Wilhelm’s chatting continued with Oro, consisting of the large man filling in some of his blanks on the general world around him. Most of the questions seemed to exasperate him, with responses like “How do you not know this?” and “You must have been very sheltered” being almost as common as prepositions.

Oro rubbed his temples and stared forward like a traumatized veteran.

“You don’t know who the King is? The King? The ruler of the place you are in right now, along with wherever you came from?” Wilhelm opened his mouth, but Oro cut him off.

“No, not wherever you came from as in your birthplace, which I’m starting to suspect is at the bottom of Orphan’s Trench, except you would probably be more well informed than you seem to be. At least there stuff from the surface would sometimes float down and you could glean some information, unlike whatever impenetrable hole you crawled out of.”

Wilhelm held up his hands in faux defense. “Alright, alright, I get it. Now, the King? Is he who the Navy ultimately reports to or something? Commander-in-chief style?”

Oro shook his head. “No, the Navy is a distinct entity that the King sort-of employs, sort-of hates, sort-of needs. King Koroman is the current monarch, and he rules over much of this hemisphere. We exist under the Pevek Dynasty, who has ruled for just under two centuries, waxing and waning in power and influence. They’re fairly hands-off, mostly collecting taxes and letting the local Noble houses take care of things, only stepping in when absolutely necessary. If you ever see a high royal presence anywhere but the absolute seat of their power; run. It means very bad things are happening, so bad that the King himself was notified and decided to act.”

Wilhelm nodded. “And that’s bad?”

“Yes. Very. The King doesn’t act much, like I said – mostly hands-off, even when he arguably should do more. Many Houses are corrupt or do terrible things, all while he turns a blind eye, so if he’s intervening, it means either something truly heinous was happening, or the House offended him severely enough to warrant a military response. Either way: flee. Nothing good can come from getting embroiled in that, and escaping while you’re on the periphery is your best bet.”

He frowned. “What about the people living under that House? Do they just have to up and run because the King’s might arrived?”

“No, regular people will be fine. Well, as fine you can be as a powerless individual surrounded by conflict. When I say you, I mean you. You’re an Aspected, and that means politics stick to you like molasses to hair.” He scratched his bald head with his hand attached to his hairless arm attached to his glabrous body. “I assume, at least. Anyway, with your Aspect in particular, both sides would almost certainly try to get you on their side, ultimately culminating in at best being politely – but firmly – asked to leave by one of the sides, or more likely assassination attempts.” Wilhelm winced.

“Yeah, it’s bad.” Oro said. “But that’s how it goes. Stay clear unless you’re strong enough to take on the King’s forces and a House at the same time. Which, to be clear, you are not.”

“I know that.” Wilhelm rolled his eyes.

Oro shrugged. “Thought it couldn’t hurt to mention.”

“So, how do you know all this exactly?” Wilhelm had been wondering it for a while, but his long descriptions of the King’s actions had really solidified his curiosity.

Oro scratched the back of his head in a meek gesture entirely unbefitting his gargantuan frame.

“Back home I worked in the library a lot. Not many visitors most days, so I spent most of my time reading. I liked history most, so I worked through our collection while I was there, and my memory has always been pretty good. Plus, I, you know, existed in the world prior to a week ago, unlike you.”

Wilhelm looked at him with brief alarm.

Oro raised his eyebrows. “Woah, calm down, just a joke. Didn’t mean any offense.”

His shoulders untensed. For a moment, he thought Oro knew he was Sylum – something that while maybe not a secret, wasn’t something he wanted floating around him either. Being the Aspected who stood up to some prick minor Noble was bad enough; more eyes meant more trouble.

“Why does the King not like the Navy?”

Oro brightened when he saw Wilhelm had taken no offense.

“I’ll be brief, which means I’m cutting a lot of corners, and you should really read a history book to get the full picture,” Wilhelm nodded that he would, lying both to Oro and himself simultaneously.

“The Navy wasn’t so much created as it was allowed to exist by the various major factions of the world. A century or so past there was a massive golden age of piracy spurred by some infamous figures sprouting around the same time, and it became rough on the seas. Being a merchant was borderline impossible without an extensive guard, and the only truly safe waters were those controlled by large kingdoms, and even they didn’t stray too far. All of this resulted in little militias sprouting up - independent of one another, but likely influencing each other in turn – who eventually sought to join into a unified force. Long story short, they needed permission from multiple world powers, Pevek Dynasty included, to join together, and now they hold far more power and influence than any of these old powers would prefer. The Navy would never do anything to harm or attack these world powers of course,” Oro said with a kind of absolute certainty that made Wilhelm weary, “But when you have that much power, they want a slice of the pie. Hence, Noble Houses – their knives to carve off a piece.”

