-Five-

I shook my head as I exited the admissions office, schedule in hand. English, history, math, P.E., biology, and Chinese, of all things. Maybe my next assignment was going to be overseas? Or perhaps they just wanted to train me, just in case. Or maybe it was for the war ahead…? Knowing Chinese, even a little, might come in handy someday.

I sighed as I unbuttoned the top of my trench coat. I was way too used to my cape, but that would look too assuming… too obvious to those who knew what was going on… And the trench coat wasn’t bad, it was a good color of red, my color, so it seemed that whoever had put my wardrobe together had at least figured out that I would consider it an insult if I didn’t have at least one major article of clothing that color… it was my rank, after all.

I looked at the schedule, then at my map of campus, and realized that my first class was in the building across the corridor, and quickly headed towards the first entrance I could find, into it, and up to the second floor. I found 207 without much difficulty and entered, trying to act as normal and unannoyed as possible. All these little peon ants running around, caring too much about what each other thought to notice what was going around them, much like their parents and everyone else.

I knew that the rest of the world was clueless, there was a good reason for that, but to see just how clueless… well… it amazed me! I mean, weren’t they supposedly at war? Shouldn’t they act at least a little concerned about… well… something? Granted, I didn’t know much of the details, but it seemed like whenever your country was at war, you should sit up and notice.

But then again, things worked differently out here. Not everyone was a soldier, and not everyone’s lives revolved around military orders. That was another thing that I couldn’t comprehend. What did people do without orders to go by all the time? I mean, sure, I was high enough that I was making my own decisions, for the most part, but I still had my superiors I had to look up to and report to. And they were the ones who gave me my assignments…

I guess that’s what parents were for… though from what I had heard and seen, they didn’t do a very good job. If they had, their kids wouldn’t do so many stupid things… Look at this lot, this rabble of unassuming, stupid, scuttling creatures who would mostly live and die without knowing or seeing or understanding much of anything!

“Hi, you must be Taurean.” An elderly lady with wrinkles at the corners of her eyes smiled at me.

I nodded, not trusting myself enough to speak.

“There’s a spot open right in front of the overhead, and I’m afraid that’s it. It’s a pretty full class.”

“That’s okay.” I said, setting my bag down next to the desk and sat down, noticing that we were the only ones there. I looked at my watch and noticed I still had ten minutes until class started. Fantastic.

“So, I heard you moved over here from Scotland?”

I nodded, pulling out my things for class, wishing she would just leave me alone.

“It must be pretty there this time of year.”

I shrugged. “It’s pretty all year round.” Which was true enough. I had been over there a few times, and the country always looked better than it did over here… but maybe I was a bit biased, especially since I seemed to have more luck over there with—

“I’ll bet it is.” She smiled. “Miss it already?”

I shrugged. “I’ve barely been gone. Besides, the place is only worth as much as the people in it.” Which was exactly why I was wishing that I didn’t have to be here.

“How true that is!” She grinned, and then I really wished I hadn’t said anything.

The door opened and a few students started to trickle in, and for once I was glad. This teacher was being far too… happy. It was almost scary.

A broad and fairly tall guy sat down next to me. “Hey, Mrs. Dutch said we’d be getting someone new today. I’m Marcus.”

I smiled slightly. “Taurean. Nice to meet you.”

“You too. So, as long as we’re going to be sitting next to each other for the rest of the year, I might as well ask what you’re into, right?”

I chuckled, oddly finding myself warming up to him. He didn’t seem quite as stupid and clueless as the others around here seemed to be. Guy was dressed in a black t-shirt, jeans and a pair of white and blue sneakers. “Not much… mostly just weird stuff.”

That almost seemed to peak his interest. “Like?”

I smiled sheepishly, wondering if I should be admitting this. “Sword fighting.”

“Seriously?!”

I nodded.

“Dude, you should totally check out the boffering club, then. We meet once a week, every Wednesday after school. You’ll have to wait until next week to join, but--”

“Boffering?”

“You know… fighting with padded weapons?”

“Oh.”

He chuckled. “You sound disappointed, but in reality, it’s a miracle we got the school to agree to that much. They seem to have a pretty strict no-weapons policy.”

“Right. Sorry, I’m just used to using the real thing.”

“Seriously?”

I nodded. “But I haven’t had anyone to practice with for a while, so this will be… interesting.”

He smiled slightly. “I bet you’re pretty good, then.”

I shrugged. “We’ll see, I suppose. Where is it?”

“Oh, it’s outside in the courtyard behind the science building.”

I nodded. “I’ll be there, then.”

“Cool.”

“So what else you into?”

“Honestly? Obscure tactical maneuvers.”

“Sounds like quite the hobby. Must involve a lot of history.”

Taurean nodded. “I really enjoy studying Alexander the Great. The man managed to take over the-then known world with a handful of soldiers. I greatly admire that.”

Marcus chuckled. “You got a point. Almost made it to India or China or something, didn’t he?”

Taurean nodded. “Almost.”

“Also gotta admire that he was his own best soldier.” Marcus said. “No better way to inspire the troops than to be fighting and bleeding right alongside them.”

“Exactly.” Taurean grinned, wondering for a fleeting second if maybe, just maybe, this Marcus could share in their vision…

“I can only imagine what it would have been like to have been in battle with the guy. Must have had some charisma.”

Taurean chuckled. “And here I thought I was the Alexander fan.”

Marcus shrugged. “You aren’t the only student of history in this room. A lot of us in the Boffering club have our little area of expertise, really. It’s not just about the practice, it’s about everything that goes and went with it.”

“And let me guess, that’s how you got the school to sponsor and allow it?”

“Exactly.”

“So what’s your area?”

Marcus chuckled. “Sea battles, mostly the early stuff, but I do know quite a bit about modern maneuvers and the like.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, a lot of people aren’t that interested, but a lot of people don’t realize the time, effort, and strategy it takes, and how it changed over the years with the change of technology, and--”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me, I don’t know much of the subject, but it’s always intrigued me. None of my teachers ever found it prudent to teach, though, and I could never find a half descent book on the subject.”

Marcus smiled. “You must have been looking in the wrong place, then. There are several if you know where to look. I’ll bring you one or two tomorrow, if you want. I’ve got a stash at home.”

Taurean nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll make sure not to harm them.”

“Thanks. Say, a bunch of us Boffer geeks eat lunch at one of the side tables in the cafeteria near the windows. I doubt anyone would care if you joined us, especially once they hear of your expertise with weapons and your history niche. It’s been a while since we had an Alexander know-it-all. They’ll be hanging on your every word.”

Taurean chuckled, definitely glad that he was sitting next to Marcus now. But all this talk of fighting and history and battles made him wonder if this is what the Senator had been talking about… Was Yori involved in this? And his sister? Were they secretly recruiting here in the school…? Well, only one way to really find out… “Right. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Marcus grinned. “Cool.”