As Tess and Sophie walked down the stairs, Sophie transmitted to her.

Don't worry, Grady is really nice and easy to talk to

Thanks for the reassurance

They walked into the kitchen and sat at the table. Tess noticed the smile on Grady's face and the few green feathers sticking out of his blonde hair. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that Grady was actually Sophie's birth father.

"Hi Tess. It's great to meet you" Grady said. Tess smiled.

"It's great to meet you too" she said. Tess wasn't sure of what to say, she's never had to meet a new family before. What do you say in these kinds of situations?

"So, you're fourteen?" Grady asked.

"In human years, yes. In elvin terms, I'm the same age as Sophie" Tess said.

Tess looked over to Sophie and Keefe, and they were looking at the conversation going on between Grady and herself. She didn't know what to do next.

Sophie, what do I say? I'm desperate

He'll talk to you, just answer his questions

"Tess, after dinner, would you like to go out and see the animals? Maybe the verminion will take more of a liking to you than to me" Grady said, then he laughed. It was a hearty sound, and Tess seemed to brighten up at it.

"I'd like to see the creature that gave you those feathers as well" Tess said with a smile on her face. Edaline sighed, and picked the feathers out of Grady's hair.

"That creature would be Verdi, our resident T-Rex. I'm assuming you've never seen an actual T-Rex before" Edaline said. Tess had seen Verdi before, in the character art from the author of the book, but she decided to play along and shook her head. She looked down at her food, and it was a bowl of soupy green stuff that tasted like pizza. Tess was glad the Elves were vegetarian, because she's been vegetarian since since she was 11. She did it slightly because she wanted to be more like the elves and get a head start on changing her diet. But also because of how animals were treated in the Forbidden Cities. Mostly it was the latter.

"Tess, after we go to the animal pens, I think you should go to your room to try on your Foxfire uniform, make sure it fits" Edaline said. Tess nodded. She honestly was very overwhelmed and never knew how to respond when she met new people. You can thank anxiety for that she thought.

"I'm starting as a level four, right?" Tess asked. She had already asked Alden, but she wanted to be sure. She thought it was cool to have a dragon pin on her uniform.

"Yes, you're starting with Sophie, Dex, and Biana" Grady said.

"Which also means you're starting with Stina" Keefe said. Sophie brushed his arm with her hand to silently tell him that he wasn't helping.

"Don't worry, I've had a lot of experience with bullies and mean kids" Tess said. "My tactic is just to ignore them. Usually it works" she added. Sophie smiled.

When they all finished their dinner, they went outside to the animals. There were probably hundreds of different species, some of which were extinct to the humans. She saw a Dodo bird, a saber-toothed tiger, and a woolly mammoth. Then she looked at the more decorated pens, which she figured were the permanent guests in the Havenfield rehabilitation center. She saw a green feathered creature who looked a lot like he could be Verdi. She walked over to him, and tried to transmit.

Hi, Verdi. I'm Tess. I live here now 

Verdi replied with a roar, and Tess smiled brightly. It wasn't the first time she had communicated with an animal, but hearing a dinosaur roar was a brilliant sound, and an amazing accomplishment to her, having lived with the humans for so long, and learning about dinosaurs in science class.

She looked at the pen with the verminion, and walked over to it. She wasn't aware that she was being watched by Grady, Edaline, Sophie, and Keefe anymore. All she cared about was getting this giant hamster to like her. She walked closer to the pen, but still at a safe distance. She looked the verminion in the eye, hoping to get the point across that she was now the boss. Instead of getting the reaction she wanted, she was greeted with a slobbery roar, and in a second her face was covered with verminion saliva. She heard people running over to her, and she backed away from the pen. That verminion didn't like anyone.

"Tess, are you okay?" Edaline asked, as she grabbed Tess's arms to check for any injuries. Tess flinched, and jerked away from Edaline. She didn't mean to, it was just an instinct, and a force of habit for her to move away from anything that touches her. She walked back over to Edaline, and softly apologized.

"No need to apologize, I should have warned you first" Edaline said. Tess was glad that she wasn't mad at her. Of course she flinched away from her adoptive mother the first day she met her. That was just a Tess thing to do. Ruin her relationships with people before they even start.

"That verminion seriously doesn't like anybody" Tess said with a small laugh to show that she was over the situation.

"That's why it's one of our permanent residents. We wouldn't be able to trust it in the sanctuary with other animals. It's too aggressive" Grady said as he threw food into the pen for the verminion.

"Anyways, you should go try on your Foxfire uniform now. I want to know if it fits so we know if we need to order a new one" Edaline said. Tess nodded, and walked back into the house that would now be her home. She walked up the stairs to the second floor, and entered her new room. Of course it would take a bit of getting used to, and she would have to decorate and make it her own, but it was a nice room. The curtain was one long black sheet, the bed was a sweet one with a canopy, and the shelves were very big. Tess remembered something about the room, and went to go check. She looked at the wall where the door would be if it was opened, and sure enough, there was a mirror. She opened the mirror, but there was nothing inside. Sophie must have taken the notebook when she found it and never put it back. Or they had taken it out when they cleaned the room out. Either way, the book was gone.

Tess looked on the bed and found her green level four uniform. She couldn't believe this was happening. She'd actually be going to Foxfire. She did still need practice with light leaping, and other basic elvin skills. Grady, Edaline, and Sophie were going to help her with some of her abilities. She especially needed help with mesmerizing, because if she didn't know how to control that ability, herself and others would be in serious danger.

"Okay, I need to stop thinking about things and actually put this uniform on" she said out loud, absent-minded. She has been known to talk to herself quite a bit.

She slipped her regular clothes off, and put on the leggings, pleated skirt, shirt, vest, and the waist length cape. She looked in the mirror, and actually liked what she saw. She looked like an actual elf. She had a place she belonged to, and she was in it. She probably has never been this happy since she got her first boyfriend, and that was in the fourth grade. And who knows what could happen in this world. It was very different from the human world, and things worked differently. How hard could it be to adapt? She looked at herself in the mirror again, and sighed. Based off of how hard of a time Sophie had, it probably wouldn't be easy. But, to be fair, she did have an advantage. She had the books.