Inside the camp there were what seemed like hundreds of catoblepas, many of them were children. Beatrix followed Berhane through the crowds and to the leader's den. It was beautiful, the entrance was another arch of trees, the arch was covered in bright green moss and vines tangled down to the ground, the arch was deckled with green and orange gems.

“Great job, Berhane,” A feminine voice called out from the cave. Two catoblepas walked out of the cave, one male and one female. Beatrix first noticed the female's long slender torso that showed abbs that stretched into strong pectoral muscles. Her mane was deep purple, almost black, it was shimmering like a raven's feather shining purple into the sunlight. Her face was gentle, except for the plethora of scars on her muzzle and one big one stretching from her forehead, across her left eye, and down her chin. 

“Berhane, thank you, you may leave,” The male bowed his head and Berhane did the same, then he left. 

“Come inside, little one, we have so much to talk about,” The female said. Beatrix followed both the leaders inside the mossy cave. 

Inside the cave Beatrix could see that it was built out of tall thin birch trees that were tied and somewhat glued together, then there was so much moss covering it that no sunlight peered in. It was dry with the slightest breeze coming in from the entrance. 

The leaders sat down, each in a thick bed of moss. Beatrix stood still infront of them, waiting for something. 

“Sit Beatrix, let's talk,” The male said. He sat down on the grassy floor and stared at them. 

“Do you know why you are here?’ The female asked. Beatrix shook his head. He looked over to the male catoblepas, he was big, bigger than Berhane. He looked like he was made of pure muscle, he had serious brown eyes and bulging eyebrows. His mane was black and his fur was light brown. The scales on his front legs were yellow against obsidian black talons. 

“You are here to train with us, we are the best hunters in our world, you will live here and learn here until you are ready to leave,” The male stated. Beatrix nodded his head. 

“What are your names?” He asked, nobody introduced him to them, it was awkward. 

“Oh, sorry dear, my name is Daenerys,” She smiled.

“I’m Blaine,” The bigger one said, his face never moved from its serious state. 

“Now come with me and I will show you to your den, you will sleep with the other tenderfoots,” Daenerys got up from her seat and started walking out the den, she looked back to make sure he was following. Beatrix got up, turned, and padded over to her. Blaine stayed back in the den.

Daenerys walked with Beatrix straight to the tenderfoots den, or at least the one he was staying in, there were three in total. They went inside and there was no one there. 

“Everyone in this den is out training right now, you will start tomorrow,” She smiled. Beatrix looked all around the den, the smell was a lot nicer than Hammish’s. It smelled like fur and moss, it was all dry though, a little bit stale. There were seven beds lined against the tree and moss walls. They were big beds, at least two times the size of him. One smelled particularly clean, and looked unused. 

“That one is for you,” 

Beatrix touched his paw to the moss, it was soft and cozy and was sure to keep him warm. He couldn’t wait to sleep. 

“Bartholomew, you skunk breath!” A feminine voice called from outside. Suddenly a burly catoblepas somersaulted into the den and crushed into Daenerys. The female that was chasing this, Bartholomew character, stormed into the den with blood and feathers all over her face. 

“Oh my, wow! What happened to you?” Beatrix exclaimed with his eyes wide and confused. 

Bartholomew was bowing his head to Daenerys repeatedly and yelling, “I’m so sorry! I was just having fun but Yolanda took it too far, like always!” Bartholomew was broad shouldered, about as tall as Daenerys, yellow fur, hazelnut mane, bold green eyes, and his bottom left canine tooth stuck out of his mouth. His talons were massive and sharp, they were also bloody and feathers stuck out between his toes. His horns were extraordinary curled rams horns.  

Yolanda and Beatrix made eye contact, “who’s the new guy?” She asked, her breath already recovered, while Bartholomew continued to pant. She was short, slender, her biceps were big taut lumps, her horns were straight back and dark green, her fur was brown as the mud and her mane was black with a hint of green. 

Bartholomew raised his head to look at Beatrix who turned his head around to see Bartholomew staring at him. Daenerys sighed as she decided what was next. 

“Bartholomew, this is Beatrix,” She started, “Beatrix this is Bartholomew, and the green horns is Yolanda,”  They all nodded their heads at each other. “Let’s go outside and I’ll tell you what task I have for you,” Daenerys weaved through the three of them and out the entrance. Beatrix, Bartholomew, and Yolanda followed her outside. 

All four of them sat in a circle outside the den. “Bartholomew, you will show Beatrix around camp and teach him all the rules,” Daenerys stated. “Yolanda, you may go hunting with Calypso if you would like to,” Yolanda smiled and bowed her head, then she ran off. Daenerys nodded at Bartholomew and he stood up. 

“Where should we go first?” Bartholomew asked. 

“The tenderfoot arena,” She said. 

Beatrix stood up and walked behind Bartholomew, he was big, strong, muscular, and he carried himself with a lot of confidence. 

“Come up beside me,” He demanded, Beatrix did as he was told. 

“When we walk out into the forest, we always walk in two lines side by side,” He smiled at Beatrix. He gave him a confused look.

“It’s because usually when we travel there are at least four of us, and it is easier to keep guard and fight when we are lined together,”

Beatrix nodded. He took in his surroundings, more birch trees, but there were some other, new trees he had never seen before. They were green and pointy, the needles brushed against his fur. They smelled delicious, sappy and woody. Bartholomew Looked back to see the strange sight of Beatrix chewing on the low branches of the needle trees. 