“So, the King doesn’t like the Navy because he would rather be the one with the power?”

Oro nodded. “Pretty much. The Navy has so much power and influence in our post-pirate existence that if polled, the odds of the King being preferred to the Navy by the general population is slim. Or at least, that’s the most common theory proposed by most scholars I read. Now, the old powers are biding their time and hoping their influence lasts longer than the Navy’s. It’s not looking good for them, at the moment, but the Navy is both too powerful to push out and too valuable to keep around to try.”

Before Wilhelm could ask more, the doors opened.

A tall, thin man with a refined gait walked into the room. His hands were clasped behind his back, and his hawkish features scrutinized every detail of the room with impunity. He had a severe, greying widows peak, and wore a deep black uniform with shining silver accents. An equally lustrous symbol was pinned to his upper breast, the symbol of the Navy engraved with patterns denoting some sort of honorific Wilhelm didn’t understand., the patterns themselves resembling the cracks that spread upon the surface of a pond towards winter’s end, but organized and exact.

Another man followed behind, one of similar uniform but clearly lacking in several aspects. His hair was thinner, his strides shorter and lopsided, his skin paler with liver spots peeking out under his clothing through vain attempts to hide them. His eyes, however, were a shining sapphire, and he surveyed the room in a similar manner to the first man, though a pointed anger slapped every person who his eyes fell upon, Wilhelm included.

“Good morning,” The first man said with a monotone but vaguely pleasant tone. The second stood behind the other, back slightly hunched.

“I am Francois Alarie, Vice Director of Integrity to the Pevek based branch of the Navy.” Oro’s eyebrows raised at Francois’ title, so Wilhelm assumed he was a big deal.

Behind me is,” he gestured to the man, who stepped forward.

“I am Headmaster Adrik of the Profit’s Landing Academy, of which you are within.” His words were clipped and terse, biting them off like a dog tears meat off a carcass. “I will not be conducting this season’s exam. Instead, Mr. Alarie will be doing so, and I will assist when needed. The exam will be as difficult as any Naval exam should be, so those of you expecting an easy success,” his eyes lingered a moment longer on the Rothwell scarecrows before moving on, “Think again. Mr. Alarie’s standards befit the heart of the Navy, and if you do not rise to them, you will be left in the dust without a second thought. Perform, and you will be the newest Naval recruits to graduate from the Profit’s Landing Academy.” He stepped back, and Francois gave him a nod before continuing.

“As Headmaster Adrik said, I will be conducting this season’s exam. It will be a little bit different to previous exams, being entirely cooperative in effect. You will all spend two weeks at sea on a ship of my choosing. You will live together, eat together, breathe together, and most importantly, work together. I have already secured permission from the local branch to allow you to briefly take over a Naval patrol route, and you will assume the responsibilities associated. If an overgrown Fossilback threatens nearby ships, you will be the ones to remove it. If pirates are raiding nearby towns, you will exterminate the threat. For two weeks’ time you will all act as real Navy members, with only some of you truly assuming that role afterwards.”

Many nearby men and women looked frightened by the news, with a few even muttering their frustrations, only to be instantly shut down by a glare so sharp it could nearly drew blood, from the Headmaster. The Rothwell group looked irate, with – surprisingly to Wilhelm – Taylor looking almost stoic, shutting down his lackeys with a short words. Maybe he could grow into a better person; he hoped so, at least.

Oro’s brow was furrowed, but he looked more pensive than anything. The three mercenaries – as Wilhelm had taken to referring to them in his head – grunted but otherwise said nothing, each leaning back in their seats and observing the other reactions with varying degrees of amusement.

As to Wilhelm’s reaction, he had no idea what the original Naval exam was, so this changed pretty much nothing. In fact, he was relieved. The exam sounded exactly like what he had been doing for months at this point, and while he didn’t have the luxury of falling back on seasoned veterans that could point him in the right direction, he felt that he had a good enough grasp of the ship to maybe even be the seasoned veteran, depending on how lost some of the more worried looking recruits ended up being.

“You will each be graded on your individual performance, which will then be adjusted based on your crew rank as a whole. If you individually perform well, but the rest of your crew is clueless, you will still fail. How to remedy these issues is up to you all.” More upset looks spread out, but Francois didn’t care enough to stop.

“Additionally, five of you will assume specific roles on the ship. There will be a First Mate, Quartermaster, Chief Engineer, Doctor, and Navigator. There will be other minor roles you will all assume, but those five will have specific responsibilities the others will not, and will be judged more harshly when it comes to them. You will find who has which roles on a central board of the ship you will be sailing upon.”

