Dinner arrived sometime later, but before I could sit down at my desk with my plate Helnion took my hand and started pulling me towards the door. I immediately knew where she was taking me and, to my surprise, I offered no resistance. The strange look Arty had while she watched was worth it either way.

I tried eating my food on the way to Helnion's room but her firm grip on my wrist kept me from using both of my hands. I was certain I was more than strong enough to free myself but despite my hunger; I decided it wasn't worth the risk of spilling my drink or having any of my food slide off my plate when I jerked my hand free.

Once in her room both of us sat down and began eating. My meal was nothing spectacular and comprised cheese, bread, a bowl of stew and the obligatory cup of water.

Helnion's meal was much more spectacular. I hadn't noticed last night because I had been too busy inspecting her room, but now saw what was probably a perk of living in the more expensive rooms. Like my meal, she had cheese and bread. Unlike my meal she had a large piece of meat, probably lamb, a small saucer filled with what looked like honey and a side of several vegetables.

Helnion noticed me studying her meal, "Do you want some?”

"No. I'm good," I replied.

I now knew one thing. When I got paid, I was upgrading my meal plan.

For the rest of the time until lights out I played with Helnion's magic crystals while she either played with them, with me, or messed with my hair. To my surprise, I was finding her tending to my hair relaxing, and I dozed from time to time.

I woke up to a knock on the door.

Helnion and I had both fallen asleep at this point and both of us awoke with a start. Helnion looked like she still had no idea what had happened so it was I that stood up and went to open the door. I nearly stopped myself from opening it because I knew it would be Ferret or her friends, but I had already agreed to help.

"Salis," It was Ferret and one of her friends, "It is almost time to leave…"

Ferret began to giggle. Her friend looked confused for a moment but then soon joined.

"Salis," Ferret tried to quiet herself down because, after closer inspection of the hallway, it appeared to be after lights out. "You have drool down your face."

I wiped my face. It was true, the right side of my mouth was sticky with my saliva.

"I like your hair though," She added after motioning for me to follow her, "Not sure if I approve of looking good just before we leave to see Dario."

I walked back to where Helnion was sitting and pulled her out of the room.

"I'm going ahead," I told Ferret as we quietly slipped out the exit to the girl's dorm.

"We should stick together," Ferret looked serious for once.

"We'll get spotted more easily if we travel in big groups,” I expected them to give themselves away and made an excuse to be on my own.

"At least get some moss," Ferra looked like she wanted to argue more but didn’t.

"All right," I had achieved victory.

I had wanted to get a look at what Dorito and his friends were up to before Ferret and her group botched things, but having some moss might be useful later.

On our way to the shed, I noticed something that concerned me. I had expected the night to be at least fairly light, and it was, but the entire area around the school was large open fields with grass that only came up to my knees. If anyone was watching the school from one of the small groves of trees, they could easily see anyone coming in the moonlight.

Hopefully, all the boys would be as dumb as Ferret claimed them to be. If they were smart they'd have at least one person watching just in case a teacher came to see what was going on.

I grabbed one of the smaller bags of moss. Despite it coming almost to my hips, it was light.

I turned to leave and noticed Ferra looking at me.

"Be careful," She said after a moment, "Both of you."

I looked at Ferret. If anyone would mess things up, it would be her. Still, whether she did it, the night would be memorable.

I turned from Helnion and headed out into the fields. It had not been hard to pinpoint which grove Dorito's party was happening in because I could see a faint glow coming from one southeast of the school grounds. For now, I didn’t head straight towards it and had taken a path perpendicular to it. It would add time to get there but I imagined if someone was watching it would only be in the direction towards the school. I crouched low, Helnion following suit after a moment.

"Salis," Helnion said after a few minutes out, surprising me slightly because I was not used to her talking, "Where are we going?"

"Around, so they can't see us coming," I replied.

Helnion nodded in understanding.

"What should I do?"

"For now, just follow me."

Helnion nodded and then resumed her scanning of the surroundings, probably looking for something interesting.

After who knows how long, the two of us reached the grove, both of us breathing hard thanks to the quick pace I had set. Despite my already heavy fatigue from the past few days, Helnion looked more tired than I did.

