Spirito looked down the long hall ahead of him and knew his tail was twitching with excitement. The high ceilings and repeating arches atop the walls, letting in daylight, countered the dark building tone. And every 100 meters, was a door to a classroom. Along the walls between doors, there were windows and an ornate framework of iron around the edges. He tried to peer inside as they were passing, but the glass was foggy or tinted and his eyes were barely level with the bottom of the sills. Jim and Tookie, the two boys he met at the gate, were walking to his left and another two boys walked behind the three of them. 

He took a quick look behind to observe three more possible cadets, all girls, walking together. One of them was really short, and the other two taller were whispering together. The smaller suddenly looked forward and caught his eye. He spun around to the front again, trying to keep the fur on his neck from bristling.

Doha Sobie walked alone ahead of them. A split in the back of his robe allowed his tail to be free to emerge. He looked tall and thin. And the robe was long and gray, all the way to the ground but not quite touching. He moved with the effect of floating.

Spirito and the other kids jerked their heads to the left when a cross hallway suddenly opened up, heading away from the main. Eight sets of eyes scanned its length to observe anything different. Spirito only observed additional arches, doors, and windows. 

“So, it’s all classrooms. Just what I was afraid of,” Tookie said in a low tone. “My Da just wants me to be out of his fur. I knew it.”

Spirito grinned. “It’s possible that he wishes for you to have thicker fur.”

Tookie rolled his eyes. He ran his paw over the shortcut stubs running across his head and shrugged. “My brother got this cut and I sort of think it looks cool. It’s super easy to take care of, that’s for sure.”

“Hey look, it’s an opening.” Jim pointed ahead.

Everyone chatted with excitement and just before they arrived at the end of the hallway leading out into the courtyard, Doha Sobie stopped and swirled around, his robes flaring wide, his paws held up to face them.

The group of youth stopped short with a collective gulp. 

“We are entering the working portion of the grounds where students are taking part in various outdoor activities. You may witness and show respect for the fact that training and practice are indistinguishable. Mistakes happen and we should not judge. What is easy for some may be quite difficult for others. You may or may not find interest in these activities. If you choose to leave the outdoor area, you can follow specific halls under the white banners. You may not roam the remaining. However, if you should experience confusion or desire to return here,” he directed towards this position on the ground with his lengthy pointer claw, consult the nearest Doha and they will show you the way. All Doha’s wear robes such as these. Perhaps with various ornaments, or colorful scarfing, nevertheless, long robes. All cadets wear uniforms, the colors vary depending on the cadets’ primary focus. Today, the available mentor Doha will wear white robes. All of you will have the opportunity to ask these mentors questions or concerns regarding their mastery. I recommend you ask. Otherwise, you may find that we do not select you for enrollment. Does anyone have questions?” 

Spirito considered asking him if the ornaments and scarves meant anything. He opened his mouth but hesitated when the Doha’s sweeping eyes looked directly at him. 

“What is your mastery, Doha Sobie?” A high-pitched voice spoke from the back. It was the small girl. She had her head tilted and looked at Doha directly.

Spirito endured a brief flash of jealousy that she was so brave to ask.
Doha Sobie gave a half-grin and nodded to her. “I am Master of Tao, student…?” He waited for her to say her name.

“Me-ume Volk, Doha.” She replied.

Doha Sobie nodded again. “I do not currently take students under mentorship as I am on sabbatical to study for my third level Mastery of Tao. Hence the gray robe. Other instructors are busy teaching and giving badge awards and will not be available for questions either, hence they do not wear white. If a Doha selects you to attend, they will talk about the badge reward system. I won’t go into that now.” He paused. “All parents were to provide their child with the rudimentary eight ways. Have all of you discussed this?” He looked over the touring group. 

All must have given him a nod. 

“Good. Now you must enter the school grounds and seek the way of your power. It is up to you to find mentors and relate to your interests. While these choices are not final, they will give us an idea of where you prefer to be guided. Please continue toward the courtyard and into the white banner areas only. You may return here when you no longer seek another Doha or a Doha has requested this from you.” With that Doha Sobie turned to walk back the way they had come from. 

The eight children watched him for a moment and almost in unison turned to face the open-ended hallway.

“Do you think they have food here?” Jim asked in silence. 

Spirito chuckled, along with a few others. 

“Food for the soul?” Me-ume commented, her child’s voice sounding eerily older than her age.

Jim nodded and started walking towards the daylight that was visible to all of them. “I’ll let you know later.”

The rest of the group started walking behind him and soon a few of the boys ran, moving past Tookie, Spirito, and Jim. The sound of their rapid footsteps echoed through the corridor and suddenly went quiet as they shot out of the hallway.

