"No," Alistair argued over breakfast. "You missed years of training. That's more important than going to school."

Whose fault is that? she thought bitterly. "It's not about school," Natania replied, trying to stay reasonable. "It's about knowing my own pack. They don't know me, they don't respect me, and we're going to be officially made a pack this year. I need to know them, their strengths and weaknesses, and establish the new ranks. I don't even know who to make my second." They had been bound by blood six years ago, when her father had reclaimed her, but there was no established order in the pack.

"Ezra's son should be your second," he said, naming his own second. "And their ranks are already established."

"No, he shouldn't," Natania growled. She didn't know Ezra's son Avery well, and his sister Hayley was the bane of her existence. "I barely know Avery, he can't be my second if I don't trust him. Plus the children are not the parents. They should earn their own ranks. Hayley is a coward, should she be my third?" She challenged.

She would have liked to mention that his second and third both had two children, so that would screw up the ranking as well, but she knew he would just say the male should be higher.

Alistair narrowed his eyes. "You can't break every tradition."

"I can if they're stupid traditions," Natania grumbled. "I need to be around my pack, I bet you weren't kept isolated from yours when you were my age."

Alistair sniffed. "I didn't miss ten years of training."

"Whose fault is that?" she snapped, losing her cool. "Stop punishing me for your crappy choices. I'm going, we can train in the evenings if you want, but I'm going." Knowing she was in for a snarl fest, Natania turned and ran out the door, not giving him a chance to argue.

She'd forgotten to grab her bag in her haste but she didn't care. She wasn't going back there. The forest flew by in a blur as she ran, paws steady on the familiar ground. When the pine needles changed to tilled soil, she slowed.

Sara's house was the same as she remembered, but the garden was much bigger. Even in its not yet planted state. Natania pushed through the wolf door without knocking, almost running straight into Branson, who was tying his shoes by the door.

"Whoa! Nat? What are you doing here?" he asked, regaining his balance.

"We're going to class," she replied, like it should have been obvious.

"You convinced him? Where is your stuff?"

Natania huffed and turned her back. "I don't care what he wants. And I don't want to talk about it."

Branson laughed, which caught the attention of Sara. "You can borrow some of mine," he said as Sara approached.

"Natania! What are you doing here?" Sara crouched down and Natania walked into her arms.

"Walking Branson to class. I missed you." Natania pressed into Sara, almost pushing her over.

"I missed you too, Sunshine. How are you doing?"

"Alistair broke her ribs a couple days ago," Branson broke in. "So probably not that good."

Natania narrowed her eyes at him as Sara gasped. "Just a training accident, I'm perfectly fine," Natania assured her. Not mentioning that that was a common enough occurrence where her father was concerned. Sara was too gentle for that kind of thing. She didn't want her foster mother to worry.

"That's quite the accident," Sara said, her tone laced with suspicion.

"Look what you did," Natania grumbled at Branson, only letting him hear her. "Don't tell her shit like that."

"I'm really okay, we're going to be late though. Come on, Branson." Natania nuzzled Sara once more. "Love you."

Natania didn't know what the first classes of the day were, she hadn't made it to class before lunch during the current school year. She knew after lunch was Chemistry, P.E, French and Biology, but not the rest. So she followed Branson. "It's Math first," he told her. At her grimace, he grinned. "I know, they torture us right in the door."

"I know how to do math," she said with a yawn. "As long as it's not trig." She knew how to do trigonometry, but she hated it.

"Well you're in luck, we're doing polynomials right now. Afterwards, it's English, then Current Events, then Music," he explained. Since the school was so small, the wolves were bundled into the same course list, even though they were slightly different ages, with the odd human student where needed. Each year they had one kind of art class. She knew the last year had been painting, which she had actually enjoyed the two or three times she had been able to attend.

"Music?" Natania was a little leery about music, at least, making her own music. She liked listening to it just fine. She could sing too, but instruments were not her strong suit.

Branson laughed at the look on her face. "Yes, singing and instruments, your favourite. It's great with our hearing, all that rookie instrument playing. Just great."

Natania shuddered, which made him laugh harder. Maybe she had picked a bad year to come back to class. "You pissed off your father for this, you're in it now," he said. "Can't give up that easily."

Natania sighed with defeat but followed him to the first class. Her lips quirked up a little when Leah saw her and did a double take, but Natania didn't acknowledge her. If she couldn't convince her father to let her keep coming, she didn't want to cause more problems.