I stopped just short of the bushes that began just outside the grove. I could see no one yet, but I could faintly hear the quiet voices of some boys somewhere inside.

"Can you climb a tree?" I asked Helnion.

She nodded.

"Papa hates it though," She looked grumpy at the thought.

"Follow right behind me and watch where you step."

I began heading into the grove. The bushes weren't very thick and were easy to navigate around. I had hoped they would be thicker, making it easier to hide, but once we entered the grove itself it became darker so I was satisfied with that.

It did not take long before I began to make out what some boys were saying. Most of it was idle chatter or excitement about the ceremony.

I stopped.

In front of me, I saw that several boys were holding light crystals and one or two had candles. Among them, I saw Dorito and Caldren. Caldren was dozing next to a tree, but Dorito was watching the other boys as if he owned them.

I wondered if he really was their leader or if he was just always that way. If he was leader, I didn't see how. I was fairly certain he had some sort of nobility but he wouldn't be the only one and there were older boys.

I turned to Helnion and, once I had gotten her attention, I pointed to the tree we were next to. The tree was more than big enough to hold both of us and was close enough for us to see what was going on. I just hoped that none of the boys heard us climbing it.

"Try to be quiet," I told Helnion as she began to climb the tree.

I wasn't sure if she had heard me because she hadn't looked at me.

I headed for a nearby bush and climbed inside. If Helnion was heard or spotted as she climbed, I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be found too.

"Did you hear something?" One of the nearest boys said.

"Yeah, it is probably a squirrel or a rabbit or something," Another boy replied.

"You sure?"

"If it were a teacher, they would come straight at us."

"Yeah…"

I could not hear what the boys said after this as they started whispering. A part of me was suspicious, but I had no way of knowing until something happened.

Helnion had found a place in the tree and stopped moving. This meant it was now my turn.

I looked around just in case and saw I was in the clear. I then moved to the tree as quickly as I dared.

The climb up the tree was harder for me than it had been for Helnion. She was so much taller than I was that she had easily reached the branches. I had to move a large rock under the lowest branch before I could even jump high enough to reach it. The climb after that was much easier, and I did it more quietly than Helnion had, but not by much.

A few minutes passed before anything happened.

"It is time to start!" A large older looking boy said after another had said something to him.

This older boy was probably the biggest and oldest I had seen at the school. If he wasn't in his last year here, he was somewhere close to it.

Dorito stood next to the bigger boy and now had a dutiful look on his face. Caldren was now awake and was standing just behind Dorito.

"New boys line up!"

Seven small boys lined up awkwardly in front of the leader. I noticed that two of them were the ones that Dorito had been pushing around.

"What do you offer for joining our group?"

The first four boys each eagerly walked up to the leader and placed something in his hand. I could not see what it was, but I heard metallic clanks and guessed it was money.

"That will do. Welcome to the group, boys!"

The four boys looked at each other excitedly and then took their places with the boys watching.

It was at this point that I began to wonder when Ferret's plan would start, or whether it would happen at all.

"What about you three?" He said to the last boys.

None of these boys looked happy to be there and were all looking at the ground.

My guess was that these were the poor boys that they had bullied into joining. If this were true, this was when the bad things started happening.

"Well?" The leader boy said, his smile now gone.

None of the three boys said anything.

"Looks like you will have to work your fee off," He said and stood right in front of the boy in the center, "But first you need to show us how much you want to join us."

Leader Boy held out his hand to Dorito.

Dorito eagerly put a long thin branch into his hand.

"Kneel," Leader Boy said to the boys.

Two of the boys shakily did as they were told and knelt on the ground. The third collapsed and began sobbing.

"Quit crying!" Leader Boy said and struck the boy with the stick several times.

I was getting angry. Leader Boy was scum. No one had the right to beat others like that.

Besides me, I could feel Helnion shaking. I looked over and saw she looked even more angry than I felt.

I hoped Ferret's plan would start soon or else an angry Helnion would nip at Leader Boy's heels.

Leader Boy had whipped the other two boys when another boy came and whispered in his ear, stopping him. Leader Boy's smile was malicious.

"It is time to move out!" Leader Boy began to give several boys orders to go in different directions.

The rest of the boys whooped and moved out.

