Chapter 12 School

An excerpt from The White Lion Unicorn Series Book 1: A Colony of Tiny Nekos

Silver Moon received a message from Claire Rose Lutin. It simply stated the Guardians had just started a school for the nekos in Elsewhere. Her son and his sister were encouraged to come to see what there was to learn. The nekos were playing in the hotel room.

“Hey, White Lion and Claira Jaen!”

“What?” they both answered and stopped playing.

“How would you like to go to school with the other nekos?”

“School? Will they teach reading?”

“Yes, probably math and history… I don’t know what else. But they want to gear it to you nekos.”

“Let’s go!” Both nekos jumped up.

“Okay, let’s go to the school and see what there is.”

Silver Moon opened the door to let the nekos out. She followed and closed the door. They ran down the stairs with Silver Moon telling them not to run. The nekos walked out of the hotel and onto the street. They waited for the elf to catch up to them.

She pulled out a map and checked where the school was. “Alright, this way.” She led the way.

It took some time, but the trio found the school. The nekos followed the elf into the building. They found the office, where Silver Moon signed them up.

The nekos got excited when they saw the other tiny nekos. Soon they were chattering in their language. Silver Moon and others smiled at the nekos. Soon the nekos were playing and wrestling in the hallway. Others laughed.

A few teachers walked out into the hallway and soon they were laughing at the sight.

“They act like a bunch of house cats!” said one of the teachers.

Silver Moon nodded. “Yes, they do. They even sound like house cats when they speak their own language.”

“Hmm… that’s not quite the same as the taller nekos. This is going to be interesting.”

Another teacher spoke up, “We need to do some assessments to see what they already know. We’d hate to waste time on something trying to tell them anything they already know.”

“I know White Lion gave some reading lessons, so some of them can already read.”

“Wonderful, that will help. Then we can check that first. Who’s ready to be tested? There are no right or wrong answers. We just want to know what you already know.”

A few nekos volunteered. It took hours, but eventually all the nekos were tested. Many could read a little bit. Some had trouble, but the teachers cheered them up by encouraging them. That was just the first day. The nekos were looking forward to school after that.

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Silver Moon was taking a break. The nekos were in school for the day. She found a place on the canal to sit down and think for a while. Felicia saw her and sat down next to the elf on the bench.

“Hi, Silver Moon.”

“Hi, Felicia. I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“No, I suppose not. I just was curious if you’ve heard anything from Black Wolf since he left.”

“No.”

“Hmm. Sam and I could look him up. What’s his legal name?”

“Na’athan LeBleu.”

Felicia made a note on her little computer. “Got it. Let’s see what information is already available.” She did a quick search. “Oh, this isn’t good.”

“What?”

“He has a criminal record. And he recently married someone. Oh, he has a child as well.”

Silver Moon muttered a few colorful metaphors.

Felicia sighed. “I’m sorry. I hope there aren’t any complications.”

“No chance of those. He’s got his trolley and I have my son.”

Felicia nodded. “If you need anything, just let us know.”

Silver Moon nodded and tried to smile.

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Silver Moon, her son, White Lion, and his sister, Claira Jaen were taking a walk out in the woods. The nekos looked at everything and ran back and forth to not lose their elf guardian.

Another elf was in the woods. He had lighter hair than Silver Moon’s dark, nearly black hair. He was fair skinned as well, and short and skinny as many of the elves of his ethnicity. He was barely taller than Silver Moon, who was not considered tall where she was born and raised. But unlike the other elves in his ethnicity, who were famous for their brown eyes, his were green. But his eyes were not the same shade as hers.

It was Leon who was off by himself to meditate with nature. He certainly was aware of Silver Moon and the nekos. He had offered her his friendship, even though he felt more for her. He was too afraid to tell her how he really felt. He just wanted her to feel safe and comfortable with him. He couldn’t do anything to her without her permission.

But how to tell her without upsetting her? He frowned. He sat down on a large rock to think it over. He had seen the reports about the colony of nekos she and her son had found. The reports also stated she had said she had felt she had been summoned to Elsewhere.

