The first morning at the Academy began with breakfast.
This seemed reassuring.
I had been expecting something more dramatic.
Perhaps a dimensional rupture.
Maybe a sentient planet.
At the very least, an explosion.
Instead, Solin stood in the dining hall holding a tray while approximately three hundred alien students tried not to stare at him.
"You're famous," I said.
Solin looked at me.
"I don't want to be."
"Nobody does."
Verity stood beside us, reviewing his schedule.
"Orientation begins in twelve minutes."
"You're coming?"
"Of course."
Solin sighed.
"Mom would be here."
I nodded.
Bettie had stayed home.
She'd packed his things twice the night before, then unpacked half of them because she decided he'd need different things.
This morning she'd hugged him for a very long time.
She hadn't cried until after we stepped through the portal.
I had pretended not to notice.
Solin looked around the dining hall.
"I guess I should make some friends."
"Good plan."
"Any advice?"
"Don't start a war."
Verity looked at me.
"That is remarkably vague."
"I've learned that specificity creates liability."
We found seats.
Within five minutes, three students had introduced themselves.
A tall amphibious student named Jarek.
A small crystalline girl named Luma.
And a human-looking boy who introduced himself as Marcus and immediately asked if it was true that Solin could levitate.
"Not yet," Solin said.
"Yet?"
"I just reached Stage 4."
Marcus's eyes widened.
"You're a Stage 4?"
The table went quiet.
Apparently, that was information.
Solin shrugged.
"Yes."
Luma smiled.
"That's impressive."
Jarek nodded.
"Very."
Then someone laughed.
It wasn't a friendly laugh.
We looked across the dining hall.
A Kethari student was standing there.
He was larger than Solin by a considerable margin, with dark scaled skin, sharp angular features and the sort of expression that suggested he'd never encountered a problem he couldn't solve by intimidating it.
He walked toward us.
"So you're Nightwater."
Solin looked up.
"Yes."
The Kethari looked him over.
"The resonance child."
Solin frowned.
"That's what some people call me."
"I've heard the stories."
"Okay."
The Kethari leaned closer.
"My name is Varek."
Solin nodded.
"Nice to meet you."
Varek smiled.
"I doubt that."
Then he walked away.
Marcus watched him go.
"Don't worry about him."
"Who is he?"
"Kethari combat track."
Jarek lowered his voice.
"He's been looking for someone to challenge."
Luma nodded.
"Don't give him one."
Solin smiled.
"I wasn't planning to."
I watched Varek disappear into the crowd.
I didn't like him.
But I liked something else even less.
I liked how quickly the Academy seemed to know exactly who Solin was.
Orientation was a blur.
History.
Resonance theory.
Academy regulations.
Interstellar conduct.
Species protocols.
The instructor spent nearly twenty minutes explaining that some civilizations considered certain gestures offensive.
Solin whispered to Marcus.
"How am I supposed to remember all this?"
Marcus whispered back.
"You don't."
That seemed to be the consensus.
By lunch, Solin had accumulated friends.
Jarek.
Luma.
Marcus.
A quiet insectoid student named Pell.
And a pair of twins from a world where everyone apparently had two voices.
They laughed.
They talked.
They exchanged stories.
Solin was beginning to relax.
Then Varek appeared again.
"Nightwater."
Solin looked up.
"Yes?"
"Combat training."
"Yes."
"I'll see you there."
Solin shrugged.
"Okay."
Varek smiled.
"I hope so."
I was waiting outside the classroom when Solin emerged.
"How was it?"
"Fine."
"You didn't punch anybody?"
"No."
"Good."
He smiled.
"Yet."
I looked at him.
"That was a joke."
"I know."
The martial arts instructor entered the room.
She was a broad-shouldered woman with four arms, each marked with ceremonial scars.
"Today," she said, "we are learning restraint."
I smiled.
Solin glanced at me.
"You'd like her."
"I already do."
The instructor looked over the students.
"Strength is not victory."
She paused.
"Control is victory."
Varek snorted.
