Hattie’s time at the Mage Academy was regular enough that if someone were inclined to track her down, she wouldn’t have been hard to find. Between her morning work, the quick wash up after (so she wouldn’t smell like fried vegetables) and her afternoon classes with Professor Linden, she kept busy. She decided to work some evenings as well, to cover lodging, and was allotted a tiny cubby of a room in the school. Hattie suspected it used to be a broom closet. For her purposes, it worked, so she didn’t complain. Monte was happy to curl up next to her, and the tight quarters reminded him of when he was but a wolf pup.

While Hattie worked in the morning, Monte walked himself to the greenhouse and napped. Over the next week, the sight of a lone gold wolf walking the halls of the academy became quite normal, and Hattie learned the ropes of how Miss Hellen liked to run her kitchen. And so, the two settled in.

Hattie worried how Monte spent so much time napping and inactive. What if his complacency weakened him? She spoke with Freddy, who had grown fond of the gold wolf, and he agreed to take Monte out with him during his combat practice. Freddy trained to become a battle mage, and once he was skilled enough he planned to join the Adventuere’s Guild and make his way up to a gold, or even platinum pin.

It would be a high stakes, thrilling life, but he was eager to leave the dullness of Derington behind. When Freddy went to practice, Monte tagged along. The two often play-fought. Monte grew more and more capable against magic wielding opponents, and Freddy learned how to deal with Monte’s fast-moving, sneaky tactics.

In the afternoons, Hattie’s classes with Professor Linden were complex, but interesting. One of the books Hattie was assigned was on what differentiated monsters from normal animals from hybrids.

Monsters were magical creatures through and through, and each species had its own brands of supernatural abilities, and some even had human-like sapience. Normal animals didn’t have those world altering skills or intelligence. That was the basic difference. Hybrids were the most fascinating to Hattie, because Monte was one. Hybrids were the offspring of magical and non-magical creatures. They could also proliferate among themselves.

Monte had no obvious, flashy magic of any kind, but even before Hattie had bonded to him he had been more intelligent and physically capable than the average wolf. And of course, there was his beautiful, unnaturally colored coat.

Then there were her lessons with Headmaster Dawson. His vast knowledge impressed Hattie. During their time together, Headmaster Dawson talked most about what his bond with Shia was like. He did teach Hattie how to reach into the link between him and Shia, like he had done to Hattie and Monte on their first meeting. That skill was useless unless they wanted to communicate over distance, and even then, emotions and vague impressions were the only thing they could convey. Even so, Headmaster Dawson insisted they practice it when not in their official allotted hour. They designated the morning time to randomly check in on each other.

When Hattie’s work in the kitchen could be done without much thought, she would establish contact with Headmaster Dawson. Usually, Hattie would communicate what being in the heat and bustle of the kitchen was like, while Headmaster Dawson would relay the boredom of paperwork. Monte would stay quiet, as he usually napped then. Shia would send her alien, reptilian viewpoint, which, although fascinating, made Hattie's head swim. The skill didn’t progress in any way Hattie could quantify.

But the bond between Hattie and Monte grew. They could stay farther apart with the connection no different then if they were close, unlike when they had first gone to Valehdart Forest. And Hattie sensed the stirrings of something more manifesting within herself. A… youthful spryness, an agility, and...something else. Hattie was a little worried about that last one, but there wasn’t any way she knew to stop it. Headmaster Dawson admitted he had never tried preventing a manifestation of the symbiotic familiar bond, so he couldn’t help her.

Hattie tried to ignore her uneasy feelings as best as she could.

A good distraction came about through Hattie making friends among her classmates, even with the age disparity. A particular young lady named Vivianne Armstrong was the one who helped Hattie acclimate. Vivianne worked in the kitchens too, and attended Professor Linden’s course with Hattie.

Hattie struck up a conversation with her when they happened to be walking to class at the same time, and introduced herself.

“What are you here studying for?” Hattie asked.

“I’m studying to be an alchemist.”

“An alchemist? Then why do you need to study monsters?” Hattie asked.

“Professor Linden’s class is pretty important because monster parts are common ingredients. I need to learn how to harvest monster parts,” she said, and then hesitated a moment before she continued, “If you ever need help with the course work, I’m happy to tutor you in the library. I charge three coppers an hour.”

“That’s robbery!” Hattie raised her eyebrows, “To charge so little!”

Vivianne reddened, and her voice lowered, “I’m not a professional, so.”

Hattie didn’t exactly need the tutoring, but she had missed a lot of the first classes, since she'd joined the school at a random time.

In fact, to remedy this, on her first day, Professor Linden had handed her a stack of books to read to catch up. She'd read the, but a few of the more technical ones had been hard to understand without a verbal explanation to accompany them.

“I’d love your help with some of the books from the beginning of the course, but I insist I pay you five coppers, at least.” Hattie’s tone was definitive. Vivianne didn’t argue.

Vivianne and Hattie spent several evenings in the library together.

“Thank you for all your help,” Hattie said after their last scheduled meeting, “Have you been to a food cart run by a gentleman named Han before? He serves the most delicious street food.”

Vivianne hadn’t. So Hattie treated her, and from there, they progressed into a funny friendship. Hattie got to know Vivianne’s social circle somewhat, which consisted of four other students on the same track as her. It was a bit strange with the age difference, but Vivianne made sure Hattie felt welcome. And her group wasn't about to go and anger an old lady with a wolf that followed her around. Still, Hattie mostly socialized with just Vivianne.

Through all this, Hattie kept in touch with Grace. Every once in a while, Hattie sent a letter to Redshire to enquire after the Smith family. Grace would write back, telling her of everyone's daily activities. Min was doing well in school (at least when he wasn't elbow deep in trouble), and Taiki worked hard at his craftsmanship.

Then the letter came. The gold wolves were harvested. Hattie had mixed feelings on that, what with her relationship with Monte. She understood the need from a business point of view. And she knew that the other gold wolves didn’t have the sapience Monte had. But a certain devastation followed.

Monte found out, of course.

Monte had known what would happen to his brethren, but to know it had come to pass was another matter. It hit him hard.

He spent an entire day where he walled himself off from Hattie, and stayed the night in the greenhouse. The next day he reached out to Hattie, his emotions muted, a weird calmness.

“Whatever you need, my friend, I’m here,” Hattie said. That was what mattered: standing by your friends during the hard times, and not just the good ones.

[Thank you.] Monte responded in direct human words for the first time, rather than in just the images, emotions, and perspective that made up all his responses before.

Hattie wasn’t sure of what to make of that, but she let it be.

And thus passed several months.