White Lion and Claira Jaen were dancing and laughing when they and his mama had reached the other elf. Leon didn’t seem to notice any of them. Silver Moon nearly gasped when she saw him. She recognized him immediately. She had remembered when she had first seen him and what he said to her.

He looked up and saw her. Neither spoke.

White Lion and Claira Jaen screamed.

Silver Moon quickly turned in their direction. She jumped in front of them as a large black wolf approached them. “Stay away from my son and his sister!”

The other elf stood up.

The wolf growled.

“How dare you! You lied to me. Ran off and married someone else and now you have the audacity to harm my son and his sister! Who do you think you are?”

The wolf readied himself to jump. Silver Moon raised her left index finger. The nekos were still screaming. The other elf could feel what she was doing.

He grabbed his tablet and checked the readings. The psi readings were high. He knew the wolf would attack. His tablet could see hers sending out bad signals. He wasted no time in capturing all data from her tablet and putting his tablet away before he grabbed both nekos.

It was over too quickly for the tiny nekos or the other elf to even know what had happened. The wolf was running away and Silver Moon was lying on the ground quite still.

“Mama!”

The elf let go of the nekos. He pulled out his tablet and held it over her and transmitted the results to the doctor aboard the nearby Guardian ship. “She’s alive.”

“Why isn’t she moving?” asked White Lion.

“She’s unconscious.” His tablet chimed. “Yes? I hope it’s good news.”

“You need to bring her to the ship.”

“Uh…”

The doctor frowned. “You can’t ask her for permission. She will be fine. Just pick her up and carry her to the sickbay. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“Right.” He slipped his tablet into pocket. “She’s going to kill me.”

White Lion was shaking as he looked at the elves. Claira Jaen bit her lip. They watched the elf pick up his mama.

“Come on, White Lion and Claira Jaen. The ship isn’t far.”

The tiny nekos followed arm in arm.

It wasn’t long before they were on the ship. The doctor met them in sickbay.

“Good. Just put her there on that bed.”

The elf set Silver Moon down gently. “She will kill me for that.”

The doctor sighed. “I don’t know why you’re so worried about that. She’s unconscious. I’m sure she’d be happy to know someone cared enough to get her to safety.” The doctor made sure Silver Moon would be comfortable and started to monitor her vitals.

The elf sighed. He was shorter than the doctor.

“Oh, you must like her a lot.”

The elf made an o with his mouth.

“I see. I know your group of elves have always been good about making sure you have a woman’s permission before you do anything to her.”

He looked down to the floor.

“I think her reaction to you will shock you. Now, do any of you need anything?”

“She needs a new tablet. I think the nekos are just more frightened than anything else.”

White Lion nodded. “What happened to her tablet?”

The doctor pulled the tablet from Silver Moon’s front pocket. “Oh!” It was clearly destroyed. She pressed a button on the monitor and requested a new tablet for the writer. “We’re flying back to Elsewhere and there will be a new tablet for Ms. Unicorn. I requested they’d give it to you. I hope you saved her data.”

“I did.”

“Good. White Lion, I’m not sure when your mama will wake up, but she needs to rest for now. You can go back to school with your sister.”

“Okay. So what happened to her?”

“She used her magic to protect you.”

White Lion looked to the short elf. “I knew she was magical, but why did it make her unconscious?”

“I don’t know. Does she use her magic on a regular basis?”

“No. She rarely uses it.”

“Oh, that explains a lot.”

The doctor nodded. “I see. She probably doesn’t know how powerful she is.”

“Her psi readings were quite high. The werewolf was using some magic against her as well.”

“Oh! It was her former partner.”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“Okay. It may take some time for her to recover.”

“Oh?” The short elf raised his eyebrows.

“She’s not as strong and as healthy as she could be. But then again considering where she’s from, she’s better off than most of the other people are.”

He nodded. “Come on, White Lion and Claira Jaen, let’s let the doctor do what she needs to. You can talk to her later.”

“Okay.”