I was expecting my regular Cani doctor, Dr. Maerin. The appointments with him were always quick, and he talked even quicker. A different doctor walked in. My stress levels were already hitting me from a lot of angles, from scary sudden Cani awakening to hospital waiting room to watching basically a puberty documentary with my sister right there, I didn’t need sudden new doctor on top of that. She looked about Stella’s age. She had dark red hair that she lazily brushed her hair through. She entered the room chugging a can of an energy drink. Once she finished, she chucked at the garbage can and missed.

“Hey! I’m Dr. Diast,” She said. “I’ll pick that up in a sec.”

“Hi,” I said meekly. I reflexively offered my hand, but she was looking at my info on a tablet. She glanced at the TV screen, mercifully blocking it.

“Oh man, they’re still showing that?” She said when she saw the tape wrapping up. “I’m sorry. ‘Like, whoa dude. Like, Cani fangs can help me nosh this sweet wave.’”

In addition to having a perfect Thadley impression, Dr. Diast had a box under her not-energy-drink-drinking arm that she set on the counter. She finally noticed that I was still holding my hand out and shook it firmly. She grabbed some tools the nurse had set out. They all looked sharp and dentist-y. She started by measuring my fangs.

“Zeta Faleur, pleasure to meet you, how did your Cani awakening go?” Dr. Diast asked. “Mine was terrific. Fantastic. Terrifying, but it was one of the best days of my life.”

“I don’t know if this is gonna go down as one of the best days,” I said once the tool was out of my mouth.

“The nurse said you had a pretty hard bite,” Diast said. “But it’s not bad enough for stitches at least. Now you get to the real fun stuff.”

Dr. Diast grabbed a metal mouth tray thing with pink goop in it off the counter.

“Open, please.” She said as she quickly shoved the thing in my mouth. “Now bite. Just need a quick impression of those fancy new teeth.”

I bit into the gross rubbery stuff and held back the gagging feeling. Stella reflexively scooted back in her chair, knowing how bad my gag reflex was with doctors. I had to do all the tricks, like lifting a leg and humming to stop myself from puking.

“OK, we’re good.” Dr. Diast said, pulling the mold back out. She put it into a baggie and left it on the counter. “Doesn’t that suck? Sorry, have to get a Cani vampire joke in. You’re not a vampire, by the way. But I’m sure you've read the book, it’s very popular.”

I spent a few minutes spitting out the clay stuff, but I could still feel bits of it in my mouth.

Diast pulled out a three-pronged little gadget thing and held my wrist. I inhaled sharply, but she didn’t notice the faint mark. There was a clear sphere in the prongs wrapped around. She pressed the three-pointed tips of it against my right palm. I felt a slight pressure from the tips, then in the sphere a tiny baby thunderstorm formed. I could almost feel inside the sphere, like the little bursts of lightning were part of me. Diast turned the device off and the storm poofed away.

“Yep, looks like weather control as your gift,” Diast said as she jotted some notes down on her tablet. “I bet you had a very fun awakening in addition to the blood. Or was the lightning going off the cause of the blood?”

“The cause.” I said. “I slipped when it all…went off.”

“Eh, it comes with the territory,” Diast said. “Which is why the next part is very important.”

Dr. Diast opened the black bag on the cart. It was filled with pamphlets and paperwork, and a small box. She opened the box and handed me a sleek wristband.

“Zeta, put that on, and parent/guardian, you handle these,” Diast said as she handed paperwork from the box to Stella.

“Guardian,” Stella said. “I’m her sister.”

“Hey, no judgment here,” Dr. Diast said. “I come from a unique family situation as well. If I may presume.”

“That’s about my line for presuming things,” Stella said.

“Then we shall leave it at that,” Diast said.

While Diast and Stella continued their weird small talk, I peeled the clear wrapping off of the black band.

“What is this exactly?” I asked. I didn’t remember reading about this before.

“Power blocker,” Dr. Diast said. “As you saw today, you don’t start out with control over your gift. This is like your training wheel.”

“What happens if I don’t wear it?” I asked.