Spirito looked at Tookie and the boy looked back; eyebrows raised. He did not desire to run. In fact, if anything, he fell into a moment of panic, rising inside. But before he could examine that truth, he stepped outside. The noise of hundreds of children yipping, barking, and yelling struck like a wall falling on top of him. The hallway’s silence had a barrier to the cacophony of the outdoor amplifications. He winced at the sudden eruption beyond and laid his ear back. The scent in the air was filled with sweat and a strangeness of power. It was more intense, filling his nostrils with a concentrated aroma of so many different smells. As he stepped further into the open courtyard, he saw chaos. The nine shooting towers that led to additional hallways caught his attention. They shot skyward, knife blades of sharpened triangular edges, cutting through the space. Long, grand banners—red, blue, orange, green, yellow, purple, black, and white—streamed down from their height, referencing some code of communication he didn’t know, and still a multitude of color and pageantry. The banners matched the cadet uniforms spreading across the giant quadrant where he now stood. So many colors danced across the grounds. And so many cadets, Spirito gulped. He’d never seen so many children in one place. 

From the outside, this academy did not appear to have such depths. And students were sparse in the capital. Shasis hadn’t mentioned a thing about the size. Someone bumped into him from behind while he stood still in the path.

“Sorry.” the girl said as she stepped around him and gasped. She, too, stopped to gawk. 

Spirito shifted to his left of the walkway and regarded Tookie, still staring outward. He debated sticking with his new friend wherever that might lead, but in his mind, his Da repeated “Follow your heart, and you will find where you need to be.” He experienced a strong urge to move towards the center area where many students gathered around a large circular enclosure.

He was about to step forward when a small voice said, “Excuse me” from behind. He turned and allowed the small girl to squeeze between him and the taller girl. As she passed between them, she gave him a quick smile. Her eyes alight with excitement, probably similar to his own. He smiled back.

Her ears twitched as she turned away and looked up at the banners. Without hesitation she started walking, moving into the open space. Spirito observed the girl intentionally avoiding the chaos in the center of the quad, heading towards a hallway in the distance on the far side, its white banner hanging in the gentle breeze. He wondered why she hadn’t just gone into the closer one to their left, but his mind was burning with as much pandemonium as surrounding him. He couldn’t think of a good reason. 

He turned his gaze back to look at the activity in the center, but that white banner flickered in the corner of his eye. The daylight overhead was bright, and he strained his eyes to grasp what others were pointing and yelling at in the enclosure. Observing all the uniformed cadets, a male Doha with a black rough gray pelt and wearing the distinctive white robes, leisurely walked around the outside of the center grounds. Spirito followed him for a moment, as he stood out among the other, more blurring rainbow colors. The Doha hesitated upon catching sight of Jim in his everyday attire, amidst the uniforms. Jim shouted a question, and the mentor moved closer to answer him.

Tookie nudged him. “I’m going to that thing to figure out what it is. You coming?”

Spirito nodded, and they walked toward it. The girl to his right also walked with them.

“Hey, I’m Spirito.” He said.  She looked his age and was as eager as Tookie.

“Nalias,” she said. “Isn’t this fantastic?”

He nodded and grinned. Tookie nudged him again. He looked over and caught raised eyebrow ridges moving upward and down. Tookie lifted his snout at Nalias.

“Oh, this is Tookie.”

“Hey, Tookie. I’m Nalias. I hope you guys don’t mind me going with you. My sister just wanted to check out that quarter over there.” She pointed to another large grouping of cadets, paired up together to close-fight with grappling movements of each other’s limbs. Spirito heard the sound of bodies hitting the mat and the instructor’s voice calling out instructions during the wrestling lesson.

“That’s probably taught to most of the students. It is a core requirement to learn.” Tookie commented, secure he knew a simple version of things. 

Spirito lifted his brow ridge. “What are core courses? He wanted to avoid spending too much time checking them out.

The uncertainty was evident in his friend’s furrowed brows and searching eyes. “Not sure. But my mom said they teach a lot of stuff both outside and inside the classroom—reading, martial arts, writing, hunting and survival, languages, nature studies, math, and a ton of stuff about the planet, to everyone. They are not com… compul…sory. We don’t get to choose those. But today is where we find our electives. We study what’s being shown and the Doha’s study us to see where we are more inclined to focus. I’m definitely heading to study the way of Fac.” He said with confidence.  

Spirito got a clue. He nodded his understanding. And just in time. They arrived at the enclosure and found themselves unable to see past the barricade, covered by cadets. They saw flashes of the interior, but it sank into a hole.

“Here,” Nalias yelled. She grabbed an opening as a couple of cadets vacated their space and turned to walk away. The three of them scooted in to look. It was a fairly large deep pit, with some sizable hills and boulders in the makeup. There was a small group of three students on the left and the same on the opposite side.

“Attack already.” A cadet down the fencing from them yelled.

