Lynn's POV
The first game is observation.
Richardson announces it from the center of the training floor with the particular calm of a man who has done this before and knows exactly what it means. A test of perception and recall — the foundational skill of every mentally gifted wolf in recorded alliance history.
He holds up a single leaf. Pale green, roughly the size of a palm, veined with the specific complexity. He explains the rules while the room goes quiet: each participant gets one third of a second to observe it. Then the leaf joins thirty nearly identical specimens on a table, shuffled by neutral observers in front of everyone present. Sixty seconds to find the correct one.
Three rounds. Two wins to take the match.
The last round, he adds, uses a specimen with several hundred d
