Applied Aptitude

"Welcome, class. I'm Alecsander Hayes, and I'll soon become your favorite professor," a man with an innocent smile and bright eyes tells us upon entering the room. He is wearing a pair of jeans, a white shirt with a patterned sweater vest over it. His face is full of joy and speaks of future friendship.

"If I don't, then I didn't do my job right," he adds with a wink. He walks around the classroom slowly, looking each one of his students in the eye before giving them a friendly nod and moving to the next one.

"In Applied Aptitude we will build a future for you and prepare for a career of your choosing. Many of you will aim to prosper in human society, deigned to keep their secret but use their abilities to their advantage. Some will pursue the challenging route of attaining a position within different facets of our government that answers to the Ponoćni Savet. Whatever eventuality you envision for yourself, and whichever path you embrace - my role is to provide you the necessary guidance and training to master the critical skills required for the dream you set your sights on."

A small snort to my left draws my attention to Teo as she bites her lip and shakes her head. "As though we really have a chance," she mutters. "To work for our government, it's less about what you know and more about who you know. The positions that become available are never actually vacant - they always have someone in mind to fulfill it without considering others that may be more or even better qualified. Nepotism is a very real, ugly thing in our government. It's best to beat humans at their own game instead."

I file that information away, but don't have anything to add so I turn back to the professor to hear what he is saying.

Professor Hayes walks over to a whiteboard on the wall and takes out a marker, preparing to write something for the class to follow along to.

"Working within the facets of our government comes with its perks - anyone care to share what the biggest benefit might be?" He quizzes us, and I shrink back in my chair willing him to not look my way. I'm clueless.

"You get to have a Sage as your partner," a confident voice rings out, and I perk up with its familiarity. It looks like Calvin is in the class as well, and I am a little miffed that I didn't spot him earlier. I wish he would've sat over here, I like the kid.

"Right! You get the opportunity to work with the Sage you bond with. Since werewolves and Sages have such a long history of being allies and working together closely, our ancestors continued this tradition in our body of government. Each one of the werewolves that work under the Savet is paired with a Sage of their choosing."

I blink at that new information. I have noticed several Sages around the academy, but haven't really thought to question what their role is here. Now that I think about it, bouts of magic are intertwined into nearly most aspects of this academy. The lights, for example, I think as I look at one again.

Does anyone know what these facets of the government are? We'll start with the obvious one - the council." He says while drawing a circle at the top of the whiteboard and writes "Ponoćni Savet" within it. "We have five representatives from five appointed families on the council - three that are Vosak, two that are Nestati," he adds while drawing colored silhouettes of people inside the circle, with three blue people representing the colored eyes of Vosak and two yellow people to signify Nestati.

"They're at the top of our government, all answer to them and they answer to no one other than each other," the professor states with a vacant nod of his head. He looks across the students lounging around the room. "What's next? I'll give you a hint - there's four branches of government." He says as he draws four circles under where he already put a placeholder for the council. He draws a line from the council to each one of these four circles, indicating the chain of command.

"The Čuvari," someone shouts from a couple tables over. An excited grin splits the professor's face before he turns to write it down on the circle to the farthest left.

"Correct! Our Portal Keepers, known as the Čuvari. Those who are tasked with overseeing the gateways to other realms, where very select creatures are able to pass through proceeding an extensive and tedious procedure that can take months or even years before receiving approval to travel between realms," he describes.

"Very good! There are two divisions of the Čuvari - the Sentinels and the Chasers. The former being those who watch over the portals and maintain order, the latter being those who hunt down anything that tries to circumvent the system and break through the portals or bring chaos to an otherwise orderly operation." Professor Hayes writes 'Sentinels and Chasers' on the whiteboard as well.

"What's next?" he asks, and silence greets him in response.

"Oh come on, I know someone has the answer," Professor Hayes says with a small chuckle. "This is the branch that I am in."

"Savant," a male voice rings out in a cavalier tone. The professor points at him and nearly jumps up with excitement.

"That's right!" He says as he turns and writes it in the circle that is farthest to the right. "The Savant branch of our government oversees the education of our werewolf society, which includes academies - just like this one - found all over the world." He adds a star next to this circle, clearly proud of his choice in a career.

"I'll give you this one," Professor Hayes states as he spells something out on the board in the circle that is second from the left.

"Constabulary," he says, voicing the word he wrote inside the circle. "Our branch of government that is responsible for maintaining the werewolf registry that contains our IDs and information as resident wolves in this realm. We are responsible for sending in this information to them at least once a year so our records stay up to date. More than that, they also focus on solving crimes or investigating any of our resident hellions," he says lightheartedly.

"Under the Constabulary, we have two divisions. The first with a similar namesake, Constable, and the second is Archivists." He writes both of those on the board as well. "Constable, being werewolves who are investigators, and Archivists referring to the researchers, those who use their extensive knowledge about artifacts and records - both magical and nonmagical - to assist in the investigations."

"Alright, our final branch is…" Professor Hayes says with an excited drum roll on the nearest student table. He motions for other students to join in, so the pounding noise resounds throughout the room. He looks down at the closest person and points to her, drawing the answer from her lips.

"The Moon Guard," she says, and leans back in her chair with her arms crossed and an amused grin on her face. The name is alluring, and I find myself hanging on the Professor's next words. My mind brightens and my world seems to be focused on those three words that sent a shiver down my spine.

"Da! That's it. The revered Moon Guard, our warriors that are the sword for the moon. The hands that strike. They are our protectors, the ones that lay down the law the Savet establishes."

I can nearly taste the gravity of it, of a primordial group of werewolf fighters. Color me intrigued. This secret supernatural society is much more intricate than I could have imagined.

"And of course, these are just the options you can explore for a career in werewolf government, but it is not the only life skills you can cultivate in this course. Human society has more careers options than I could list on this whiteboard behind me. It is up to you to decide where your interests lie and to let me know so I can provide the best guidance possible and pull in mentors as needed."

My eyes linger over the circle for the Moon Guard, but after a few moments of consideration and letting the excitement die down, I feel my gaze pulled to the left and linger on a different word.

"Archivists," I mutter, feeling the word on my tongue. I have always been a researcher, that is something my parents have instilled in me. I have a deep appreciation for the written words and enjoy looking into history to better understand the world around me. There is so much we can learn by picking up a book and by unveiling the mysteries around us.

I started this class worried that I wouldn't know what I wanted to do and wished for things to slow down so I could figure it out. But now I find myself impatient to begin training.