He turned to the Headmaster.

“Are there any Aspected in this group?”

Headmaster Adrik shook his head. “There are not. Profit’s Landing historically has had very few-“

Francois’ eyes turned from their normal brown to a blinding silver, and he scanned the room, locking on to Wilhelm immediately.

“No, there is one.” The Headmaster’s face twisted in anger and offense. Murmurs of ‘Aspected’ spread through the crowd, and even Wilhelm was surprised.

Mr. Alarie turned back to the rest of the group, utterly unphased by the development. “Addendum: There will be six roles, adding in Aspected to the hierarchy. It will be missing from the board, but there is only one, and you all see them, so it should not be an issue. Memorize their appearance; excessive breakings of rank will be penalized.” Far more pairs of eyes locked on to Wilhelm than he had ever desired in his life, and he instantly started sweating a frankly embarrassing amount.

“I will be acting as Captain of the vessel, with Headmaster Adrik stepping in for me if there are other things that I must attend to. The Headmaster will give you instructions to the vessel; we depart at dusk. Prepare yourselves.”

The Vice Director of Integrity turned and walked away, black boots echoing on hard stone. The Headmaster stepped forward immediately, reading off the directions to the spot on the docks that the ship was moored. Wilhelm half-listened, but mostly was recovering from being the center attention multiple times in such quick succession.

“What do you think?” Oro asked to his side, rubbing his chin as he spoke.

“Like I need a nap. That was exhausting.”

Oro raised an eyebrow. “The powerful Aspected needs a nap after a mere two hours of sitting? How I fret for our future.”

Wilhelm scowled back, getting a chuckle in return.

“I’m joking of course. Again, thank you for helping earlier.” He said quickly, but Wilhelm noticed he was loosening up more and more. An hour ago, Oro would have been petrified that he’d have been turned to burnt remains for making a joke like that. Wilhelm smiled slightly at the development.

He shrugged. “Of course, any time. What did you think? I don’t even know what the old exam was.”

“I’m undecided,” Oro said, “On one hand, it’s definitely more difficult than the old one – which was essentially just a series of mini tests, and if you were adequate at just over half, you would pass – but it also seems more rewarding. If I pass this, I have no doubt I’ll be more of an asset to my Captain than I would otherwise.” There was an excitement to his words that Wilhelm hadn’t heard out of him thus far, and it made Wilhelm smile even wider.

“It does sound fun, doesn’t it?” Wilhelm said.

“Fun? Are you insane?” Oro’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m terrified, how can you think it sounds fun?”

“I thought you said it sounded rewarding!”

“I did! Rewarding and fun are not the same thing. Clearing a beach of litter is rewarding, but I would much rather spend the time doing something fun instead.”

“And what’s your idea of fun, exactly?”

“Reading.” Wilhelm said flatly at the same time Oro spoke with enthusiasm.

The Sedi man winced. “Am I really that predictable?”

“A bit.”

“You’re still insane for thinking any of the next two weeks will be fun, by the way.”

Wilhelm grinned. “If you think I’m insane, you should meet my crew. Besides, I’m an optimist.”

“You’re an optimist?”

“It’s a work in progress.” He conceded.

Oro laughed, “What are you going to do until it’s time to board?”

Wilhelm thought for a bit, and shook his head. “I have no idea. I don’t really have any belongings other than some spare clothes, so I guess I’ll grab those. Afterwards, probably a couple hours of training to pass the time. You?”

“Mostly the same, except reading instead of training. What do you do other than train?”

“Uh.”

“Like, hobbies, activities, things you do for fun?” he clarified.

“Um,” Wilhelm said again, blankly staring back at Oro.

“Do you have nothing you do for fun? Reading, writing, playing cards, gambling, drinking, even just talking to your crewmates?”

“I…” Wilhelm frowned. He really didn’t do much other than train. He’s so far behind those who he considers his peers, and those who others would consider his peers, all he’d been focused on was training more and more, intent on catching up. If they had such a head start on him, he would train even more to compensate.

“Training is…fun sometimes,” he eventually said. He wasn’t entirely lying; there was only so bored you could get while making fire shoot from your fingertips. Frustration, however, was another matter entirely.

Oro closed his eyes and shook his head lightly as if to clear his head of what Wilhelm just said.

“Of course, it is. You’re the Aspected.” He said flatly.

“Oh, come on, it’s not that bad to train all the time, is it?” Wilhelm scowled.

“No no, of course not. It’s a healthy and good thing to do that won’t result in being a burnt-out husk of a human being in a few years’ time. This is a good idea. Sarcasm? Me? I would never stop so low, O’ great Aspected.”

“Shut up, book boy.”