Affinity Stones

The next day James went to school. It was his last year of high school and the school year was almost over. He could make a request to finish the school year early and just come back to take the last tests when they come up again next year, but eventually James decided not to.

The reason was because right next door to the high school was an affinity school for pets. He could easily go to school and then head over to train Wilbur after. No sweat.

It wasn't that having a training center next to a high school was strange or a coincidence. Now that he had entered the world of training he found that there were training schools everywhere. Literally every few city blocks even in the residential areas. People dedicated parts of their home or even their entire home to training pets. And most training facilities had the affinity stones.

A training center next to a high school made a lot of sence.

James could be excused for not knowing much of this. A pet can be tamed at any age, babies could contract a pet, even on their death beds a person could gain a pet. In fact many people did contract a pet just to extend their life a little longer. For babies it was usually an accident. A little cut and an aspiring beast could form a contract. There were intelligent animals that went out of their way to form contracts, but usually it was just an accident. An array was not needed, but was beneficial to eliminate many of the variabilities.

There was only one thing that was needed to form a contract and that was mana. Most people were able to connect with their soul and produce mana by the time they were ten. James for one reason or another hadn't been able to form mana until he turned seventeen. This was why his little sister already had a pet at ten when she was ten. James believed that his sister could have contracted a second or even a third pet by now, but had held off because she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

Feelings aside James would have been happy to see his sister contract a new pet. Smiling to himself he wondered if his sister would be able to contract one of the phoenix bloodline Bluebell songbirds. He hoped that when he come back home this weekend she would already have it done and be incubating an egg.

After school he walked over to the training center. This time there was no welcome. Instead there were just a lot of busy people moving around talking or training. Their pets struggled and strained to do better. Inspiring James, all the hustle was doing him a lot of good

Wondering around he finally found the affinity stones. It was impossible to tell who was an employee or in charge. No one had on any sort of uniform.

A fenced off portion of the land in the very center of the school had a dozen or so large stones spread out within a garden. He had been expecting some small stones placed on stands. That was what he had seen online. Instead this school had huge stones, eight feet tall and thick enough that three grown men would only just be able to join hands around it.

Here again there was no one to stop him, so he placed a foot on the lush grass of the garden. Immediately the nearest stone started glowing. Surprised James took a step back and looked around. There were plenty of people busy with their own work, none of them spared even a glance his way.

So he stepped back onto the lawn and approached the stone. It even started to hum as he came closer.

'Well, this is awkward. These affinity stones are too large. I can't tell if they are reacting to me or my Wilbur!'

Even holding Wilbur out arms length didn't seem to change the degree of glow. He didn't want to put Wilbur down leaving his pup was out of the question. After trying a lot of different things he eventually decided that there might not be a way to do this.

Just as he was about give up a young woman finally came up to him.

"Ahem, can I help you? I can see that you are having trouble"

She said matter of fact.

"Yes, I am trying to figure out what my pet's affinities are. How do I do that?"

James said unoffended that she barely tried to be nice.

"Oh, just come back when your pet it grown and can move on its own."

So saying she turned around and started to leave.

"Uhmm, excuse me, isn't there another way? I really want to get a head start on his training and when he is grown will be too late."

Clarifying James had to raise his voice so that she could hear. The girl was walking so fast away.

Turning around she put her hands on her hips,

"Well, I suppose I can help you. Here give me the pet. You go around and find out your affinities. Make sure to write it down so you don't forget and then go back around with your pet. The increase or decrease will tell you what affinities your pet is sensitive to. It won't tell you the true magnitude of the affinity, but if it moves at all then you can tell if your pet has any reaction."

She explained as fast as possible.

But James was stuck on something she said.

"You mean that a pet can have negative affinities? Elements that they are weak against?"

His naivete was showing a little too much.

She rolled her eyes,

"Sometimes this job is not worth it! Yes, simpleton. What are you a moonstruck pervert! Now hand me your pet!"

She held out her hand to James.

Suddenly James wasn't sure if he could trust her to keep his Wilbur safe. But after she kept shaking her hand at him he figured that she was serious at least.

He held out the blanket with Wilbur safely tucked inside.

