Fai gave a sigh and stepped forward. Ginger couldn’t resist. He followed along, curious to see just what exactly had bitten Vess. The great caterpillar shuffled back, giving Fai room. The man with the grizzled hair reached the door to the stable stall… and beamed. He might have seen a gold nugget.


    “Oh, my dear Bwoon. Why are you giving poor old Vess a hard time?” he said. He was looking down on whatever it was within the stall. “Doesn’t he take care of you well every day?”


    Ginger frowned and took a step closer to stand next to Fai, but one of Vess’ hands barred him.


    “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warned. “You might be a dragon, but I don’t see any scales on you. Bwoon could bite your finger off without much trouble.”


    Fai turned to Ginger and supported the sentiment with a nod.


    “Sadly, he’s right, Ginger.” The man gestured for the boy to clear away. “I think she needs a little trot to wear her out before her injection.” He looked back at the creature named Bwoon. There was a chilling snap! and Fai jerked back with a crazy smile. He laughed. “I can bite too, you know?”


    Once Ginger had retreated safely to Vess’ side, Fai opened the door and immediately, a short, stout figure darted out. It was so fast that Ginger only saw a stroke of gold cross his vision and then…


    “Shunting Shamans!” he exclaimed and belatedly realized that Bwoon was already in the field. The diminutive thing had flashed away at an astounding speed.


    When Ginger turned and briskly walked out of the stable, he finally saw a more grounded mass of gold racing along the fence. Bwoon’s identity was finally revealed to him… but only because she was trotting.


    Bwoon was a pony – a very round one. She had lustrous golden hair, her mane a wild tangle with a paler shade. She had powerful legs, however short they were, and her tail was bushy and white. Perhaps the most… unique thing about her was the fact that it seemed all she had in her mouth were great buck teeth. Her jaw and mouth were deformed because of it. Her lips never touched. Most of the time, she had to wear a brilliant, toothy grin.


    The look in her eyes was nothing short of demented. She only spared a minute to bounce off the ground in a little prance and then started racing around the field, her eyes opened unnaturally wide. She once again became a long strip of gold that followed the circular fence.


    “Uhh...” Ginger gaped, befuddled.


    “Beautiful, isn’t she?” said Fai. The look on his face was similar to the one Shan had on as she watched the pony.


    “What exactly is… she?” Ginger asked.


    “I thought you’d be better acquainted with monsters, Ginger,” said Vess as he folded four of his arms. “That’s a monster. A real one.”


    “Don’t mind the recluse, Ginger,” Fai interjected. “She’s a pony. Very young. Of course, she’s not wholly a pony. Vess has had to learn that the hard way.”


    Ginger had gathered as much – that Bwoon had to be a mix of horse and not horse – but what vexed him was that this explanation, or perhaps confirmation, made Vess’ statement just now sound rather insensitive, to say the least.


    Had he been hinting at the monsters Ginger would know from the Wild, or had he been implying that Ginger, as a hybrid himself, was a monster? It wouldn’t be strange if Vess happened to be a pure-blooded… whatever class of species he belonged to.


    But Ginger didn’t dwell on that.


    “In any case, Bwoon is only going to slow us down for a little bit,” said Fai. “I’m the only one Bwoon tolerates enough to allow things like injections, and even then, she gets rough. I’d use Sorcery to make the process easier, but Shan and Long have forbidden us all from doing so, I’m afraid. Ah. It’d be best if you keep that in mind too, Ginger.”


    Ginger slowly nodded while Vess grumbled.


    The plump dragonling didn’t know what the caterpillar’s role here was exactly, but if he wasn’t allowed to use Sorcery to aid himself with tasks relating to the horses…


    ‘No wonder he’s so grumpy.’


    Fai received a syringe from Vess and began after Bwoon. Shan, likely recognizing what time it was, mobilized Silver Stroke and the other horses to pin the pony. Or at least try to.


    But Bwoon also seemed to realize what time it was. She weaved and dodged all the formations the father and daughter duo composed with the help of the other horses. Fai collapsed a few times, courtesy of Bwoon’s trickery, as did the other horses and Shan herself.


    Ginger barely bit back a laugh.


    He let it loose when he saw Fai give Shan a pleading look. There was no mystery there. He was begging her to allow them to use Sorcery to catch the pony. She refused, and they continued to fruitlessly chase after Bwoon for more than half an hour.


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    “A nice family, isn’t it? Must be nice,” said Vess suddenly when Ginger was wiping away tears.


    “What?” he said, composing himself.


    The caterpillar turned to him, his beady eyes drawing in his.


    “Did you fit in back in the Wild, or did you move here because you couldn’t find a place you belonged among the humans?” he asked.


    Ginger considered him, trying his best not to lose himself in the depths of those eyes.


    “In the Wild, belonging is a luxury. And family… Family is a treasure that has nothing to do with blood, but even then, it’s rare. For most, there’s only allies to count on,” he said. “I have a family. Only three people. And in the Wild, only their opinions matter to me.”


    “Must be nice,” scoffed Vess. He seemed jealous of even this. “Allies, you say? Oh, I understand that. I’ve worked for Fai for fifty-seven years and I’ve never quite felt like family. Not that I ever asked to be included into the mushy circle.”


    Ginger frowned.


    “Why do you work for him?”


    The question seemed to offend the caterpillar.


