Ophelia was driving her suv while Diamond sat in the passenger seat and Aziza was in the back seat squeezed between several shopping bags. Diamond was slightly regretting bringing Ophelia shopping as she often went overboard, though on other hand Diamond knew little about fashion. 

“Did we have to buy so much? I kind of feel bad you bought me all these clothes,” Aziza asked as she looked behind her as the back of the suv was full of shopping bags. “Also where are we heading to now?”

Diamond looked into the rearview mirror to see Aziza, “You will need the clothes once you start shifting.” Diamond said before her gaze returned to looking out the front window. “We’re heading to my parent’s home, it’s better suited for training rather than my small apartment.”

“Alright, but rea…” Aziza trailed off as she looked out the window to see them heading north. Aziza knew the further north you went in this city the richer the household you found and they were already passing by well off areas and heading to very well off areas. 

“You shouldn’t feel too guilty about money,” Ophelia said as they pulled up to a big iron gate with a crow logo on top of it. “What we have spent on you is a drop in the bucket for Diamond, even more so since she barely spends any money she gets.” Ophelia rolled down the window once the suv was completely stopped and leaned her head out the window to intercom, “Hello Brutus, it’s me Ophelia, here drop someone you know.”

“Open the gate, Brutus,” Diamond said as she leaned over to be seen on the camera too. There was a clicking sound and the gate slowly started to open but having slight jerking motion from the ice on it.

“Welcome home, Lady Diamond, please be patient. We haven't fully cleared the ice from the front gate’s track.” An older male’s voice said and Diamond relaxed back in her seat.

“Thank you, Brutus Darling.” Ophelia said before she closed the window and waited for the gate to be fully opened. Once the gate was fully open Ophelia drove down the long driveway that cleared once but covered by fallen snow again. 

Aziza's eyes widened in seeing a neo-palladian mansion and the marble walling was even whiter than the snow on the ground. The driveway loop in front of the house and there is a clear grass circle in the middle of the loop and the suv stopped at the stairs that lead to the front door. “Come on, Aziza,” Diamond said as she got out of the suv and Aziza followed suit. 

Ophelia rolled down her window, “Have fun,” Ophelia said to Aziza and the front door opened up. Two ladies dressed in black polo shirts with white trim on the collar and pockets, matching black pants and dress shoes. “Hello Jessie and Kelly.” The suv truck opened up and the ladies walked past Aziza and Diamond to the suv.

“Come along, Aziza.” Diamond called to Aziza and Aziza hurried up the stairs to catch up to Diamond. Once inside an older gentleman greeted them and he looked at your old fashion victorian era butler you often saw in movies. “Brutus, is the underground gym free and cleaned?”

“Yes, Lady Diamond,” Brutus said and handed Diamond a keycard. “We freshly cleaned and repaired it after your parents used it last night.” Diamond sighed before motioning Aziza to follow her, “Oh Brutus, this is Aziza Smith, she’s my ward and this is the first day of her life as therianthrope. Aziza, this is Brutus Barclay, he is the head butler of this house.”

“Welcome to the Silvervine Manor, Lady Aziza.” Brutus said while giving Aziza a small bow and Aziza gave him a nod. “Your father has left to sort out a mess at one of his pubs and your mother is asleep in their room.” Diamond nodded and the maids came in with bags of clothing. “We will have these cleaned and ready to wear once you are ready to leave.”

“Thank you, Brutus,” Diamond said and motioned for Aziza to follow her. Diamond led Aziza to an elevator on the first floor and between a twin staircase in the lobby. Diamond opened the doors with a keycard that was given to her and both of them entered the elevator. 

Diamond clicked the button down and Aziza felt the elevator to head down for a minute before the doors opened up. It opened up to a large room the size of a football field and she could see running track lanes painted on the ground. Where grass would normally be set up in the track field instead was a gym equipment area with weights and area for yoga. “This is all underground and why all underground?” Aziza asked as she stepped out of the elevator with Diamond.

“To train without holding back,” Diamond said simply as she walked towards the yoga area. On her way she took off her coat and tossed it onto the weight rack then kicked off her sandals at the foot of the same weight rack. “We will start with stretching and yoga to get your body ready for shifting before anything else.”

