This Picture was taken in Glen Nevis in Scotland.

We come to a large oak door with black hinges and a large lock. Iona pulls out a key and the lock clinks as she turns it. Inside is a small stone room. I smile as I see our weapons sitting in cases in the room.

"When you were brought here, we made sure your weapons were safe," Iona tells us. I nod my head, walking over to the glass case where my weapons sit. It is good to see them again.  The silver patterns on the weapons all sparkle as I lift the glass case off of them. I place my hand on one of the daggers then gasp as images flash in my mind.

I look up at a woman who smiles down at me. She holds my hand delicately and I can see her hair of lilacs gliding around her. She warmly smiles down at me and I smile back. I love her, my mother. We walk into a room. In the centre is a glass case full of sparkling weapons. My father already stands there, beaming.

"Are those mine?" I ask, excited, my voice sounding much younger. My mother laughs.

"Yes," she says, lifting me up so I can see them better.

"They're pretty," I say in my young voice.

"They were made especially for you!" My father says, coming over and taking me out of my mother's arms and holding me. I wrap my arms around him, still looking at the sparkling weapons in the case.

"I want to touch them," I say, leaning over the case trying to reach them. My parents laugh as they try to restrain me.

"I want to show Toryn!" I yell. "and Enzo!"

"Not yet, little Isla," my mother says, her voice soft and loving.

"They are for when you are a big girl," My father says. I look up at him, feeling tears in my eyes.

"I am a big girl."

"Yes, but not big enough. Toryn isn't getting his yet either. Neither are your sisters."

"But Enzo has his!" I shout. My parents laugh again.

"Because Enzo is a big boy."

"He's only two years older than me!" I screech. My father puts me on the floor.

"He was ten when he got his weapons, you will be ten when you get yours," my mother explains. I look up at them again and sigh.

"Okay," I tell them.

"You're just going to have to make do with your training weapons for now," she tells me. I roll my eyes and sigh a little huff of annoyance.

"Fine," I mutter. They laugh again, each of them taking one of my hands.

"We love you Isla, you'll get them when you're ready," my mother says, looking down at me with a soft delicate smile on her beautiful face.

"Weapons aren't toys, they can hurt people. They may look pretty but the reason that they are made is not pretty at all." My father tells me with wisdom in his deep voice.

"I know," I tell them.

"Good," my parents say at the same time.

"Now, let's find Toryn," my mother says. I smile widely and race ahead of them laughing.

I gasp and step back as the memory forces it's self to be seen. I look at my siblings and see the same shocked look on their faces.

"I just remembered something," I say.

"Me too." The three of them say at the same time. I smile.

"I remember Mother and Father showing me the weapons for the first time, but I wasn't allowed to touch them yet," I tell them.

"Yes, that is the same with me," Toryn replies.

"And us," Serenity and Tanya say at the same time. So, our memories are coming back. I beam as I place my weapons onto our uniform.

"I wonder why it was so important, showing us our weapons," Toryn says.

"Because all our weapons are designed specifically for our houses and for us. No weapon is the same, they are all unique to the personality and the fighting style of the person wielding them," Iona replies. I nod my head in understanding.

"Come on, we have to go to our next lesson," she tells us. I nod my head, smiling that I managed to remember something.

We come to a large room with multiple bits of equipment sitting around it. Large archways lead to a field with yet more equipment. We are the first ones in the room. A man walks over. He is the biggest man I have ever seen. He stands taller than Toryn and is massively muscular. 

"Iona," he says. Iona smiles. "Lord Black," she says, nodding her head.

"These are the Dragoheirs?" he asks.

"Yes." The man bows to us and I look at my siblings awkwardly.

"I am happy that you are finally home," he says. He stands up, towering above me in a wall of muscle.

"I am Lord Black," he says. His eyes are large and dark brown, matching his scruffy brown hair. "I shift into a bear," he tells us and I nod my head.

"In this lesson, I teach physical combat and training, this is where you learn how to use those," he points at our weapons. I smile.

"We already know how," Tanya tells him.  He raises an eyebrow.

"Really, well when the rest of the class arrive, you'll have to show us," he chuckles, his voice deep. He crosses his arms, squaring his huge shoulders.