Natania slid into an open seat next to Damien, Branson had told her he was a target because his wolf looked like a German Shepherd dog, fawn with a black saddle. "Hey," she greeted him.

Damien blinked. "Oh, um, hi!" he stuttered nervously.

"What are we doing today?" she asked, even though Branson had already told her. Wanting to give the wolf a chance to calm down.

"Polynomials and graphing," he replied. "Do you need graph paper? I have tons."

Natania grinned. "Sure, I managed to forget all of my stuff today. Thank you."

"I've got an extra calculator," someone behind her whispered.

Natania spun around, it was Valerie. She held out the calculator and Natania took it with another grin. "Thank you. Just like me to be unprepared for my first class." She laughed quietly.

A few other wolves offered extra supplies, Natania accepted them all graciously, even the ones she had already gotten from Branson. It gave her a chance to talk to them all. To get first impressions. Show them that she didn't bite. She'd remember to return them all at the end of the class.

They all quieted down as the final bell buzzed, and the teacher started the lesson. Math certainly wasn't her best subject, but the group around her made a sort of study group when they were told to work on the assignment. Damien was evidently amazing at math, and ended up the de-facto leader of the group. Offering gentle corrections and guidance as they worked through the sheet.

There were too many of them to do one large group, but she would try to work with a different set of wolves in the next class.

English left her sitting next to the still slightly wounded Mason. Natania couldn't help a tinge of shame when she sat down. She hadn't meant to hurt him so badly. "I'm sorry," she said so only he could hear. Mason stiffened. "I overreacted. I hope you're okay."

He ducked his head, quivering slightly in his seat. Natania sighed. She'd have to win his loyalty back over time. For now, she gave him space but tried to tap into her Charisma, an ability the pureblood wolves like herself had that made the pack want to follow them. She hadn't mastered it quite yet, but she tried to send a small trickle to Mason, so he at least wouldn't be afraid to sit next to her.

It took a good fifteen minutes before the wolf started to calm down, and she pulled it back when he did. Natania didn't want to take away his free will, she just wanted to take the edge of fear away from him.

There wasn't as much of a chance for group work in that class, but when they paused for discussions Natania spoke up in support of the wolves who were obviously shy in their answers.

Natania managed to sit with Branson in Current Events. She didn't want to neglect him just because she didn't need to win his loyalty, but she still dragged as many wolves into her group as she could. Branson was actually very good in the subject, so she tried to steer him into leading the discussion, but he was too shy to take over for long.

She was surprised when Alex joined their group, offering insight they hadn't considered. Natania gave him an approving nod, though she was still a bit suspicious of him. He'd been a problem when they were children as well, but he was being civil, so she let him be.

Music almost broke her. It was an instrument day, and the combination of squeaky clarinets, obnoxiously loud trumpets and saxophones had her eyes watering. She walked out of class mid lesson, before she could lose her mind, and sat in the hallway, rubbing her aching head.

After a few minutes, Leah stormed up to her, scowling. "You didn't bring ear plugs, did you?"

Natania glanced up in surprise, she'd been so focused on her headache that she hadn't heard the wolf approach. "What?"

"Ear. Plugs." Leah repeated the words slowly, like she was an idiot.

"No?" Natania said questioningly. "I didn't know what the first half of the schedule was."

Leah grumbled but held out her hand and Natania tentatively held out her own hand. Leah dropped something into it. "Take these, and get back in there." The wolf stormed off again before Natania could reply.

Natania glanced at her hand, Leah had given her a pair of simple ear plugs. The foam kind that you squished before inserting. With a long suffering sigh, Natania inserted the plugs and went back into the class.

She had to admit it was much more bearable, and the class after that was kind of fun. Natania wasn't brave enough to try the squeakier instruments herself, but she played a bit of the drums, laughing with a few of the wolves when she couldn't keep to the proper count.

"Thank you," Natania said as she slid into her seat in Chemistry. Leah shrugged, flipping through her notes.

"No one should have to listen to that," Leah replied a few minutes later.

Natania blinked at her, surprised she had actually spoken. "I appreciate it," she muttered, but Leah went back to ignoring her.

Since they were expected to only work with their partners during Chemistry, Natania wasn't able to work in her pack relations. Leah was content to do the work by herself, and Natania had studied this all before, so the class passed in relative silence between lectures.