Icefall Academy
Arktis Skyland
Northern Space

Alec was finally out of the infirmary after Kura fired a long list of reminders about his condition. He finally got the healer to stop after promising that he was to refrain from doing any strenuous activities for at least two more days. Sometimes, Alec couldn't believe how healers were so serious about their work and patients.

While his friends and professors sat on the chairs of their viewing balcony, he sat sideways on the stone balustrade. He wanted a closer look at the three-way battle happening below. With his eyes trained on River, he watched the young man swing his scythe. The large curved blade nicked a red shred of cloth from the Parythian opponent.

The Icefall student lunged for River. River ducked and the attacker flew over him and crashed into the Parythian student. River swung his scythe down with a cry and Alec was sure the two representatives would've torn a muscle or two if they hadn't rolled away in time. However, River twirled the long weapon and struck the two on their heads. The crowd either roared in distraught or laughter.

"River is merciless," Alec commented with a knee tucked under his chin.

"Alec, there's a seat over here, you know?" Knox said after knitting his brows at him.

"I can't see properly from there," he said. "And I am not sitting anywhere near that hairy white monster." His gaze narrowed at the snoring ball of fluff sleeping on the wide armrests of his and Areisha's chair.

"Lux is a kitten, you big baby," Areisha said in a deadpan voice. "Bloody Blazen! Of all the things you should be scared of, why a cat?"

"Don't call me a big baby," Alec said with his glare transferring to Areisha. "Last I recall we agreed never to use that degrading nickname."

"The master of evasion has dodged the question yet again," Solana stated with an eye roll and a chuckle.

"Wait. You guys agreed about which degrading nicknames you should give each other?" Rei asked with his face contorted somewhere in between surprise and incredulity.

"Are you deaf?" Alec and Areisha asked together. The twins burst out laughing including their professors, minus Gravis whose eyes never strayed from the fight. Alec joined them and his amusement escalated when Rei's cheeks puffed out and whispered curses.

When Alec's attention went back to the battle, River lay flat on his back, groaning, while the other two fought one another. In a situation like that, River was told to take the opportunity to defeat them both. Alec was sure he was waiting for the right moment.

A tug on his pants caused him to look down and find his Draelings staring at him with their big amber eyes. Their heads jerked to the door before they crawled to the direction, occasionally looking back to see if he was following them.

"Professors, I'll just go with my Draelings and be back quickly," he informed them. When he got enough nods, he followed after the triplets.

It took him only two minutes to reach where his Draelings wanted him to go. He stood at the second entrance of the arena with Entiny, Leyan, and Midnight at his feet. A familiar blonde boy sat on the steps with his back to them. Alec heard him sigh.

"Why are you out here, Ceiver? Alone?" Alec asked. The boy shot to his feet in surprise and nearly fell down the steps when he whirled to face him. Ceiver's thick lenses made his brown eyes larger than a normal.

"I didn't feel like...being with everyone," Ceiver said as he sat back down. "I failed. Now we're...third." Alec knew that during the pauses in his speech, he was trying to avoid a word that would trigger his speech problem.

"Nobody's blaming you, Ceiv," Alec said. "And didn't I tell you that you don't have to be conscious of speaking around me? I don't mind your speech problem."

Ceiver heaved a deep breath and released a sigh. "I know that you all aren't blaming me. I'm ditappointed in mytelf. I trained hard but..."

Alec reached out and clasped his shoulder. He gave it a light squeeze before his hand went up and ruffled his yellow hair. "I know you did your best."

"I didn't win."

"Winning doesn't always mean you did your best. Just as doing your best doesn't guarantee you winning―as sad as that sounds."

Ceiver fell silent until a small smile formed on his face. He then nodded and Alec slapped his back. Entiny squeezed herself between them and crawled to Ceiver's lap. The other two sat on the lower step looking at them. Alec told Ceiver that the three were the ones who led him to him. The boy laughed, stroked, and thanked the Draelings.

"Now get back in there before you freeze out here," Alec said with a smile.

Ceiver gave out a light chuckle before he stood. "I still have to check on Riu. I want to know if they found a cure yet."

"I'll go check on Atrius," Alec said as he brought himself up to his feet. "You've been by his side since yesterday afternoon and you need to rest. We can't have you getting sick."

"You won't mind at all?"

"Atrius is in the greenhouse. I was planning to go there for a change of scenery, since I was stuck in a dull room for three days," Alec said. "So, no, I won't mind at all."

Ceiver gave him another smile before walking back inside. Before he entered, he turned and Alec raised a brow at him in question.

"You're the best, Lec," Ceiver said with a grin. He spun and disappeared inside the arena.

Meanwhile, Alec froze on the steps as he stared at the spot where the boy stood earlier. He felt strangely happy from hearing that simple four-word sentence. With a large beam tugging at the corners of his lips, he headed for the Icefall Academy building.

―――

The environment of the greenhouse invaded all of his senses. His skin felt warm, his nose took in the scent of flowers, he heard a few birds tweeting and insects buzzing, and his eyes feasted on the greens. He had gotten used to the tropical climate of the Northeastern Space rather fast that he was quite surprised at himself.

He slid off his short jacket and draped it over one arm. Entiny, Leyan, and Midnight ran off to where four Draes lay while a few people tended them. Professor Linan, who was assisting the Drae Doctor, looked up to his direction when the lanky man saw his triplets.

