Chapter Four

Ebony stood at the mirror fiddling with the tight neck of her blazer.  Kayla was leaving one of the toilet stalls.

"You don't have to button it all the way up. No one else seems to." stated Kayla as she started to wash her hands.

Ebony looked in the mirror and released the top three buttons leaving the bottom five still buttoned. “This is much more comfortable,” Ebony smoothed out her uniform. "I'm a little nervous and just can't seem to calm down," mumbled Ebony to the other girl.

Kayla smiled a toothy grin, "So am I."  She looked in the mirror and saw bright red seeds in her teeth, "Oh goddess!" She reached inside another hidden pocket and pulled out a chi sol and a small tube of peppermint paste then started scrubbing her teeth.

"You seem prepared,” giggled Ebony before picking back up her handheld and heading for the exit.  "Hurry up or you’re gonna be late for orientation."

Kayla finished quickly and made a dash for the table where she sat. Once she noticed the table occupants were gone, she  ran in her black leather ankle boots toward the dining room exit. There were 36 first year students standing between the double staircase, 8 second years and 5 teachers/advisers.  The groups would be divided into 6 first year students, 2 second year students and 1 teacher.

A lady with beautiful onyx skin, deep blue hair, and a willowy frame with with full B/C cup breasts under a pink bodice walked down a few stairs at exactly 12:00 and immediately attracted the attention of the male students . "My name is Madame Averill Hodgkin,” she said in a voice that sounded like tinkling bells. “Students call me Ms. H or Madame H.” While she continued down the stairs Kayla took the time to fully appreciate the rest of her outfit. Leggings under a sheer purple, ankle-length skirt showed off shiny pink leather boots. “I am the head of fine arts department, I have worked at the Academy for 18 years.  If you need any assistance my doors are always open." with that introduction Ms. A stepped down from the stairs.

A bald lady took to the stairs next, she wore a black jumpsuit with a long red blazer.  In an authoritative voice she began to speak, "I am Jasmine Dixmoor, the director of the training department. It is my job to make sure your powers are harnessed and used correctly.   I've been with the school for 6 years, prior to this I was one of the seven peacekeepers of Helix.  I will not take it easy on your training. You will leave here better than when you came."

Kayla thought Jasmine Dixmoor seemed more like a soldier than a peace keeper but didn't let the thought show on her face.

A small bumblebee like man walked up the stairs next to introduce himself.  He wore a yellow and black blazer with a bright yellow jumpsuit and knee high boots that were polished so well you could see your reflection in them.  As he spoke you could hear a slight buzzing in his accent, "I am Portly Buzzman, the head of the first year’s math and science department.  You may call me Buzzman but may not address me as anything else.  I've been with the Academy for more years than you care to know about and I'll be here long after you leave.   If you have questions or concerns seek out my assistant Larry Raymer." With that introduction Buzzman walked down the stairs to another man wearing yellow. He handed him the handheld device he was carrying and walked out of the dorms.

Looking up the man blushed and nodded letting everyone know he was Larry Raymer and that he'd be taking over for Mr. Buzzman.

Lastly a man that hid in the shadows walked up the stairs.   He definitely looked like one of the creatures that went bump in the night.   He wore mist which swirled around him like an impenetrable fog.   His golden skin was at odds with what he had on but his smoky gray eyes and black hair fit him perfectly.  "I am Anthony Lawson, a first year teacher; I teach in the humanities department.  I graduated from Huinsaek Dong-gul two years ago and briefly worked as an ambassador to Nah'Bye and Mizu.  I am related to the Lawson family but I'm only a fourth cousin, three times removed and I doubt they know who I am."

The first years laughed at the little joke at the end of Anthony’s's speech.   Being blood related to the Sinclair or the Lawson families could open every door for you.

Jacob smiled to himself as he watched his mom's favorite nephew lie about his relation to the family.   He didn't blame him because being a distant relative kept would be leeches from trying to latch on.  The Lawson name was passed down through marriage, so a man marrying a Lawson would take her name 99% of the time.  None would willingly want to give up the prestige of the name unless they were marrying a Sinclair.   In the history of both their families they only had one defector. He was the son of Artemis Lawson and Wanda Sinclair, who gave up his name to be with some unknown woman over 100 years ago.  Kevin Jacob Sinclair was disowned and by now should be dead.