“Yoga is no stranger to me.” Aziza said and Diamond looked over her shoulder to her. “Remember ultra hippy parents, yoga was one of the things they made me do. Though I couldn’t last long due to not having the stamina for it.”

“That’s not going to be a problem now.” Diamond said as she slipped off her jeans to reveal black pair of gym short tights. “Show me what you can do so I know what I'm working with.” Aziza nodded and removed the sweater she was wearing as she was wearing a sports bra under it.

“Alright, here I go.” Aziza said and stepped onto one of the yoga mats set up. Aziza started with simple poses like downward facing dog and cat-cow stretch and as warmed up her poses became more intermediate poses like camel pose and boat pose. Aziza was in the zone as she started to do more advanced moves and not noticed Diamond walked off to grab a white board on wheels.

“Guess I don’t have to do anything to start minor shifting training.” Diamond said as Aziza in a scorpion pose and Diamond started to write on the white board. Aziza moved out of the pose she was currently in and sat on the yoga mat with her legs crossed. “Normally children training their shifting ability don’t have to learn yoga or stretch exercises as their muscles are a lot more flexible and growing.”

“Allowing their bodies to get used to transforming faster than say someone trying to shift for the first time when they are past their teenage years.” Another woman’s voice said from behind the whiteboard and caused Diamond to pause from her writing. The owner of the voice came round the board and the hair on the back of Aziza’s neck stood up once seeing the woman, Aziza’s instincts were telling her to run. 

The woman looked to be five feet and five inches tall and she looked to be native american descended with her dark brown skin. Her wild mane looked to be a darker brown but with light hitting it at the right angle made her hair shine like gold. Her eyes were the same piercing bright silver as Diamonds and unlike Diamond’s eyes that look looking through you, instead they were locked on you and just waiting to pounce and eat you. The clothes she was wearing were a pair of unbuttoned jeans that had been ripped into shorts, a marine blue tube top, a white dress shirt with hem ripped apart and sleeves rolled up, and around her neck 5 claw bone necklace with purple beads. With her revealing clothing showed off her muscular and curved body, and on both of her forearms having four claw scarring. On her face she had scarred like Diamond, she had a deep scar that ran from the top left side of her forehead and to the bottom right of her cheek, and small nick scar on top left lip.

“I thought you were asleep, mother,” Diamond said, causing Mrs. Silvervine to look slightly hurt from being called ‘mother’. “Also stop staring at Aziza, she’s looking to bolt.” 

“I didn’t mean to, Dia,” Mrs. Silvervine said with a bit of pout and gaze was now on Diamond. “What did I do to upset you, Dia?” Aziza felt slightly at ease now that Mrs. Silvervine’s eyes were no longer on her.

“You haven’t seen Tu-” Diamond stopped when Mrs. Silvervine put a finger on Diamond’s lips and Aziza noticed that her nails were black and looked more like claws. Diamond stared into her mother’s eyes and Mrs. Silvervine stared back into Diamond’s eyes.

“I’ve been busy for a month and I was going to see her tonight.” Mrs. Silvervine said with a sadden tone and her sharp gaze softened towards Diamond. Diamond kept staring for a second before letting out sighed and turned to board to return writing something on the board. “So, are you going to start off by getting her to shift her ears?”

“Yes, it won’t cause any damage if it fails and will get her true scent out.” Diamond said as she put down the dry erase marker she was using. “Giving us an idea what animal she is and what muscles we need to work on the most.” Aziza raised her hand and both of them looked at her. “Yes?”

“My true scent and why does it matter which animal I am?” Aziza asked as she lowered her hand. The two Silvervine glanced at each other before Diamond moved her shirt up to show her abs. Aziza finally took note that both Diamond and her mother had eight pack abs and Diamond’s scars on her abs.

“Large types like bears, tigers, and lions need to work out all our muscles as our transformation takes a lot out of us, and if not proper training can cause damage over time that can be permitted.” Mrs.Silvervine said as Diamond put her shirt back down. “While medium types like wolves, hyenas, and jaguar need less work out on muscles. The luckiest grouping are the small types like foxes, jackals, and bobcats who don't really need to work their muscles at all.”

