Finally, Julan felt that he was making real progress despite Narsi's distractions. He did not reply to her last comment for a time, instead allowing her to continue with her drills while focusing himself on reigning in his beast spirit. After another minute or two, he ended up shifting back to normal in the periphery of their vision. 

Julan took a few moments to collect himself as he brought himself slowly back up to his feet. Transformation in either direction was still rather painful, and he did not feel close to being used to it. Still, he was at the point that he could at least act like it did not bother him. Ease of transformation was a point of pride for many children in the clan. 

Walking back up to the edge of the training area, Julan quickly resumed watching the drills. "You said you're from a city, but you don't act like you've ever even been around people before. Or you're trying to pick a fight with everyone, even though everyone else here is tougher than you." 

[hr]

"So...that's it then?" Gwindir asked. There was a part of his demeanor that made it seem as if he was not quite convinced by what he was being told, which made it even harder for Ahnasha to maintain eye contact. "You're going to go back home and won't end up seeing him again. So you won't be in any danger from him, right? You're not going to make a big deal out of what happened and try to confront him again, so you're going to be safe?"

"That's right." Ahnasha lied right away, though quickly and confidently enough that she was actually rather convincing. 

Gwindir let out a long breath. It was difficult to tell if he was just showing his stress at the situation, which would be perfectly understandable, or if he actually had some reason to doubt her. "Then I suppose there's nothing more to be done about it. I do wish we could have gotten along with your father, Fendros. I still really do believe that people like him can be reached, but it's not worth risking anyone getting hurt."