Leader Boy looked to the three shaking boys on the ground in front of him, "Impress me."

The three boys stood up quickly and rushed after the others.

I heard rustling below me.

Close to my tree I saw three boys creeping from bush to bush.

"You sure you heard someone over here?" I heard one say.

"No way that was a rabbit making all that noise," A second, familiar voice said.

"Think they ran off?" The other boy I had heard earlier said.

"Hope not." The second boy replied.

I watched as the boys passed. One of them was holding a light crystal and was passing it over every bush while the other two kicked at them. They didn't seem to pay much attention to the trees, but it was hard to tell through all the branches.

I heard yelling, some of it from girls.

It appeared Ferret was the one caught in a trap. I didn't see anyone with weapons so I doubted anyone would get killed…

"Screw this. I am going out there," The third boy said.

"Me too," The first said.

The second boy shrugged and ran off with the other two.

A few moments after the three boys left I decided I wanted to follow.

Helnion beat me to it and jumped out of the tree. I jumped out after her, my sore legs nearly giving out when I landed, and I stumbled.

Helnion and I followed not far behind the boys, only stopping just short of the edge of the fields.

Here I could see several figures in the moonlight running about. Several of these figures stood around smoldering piles of moss, while others charged at them.

I watched as the boys lifted what appeared to be buckets as they approached. I had noticed no one with any buckets inside the grove so I had no idea what was inside. Whatever it was, several of Ferret's friends were now covered with it.

I soon began to hear shouting coming from another part of the grove. I turned to Helnion and motioned for her to follow me. She did so, and thanks to all the commotion happening outside we could move through the trees and bushes quickly.

I arrived just in time to find an interesting scene developing in front of me.

Ferret was kneeling on the ground in front of Leader Boy. Two of the boys in Ferret's group were holding her down, with one girl standing behind her with a bucket.

"I will pay you later," Leader boy said to those that had betrayed Ferret.

"How did you know?" Ferret said with a bit of fear in her voice.

"Do not be dumb, Fer." Dorito, who was standing next to Leader Boy, spoke. "You and your friends talk so much it is hard NOT to hear whatever you are doing whether I want to hear it."

"We are coming to help!" A girl shouted from my left.

Everyone looked over and saw three girls heading towards Ferret. Just behind them were several boys in chase.

Leader Boy himself charged at the girls. He reached them in what seemed like only three bounds and began sparring with them. The first girl went down easily thanks a sweep to her legs. The second took a kick to the stomach and bent over in pain. The third put up a fight and blocked another kick and jumping out of the way of a leg sweep before being grappled and then pinned to the ground.

The boys that had been following the girls arrived and pinned the other two to the ground.

Leader Boy said something to them I couldn't hear. The boys immediately dumped the contents of their buckets onto the girls' heads before placing the bucket there.

"You have won. Let us go," Ferret said when Leader Boy returned, her voice now devoid of any fight.

"We will, but not before we punish you. Do not want it getting into your head to try again."

"Wha- What is in the buckets?" Ferret eyed the buckets.

"Last night's dinner, and boy did I eat my fill. Also drank plenty of water."

I could not make out Ferret's face very well from this distance, but it would be easy to guess what it looked like now.

Ferret looked around her. Aside from the girl behind her, there were five other boys holding buckets, including Leader Boy, Dorito, and Caldren.

"Too bad the bathhouse is closed for the night," Leader Boy raised his bucket over Ferret's head. He then poured it.

To my surprise, Helnion darted out from behind our bush and charged at the boys pouring the contents of their buckets onto Ferret. The distance was at least thirty meters to Leader Boy, so I doubted Helnion would make it before being seen.

Leader Boy tossed his now empty bucket behind him as Dorito began pouring his onto Ferret.

Helnion had not yet been seen and was doing a good job at staying low and quiet as she ran.

The girl behind Ferret poured her bucket next, albeit with some hesitation.

Helnion was now just behind Leader Boy. Everyone was watching Ferret so none had noticed her.

Just as it was Caldren's turn to pour his bucket on Ferret, Helnion reached down and looked like she was trying to grab Leader Boy's discarded bucket but tripped and slammed squarely into the back of his knee. To my surprise, Helnion's hit knocked Leader Boy over and right into Caldren's bucket, spilling it all over Leader Boy, Ferret, and Caldren.