"This is all the training equipment," he tells us. "These things help train areas of strength, speed, flexibility and stamina. There is also equipment to train your hand to hand combat skills as well as your weapons skills. There will be some lessons where you chose to train what you want and some structured lessons. At the end of each week, we have a competition with the whole class to see who can come out on top in a specific skill. We also watch at least two spars each lesson between students of my choosing. Sometimes it will one against one, sometimes one against three. It depends." He tells us.

"Outside is where you do target practice," he tells us. "This top area over there," he says, looking at a raised area at the room, "is where we spar." I can see a sort of square arena with lots of obstacles inside along with large mats.

"Sometimes you will only spar on the mats, other times there will be obstacles." I nod my head. "All this other equipment around the room is to help training." I look at all the beams, bars and blocks all fitting together. There is so much. I smile, knowing I am going to enjoy this class. I turn, hearing people enter the room. They all wear black and one boy leads them. Iona and Lord Black bow as they enter. I can already tell who is related to whom. The boy comes over to us with a smile on his face. He is tall and handsome with golden hair and bright blue eyes. He is muscular, but not like my brother.

"Hello," he says. "I am Prince Daniel Howlsky, my mother is the High Queen." I raise my eyebrows and look at Iona for guidance. Do I bow? Daniel chuckles. "You don't need to bow, don't worry," he says.

"It is good to have you home," he says.

"A lot of people keep saying that," I state. He smiles.

"Because it is true," he smiles. "Let me introduce you to the other Royals." I nod my head.

"This is Oliver Bearella, Prince of Zultan," I look at the boy who steps forward. He is the same size as Lord Black! Perhaps even bigger.

"Hello," he says, shaking my hand and a warm smile on his face.

"Oliver is the strongest shifter in the academy, stronger than Lord Black. He can shift into a Great Polar Bear.

"We'll see about that," Toryn laughs. The other boy's chuckle and I roll my eyes.

"These are the Greybites, Princess Andrea and Princess Yvette." Two girls step forward. They are tall and muscular too, with soft grey hair which fades to white. They have it tightly pulled back in thick braids. Their eyes are large and dark and their features sharp. They are beautiful, yet fierce.

"We are Great White Sharks," Andrea says with a large smile. I nod my head.

"These are the Scorpallis family, Princes Maryanne, Prince Tylo and Princess Finola. They are Scorpions." I nod, already knowing this, but taking in the information. The three of them look very similar, with dark tanned skin and dark brown hair and eyes. They are medium height and very slim, yet slightly muscled still.

"You may be thinking that we are tiny scorpions, but we are not," Maryanne says. Her hair is cut short around her face and messy. Her dark eyes are lined with a brown liner, making her eyes look darker. She looks very fierce.

"Err, Okay," is all I say to them. They look at each other and laugh. I smile along with them.

They then turn serious. Yvette comes over to me.

"Isla," her accent is slightly different to mine. "We all heard what Darcy was saying to you earlier and are sorry that we didn't intervene."

"That's okay, I need to fight my own battles if I am to become queen," I sigh.

"Even so, we should have done something," Andrea says. The two of them, Andrea and Yvette look very alike. There are only very slight differences in their appearances.

"Don't worry about it, we are very capable of looking after ourselves," Tanya says. I nod my head.

"We have faced much worse than a jealous brat," Toryn tells them. They all laugh.

"I think we are all going to get on very well," Tylo says.

"Even so," Daniel interrupts. "Those things Darcy said are not true," he tells us. The four of us nod our heads. It is quiet for a few seconds.

"We will help you settle in, though I am sure Iona is doing a very good job," Daniel tells us. I look back at Iona who smiles brightly.

"Yes, she is," I reply.

"I would be very offended if you though anything but Danny," she snaps back. He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms with a raised eyebrow. Danny? She's allowed to call him something else?

"I thought I told you not to call me that," he chuckles.    

"Call you what? Danny?" she asks innocently. The others laugh.

"Danny, Danny Dan Dan," she laughs. He uncrosses his arms and races toward her. I jump out of his way, spinning around to see him run into her. She laughs and he tackles her to the floor.

"Iona and Prince Daniel are really close," Oliver tells me. "They are like brother and sister and they fight like they are."

"Why are they so close?" Toryn asks.

"Iona's father is the leader of Shadows Army and advisor to the High Queen Katrina, Daniels Mother. They've grown up together. Plus, Iona's mother is dead and so is Daniels father. The Queen sort of adopted her, she is like a daughter to the queen and Prince Daniel is like a son to Iona's father. They are best friends." I nod my head.