“They have to set up the relay.” Another shouted back.

“Bromley is going to get creamed in this one. Alesta has never been beaten once she has the shield. It’s her symbol of invincibility.”

Spirito looked more closely and found some cadets down inside were holding various equipment. “I wonder what that is?” He muttered, looking at a short but thick baton, but it glowed.

“That is a small maul, enhanced with Chu power.” A voice spoke over his shoulder. Spirito looked back to find the same white-robed mentor, that was speaking to Jim earlier, standing just a few steps away. He swallowed his nerves. Tookie’s voice burst into the conversation, drowning out any chance for him to speak. 

“Wow, I heard of the power, but I’ve never seen it.” His voice was hyper as he stepped up on the edge of the cage border and shoved his muzzle between the bars, like some of the other cadets.

Spirito looked back at the mentor and rubbed his paw across his forehead. “Is that the same power my instructor wields to stop us from actually striking full force?“ He’d never asked, but he could feel the force of the strikes being absorbed by the instructor’s hand, a reminder of the skill and control it took.

The Doha’s head tilted, revealing a curious glimmer in his eyes as he nodded. “The same. Within the arena here it is used to enhance the weapons to strike only upon other weapons of the same power. You can see the same glowing of the shield worn by that cadet there.”

Spirito zeroed his gaze at the bulky shield the female cadet brandished. He now saw the glow as she shifted it from side to side. It looked very fitting for her build and size. For him, it would be too large. He said as much.

“Hmm, yes. You are much smaller. But the challenge games are for those who want to compete for more experience, at slightly above their current level of skills. You may not use these advanced weapons. All six of these cadets are past their first three years of study.” 

Spirito thought about that for a moment and turned his back to the arena. The cadets’ aggressive stances and confident movements conveyed their experience of their studies, showcasing their progress beyond the first three years. He gave the Doha his full consideration. “Is the Chu way so much different from Fac? I only learned of the eight ways today. So, I don’t know very much about them. Isn’t strength and fighting used together?”

The Doha nodded. “Often, that is the way.” He looked into the pit arena. “Many cadets study both. Two ways may enhance each other. Fighting takes strength to continue for longer periods, but strength takes determination, the essence of fighting, to conquer many of the obstacles one may find in the way of Chu.”

“But why would you study only one?” Tookie asked beside Spirito. “Wouldn’t that make you less powerful? My Da and Mom both study two ways. They say it makes them more balanced.”

Spirito thought about his sister, who studied only one. So, he repeated his Da’s theory. “Maybe if you study one way, you can learn it faster to excel higher than the study of two. Giving you mastery that much faster.”

The Doha smiled but looked at Tookie with serious regard. “Yes, the study of one way can allow the student to excel more rapidly in earlier stages. However, to achieve mastery takes as long as it takes. Often, those who study one way will have to figure out how to accomplish studies with longer lessons they could have achieved more easily if they had studied in a paired way.

Spirito scratched his rough with his claws. He looked at the Doha and frowned. “What are pairing ways?”

“There have been ways to study as a pair that favor careers a canid intends to pursue. For example, a warrior may want to pair Chu and Fac to give them both powers that could enhance his role as a mason, an athlete, a builder, a tree expert or logger, someone holding a position as a bodyguard or officer, or a ship pilot. Similarly, the fruits of studying wisdom and spirit, Fuad and Cen, are a fulfilling, meaningful life. A public speaker may want to study these as the teachings can blend the ways to enhance building relationships and affect the populace of the world. 

“Are there those that study over two ways?” Spirito asked.

The Doha’s ears flickered. “Some may find paths leading to the ways through more than two methods. But the crossing of the roads is long and winding. It takes someone with curiosity, adaptability, patience, discipline, and dedication to find their feet on a track like that.” He looked at Spirito with a frown. “Your body carries training already. Are these physical activities not holding your interest?” 

Spirito glanced around and once again felt dazzled by the movements in the courtyard. He felt confident he could excel in most of these studies. However, that white banner above the hall swung gently in the breeze and his mother’s guidance grew in his thoughts. He nodded his head and smiled up at the tall, white-robed canid. “I am certain I would enjoy these studies, Doha. My family has followed these ways for a long time. But as my mother says, ‘even the birds must get past the beauty of the flower petals to find the nectar beneath.’ I don’t want to miss any opportunities offered here, among the best instruction on the planet.”

The Doha gave a half bow and smiled. “Your mother sounds like a smart thinker. Please be sure to tell her ‘The fulfillment and joy of the study of the ways comes from the things you’ve worked hard to cultivate.”

Spirito nodded.

Tookie asked the canid mentor a question about the activity taking place down in the area, but Spirito lost interest.  He stepped back to allow them a closer view. Again, he felt the pull of the white banner and took leave to head in that direction.