    “Oh, you can guess why,” he said, and then his eyes narrowed. “Judging by your reaction earlier, you know why for certain.”


    Ginger couldn’t help but lower his gaze. The pangs of guilt felt like syringe needles to his brain.


    Indeed, he could tell why Vess worked for Fai.


    Despite the abundance of inhuman species here in Ravi, there was a clear divide drawn by intelligence and a certain degree of humanoid quality. The creatures that drew carriages, for instance, were valued less outside of the usefulness of their stamina and strength. But as it were, there were others that looked a lot like them, walking on two legs in Proin, and reading newspapers – flaunting self-respect and dignity.


    It stood to reason then that the non-dragon society had standards and biases of its own. A creature like Vess with an…unusual build, yet also featuring intelligence was not quite welcome. He couldn’t find employment. His appearance was met… oddly, perhaps.


    But Fai must have taken him in and given him work, pay, and a place to sleep.


    Ginger didn’t know about the more intricate details. He figured there was something missing from the reasoning he had constructed on his own. He remembered seeing lumbering giants on the sidewalk in Proin when he first arrived in Ravi. They fit in snugly with the rest.


    So, was Vess so bad by Ravi’s standard?


    Emitting an awkward cough, Ginger found the courage to face the caterpillar again.


    “Then… why are you so put off?” he said and turned to where Shan and Fai were still chasing Bwoon. “If you never asked them to see you as family, why does seeing them like that bother you? Isn’t what Fai has given you already… enough?”


    Vess considered the boy.


    “Help me with the hay,” he said, instead of giving an answer. Ginger knew the many-legged bastard had weaved; he was likely the kind that didn’t like being overly vulnerable. Perhaps, for a moment, he had imagined he and Ginger had much in common and decided to share.


    The plump dragonling didn’t mind helping him. As Vess turned and pointed to what needed to be moved and to where, he followed.


    “WATCH OUT!” cried a voice right then.


    Vess and Ginger turned sharply, hearts pounding.


    But it was too late. Before the latter could pull his head to see just what he was being warned against, a golden flash crashed into him.


    A jarring white light overtook his vision for a split second, and he slammed hard onto the ground.


    …Yet, the ground wasn’t nearly as hard as it was just a moment ago. It was like a giant pillow on Ginger’s back, and he could sense Mana Essence brimming from it. The part of him that could process thought at that moment told him someone had used Sorcery to soften his fall.


    But why was Ginger heavy?


    Why was a hefty weight with four prongs pressing down on his torso from above?


    Ginger’s vision adjusted. The first thing he saw was a great golden belly shifting ever so slightly. A bushy tail was whipping his pants, and four hooves were pressing on his grey jersey.


    “Urgh…” Ginger grunted.


    Bwoon was standing on him, and it didn’t seem as though she was planning to leave anytime soon. She whinnied and snorted energetically.


    “H-hey!” he struggled to say with the weight squeezing the air out of him. Ginger’s head scrolled left and right. He spotted Vess’ many ‘feet’ backing further and further away. He wasn’t going to help.


    The bastard!


    A sharp breath had Ginger coughing, dust having siphoned itself into his nose and mouth. Still, he managed a few words as the pony aboard his mass shifted its hoofing.


    “Bwoon! Bwoon, get off!” the plump dragonling cried.


    At once, the pony’s weight disappeared and Ginger felt sweet relief. He might have been weightless now. He hurried to stand up and began sweeping off the dirt from his uniform, scarf, and sling bag. Then, without missing a beat, he stabbed Vess with a glare.


    The giant caterpillar looked oddly stunned at first, but then he shrugged with all arms and shook his head.


    “I just couldn’t have saved you,” he said, almost in a way that made his sentence make sense.


    “I thought so.” Ginger scowled and continued patting himself off.


    “Oh. Well… this is a surprise.” Fai had come running, Shan in tow. A bewildered look was on his face as he looked at Ginger. The plump dragonling imagined that seeing him get knocked down by the golden pony had not been what the head of the Stalwart Stallions had had in mind for his latest recruit this morning. Oddly though…


    “Ginger. You…” It was Shan, failing to finish her sentence while looking at him with a look of confusion.


    “I’m alright,” Ginger said assuringly.


    “No. Not that,” said Fai, scratching somewhere behind his thicket of old hair.


    “What?” Ginger looked between father and daughter. “What?”


    Shan circled around him. Fai continued to look dumbfounded. Vess, on the other hand, had a suspicious broad grin.


    Shan finally stopped right in front of the plump dragonling.


    “What happened to Bwoon?” she asked him.


    It took Ginger a moment to process this. Bwoon? He frowned.


    Had Shan and Fai not seen how the pony had tackled him into the dirt? No. They did see it. They warned him beforehand and one of them must have used some spell to turn the ground soft so Ginger wouldn’t get hurt.


    ‘So why?’


    “I don’t understand,” Ginger said and turned around. “She jumped off me just now and…”


    His frown grew deeper. Only Vess was behind him. Bwoon was nowhere to be seen. Had she gone back into her stall?


    “Er… Did she run off again?” the boy said.


    Fai silently shook his head.


    “No,” said Shan and she cradled his face with her hands. Again, the boy felt the rough texture on them, just like when he shook her hand last Breather. “I think…” She hesitated and grabbed his shoulders and then his arms, scanning him. “I think Bwoon is inside you.”