“Your current scent is that of a human but once you shift even a small amount, your true scent will come out.” Diamond said as Mrs. Silvervine went to sit in front of Aziza. “As well, your true senses will wake up too. Better sense of smell, hearing, and sight than what you currently have working.”

“Now relax, put your hands on her knees and close your eyes.” Mrs. Silvervine said and Aziza did as she was told. “Breath in and breathe out slowly, focus on my voice.” Aziza focuses on Mrs. Silvervine’s soft and motherly voice, making Aziza feel even more relaxed. Suddenly a large and loud roaring came behind Aziza making her eyes shoot open and scream out of her fear before falling forward fast forward into Mrs. Silvervine’s chest. “Looks like we got ears and a tail from that reaction.”

Aziza looked up to see Mrs. Silvervine holding a phone and looked back to see where the roaring came from, it was Diamond standing behind her. “Really, did you have to do that?” Aziza asked with a deep red blush as she stood up. 

“Yes,” Both Diamond and Mrs. Silvervine said at the same time and Mrs. Silvervine stood up to show Aziza the phone. Aziza sighed as she watched herself get jump scared but she noticed a few seconds of the video she had a pair of animal ears and a tail. “Jackal ears and a tail, that isn’t a surprise if she is from the Sahara clan from Egypt, higher rate jackals come from there.” Aziza looked to Diamond to ask a question. “We will talk about clans after we talk about shifting.”

“I direct you to view the board.” Mrs. Silvervine said while moving out of the way. Aziza looked at the white board to see the words human, semi-form, and true form written on it. Under human form written was warrior, druid, and berserker while semi-form was missing berserker, and true form was missing druid under it. 

“These are the three forms that therianthrope can transform into, but there limit depending on which class we are.” Diamond explains before going to the board to tap the warrior. “Warrior is a term for normal therianthrope like me and you, we can transform into all three forms, and the only special power we have is from our clan power. We know you're a warrior class because the other two would’ve meant you would be found sooner.” Aziza nodded and started to raise her hand but stopped when Mrs. Silvervine went to the board to point at the druid.

“Druids can not transform into true form, instead we have magical powers of nature.” Mrs. Silvervine said and put up her other hand to show small lightning sparks coming off her hand. “We can control weather and other magics connected to nature but with every use of magic there can be backlash to the user.” Aziza’s were now locked on the sparks coming off Mrs. Silvervine’s finger tips. “If you were a druid, your magic would manifest and make other druids alert of you, like a homing beacon.”

“Last is berserker, at the state I found you in…well let’s just say your first meat meal could’ve been your adopted family.” Diamond said as she grabbed the marker she was using before. “Berserker class is now seen as a mental illness and most cases are in specialized mental hospitals made for berserkers.” Aziza noticed slight sadness in Mrs. Silvervine when the berserker class was being talked and Diamond started to draw arrows and times to type.

“A normal therianthrope can shift into their semi-form in a minute and from semi-form to true form in the same amount of time. While human straight to true form would take five minutes.” Mrs. Silvervine explained what Diamond was drawing. “Of course the more battle hardened beings can do a false semi-form, which is like trying to hold a dial that snaps to the next setting.” Mrs. Silvervine side eyeing Diamond and Diamond let out a sigh before removing the rest of the clothing, and hair elastic she was wearing.

Aziza’s eyes locked on Diamond as she started to shift and already grow to be six feet tall before, but was surprised as she kept growing bigger and hairier. When Diamond stopped growing she turned around to show Aziza her true semi-form and Aziza could guess Diamond was now seven feet tall now. The only spots not covered in fur was her face, chest, abdomen, and anywhere Diamond had scarring. “This is what a full semi-form looks like.” Diamond said with a deeper tone and almost sounded like a low growl.

“As you can see, large animal types grow a lot bigger into their semi-form.” Mrs. Silvervine as Diamond shifted back to her human form. “While medium and small animal types grow a little or not at all then shift into their semi-forms.” Diamond got dressed after fully transforming into human form and erased what was on the board.