"Alec, are sure you're allowed to be moving around?" Linan asked when he was near.

Alec smiled at him and nodded. The smile vanished though when he saw the Draes lying on clumps of dry grass. It was only then that he noticed Ticca, Sierra's Drae, sleeping next to Atrius and other two Draes.

"What happened to Ticca? Why is she here?" Alec asked. He bent on one knee in front of the teal Drae and Atrius.

"Ticca's fever disappeared but her body turned cold like these other three," Linan said. "We believe it isn't poison, like we initially thought, but some of kind of disease."

"Is it contagious, Professor?" Alec asked as he reached out to Atrius' orange snout.

"Probably, and so far we only noticed it on Draes," Linan said. "In the sanctuary, the Draes avoided Ticca while she was being tended there from the arrow wounds. It would seem that the Draes know what disease this is."

Alec's eyes darted around in alarm to find his Draelings. When he couldn't find them at his feet, he turned and spotted them about a couple of meters away. His brows scrunched as he watched Entiny's droopy ears and Leyan and Midnight's forlorn heads lying on the ground.

"My Draelings are keeping a safe distance as well," Alec said as he turned back to his professor.

Mr. Warsen, the Drae Doctor, decided to join their conversation. "I have just received word from the Researchers that they found microbes on the liquid from the arrows. It matched the ones in the blood samples they took from these Draes."

"Are they finding a cure?" Linan asked.

"It will take some time I believe," Warsen said. "For now, we have to rely on the heat-crimas to keep them warm. They won't be in any danger if we do so."

Alec sighed and his fists clenched when he thought of the bastards responsible for what was in front of him. He uncurled his right fist and reached out once more to Atrius. The orange Drae slept on the ground with a few occasional whimpers escaping through its lips.

Seeing injured and sick Draes always triggered the last memory he had of Crimson as the red Drae lay dying. It was painful, and it especially angered him to know that the cause of their agony was his own kind―humans.

After looking at the other two Draes, he heard his Draelings roars as they called out to him. He stood and walked over to their spot. As he approached, he saw something dangling from Entiny's mouth. The grey Draeling didn't wait for him to reach them and ran up to him. She climbed up his tall length until she settled on her favorite spot. Craning her neck, she dropped the white flower on Alec's raised palm. He took it by the stem and examined the familiar diamond-shaped petals and smelled the faint sweet odor coming from it.

"An Alweya," he whispered. While still balancing on his shoulder, Entiny bobbed her head. He reached out and patted the Draeling's silver forehead. "Thank you. But what is this for?"

Entiny dropped from his shoulder to join her brothers on the ground. After she growled at him and flapped her wings, her brothers copied her. They did it again and again, that it had Alec scratching the back of his head in frustration. "How am I supposed to understand if you keep doing that?"

The triplets stopped and looked up at him with their amber eyes narrowing to send dagger glares his way. They roared once more until they fell quiet when their gazes settled on the ground. Alec's eyes widened when Leyan flew up and hovered next to the hand holding the flower. Using his small toothless mouth, he took the Alweya by the stem and dropped it on the ground.

There, Midnight crushed the white petals under his paw until it was as flat as the circular bread Alec ate that morning. Entiny joined his brother in ruining the flower. Minutes later, and much to Alec's horror, the grey Draeling ate a few dirty and crushed petals of the Alweya.

"Spit it out right now!" Alec ordered Entiny. The baby Drae quickly obeyed. "Do not eat anything that will harm you!"

"Alec what's wrong?" Professor Linan said from behind him.

Alec turned to him after taking a deep breath to suppress his rising frustration. "I don't even know, Professor Linan," he said. "This is the first time I can't grasp what these three are trying to tell me."

When he looked back at the triplets and only spotted Leyan and Midnight, he whirled around in search of the youngest of the three. He quickly ran and picked her up when he saw the grey Draeling approaching the sick Draes.

"Entiny, you might get sick if you go near them," Alec said to the squirming baby Drae in his hold. He placed her on the ground next to her brothers. "What am I going to do with you three?"

His jaw fell open when the triplets glared at him and folded their wings. With their heads held high, they turned away and crawled to the entrance gate of the greenhouse.

Linan's chuckling from behind him caused his attention to snap away from the triplets.

"They're the same," Linan said. Alec's brows knitted in confusion at whatever the Blazen Linan meant to say. The lanky man caught on to his look and continued speaking. "Uriel was also three months old when I couldn't understand what she was trying to tell me. Like your triplets, she walked out on me too. Gael and Kreis also said that Asher and Iris were like that as well. At three months, Draelings already have the temperament of an eight to ten year-old human."

Alec released a sigh while he watched the Draelings settle themselves under a large plant's leaf near the gates. He stood and pulled on his jacket.

"And after they turn a year-old, they're going to start growing rapidly. In two years tops, I'm sure I'll miss them riding on my shoulders."

"Give them a treat," Linan said and patted his back. "They'll stop sulking, and maybe then you'll finally be able to understand what it is their trying to tell you. From my experience, when they act like that, usually it's important."

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I'm very sorry guys. Aside from being busy, a virus attacked my laptop while I was writing. I only managed to recover this chapter after the whole device just shut down. It was supposed to be a triple update. *sighs* This chapter was boring wasn't it? But it's a filler for a few things to come. Have a nice day. I'm going back to school on Monday and I am doomed.