do we need to shop for?"

"I think we'd best concern ourselves with finances first," Silver said. "How much can all of you peasants contribute?"

"Oh, I've got that covered." Beatrice smirked, her hand delving into one of the pockets of her coat, pulling out a large purse. It looked far too masculine for her tastes, if her clothing was anything to go off.

That and it did have the initials O.B. scratched into the fabric.

Sora gulped. "Is that...?"

"It's Oz's."

"What?" Raelynn looked startled.

Silver shrugged.

Callum buried his face in his hands.

"I bet you we last a day, twin," Eir muttered, pulling a small gold coin from one of her own pockets.

"I'm betting more like an hour," Eisa said, flicking her own coin into the air.

"You're on."

"Put it back in your pocket," Sora mumbled, glancing around frantically, inhaling deeply as she tried to catch any hint of Oz's presence in the nearby vicinity. "Quick!"

"Yeah." Eir nodded.

"Nah, keep it out. It'll be fine," Eisa said, smiling slightly as her twin's pointy elbow jabbed into her side.

"Do you want him to whack us over the head, twin?"

Eisa paused. "On second thoughts..."

"That's what I thought." Eir smirked, slinging an arm around her sister's shoulders. "Let's just hurry up and get whatever the hell it is we need before Oz realises."

Sora smiled. "Sounds like a plan."

"Well," Silver began, glaring all of them into silence. "Apparently we need provisions for going into a forest for a day or two."

"We're going camping?" Raelynn blurted out, leaning over the silverette's shoulder.

"Personal space," Silver hissed, shaking her shoulder. "Get off!"

"Relax."

"I can't when you're in my personal space!"

"I think we should split into two groups," Eir said, coming between the pair. "Silver should take a couple of us to get rations, and Raelynn should take some of us to get some other supplies."

"But I wanna go with Sil—"

Eir smiled, grabbing Raelynn by the arm as her twin grabbed the other. "We'll go off with Rae to get the non-perishable stuff. You guys get the cooking equipment and the actual food, OK?"

"I guess that leaves us," Beatrice said, pulling Callum's arm into her chest as she stood. "I already gave Eisa some of the money, but there's still plenty left... Oz must get paid a lot..."

"Don't waste time chattering over pointless topics," Silver snapped, striding out of the courtyard in the other direction to where Raelynn's group had gone. "We should hurry up and get all of these supplies."

"We're after food, aren't we?" Beatrice tilted her head, eyeing her up as she barked out orders.

"Weren't you listening, peasant?"

"Food and the stuff to cook it with," Sora said, raising both hands as the pair of them turned to face her. They were both scary enough with those glares on their faces. "That's all."

A hand landed on her shoulder, and Sora resisted the urge to scream, relaxing ever so slightly when Oz's scent engulfed her. "Yep, so off you go, little minions," he said, his voice absolutely unapologetic. "I need to discuss things with your interim leader here."

Sora turned to stare at him, puzzled. "Interim leader?" she asked, not bothering to watch as Silver stormed off, Beatrice and Callum close behind.

"I'm putting you in charge of them for the duration of this little test coming up soon."

Her shoulders sunk.

The prospect of trying to get Silver and Raelynn to work alongside each other sounded... fun... for everyone apart from herself.

"You need to come up with a route through the forest." A new scroll was pressed into her hands. "That's the map of the area you'll be going into, and I've marked the seven points you should aim for. Don't bother with the eighth."

"Do we have to go to all of them?"

"You're aiming for getting to one of them before the rest of the teams," he explained, folding his arms. "There'll be a test, and if you all pass it, you'll get a nice set of cloaks for the team."

Sora blinked. "Cloaks?"

What was so great about those?

"It signifies what specialisation our team will be specialising in once you've finished training," Oz said, smiling slightly. "There are eight teams, and seven specialisations up for grabs."

Sora leant forwards. "Which are...?"

He listed them off on his fingers. "Tracking is one. Sensory another. Ambush, assassination... but I won't lie... None of you would be any good at that. You only have some minute skill in the sensory area, but one sensor on a sensory team? That's asking for a disaster... and I'm fairly sure you couldn't pull off an ambush to save your life."

"You're so nice."

His fist slammed into her head.

"Ow!"

"That only leaves you with intelligence, which you'll fail epically—"

"Hey! I'm smart!" Sora grumbled, wincing in the next second as she earned herself another knock to the head.

"And... let's see," he mumbled. "Aerial combat squadron, and then a basic combat squadron. I'd advise aiming for those two if you can. They're the fourth and fifth points marked on there, if you really want to know."

"I did—ow, dammit!"

"Stop interrupting with your snarky comments." Oz folded his arms, glaring down at her. "You're annoying enough as it is, Truant."

Sora scowled. "I'm not annoying," she murmured, mirroring his posture as she zipped her mouth shut as best she could.

"Just sit down and look at the damn map."

She did just that, peering closely at the lines inked onto the aged parchment before she finally asked the question which had been bugging her for a little while. "Are you sure this map is up to date?"

"It's the best you're going to get."

One eyebrow arched, Sora staring up at him sceptically. "Meaning you couldn't get your hands on a newer copy...?"

Oz shrugged. "Your team is last in terms of the administrator's priorities."

Her teeth slammed together, eyes narrowing. "What?"

"Calm down, would you, Truant?" he muttered. "Everyone expects Team Thirteen to fail this upcoming tests – because every other team was grouped with a specialisation in mind... You idiots were just the leftovers."

"Oh goodie—ow!" Sora winced, rubbing her head, barely managing to dodge the next swing of his fist. "I get the message!" she yelled, rolling away from his punches. "Stop hitting me, dammit!"

A small smile curled at his lips, so faint she could barely see it. "Never."

"Charming."

"Map. Now, Truant."

"OK, OK." She held up both hands, returning dutifully to the scroll depicting a forest, eyes narrowing on the gleaming key swinging from side to side beneath his neck as he leant over her shoulder.

It was large, gold, the bow shaped into a set of concentric rhombuses, and it hung from a leather tassel.

Maybe it was his house key, she mused, her mind silently concocting a few different plans of revenge.

He'd deserve it after all the punches he'd delivered to her poor head.