Academy Herald
Copyright © 2015 by Timberwoof Lupindo
Not for redistribution.

Academy Herald

“Guess what!” said Timber, wagging his tail happily.
“What, what?” asked his siblings and cousins. They were sitting at the kitchen table in the pack’s long house, munching away at morsels of meat, cheese, roots, and tubers. Most of them had grey and tan fur; Timber’s was darker.
“I’m going to space!”
“What?” asked his cousin Fimbul.
“I just found out. You know that alien who’s been hanging around?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he’s looking for people to go to the Space Academy. He talked to me about it after pack-school graduation and asked me if I wanted to go.”
“So are you going?”
“Of course I’m going!”
“Anybody else? How did they pick?”
“A couple of other people from the pack-school. It’s mostly test scores.”
“Hm,” said Timber’s cousin Timby. “I scored pretty well. Really well, actually. I wonder why he didn’t talk to me.”
Timber frowned and looked at him. “You should go and talk to him.”
“Meh. You always get to do stuff.”
“Well,” said Timber. “Do you want to go or don’t you? If you want to go, act like it.”
“They probably won’t take me. Because of … you know.”
“Timby, the only one holding you back over that is you. I wish you’d get over it. And probably the alien has never heard of it anyway, so he couldn’t care less. Now get your fuzzy butt over there and talk to him. Act like you mean it.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Timby, you wimp,” said Fimbul, Timby’s brother. He pointed his ears forward at Timby and bared his teeth a little. “Everybody knows you’ll never amount to—“
“Shut up, tailhole,” said Timby, folding his ears back a bit and lowering his tail.
“You shut up. Put up or shut up.”
“Okay, I will!” Timber pointed his ears up a bit.
“Yeah, right,” said Fimbul as Timber glared at him.
“Watch me.” Timby got up from the table and walked out of the pack hall.
Timber glared at Fimbul. “Did you have to call him that?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, he’s not. He went, see?”
“Yeah. That was the point.” Fimbul grinned subtly.
“Timby’s right. You are a tail-hole. A nice one, as tail-holes go, but a tail-hole nonetheless.”
“He just needed a good kick in the tail. And I gave it to him.”

The sun shone on the Wester Wood; a light breeze brought fresh mountain air to his nostrils. Birds chirped and Timby fumed as he walked along the path toward the pack-school. He spotted the Galactic Herald standing outside the front door, chatting with one of the teachers. It would be strange, Timby thought, talking to someone who might have been dressed up like an eagle, except that he was a white eagle, but much bigger, and with intelligent eyes, a mouth that could speak, and strange grasping fingers on the wings.
After what seemed to be forever, the adults finished their conversation. The teacher went back into the school. Timby steeled himself and took a breath.
“Sir?”
The alien bird turned to Timby: a dark-furred woof, male, just graduated pack school and about to go on travels for a few years.
“Yes?”
“My name is Timberwoof Lupindo—“
The alien looked closely and opened his mouth to speak, but Timby continued his introduction.
“Cousin of another Timberwoof Lupindo, and we’re both grandsons of the Timberwoof Lupindo, the one you know.”
The alien closed his mouth and looked Timby up and down. Timby tried not to tremble as this alien examined him. His future was at stake.
“Yes, I see and hear the resemblance. Indeed, I recall looking over your file with the selection committee.”
“The selection committee?”
“Some of my staff, your elders, and myself. We selected qualified students to attend the Academy.”
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
The Herald peered at Timby. “Yes?”
“I think you should consider me to go to the Space Academy.” Timby blurted it out so he wouldn’t be able to change his mind.
“We’ve made our decisions.”
Timby had come this far; he was almost ready to give up. One more try…
“You’re making a mistake … Sir.”
“Oh? You think so?”
“Yes, Sir.”
Timby thought about how to prove that.
“You need cadets. You need captains and pilots and navigators. We have to be smart and strong … and brave. We have to be the best our planet can offer. Well, that’s me. I’m smart: I scored 98% on the pack-school tests. That means you won’t find many woofs smarter than me. I’m strong: I run and jump and fence with anybody. And I’m brave.”
Timby thought about how he hadn’t been able to prove his bravery to the rest of his pack and tribe at the dance festival. He almost faltered in his speech to the alien, who stood and waited. Timby continued.
“It takes courage to come and talk to an alien—an important person such as yourself. Sir.”
The Herald looked down at Timby. Timby could not read the look on his face, those big golden eyes and that yellow hooked beak. The herald took a breath, perhaps considering his words.
“Journeyman Timberwoof, I have important matters to discuss with your elders and I cannot be disturbed by the likes of you. Return to your home at once. Stay there or there will be serious consequences for your future.”
Timby stared at the tall eagle-alien, not knowing what to say.
The Herald opened his beak as if to speak. Timby said, “Yes, Sir. Sorry to bother you, Sir.”
He turned and walked away, dejected. He hung his tail and drooped his ears. He couldn’t face anybody, not his siblings and cousins. Certainly not Fimbul, who had put him up to this. He took the long way home. The sun couldn’t set soon enough tonight, he thought. But then he’d have to look at the stars. He had just insulted the representative from the galactic civilization, possibly the most important alien on the planet. How would he explain that to his grandfather, who had brought him here, had made all that possible? Timby became a little angry. Angry that he had been passed over like that, angry that his brother had chided him into this foolish confrontation, angry that it had amounted to nothing. The he felt ashamed over his anger. He took some deep breaths and continued on his way.

