Master Haar’s class would have actually been enjoyable if I hadn’t been completely exhausted. It turns out that for the last few weeks the class had been in the middle of a series of ‘war-games’ that Master Haar had mapped out on a long wooden table. Strategy and tactics were part of his purview, and for the last month or so he had been describing various battles and how the clever use of resources had often allowed our people to defeat Beast Hordes larger and more powerful than our own armies were.

I loved strategy games myself, so I was able to pick up the rules we were using pretty quickly. They had some clever ideas, but I had to admit that they were nowhere near the level of human armies back on Earth… but then again, they had only been out of The City for hundreds of years, and their only foes had been unthinking beasts: Mankind back on Earth had been fighting wars for thousands of years against a far more intelligent foe – ourselves.

After that lesson we were going to be joined by the rest of the students, who only came for a single lesson a day with Master Ginma, but before we made it there I was approached by Kodan.

“Hey kid, what did you do to piss Master Sylko off so badly?” he asked me. His manner wasn’t exactly pleasant, but he wasn’t rude either… I suppose he was probably acting the same way most teenagers would act around a five-year-old who was suddenly in the same class as them.

I was startled by the question, “Wait, what? Isn’t she always like that?” I asked.

His lumpy orange eyebrows raised, “Well, she’s always a hard-ass, yeah. I mean, her job is to prepare us for war with the beasts. But I’ve never seen her single someone out like that before…”

I paused for a moment, thinking… and then it came to me. It was actually pretty obvious now that I thought of it. “Does she know Hunter Alder from the Garrison?” I asked him.

His expression turned to one of surprise, “Hunter Alder? Actually I think he is Master Sylko’s husband… What does that have to do with anything?”

Well, crap… now what do I tell him… and what do I do about Sylko. “I think it’s a family grudge," I said, "but I might be able to do something about it...”

Kodan nodded, “Alright, well do it fast, because if she keeps punishing everyone over a personal grudge with you… well, let’s just say you won’t make many friends.” He gave me a smile, patting my shoulder. I appreciated the gesture, as it was obvious that although his words were blunt he meant it as more of a friendly warning than a threat.

“I will, thanks Kodan.” I said as he walked ahead of me.

Personal grudge… so I had injured or killed her husband, Dick-hunter (as Wolfram called him), and she was out for revenge… against a five-year-old kid…

Alright, now I was getting angry. How was it my fault that Alder tried to smash my guts open with a wooden sword, which he then proceeded to light on fire when the first strike didn’t work!

I had assumed that Sylko was acting like a typical drill sergeant does for Marine recruits on Earth, and that singling me out was what she did to everyone on their first day. I had seen enough war movies to know that the drill sergeant’s primary job is to act as an adversary for the entire group of recruits – as well as push them so hard they felt their lives were in danger. I also understood that this kind of intense training had the side benefit of helping the recruits form stronger bonds with each other while facing constant harassment from the drill sergeant…

…But that wouldn’t work if she kept singling me out time after time… and in fact, it might make everyone start to see me as more and more of an outsider…

Sylko would have to be dealt with. I found it inexcusable that a teacher – a Master no less – would abuse their position to gain revenge on a child. But I needed to be smart about it, because if I broke any laws it was my parents back in North Stone Village who would suffer. I would have to thank Kodan later for inadvertently warning me about what was going on.

I would also have to figure out what to do about my roommates. On one hand, they were clearly trying to bully me, but on the other hand, they were also clearly immature eleven-year-old children… I had a hard time taking them as a serious threat… I mean, technically I’m in my thirties, so bratty children shouldn’t really be able to get to me. Sylko came first, unless things got worse with Idonea and Mei. I decided to draw the line at whether or not the let me sleep unmolested – if they did anything to disturb my sleep it would probably make me lose my cool and zap them anyway, so no point in lying to myself and pretending I would be able to let it go.

----------------------

The rest of the day went without a hitch, although I did get quite a few curious looks from the other students. The lesson consisted of the entire group listening to the Master of Water recite a tale from our history, then breaking into different groups (based on age) and discussing the specifics of the legend with the three Instructors who worked under Master Ginma. It was actually somewhat interesting, but the discussion was a bit hard to sit through… I was not used to being surrounded by so many stupid people.

Ok, that wasn’t fair, they weren’t stupid, they were just young… but that didn’t make it much easier. My parents had long ago gotten used to speaking with me at an adult level, although they still treated me as a child in many other ways (which made sense, seeing as I was a child in many other ways). I hadn’t spent much time with other children around my age except for Zephyr, but that was different. She was more like a little sister.