The instructor heard him.
"Something amusing?"
"No, Instructor."
"Good."
The class began.
Solin was good.
Very good.
Not because he was stronger.
Because he listened.
He watched.
He learned.
The instructor paired students together.
Then she paired Solin with Varek.
The room went quiet.
Varek smiled.
"Finally."
Solin stepped onto the mat.
"Do we have to do this?"
Varek laughed.
"You're afraid?"
"No."
"Then fight."
Solin looked toward the instructor.
She nodded.
The match began.
Varek came fast.
Much faster than his size suggested.
Solin moved aside.
Varek attacked again.
Solin blocked.
Again.
Again.
Each time, Solin moved just enough.
The instructor watched closely.
Varek became angry.
"You think you're better than me?"
"No."
Varek attacked harder.
Solin caught his arm.
Turned.
Redirected.
And suddenly the Kethari was on the mat.
The room went silent.
Varek scrambled up.
He attacked again.
Solin stepped inside his reach.
A twist.
A shift.
A controlled sweep.
Varek hit the mat again.
Hard.
Solin immediately stepped back.
"Are you okay?"
Varek stared at him.
The instructor raised a hand.
"Enough."
Varek breathed heavily.
Solin offered him his hand.
After a moment, Varek took it.
The instructor looked at the class.
"That," she said, "was restraint."
She looked directly at Varek.
"And that was anger."
Nobody spoke.
Then she looked at Solin.
"You understand the difference."
Solin nodded.
"Yes, Instructor."
"Good."
After class, Marcus ran up.
"That was incredible!"
Solin shrugged.
"My dad taught me."
"Your dad taught you that?"
"Some of it."
Jarek laughed.
"I want your dad."
Solin grinned.
"Get in line."
Even Varek eventually approached.
He looked uncomfortable.
"You fight well."
"Thanks."
"I was wrong about you."
Solin nodded.
"Okay."
Varek frowned.
"That's it?"
"What else should I say?"
Varek actually smiled.
"Nothing."
He walked away.
Marcus watched him go.
"Congratulations."
"For what?"
"You made friends with your bully."
Solin smiled.
"I didn't make friends with him."
Varek called from across the room.
"You might."
Solin laughed.
By evening, Solin had a room full of new names, new stories and new possibilities.
For the first time since arriving at the Academy, he looked completely at home.
I stood outside his dormitory.
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
He hugged me.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow."
He disappeared inside.
Verity and I stepped into the corridor.
"You appear concerned," she said.
"I am."
"About Varek?"
"No."
"The Academy?"
"Maybe."
She looked at me.
"Then what?"
I looked back toward Solin's door.
"I don't know yet."
That night, somewhere far from the Academy's student quarters, a communication channel opened.
The Kethari contact stood alone in a darkened chamber.
A voice came through the encrypted transmission.
"Report."
The Kethari lowered his head.
"The boy is adapting."
"And?"
"He has made friends."
A pause.
"The confrontation?"
"Successful."
"Did he use his resonance?"
"No."
"Excellent."
The Kethari hesitated.
"He is stronger than expected."
"We know."
"He is also more disciplined than expected."
"We know that too."
Another pause.
Then the Kethari asked:
"What happens now?"
The answer came quietly.
"You continue exactly as instructed."
The Kethari straightened.
"I understand."
"You will remain close to him."
"Yes."
"You will gain his trust."
"Yes."
"And when the opportunity presents itself—"
"I understand."
The transmission flickered.
The Kethari lowered his eyes.
"I understand my mission."
The voice replied:
"Then carry it out."
The connection ended.
The Kethari stood alone.
Then he spoke to the empty room.
"Everything will be as you ordered."
Far away, Solin slept peacefully in his new dormitory.
He dreamed of the bayou.
Of Bettie's kitchen.
Of his father's porch.
He did not hear the whisper beneath the Academy.
He did not know that someone had already decided what role he would play.
And he certainly didn't know that the greatest threat to the plan wasn't Solin.
It was Barry.
The Relicwright.
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