"What is it?"

Her curiosity overcame her disgust with James and she tugged the blanket a bit to take a peek.

"Hey, be careful!"

James untucked the blanket and proudly showed her his pet.

"Wilbur is a mouse pup..."

"EEEKK!!" She let go of the blanket and stepped back suddenly.

Red in the face she started hyperventilating. James had to lunge in order to catch Wilbur. 

Offended and confused all at the same time he took a moment and then said,

"Hey, take a deep breath. You can do it!"

Eventually she took his advice and took a deep breath.

Then she spit out a string of vile words into a sentence,

"Who would want a little ugly thing like that for a pet! Get it away from me! A mouse!"

Lost for words James just stood there not knowing what to say.

"Fine! Go put it on that bench right there. I will make sure, ... , make sure it is okay while you go around and find out what your affinities are."

She said when she had said her piece and calmed down again.

Eventually James decided to just let the girl do it. He didn't want to cause another scene or have any one else criticize his choices. So he just took out his phone and went from stone to stone.

Earth - 21%

Metal - 25%

Water - 27%

Wood - 20%

Fire - 21%

Dark - 26%

Light - 27%

Death - 21%

Life - 30%

By the time he had come back to the front the girl had found the farthest possible position away from Wilbur that she could stand and still be thought of as fulfilling her duty.

"Thank you for helping out even when it was not what you wanted to do!"

James thanked her and she literally ran off as fast as she could.

Blinking at her antics James smiled, but only after he had resigned himself to this sort of thing.

"Let's go see what you affinities are."

Happily saying a good thing to Wilbur, he put the pup back into his pocket and started walking around the park again. To his consternation he found that Wilbur had absolutely no affinity to any of the stones except for the life stone and that affinity was probably because of the ability that he gave it. And the percentage didn't go up or down as much as just went back and forth between 26% and 34% for as long as James stood there. It never resolved and steadied out at just one percentage.

Sighing James decided he had to give up on the idea of training his pet as well.

'I will never come back to this particular training school ever again.'

Telling himself that he didn't want to train at a school that treated people and pets the way that that girl had.

Yet as he was leaving an old man approached him.

"Excuse me, I don't want to intrude, but are you the young man who just walked through the affinity garden?"

James didn't want to talk to anyone at this point so he just waved at the old man barely pausing to nod and then moved away. He had been taught to be polite to his elders, but he didn't want to hear anything from anyone right now.

"Wait, please forgive my granddaughter. She is spoiled, just like most youths these days. I hope you will come back again another time."

The old man said and bowed respectfully to James.

Horrified that this old man would humiliate himself in this way James looked around and saw that everyone in the courtyard by the gate out of the school was staring at the old man.

He could hear a few of them mutter or talk to each other.

"What did that boy do?"

"Why is teacher bowing to this young man?"

"Who is he?"

For the first time he could actually understand that the inherited trait he had received from Wilbur was working. In the past he would have never been able to hear these whispers before.

"Teacher, please don't bow to me. Your granddaughter's reaction is completely reasonable. It is my fault, it is just that this is my first contract and I didn't know..."

James trailed off, he didn't want to say how objectionable his pet would be to others.

"Thank you. Did you find what you were looking for?"

The teacher acknowledged James and then asked a question.

All James wanted to do was leave, but with everyone staring at him and the state of his own emotions he eventually said something.

"Yes, teacher, I found out that my pet has no affinities with any of the stones."

"I see."

The old man said and then blinked in a slow profound way before going on.

"There are other affinities young man. They are not as common, but it is possible that your pet mouse there could have some affinity. Don't give up."

For some reason at this moment the hope that the teacher was giving was not welcome. James had gone from hope to despair back and forth so many times in the last couple of days that he was tired of it. Despite that he bowed to the teach one more time.

"Thank you teacher. I will remember your words."

James straightened up and started to walk away.

"Come back with your second pet. I will personally guide your pet."

The teach spoke as James moved off, but James did not do more than turn and bow deeply in respect acknowledging that he had heard. 

It was enough, the old man also turned away and walked back into one of the buildings surrounding the courtyard. The area staid in total silence for a few more moments until the trainers went back to work.