Children of Night and Snow

58. Refugees

"Refugees, good morning," I heard a familiar voice ring through the dining hall. It has been two days since we arrived in Midnight City. Az and I were to start our training tomorrow and so was the rest of the group. Now I was watching his uncle as he addressed the whole crowd of approximately eighty wolves sitting quietly at their tables, all eyes on him.

"You are all here for the same reason, you wish to enter and live in our beloved capitol. While I congratulate you all for even reaching this place and accepting the challenges you'll inevitably face on your journey, it is my duty to explain to you what exactly those challenges are," he began, his healthy eye scanning the room. He had an aura around him, an authority in his voice that would make me tremble only a few months ago. But I held his gaze when his sight landed on me, determined to not let him get to me. I was here by my own choice. I wasn't going to back down easily. Nolan gave my hand a reassuring squeeze under the table as if he could sense my thoughts.

"While you're staying here at the training centre, you are bound by its rules which were explained to you upon arrival. You are to train and prepare however you see fit for your big test which is scheduled a week before Summer Solstice. There will be routine checks performed to see your progress. If you don't put enough effort or don't show enough potential, you will leave before that day. This isn't a vacation spot. You are living on our residents' money under the promise of being their future guardians. It is your duty to stick to that promise."

"If you survive long enough to reach the testing stage, you will have to push yourself to the limit and be willing to show just how much you wish to join us. Some of you will make it. Some of you will fail. And some of you will die," a chill ran down my spine at the thought. Was I ever going to get used to this? To the constant threat to my survival? Or was there any hope at all that if I live long enough, make it far enough, that I'll be at a place where I don't have to live in that fear?

"If you pass and become a Midnight City resident, you will be bound to your new military duty for forty years. The only way to leave earlier is in the casket. That is your price for living here. And if any of the things I just said aren't what you want, you may as well pack up and leave now, because there will be no exceptions. Any questions?" he asked, but silence was his only answer. I looked around me. Most men and women in the room were built similarly to us. Clearly people who've been living rough lives, who were willing to do what it took.

But there were a few who seemed very out of place. They reminded me a bit of myself when Devan first brought me home from the tunnels. They may not have been as small as I was and their natural wolf instincts likely weren't as suppressed, but it was obvious that they never had to fight for survival before. Part of me felt sorry for them. Unless they were able to find someone willing to help them, they were likely doomed. The other part of me however was relieved, because it meant they were unlikely to be a threat to my chances. It was a thought I'd be ashamed of having a few months ago, but it wasn't a new one. At the end of the day, I was always thinking this way. Even before I moved North.

Twins uncle, the general, left and we resumed our day. The one free day before a new routine began. It was almost the end of January and we had a lot of work ahead of us. Or I did anyway. While we all needed to train in order to reach the requirements, I was by far the worst. It was a daunting task to catch up on years of training in a few months, but I tried to remain positive. I already learnt so much in the time I spent with Devan, Nolan and Connor. How to shift, how to control my instincts and abilities as well as using them properly, how to hunt and survive in the wilderness. Even how to steal and how to kill. Whether or not I was proud of the last two. I could do this. I believed I could.

"That was intense. What now?" Lucia was the one to break the silence in which we ate after that little speech. We still had a full free day ahead of us and the entertainment options were incredibly limited to say the least.

"We could play poker?" Suggested Connor.

"And have you cheat us all out of money again? Not a chance," Demi laughed at him. He replied with a shrug and mischievous smile.

"We could go swim," I said and watched them all look at me with a strange kind of reluctance.

"Swim?" Nolan asked me as if I suggested something really crazy.

"Yeah, I know there is a pool. And it's good for the body," I tried to play cool, but inside the idea really excited me now that I voiced it out loud. Still, the rest of them looked unconvinced except for the twins who seemed not to care at all.

"You guys know how to swim right?" I asked jokingly, but the silence I got in response wasn't funny at all. I looked at them expectantly. They couldn't be serious. But then I thought of it. Did they even have a chance to learn? I wasn't aware if Duskfall had such a thing as a public swimming pool. They had the hot springs, but there wasn't really a need to swim in those. Not properly swim anyway.

"Gods, okay we really gotta go swim now," I said.

"Freya, are you sure this is-" Nolan began to likely try and change my mind but I put my hand to his mouth and silenced him mid sentence.

"Nope, we need to teach you how to swim. Besides, for once there is something I can do that you can't and that is simply too tempting to pass up on," I refused to hear him out. Az and Aaron chuckled next to me.

"You know what, she's right. This should be hilarious," Aaron backed me up. Based on their reaction and body language, I was almost certain that twins didn't share the same predicament as the remaining five members of our group. It made sense they'd know how to swim if they grew up here. If the city just put a swimming pool to a place like this where only the necessary stuff was, it seemed reasonable to assume that it's residents had access to swimming pools as well.

"I really don't like where this is heading," Demi mumbled as she reluctantly got up from the table.

"I bet you now wish you just accepted my poked offer," Connor said following her closely behind with all of us in tow.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun," I tried to cheer them up but one look from Devan and Nolan told me that it was futile. And for some reason that amused me even more.

"Speak for yourself," Lucia practically growled while looking at the swimsuit she received along with her workout clothes two days prior. I just shook my head and chuckled at their distaste. I loved swimming. Leaving them to their devices I went to the bathroom to change. When I came back out most of them were already changed, their comfort with nudity once again on full display. After spending a week in the wilderness with all of them, constantly shifting back and forth, my uneasiness with this lessened considerably, but I still wasn't comfortable enough to just not seek a changing space if there was one.

"Let's go before I change my mind," Nolan mumbled, not at all happy about the whole thing. I took his hand and gave him my best smile, which only made him sulk more, likely because he knew he didn't stand a chance at winning that argument.

"This is gonna be one of the best days of my life. Freya, you're brilliant," Aaron laughed while we walked towards the swimming pool area. Needless to say this didn't help the overall mood in the group, but twins and I definitely found it very amusing.