Purity of Bloodline

Arix had no clue how long she'd been running. When she finally spotted the city walls, she took a deep breath and slowed down.She found a tree to hide behind and peeked out at the city gate.

Two knights in full armor stood guard at the entrance, with a few soldiers managing the entrance fees. A line of therianthropes waited, each using an opticomputer to pay a credit point before entering.

Arix held back, watching the therians with interest. She remembered reading on an opticomputer that the purer a therian's bloodline, the more human-like their transformation. Therians with less pure bloodlines kept more of their animal traits.

She spotted a child with animal ears and a fox tail waiting in line.

To Arix, the child was adorable, but the other therians seemed to view him with disdain. As the child's turn came to enter, a burly therian kicked him aside and cut in line.