The morning light filtered through the small fissures in the mountain and fell on Rion as he stood within his training chamber with his arms folded across his chest.

Dora, Karhun and Yuura sat on the rocks placed near the wall of the chamber with their eyes locked on the entrance as they waited for the last member of their squad.

A few minutes later, a person walked inside the training chamber.

Just as the figure stepped inside, Dora jumped off the rock, pointed a finger at him and yelled, "What is he doing here?!"

Rion closed his eyes and exhaled softly. "Calm down."

She looked at him with a furious expression and snapped, "You are asking me to calm down after taking in the guy who tried to stop you?!"

Rion turned towards him and asked, "As you can see, my squad member doesn't think that good of you... So, tell us why you did it, Tarun?"

Tarun nodded, turned his head towards Dora and explained, "All of you probably already know that I am an orphan."

Just as those words slid off his tongue, a surprised expression appeared on all of their faces. Even Dora's anger was replaced by surprise.

He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "None of you know that...? There has to be one who knows, right?" His voice was wrapped in disbelief.

None of them replied, and he continued after heaving a sigh, "I wasn't an orphan from the start... It's just that my parents were too young to have me, my father was still a hunter, and during one of the hunts, he... he fell under the miasma and became a Tainted." Tears glistened across the surface of his eyes, but none of them fell.

Everyone's expression darkened, but he continued, "My mother, who loved him the most, was devastated... so much so that even the blood of god couldn't stop her from the path of Celestia..." The tears finally left the embrace of his warm eyes and rolled down his face.

Their expressions darkened, yet none of them spoke. Not because they failed to grasp the weight of his words, but because they understood how much he was forcing himself to say them.

Tarun wiped off the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath before he said, "From then I was taken care of by my father's friend, Kiroa. However, he didn't do it because he cared about me but because he wanted a doll for himself."

He lifted his gaze, looked into Rion's eyes and added, "... and when you took the fang trial, he asked me to show you your place."

Rion pushed all of his heavy thoughts to the back of his mind and asked, "Why did he ask you to do that?"

Tarun scratched the side of his head and said, "...It's because he doesn't like your father."

"Huh?!" All of them exclaimed at the same time, and Yuura asked in a baffled tone while pointing at Rion, "He doesn't like his father? The Dragonslayer?"

The others had the same question, and Tarun answered with a nod, "Yeah, it's because the Dragonslayer married someone who is not a Dhaevrak and a former enemy at that."

Everyone's eyes gleamed in understanding. Everyone except Rion, because to him it was absolutely stupid to dislike any of his parents.

Dhaevrak or not, Lara still had the blood of the God of Throne, so she was a Dhaevrak in a way. Which she was because Dhaevraks were the only humans that had the blood of the gods.

"Kiroa... fence guard?" Kahrun asked with his hand on his chin.

Tarun nodded.

Rion facepalmed and yelled in thought, 'I knew it!'

Karhun looked at him with a worried expression and asked, "You good?"

Rion gave him a nod and turned his head towards Tarun. He didn't know if he should let him in the squad or not because all of this could be another scheme of Kiroa, but... he could feel that Tarun wasn't showing a false face at the moment.

He shifted his gaze towards Dora, who had previously shown her disapproval of him, but all he could find was sympathy and guilt.

He walked beside him and patted his shoulder before stating, "We only have a few hours to get a squad leader... we can do the talk of hearts afterwards."

The others nodded, though a bit reluctantly, and began to follow behind him.

Rion walked out of his cavernous chamber and made his way towards the person he believed the most likely to help him out with his current ordeal — Haria.

Like usual, he climbed the cliff to the west and made his way towards Haria's training area.

A few moments later, they reached the clearing and found Haria sitting on a rock with folded legs while watching her squad leaders spar with each other.

She turned her head towards Rion and asked in a teasing tone, "What are you here for, squad leader Rion~?"

Rion shifted his eyes between the squad leaders. "Looking for a squad leader."

She raised an eyebrow and asked with a tilted head, "Aren't you a squad leader yourself?"

He shook his head and replied, "Hah... Marin says that I lack the knowledge to be a squad leader, so I have to learn everything first."

Haria thought about it for a moment and answered with a shrug, "I can give you one of mine, but my group will be going to the purple forest in a few days."

He looked at his squad and said, "Take us with you then."

Haria frowned. "I can't just take you there—"

He spoke before she could finish her words, "If I learn from one of your squad leaders, won't we become a part of your group?"

Her frown deepened, and she argued, "That's not how it works..."

He shrugged and said, "You are just taking the members of your group with you."

She turned silent for a good minute and muttered, "Augh! I don't know! Do whatever you want."

Turned out Haria wasn't much of a thinker.

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