Guardian Training (Baldirak, Rylatha)

Baldirak walked through the Lush Forest, making his way to training grounds. Today, he would begin training his student, Rylatha, to be a Guardian. He had been surprised when the King asked him to mentor his daughter. But he was happy to do it, of course. However, Baldirak couldn't help feeling somewhat... nervous. He'd never actually been a mentor. But how hard could it be? The Royal Guard finally reached the clearing and stood at the edge of it, blending in to the trees around him as he waited for Rylatha to arrive.

Rylatha walked through the Lush Forest, glancing around. She looked up at the towering trees; yes, she knew she would be larger than them one day, but for the time being... The little semi-goddess had some ways to go.
But oh well! Trees didn't matter when she was going to meet her mentor, Baldirak. She hopped joyously through the forest, singing:
"Wangol, you are leaving... When will I see you again?"
She stopped her singing when she entered the training grounds. She suddenly felt nervous. She let out a shaky sigh. As she glanced around and didn't see anybody, she called out nervously:
"H-Hello? Anybody there?"

Baldirak's pale eyes watched as he student entered the training grounds. His nostrils flared slightly as he growled just low enough that he wouldn't be heard. He then lifted his tail as he turned, the tip rushing forward toward Rylatha like a striking snake. He aimed to hit the smaller EarthWing's side.

Rylatha hissed when she saw a tail strike out of the trees as fast as a snake. She did her first instinct: mutate.
The goddess of the Hunt and Beasts flung back, baring her fangs, and lifted her paw away from her face to guard herself. As one of her gifted powers, she began to mutate: her size grew to be near 120 ft., nearly 3x's her size, and her teeth grew. Two sharp fangs protruded from her upper jaw to below the lower lip. Her claws came from normal-sized to Wolverine-style (I don't know how else to say it..). She snarled and lashed her own tail forward, feeling braver now that she was in her mutated form. However, she knew that the mutation could be a lot scarier. She knew how to make herself become a winged hydra, but she wasn't sure if that transformation was necessary. She let out a bark like a wolf, again one of her powers. She glanced around. She needed to go warn somebody... But she can't let her attacker just sit around...
Rylatha stood in place, hissing, her spikes bristling.

"An interesting reaction..." He stepped away from his hiding place at the edge of the clearing. His scales returned to their normal color as he approached Rylatha. Baldirak circled the slightly taller Dragoness, noting all of the changes. He came to a stop in front of her again and sat, curling his tail around his forepaws. "Welcome, to your first day of training, my Student. Tell me, why did you mutate?"

Rylatha got nervous again once she realized she was about to attack her mentor.
Uh-oh... I'm in trouble...
She stood there for about 10 seconds, stammering, but she finally blurted out:
"Because it was my first instinct of attack!"
It came out in a bundle of frightened words. As she did so, she shrunk back to her normal self, but she didn't look up to Baldirak. She was a little shy and nervous, and a tad embarrassed.

A growl of sympathy rumbled in Baldirak's throat as he watched his student. He smiled as he brought his tail up to lift Rylatha's head as he lowered his own to her eye level. "Even though you weren't sure what you were going to be dealing with, you prepared yourself for the worst. That's good." His tail moved to his forepaws again. "I had expected you to simply move out of the way. That's also good; to do something a potential enemy wouldn't expect."

Rylatha nodded, feeling quite better. She was beginning to like her mentor. She brightened up.
"Great! So what will I do in the future to train?"

Baldirak smiled. He was happy to see Rylatha wanted to be prepared. "Well since I started with it, tomorrow, we will work on your reactions to possible threats."

Rylatha jumped with joy.
"Awesome! I've waited to start training for... Like, a day!" She flared her wings with a jovial smile.

(Doing a little time-skip from Rylatha's last response to the next morning)

Baldirak came to the training grounds earlier than he had the day before. Bringing his paw to slam on the ground, he raised several rock pillars at different intervals around the area. Behind some, he placed an object which. Each object either represented a friend or foe. But some of the foes could be mistaken for prey animals, which of course wouldn't be a threat to a Dragon. Satisfied with the placement of the pillars and the object they hid, Baldirak sat and waited for his Student's arrival.

Rylatha trotted through the Lush Forest, her ears pricked and watched where she stepped. She remembered when Baldirak said they would work on how to react to sudden outburst, so she made sure that she would be ready for anything and everything.
She was shocked when she entered the Training Grounds. She was surprised that Baldirak didn't leap out at her, but that didn't matter. She was excited!
She gazed around at the pillars, awestruck. Now, she smiled up at Baldirak.
"Hi!" she chirped, grinning.

Baldirak smiled when he saw Rylatha walk on the Grounds. He found her cheerful, excited mood to be quite contagious, even though he himself was in good spirits. "Good morning, Rylatha! Are you ready for today's lesson?"

Rylatha hopped up in joy. She was warmed by his grin, and she said, "Yes, sir! Are you?"

He motioned with his tail to the pillars. "But, of course. Now then, today, you will learn to differentiate between threats and non-threats." Baldirak stood and walked back toward the trees. "All you may see is what is sticking out from behind the pillar. I will make a sound. If you think it is an enemy, attack the pillar."

Rylatha nodded in understanding. She looked around at the pillars, thinking thoroughly, but due to her young age, she didn't know much. Therefore, she didn't know what to expect. But she knew she must be ready for anything, so she was tense, and the mane on her neck began to slightly bristle.
She looked back up at her mentor. "Alright. I'm ready if you are."

Baldirak nodded. "We'll begin the one closest to you." Behind this first pillar, was a furred tail. The fur was brown and looked like it might be soft to the touch. The tail itself was sort of diamond-shaped. Baldirak made a noise that would be very familiar to Rylatha.

Rylatha pricked her ears at the sound and raised an eyeridge. She gazed at Baldirak.
"That's a familar sound," she murmured, flicking her tail. "But I won't attack. It sounds peaceful."

He gave a quick nod. "Very good. Now to the next pillar, over there." His tail pointed to a pillar across from the first.

Rylatha nodded briskly and trotted to the other pillar, picking up the pace in excitement. Once she got to the pillar, she tilted her head up at it and turned her gaze to Baldirak.

Baldirak looked to his Student then back at the pillar. The only indication as to what was behind it, was a single stick on the ground. But it seemed different to other sticks or branches.

Rylatha tilted her head at the odd stick. She lifted her paw to bat at it, but stopped herself. This must be a test. She gazed at Baldirak and stammered, "Uh, this is supposed to be here, right?"

Baldirak merely nodded and continued to watch his Student in silence. While he had provided some kind of indicator as to what the first object was, he could not do so here, for obvious reasons. His Student would simply have to use her instincts.