“You really should,” Diast said. “Power blockers make sure you don’t accidentally turn someone’s yard into hair or blow up my lab while I was in the middle of a breakthrough, making me lose all my progress on a very important research project that would have done some serious good to the people of East Valataran…stuff like that. It’s another reason that it’s best if you go to a Cani focused school while you learn to control your new gifts. Unless you’re prepared for frequent emergency renovations.”

“Not on my salary,” Stella said. “And you should be thankful Zeta, those were a lot clunkier when I had mine.”

I still hesitated. I’d have preferred to verify the effects of a power blocker on 3WMB, but at the hospital I felt I had no choice. With a few clicks, I placed it around my wrist and made sure it was comfortable. There were three lights on top of it that glowed blue.

Stella elbowed me again.

“What?” I asked. She mouthed, “Ask her.”

“Oh! Um…” I said. “Dr. Diast…could I also get checked or tested or whatever for.” I gulped. “The um, the Cani…trans pills?”

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to, but it would be amazing if I could put Cani shapeshifting to use right away. In addition to imagining how getting my fangs could go wrong, I also pictured a doctor telling me immediately that the pills I was hoping for wouldn’t work. Which I could deal with and be fine, but it would be disappointing.

“Of course,” Diast answered immediately. “We can definitely test if Cani medications can help with that there transition. I just gotta get a swab…where is that…?”

Dr. Diast got a little swab dealie and rubbed it on my gums before sealing it in plastic. I liked Dr. Diast a lot more immediately with how easily she answered me there.

“Alright, one more thing and you can get out of here,” Diast said. “You’re such an easy patient! Compared to the last kid at least. If you smell a smoky room in the hallways, it’s ‘cause little Trilbert thought it’d be a good idea to show off a sneeze-fire before I could get his blocker on.”

Diast pulled out some pamphlets from the box.

“Now that you’re officially in the Cani club, you have to go to a Cani school. I’m sure that incredibly boring video brought that up.”

“Wait, like…not Staverius?” I asked.

“Staverius isn’t super equipped for Cani these days,” Diast said. “Lucky for you, I work at a school that is. I’m only here in this building in the summer. While I am a fabulous and talented doctor, my main squeeze is teaching at a Cani school.”

“You’re a doctor and that’s how you say that?” Stella asked.

“A doctor during the summer,” Diast said. “Big difference. But don’t worry, despite my crap verbiage I know what I’m doing. Now can I get back to Zeta’s deal here?”

Stella backed off.

“I highly recommend my school, Rising Shards. It’s got some garbage tied up with the Kilanders, but it’s at least super well-funded ‘cause of them. It’s the best Cani training school in the whole region. Well, tied with Falling Shards, cuz Rising is the girls’ school and Falling is the boys. But they’re only like a field apart so I kinda lump em together. And it’s one of the closest. And and and! I’d probably be your advisor!”

“Would that be OK?” I asked.

Stella had been looking through pamphlets and paperwork for the various Cani schools around here. All I had thought about a Cani school was that I couldn’t go to Wildfire Hearts.

“Doesn’t look bad,” Stella said. “Not far from here at all. But…”

Stella sighed. I knew the look she gave me. The “we can’t remotely afford this” look.

“Oh…” I said.

“We’re just strapped for cash right now,” Stella said. “I’m sorry…”

"Pfft," Diast said. “As if I wasn’t prepared for that.”

Diast stood grinning for a bit until Stella got tired of waiting.

“…and?” Stella asked.

“Oh!” Diast said. “Yeah, my bad. I got lost in my own moment of pride. Scholarships, dude! I can get Zeta in. Then I’d also really more likely be her advisor!”

“A scholarship?” I said. “Am I even good enough for one? I’m not really anything special.”

“I think so!” Diast said. “You seem pretty remarkable to me, and I just met you. This scholarship has a little bit of a qualifier, but I think you’d be able to handle it.”

“What do you mean by that?” I asked. “The qualifier part, I mean.”

“There’s a set number of things you have to do in your first semester to stay on,” Diast said, handing me a card she had in her pocket.