“Be careful, those needles are sharp, they’ll get stuck in your mouth,” He warned through a laugh.

Beatrix let go of the tree and asked, “What are these trees? Why are their leaves so strange?” 

Bartholomew laughed again, hard, making Beatrix feel uneasy. 

“They’re pine trees, you goose brain!” Bartholomew yelled through giggling. Beatrix frowned as he used his tongue to get pieces of the tree needles out of between his teeth. 

“Come on, we gotta make it all around camp before sundown,” BArtholomewstarted to speed walk away. Beatrix’s small body put him at a disadvantage. His thin legs took him into a run to catch up to Bartholomew. He started running too and Beatrix pantted. 

“Bet you can’t run as fast as me!” Bartholomew called from ahead. Beatrix sighed and forced his legs to run faster. He was slender and thin, he had the body of a runner, but he hadn't done much running with his skulk. He ran fast as Bartholomew kicked dirt up from his hooves. The dirt got in his eyes and he tripped over his front leg and flew forward, his face buried into the dirt and needles. 

“Cheater!” Beatrix yelped. Bartholomew stopped and looked back,  Beatrix saw him chuckle to himself. 

“I didn’t cheat. You just ran too close behind me,” He smirked. Beatrix stood up and stomped over to him. 

“You were throwing dirt into my eyes!” He stated. Bartholomew rolled his eyes and started walking away. Beatrix followed him, walking right beside. 

“I wasn’t doing it on purpose. My hooves always kick up dirt when I run,” 

They were both silent as Beatrix tried to catch his breath. They walked slowly through the forest as the sun started to touch the tips of the mountains. They made it to the tenderfoot arena before the sun got too low. It was an amazing clearing with an outline of prickle berry bushes. The trees were clearly knocked down by the herd, the dirt was unnaturally soft. It was a massive circle, about the size of the whole Kasai Skulk campgrounds. 

“So tomorrow you will probably start training here,” Bartholomew began, “Our den goes out first thing in the morning, our master is the best of the whole herd,”

Beatrix continued to stare at the trees and the bushes, he found fascinating bugs. 

“We stay out here until the sun is just above the northern mountains,” He continued, “Then we get to do whatever we want until midday feast, after that we go hunting with Calypso,” Beatrix was pawing as a cool looking purple mushroom. It smelled delicious, it was purple with dark blue spots and a purple tinted white stem. 

Beatrix opened his mouth to take a bite when Bartholomew stomped his head down with his dragon feet. 

“You can’t eat those, skunk face!” Beatrix struggled to get his head free from his sharp talons. He let him go and clomped the mushroom with his back leg hooves. 

“Don’t you know anything?!” Bartholomew yelled in his ears. He flinched and jumped back. 

“Those mushrooms are from the spore forest, if you eat anything from the spore forest you’ll die,” He said seriously. 

Beatrix stared at him in shock. Have I really gone that far? I thought the spore forest was a seasons walk away. Beatrix stared at the crushed mushroom he almost consumed. 

“You really don’t know a lot,” Bartholomew sighed. 

On the way back to camp they were silent, Beatrix was tired and overstimulated, and Bartholomew was grumpy. 

It was sundown when they got back to camp, the moon started to peek out behind the trees and the mountains. 

Daenerys greeted them at the entrance of the camp, “How was your walk?” 

“Good,” Beatrix stated, he tried to sound genuine, but he was too tired to put any expression into his voice. She nodded. 

“It is time to eat, Bartholomew will show you around after the feast,” Someone called to her so she left it at that and padded away. 

Bartholomew tilted his head toward a great big pile of meat and started walking. Beatrix tailed behind him, the scent of the meat was delicious, it was different than anything he had smelled before. 

They sat down in front of the pile, Bartholomew picked up the fattest wolpertinger Beatrix had ever seen. He looked into the pile and chose a smaller jack rabbit. He stared down at his food and began to speak. 

“Thank you for giving your life to feed me and my…herd mates. We appreciate your sacrifice and thank you for your value,” Beatrix opened his eyes to see not only Bartholomew, but also Yolanda staring at him. 

Yolanda raised an eyebrow, “You’re thanking a rabbit for dying?” 

Beatrix put his ears down and stared longingly at his meal, is it really that different here? I miss you mother. He closed his eyes to stop himself from crying. 

Bartholomew and Yolanda looked at each other then to Beatrix. 

“It’s not bad…We’ve just never seen that,” Yolanda explained gently. Beatrix looked at her and smiled, a single tear rolled from his cornea. “Why do you do that?” She asked. 

“When I was younger my mom taught me that when we kill something and eat it, we have to thank it for giving its life to us. If we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t survive, so we need to be thankful,” Beatrix explained, his ears pricked up a bit and he smiled softly at the ground. Bartholomew brought his face out of his meal and looked at him…Then went back to eating. 

Beatrix noticed the rabbit tasted very sweet instead of metallic. He pursed his lips at the strange taste and began to investigate his food. It smelled like berried, prickly bush berries. He licked the fur of the rabbit and sure enough it tasted of pure prickle berry. 

“Why are there berries on my rabbit?” He asked Yolanda. 

She turned her head to face him, “It makes it taste sweet, and we need a lot of fiber so we always smother our food in berry paste,” She smiled before turning her attention back to her food. Beatrix continued to eat his rabbit until it was all gone. Bartholomew had to wait a bit for him because he was so much smaller than him.