"Break it up!" Lord Black shouts, his voice booming around the hall. He walks over to them and pulls them apart as the rest of the students walk in.

"As the two of you are so desperate to fight, you can open today's lesson with a spar," he tells them. The two of them walk over to the small arena, pushing at each other as they do so.

"Why are you so annoying?" Daniel asks.

"Why are you so boring?" Iona snaps back. That results in another push.

"Welcome class, we are starting today by watching a spar between Iona and Daniel." There is a chorus of "Yes's" that ring out around the room. I frown confused and look back at the other royals.

"Daniel and Iona are the best fighters, they are amazing to watch," Finola tells me. I nod my head. We all walk to the arena. It is a long rectangle with blue mats on the floor. A small barrier sits around it where all the students stand around looking in at Iona and Daniel who stand at opposite ends of the rectangle. Iona smiles and pulls out a long golden tube. she flicks it in her wrists and on either end of the tube, long slightly curved gleaming silver blades pop out. My eyes widen as she spins it around in her hands.

Daniel reaches behind and pulls out two strange curved blades. They have black handles and curve around his knuckles then straiten into deadly points. The edges are serrated and deadly sharp. The two smirk at each other.

"They train together at the palace so watching them is really entertaining because they already know each other's strengths and weaknesses and how to exploit them," Andrea tells me, leaning on the barrier. I turn and face them.

"The first one to draw blood wins," Lord Bear tells them. My eyes widen.

Oliver turns around to me with a smile.

"Lord Bear is only allowed to teach Royals and High families, his way of training is very violent," he chuckles. "These lessons can get very violent and a lot of non-predatory shifters wouldn't be able to cope. Expect to see lots of blood. This sort of training also satisfies the predatory side of us because we don't hunt." I nod my head and look back at the arena.

"Begin!" Lord Bear shouts. Iona and Daniel race toward each other and the clang of metal smashing against metal fills the room. I watch as the two dance around each other, their weapons spinning. The room is loud with cheering and I find myself becoming engrossed. Iona and Danial are excellent and very quick. Iona swings her double-bladed sword at an incredible speed, striking at Daniel who manages to block the attacks with ease. I can see what the others meant. The two seem to know the attack the other is going to make before they do it. Iona however, does something Daniel doesn't expect and manages to slice his arm. Everyone cheers as Daniel and Iona laugh and shake hands.

"Thank you, for that nice beginning of the lesson," Lord Black says. "Now, who would like to face Oliver in hand to hand combat?" he asks. Oliver steps into the small arena and everyone is silent. Oliver looks at us.

"What about a Dragoheir?" he asks. My siblings all look at me. I roll my eyes and hop over the barrier and into the arena. Everything goes silent.

"Hand to hand combat only, no weapons and no powers," Lord Black instructs. "No shifting! First to break another's bone wins!"
I nod my head and look at Oliver. He smiles arrogantly and I raise an eyebrow. My heart already starts to rush in anticipation for this fight. They were right in the fact that the dragon side of me, the predator longs for the adrenaline and excitement that comes with a fight. It is the same feeling that would fill me when hunting my pray.

"Begin!" he shouts. The two of us circle each other, watching. Oliver is the first to attack. He is fast and I already know he is strong. I raise my arm, blocking his powerful arm. The impact hits my arm and I can feel his strength. But I am also strong. Everyone gasps as I block the attack. I spin, twisting my body to allow my leg to swing. it catches him in the stomach and he flies into the barrier which shudders from the force. He is up in an instant, barrelling toward me. I have no time to move before his body collides with mine. My back slams into the ground. I can hear everyone cheering in the background as I slam my head into his and kick his body off mine. We both jump up, staring at each other. He attacks again. Our bodies spin as we duck and weave around each other's attacks. Oliver is using his full strength, as am I so when I manage to swing my fist into his face, his whole body flies back into the barrier and a crunch sounds loud and clear. Oliver has blood running down his face as he sits dazed and the rest of the class cheer. I smile, as all the energy and excitement fills my body.

"Isla wins!" Lord Black shouts. Oliver stands, healing already and walks toward me.

"That was awesome," he says. I chuckle and we slap our hands together.
Andrea throws him a cloth, laughing, which he uses to wipe off the blood.

"You're stronger than you look," Oliver jokes.

"Well, I am a Dragon," I tell him. He just slaps my shoulder and laughs.

"Alright class, let's get on with the lesson!" Lord Bear shouts.