'Prove? How was I supposed to prove myself?'

  For all the mutations making me a beast, the claws, the tail, the ears, I was no mossbear. I could never be like them.

  ?H-How??

  Esu took his time answering, his silence stretching across a dozen heartbeats. Each one made my gut twist tighter. ?Needs ... to grow ... stronger. Weak … cubs ... do not ... survive.?

  'Oh, sure, no problem. Just needed a few hundred sigils to match a mossbear. Piece of cake, right? RIGHT?!’ Well, actually, I almost hit a hundred in a year and a half. So, if I poured every waking moment into training, maybe - maybe - I could get there in a couple of years.

  ?Before … next … full ... purple ... moon.? Esu’s growl shattered my little daydream, dragging me back to the cold, harsh reality.

  'Purple moon? What the bloody fuck was that supposed to mean?'

  From the way he said it, he sure meant a full purple moon - the one up in the sky. Only, I couldn’t recall seeing such a thing. In fact, I couldn’t recall seeing any moon at all. ‘Did this world even have one, or was I just keeping my head down all the time?’

  ?If … still ... weak. You … are … NOT … my … cub.?

  ?Esu wise.?

  ?Kind.?

  While the mother mossbears were singing praises to Esu, I lay there frozen, drenched in cold sweat. 'How much time had I really been given?'

  "D-Deckard?" My gaze dropped to the piece of metal, the awkward human tool, still clinging to my paw. My potential mate might know. Chances were, however, he was standing too far away. "C-Can you h-hear me?"

  "Still here, girl," his voice rumbled softly in my thoughts, easing the tight knot in my chest. "Although I have to say I'm having a pretty hard time making sense of what's happening. Did the Lord of the Forest do this to you or is that your…you know, beast form?"

  “Both.” That was just how it was - the truth. "I can't shift fully," I admitted, shame clawing at my heart. "He made me - helped." Talking more about that wasn’t happening, so I jumped to a more pressing issue. "Anyway - do you know anything about the purple moon?"

  "Now you're making me wonder where the Fae actually dragged you from, girl."

  'Oh shit! Idiot! That was stupid - so stupid.' There was no taking it back now, though.

  "Please!"

  "Hard to ignore a woman's plea. Well, Eleaden’s got two moons, even if you can’t see them right now - blue and purple, some say, because of their colors. Why?"

  "Esu wants me stronger by the next full purple moon."

  "Then I wouldn't be getting your tail in a knot. It only comes once a year, and one was due some three weeks ago. That's plenty of time to get a few sigils. The real question is, how strong does he expect you to get?"

  "Strong enough to match the cubs - the young mossbears."

  "Tits. Well, that could be a problem."

  My ears drooped so low they touched the moss I lay on. "So it’s hopeless."

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  "I didn't say that. Look, those young mossbears may look intimidating, the sheer size and number of sigils, but that's all there is to them. Most of their weaves are going to match yours in glyph count or will be at most double that."

  I had my doubts about that. Seriously, except for [Indomitable Will], all my weaves only had around 12 glyphs.

  “That is, if they're actually young,” he added, barely pausing before continuing, “It's doable, just…needs the right kind of Opportune Situation."

  “The what now?”

  “An Opportune Situation. Perfect conditions for your array and weaves to grow. Like mages stumbling into a mana-rich field, or swordmasters swinging a blade a thousand times without breaking a sweat. That kind of thing.”

  That made more sense than I had expected. “So, where do I find one?”

  “You don’t. It’s not called Opportune for nothing - it finds you.”

  “Great. So it IS hopeless,” I mumbled, my voice shaking as a faint whimper slipped free.

  ?Are you already ceding?? one of the mothers snorted, her disapproval plain as day. Esu’s decision clearly didn’t sit well with her, with any of them, and I couldn’t blame them. While my beast-self bristled at their judgment, the truth was, I wasn’t one of their own. I wasn’t their young.

  ?No,? I blurted out, afraid they would want to return me to the forest right away if I said otherwise. ?It's just - not a lot of time.?

  ?Plenty to grow stronger,? another mother snapped, unhappy with my audacity to question Esu's decision. Despite her words, I somehow doubted she had gotten her number of sigils in just a few years. No matter how I looked at the mothers, and Esu too, they were all old, ancient even.

  ?You … can … hone … your … strength … with … other … cubs. They … are … eager to …. hone … theirs.?

  Daring to look behind me, at the young mossbears sprawled on the ground, despite my current size still huge compared to me, I couldn't help but think Esu must have been joking. There was no way I could fight them - not a chance.

  ?I-I'm too weak. They'll... they'll kill me,? I said, as blunt as I could. Shameful, sure, but no point in pretending otherwise.

  ?They … will … NOT!? Esu's growl rumbled through the air, so loud that I could feel my core resonating in my guts. His words weren’t meant just for me, though - they were for any mossbear in earshot, too.

  ?But...? I said, my bones still rattling. ?T-They’ll tear me apart.? It might’ve sounded pitiful, but what I was really trying to say was that the young mossbears would leave me in pieces, unable to keep fighting. To say that fear wasn't behind it would be a lie. Mostly, though, it was the fear that I wouldn't live up to Esu's expectations and - well, end up like those dead mossbears, fertilizer for the forest.

  ?We will heal,? one of the mothers said, the others grunting their agreement. If they were human, I wouldn’t trust a word from them, not after their previous scorn. But these weren’t humans - they were beasts, and they spoke those words with Esu himself standing there.

  ?T-T-Thank you, great mothers,? was all I could manage, still trying to make sense of it all. This was definitely not how I had imagined meeting Esu would go.

  ?If … will … to prove … yourself… true. Better … not waste … your … time.? Hearing him talk about wasting time when it took him so long to get a word out was kind of amusing. Not so much what he said. ?Cubs … are … restless to … play.?

  ?So are the adults,? one of the mothers pointed out, and with that, Esu’s gaze moved away from me. For how heavy it was, it left me gasping for more and shivering with cold. It was a strange feeling.

  "Girl, you need me to ask?"

  "N-No? Esu wants me to train with young mossbears. Wants me to fight them."

  "Not what it feels like right now."

  "Mothers will heal me if… you know, if they are gonna mess me up."

  "Then you’re a lucky one. Sounds like your Opportune Situation to me. Grab it."

  "But…"

  “It may be opportune, but comes free, girl. Now tell me, why’s the Lord of the Woods staring at us?”

  'Oh. Good question.' One that I didn't have the answer to.

  "I don't know. We talked about me, then the mothers brought up adults and..."

  Even in the gravity of the moment, the chuckle of Deckard's inner voice rang through my skull. "You're the first beast talker I hear talking about meeting Esu as if she had a tea party with him."

  "What? No! That’s… my bones are jumping out of my body every time he hums."

  "Not hard to imagine. You're the first I’ve seen get this close to him and live through it - so far. Anyway, I guess it's our time to pass his judgment. Any chance you could... maybe put in a good word for us?"

  "I c-can try." Even though I said that, I had no idea how to convince Esu not to eat my potential mate, and my pack. Wait, my pack! That might be the answer.

  "Humans," Esu spoke, interrupting my train of thought. "Speak! Why … are … you … here?"

  A stunned silence followed. Even I needed a moment, despite Deckard telling me about it, to get my head around the fact that the massive beast that Esu was had spoken in Standard - albeit still rather slowly and deliberately.