The five students gathered quickly before stepping onto the stage. Amaya's lynx eyes narrowed as she studied the two who had been assigned to join them.
"What's your transformation?" she asked, her tone brisk but not unkind.
The first, a thin boy with nervous hands, swallowed hard. "I… I can transform into a mole. I learned it first because I like peace. I just wanted to hide quickly, burrow into the ground, and be safe."
The three prodigies exchanged glances.
Brannic's brows furrowed, Vin's lips twitched, and Amaya tilted her head. A mole was hardly the kind of ferocious beast they expected to fight alongside.
Still, Vin nodded. "Burrowing has its uses. You can scout beneath the roots, maybe disrupt Eryn's footing."
Vin himself didn't believe that it would work, but he could tell that their classmate had zero combat experience, so they just had to accept it.
The boy looked relieved seeing that he was no scolded at all. They were certainly better than his family.
