* * * * *
Scrapp�s yellow eyes followed the small crowd as they exited the feast hall and crossed the courtyard, filing into the tunnel-bridge leading out of the Hall�s inner grounds. The falconi stretched his wings and took to the morning breeze, swirling up from his perch into a warm current and sailing up high over the Hall�s tall towers, his flight feathers shining an iridescent blue-green.
Below, the crowd followed a winding path of worn grey stones leading across the rolling green carpet of the hills. The path led to the northeast, crossing between the Hall and Dr. Lake�s smaller hospital. The adults lead the way; behind them, seperated by a short distance, were the students and their maow, trudging along under the weight of their travel packs and lead by the confident steps of the old woodcat.
Beyond, a line of stone wove across the hills, weaving in and out of the forest like a gray snake. The stone wall wrapped its way out of the west and along Laurel�s northern border, dissapearing into one last copse of trees and flowering bushes. The stone path met with the wall a good half-mile before its end, joining the wall at a small tower.
Scrapp flew ahead; the hills were dotted with herds of sheep and cattle and goats, and they watched him leerily, but made no attempt to hide from the oversized falcon as he passed over. Shepherds, both human and maow alike, ignored the enormous bird in favor of watching the long procession march its way up the path.
The falconi reached the wall within a short period of time, and he settled down on the wall�s flat top, perching on the edge and looking down into the garden a few stories below.
Here in the copse of trees, the wall leaned itself down into fragments, incomplete. It simply dissipated into the forest, and the stone path, which followed the length of the wall from the tower, dissipated as well, turning into a simple trail which wandered off to the northeast.
The wall was not in ruin, however. The stones here were recent, and of many colors, shapes, textures, and varieties. They were stones that had been carried over long distances, that had travelled far to join this wall. Some bore engravings of symbols and simple pictures. Others were embellished with enameled symbols or were embedded with polished pebbles in a design. Most, however, were simple rocks, unadorned but colorful.
No matter the hues of the wall�s stones, however, they stood grey against the spring bloom of the surrounding garden. A single banner swayed slowly from its perch at the wall�s top edge, and the blooming branches of mountain laurels reached up towards it, spreading their white flowers into the air. Other trees bore pink and yellow; covering the ground were violets and daffodils, azaleas and roses. The path widened into a shady circle of cobblestone with a small fountain set in the center; moss and grasses and wildflowers sprouted between the cobblestones.
Zane, Makzin, and the rest of their small group were already present, quiet in the calm morning, watching the crowd approach and begin to fill the garden�s plaza. Katt joined the group up front near the incomplete wall, and turned as well to watch her students as they filed into the trees and into the plaza.
The students were overcome by an uncomfortable silence, their faces burning as all eyes turned to them. Katt smiled graciously to them, however, as they followed the woodcat up before the teacher. �Plezi raress, chiels, come�� she said, gesturing for them to come before her in a friendly manner.
The woodcat sat upon its haunches facing Katt, turning its back upon the crowd and standing before Zane and his staff. The students followed suit; Calley vaguely remembered watching Makzin in the same position she was in now, many, many years ago. She wondered how many of the young kids in the crowd were watching their older siblings and would one day, years from now, be standing where she was now, about to be assigned their final test.
Nips was hugging her ankles, looking around nervously. Peiro, however, was sitting confidently at her side, smiling pridefully as he focused his full attention on Katt. Calley couldn�t tell if the ripple of light down his back was some trick of the filtering sunlight through the semi-transluscent spines along his back, or was of magical origin, as the little dragon�s excitement manifested itself.
�Your final test is at hand,� Katt said, as the students had all gathered in a semi-circle before her, �Today, we send you on your final test. We have shown you all that we can, and now is the time for you to prove yourselves, and show what you have learned. The task before you is take what skills you have learned, and go into the world. Take with you what protection you have found in your training. Follow whatever paths you will to a new town, a new Hall, and prove to they of unbiased opinion that you are worthy of the title you have been working to earn. Prove to the Guide of a distant Hall that you are, indeed, a Jr. Ranger.�
The teacher paused, bringing forth the wrapped packet she�d been holding. Unfolding it, Katt pulled up a metal necklace which glinted silver in the morning light; it had a small cast-pewter charm hanging down, dull and gray. �These,� she said musically, �Are tokens of this hall. They are your passport, your identification, showing that you, of the Laurel Guide Hall, are being tested. You will wear them at all times, until the Guide of another Hall asks for it, and casts on the opposite side of this token the crest of their own Hall. At that time, you will know that you have passed your test.�
Calley bit her lip with a smile, her eyes darting quickly to Peiro, then to her friend Silvi. Silvi�s gaze was affixed on her grandmother, a hand on her kriewolf companion�s head.
Katt handed the packet to Dr. Lake, who held it out for the teacher. Katt carefully picked out a second pendant, this one on a thick ribbon, and brought them forward, coming across the stone to the students. She went to Sam first, smiling at the small boy, and laid the silver chain over his head. �Sam and Eecie,� she said, moving then to Sam�s kriewolf to put the ribboned pendant over the maow�s head, �Raven escyrt yeia��
The boy blushed, fingering the token like it was a precious thing. �A t� woulvas�� he responded in a shy whisper, looking to Eecie.
Katt beamed, backing away with a respectful nod and returning to Dr. Lake to draw forth a second pair. Pair by pair, the teacher went to each student/maow set and, slipping the tokens over their heads, wished them safe journies as well.
�Raven escyrt yeia,� she said as she slipped a silver chain over Calley�s head and took a matching silver chain to Peiro.
�A t� woulvas,� Calley and Peiro both replied in chorus; they looked to each other and grinned. Just a half-year earlier when Calley had first begun taking the course, she had needed her mother to explain what the phrase meant, since Calley didn't know much sylvan. Now, after all of her training and teaching under the sylvan Knight, she and her classmates could respond appropriately in the same language, and Calley was proud of herself for that. �May the ravens escort you on your travels, like they do the wolves,� she thought, remembering her mother�s elaborated translation. �Raven escort you, as the wolves.�
Calley was grinning as Katt bowed a bit and went to get the next pair. She watched with a giddy stomach as the remaining students received their token pendants, examining her own pendant in excitement every now and again. It was simple pewter, a bit heavy for its small size, and had been pressed with the Laurel Hall crest, which used a vague hourglass shape to symbolize the horizon.
(cont'd)
(Need pic here!)