The Lupindo house was a typical woof long house: kitchen at one end, dining tables in the middle, bunks for the pack members along the walls, work tables, and then stalls for the animals. The structure was half-timbered with a thatched roof. On the roof there were a satellite antenna, a local communications network antenna, and solar-power collectors.
Timby entered the pack hall and scanned all about, looking for a place to hide.
“Oh, there you are, Timby! We’ve been waiting for you.” It was Madita, one of his aunts.
Timby’s eyes went wide. “Oh, I’m in for it now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I think I really stepped in it.”
“I don’t want to know what you stepped in, so wipe your feet on the mat. We got a message from the Herald.”
“That’s what I’m talking about. I think I’m in trouble.”
“Trouble? What kind of trouble?”
Timby looked at his aunt. He could always trust her. She was his favorite, and she looked after him.
“I think I pissed off the Herald.”
“Oh? How did you do that?”
“I … I told him I wanted to go to the Academy. The Space Academy.”
“Oh, the Academy. Well. I think they have news for you.” She was smiling mysteriously.
“Oh, no. I’m fu—. Er.”
“Well. I need you to settle down, wash up, and get dressed. The Herald you talked to? He’s coming over for dinner.”
Timby felt his ears get hot. “Oh, no!” He squirmed and looked for a place to hide.
“What’s gotten over you? You act like you just robbed someone or insulted the Tarkel Lord. Now pull yourself together.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“I can’t tell you, aside from whatever plans you made for the summer, forget them. Now go and change. We have an important visitor coming.”

There was a knock at the door.
“Coming!”
Madita rushed to the door.
“Oh! Bauiwek! Welcome, welcome. Please come in.”
“Thank you, Madam. Now where is that young woof?”
“I’ll fetch him. Please, Sir, have a seat.”
She led him to the pack common room and indicated a guest chair. Bauiwek looked at it. It was well-padded, beautifully carved, and probably very comfortable … for a woof. He bowed and said, “Thank you, Madam. I’m comfortable standing.”
She looked at him. Sometimes there’s just no pleasing these big birds, she thought. “I’ll go and fetch Timby now.”
Presently she returned with Timby in tow.
“Timby, this is Lord Bauiwek, of the K’rawwk Mission. He’s the visitor I was telling you about.”
Timby looked up at the eagle whom he had insulted earlier. He tucked his tail down between his legs and folded his ears back in a forlorn submissive posture.
“I know who he is.”
Madita looked Timby with furrowed brows, then at the herald.
“We had a discussion earlier,” said the herald.
“Oh, I see. Is it something serious?”
“What we are discussing could change this journeyman’s life forever. That makes it serious.”
Timby quivered. He was really in for it now. Worse yet, some of his cousins and siblings were gathering a polite distance away to see what was up.
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense, Sir! What is it?”
“Young Timberwoof came to me with a most unusual request earlier. This required me discuss the matter most seriously with members of the selection committee.”
“Which selection committee?”
“The one to select cadets to attend the new Space Academy.”
“Timby, is that what you are all nervous about? What did you say to him?”
Timby took a breath and realized that there was no getting around this.
“I told him I wanted to go to the Academy.”
Somebody sniggered. Somebody else shushed.
“And a brave act it was,” said the alien. “At my urging, the committe reviewed his test scores and recommendations. We concluded that we had erred in not inviting him to the Academy.”
What the alien was saying began to sink into Timby. He looked up at the bird.
“You mean to say …”
The alien looked at him and waited politely for him to speak.
“… that I’m not in trouble?”
“Trouble? No, no trouble!”
“So what are you saying?” asked Madita.
“Journeyman Timberwoof, you have demonstrated bravery and perseverance of the type we are looking for in our cadets. The Selection Committee has decided to extend to you an invitation to attend the Woofheim Space Academy beginning with the next term.”
“I … what? I’m a Space cadet?”
“Yes, Cadet. Congratulations.”
The alien extended a wing, offering his strange fingers to the young woof to shake. Timby realized that everyone was watching him. He stood proudly, lifted his tail and ears, and extended his paw to the alien’s wing. He grasped it, and the alien grasped his paw. They shook hands.
Timby shook with a mixture of relief and excitement. His insistence had paid off; his grandfather and all his pack would be proud. He would get to go to the stars!