Everyone looked at the scene dumbfounded.

Ferret was the first to speak.

"Get out of here, Helnion!"

Helnion looked at Ferret then to all the other boys who now knew of her presence.

I had yet to see Helnion move as fast as she did at that moment.

Sadly, I knew that she had no chance of escaping. From what I could tell she was one of the slowest runners I had ever seen. If something didn't stop the boys now chasing her, it would only be seconds before they caught her.

There was no way I could reach her in time, and even if I did, there was no way I could hold off even one of those boys.

"I. AM. GOING. TO. GET. YOU." Leader Boy set his sights on Helnion as soon as he recovered. He then burst into a sprint and easily began covering the distance between them.

I looked around me quickly. There had to be…

I picked up some rocks. I had no idea how accurate I could be with them, but it was all I could think of at the moment.

It was too late. One boy grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to the ground. Moments later the other boys surrounded her and there was nothing I could do.

"Go check and make sure no more are hiding!" Leader Boy yelled to three boys, one of which had one of the two remaining buckets.

The boys immediately rushed towards the grove, towards me.

If I ran now there was the possibility that I could still get away, but could I do that? It was much too late to save anyone else from a bucket of… something nasty?

I picked up a stick the thickness of my arm and nearly twice as long. I would not run but there was no way I was getting a bucket dumped on me.

The boys reached the bush next to mine when I jumped at them. Two of them jumped when I did so, while the third skidded to a halt.

I swung my stick as hard as I could at the hand of the nearest boy’s bucket. My strike easily connected, and the boy dropped the bucket, recoiling in pain. The bucket spilled and poured its contents onto the ground.

I immediately followed through with a strike to the only boy that had come after me and struck his arm away as he reached for me. He yelped as he jumped back, barely dodging my strike.

All three of the boys backed off from me and began looking for sticks of their own. I ignored them and ran as hard as I could to Helnion and Leader Boy.

Leader Boy himself was still standing over Helnion and the boy pinning her down. Leader Boy was looking at me, but only for a moment because he soon turned back to Helnion and dumped the bucket onto her. He then turned back to me and charged.

It was a matter of moments before we met.

I swung my stick at his leg. He was so much taller than me that that was the only place I could easily hit.

Leader Boy ignored my strike and took the hit. He didn't even flinch and slammed into me, knocking me over.

He stood over me and looked at me curiously.

"The Terran?" a little fascination in his voice, "To think the Terran was dumb enough to try one of Fer's plans."

Leader Boy leaned over and picked me up by the waist.

"I don't like bullies," I said to him.

"Bullies?" He smirked. "Only when we need to be."

He hefted me, feeling my weight.

"You are heavier than I thought you would be."

The three boys I had run past arrived and Leader Boy glanced at them.

"Any buckets left?" He asked them.

"Nope." The tallest of the boys said. "She spilled it on the ground over there."

"Then what are we going to do with you?" He said to me.

"How about put me down?”

I saw a smile almost appear on his face.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"So we can get to bed. I'm getting sleepy."

This time he smiled.

"Go on."

"The sooner you get to bed, the sooner you can dream about pouring buckets of nasty stuff onto your enemies."

"We can always fill up another bucket." One boy said.

Leader Boy looked at him. "Do any of you have to take a dump?"

The boys looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Your lucky day. We pissed and crapped all we could before you and Fer's other goons arrived.”

He then tossed me onto the ground next to Helnion, right into a small spot of mud that had formed from what had missed her.

"Close enough," Leader Boy said when he saw where I had landed.

He then raised his head and yelled, "Time to go, boys!"

With that, all the boys rushed back towards the school.

"I am so sorry for getting you into this," Ferret stood next to Helnion and me.

Helnion had taken her clothes off and began using them to wipe herself off and said nothing.

I said nothing either.

"I better go check on the others," She said and jogged off.

I turned to Helnion. "Let's go get clean."

"Yes. I smell," Helnion sniffed herself.

Both of us turned to the direction the bathhouse was in. The bathhouse itself would be closed, but the river was there for the taking.