The introductions continued with the second years saying their name, home world, academic and power level ranking.  Once this was over the first years spoke their names and home world.   The introductions ended after a little over an hour had passed.  The first years talked amongst each other  as they waited for the next part of the orientation.

Anthony walked back over to the stairs looking down at his handheld.   He was reading the names of his two second year assistants and he wasn't surprised to see their names as no one wanted the task of having to discipline either of these two young men.

Clearing his throat to gain everyone's attention he spoke in a voice that should never leave the bedroom, "Lucas Sinclair and Jacob Lawson please name the six students you are escorting and bring them to the side exit." Pressing a few buttons on his handheld he finished, ”I have beamed you both the itinerary for the tour and when we are expected to show up for the games."

Looking down at his handheld Lucas read off the six names; "Alexander Ruffin, Quaid Moore, Jorge Epping, Gloria Dean, Makayla Ward and Ebony Talisman you’re with us."  He could feel the other students and staffs brains come to crashing halt when he finished speaking. The students selected were from no name families that were all excellent candidates for the school but had no political or monetary worth.

Lucas stood grinning as the people he and Jacob selected at the last minute stared at him in awe. All of them were thunderstruck except for Kayla who looked more puzzled, even Ebony was speechless by the favor the gods bestowed on her.  Ebony paired up next to Kayla excitedly, "Oh by the moons that shine high, we are going to be the talk of the solar system because of this!"  She was so excited she could hardly stand still.  When Jacob had walked over to her table she thought he'd lost a bet with the handsome blond Ah'Tarian.

Kayla couldn't repress the smile that crept up her face as she watched Ebony almost jumping with giddiness. She realized all the people in their group were excited.  Their hushed whispers to each other were full of thank you’s to the gods.  She was the only one that seemed to have trepidation. Whenever she tried to grasp why, she'd feel a wave of nausea and a slight thumping near the back of her head.  She lightly touched where the pain would center and looked down at the floor as she waited for the waves to leave.

----

Jacob was so proud of himself and Lucas that he was going to make sure that this 'charity work' didn't go unnoticed by their parents.  Lucas parent's had just forgiven him about six weeks ago for what he did to Orchid last year. It took them both spending two weeks on Dayum, a planet that was still poverty stricken from the Bloody Wars.  Dayum was a beacon to those that wanted to benefit from the poor desperate masses that lived there.  Because of them Dayum was now a part of the Alliance and the dirty politicians, kingpins, drug lords and corrupted officials that kept the planet in such chaos had gone.........missing. There was no use looking for them because he and Lucas didn't leave much.

Jacob was suddenly brought out of his thoughts when he watched Lucas, who was trying to be discreet as he watched Kayla. Lucas frowned then said,  “I remember that last mental barrier she had up. It felt stronger than it should have been. I wonder if I did some type of damage?”  

Jacob sighed and thought to himself, Never fails!  I have to fix this before she gets worse and goes to the medic center about the pain.  With that thought in his mind he walked towards Kayla and Ebony. As he did he wondered how Ebony would look if she put on about 20 pounds on those bones, got some sun and took that ghastly purple dye out of her hair.  She had lovely eyes and what could be considered a pretty face. But the rest of her was very much unpleasant to the point that she looked malnourished.  When he arrived at his destination Jacob wanted to do two things: First he would  see if Lucas had done any damage to Kayla and then press into Ebony's mind to eat some food and to remove that ugly dye....Okay it was three things but he didn't care.

Kayla raised her head as she saw Jacob approaching and looked behind him to see Lucas talking to the other four first years. She, grabbed Ebony's wrist so they could go over there but was stopped by a pleasantly smiling Jacob.  "Before you both join the rest of the team I had wanted to talk to you both."  

Turning he looked into Ebony's eyes and pushed his will onto her. She frowned for a second as the push was received and then her eyes lit up, she smiled and stared at him inquisitively.  Smiling afterward Jacob said in a pleasant drawl, "Listen carefully and have fun.  At the end you guys get to have a friendly sparring match with the other first years. The rest of the students and staff will be watching."

Ebony nodded and hurriedly ran over towards where Lucas, Anthony and the rest were standing.  As she hurried away she touched her purple hair and thought, I should remove this color from my hair. I don't like it anymore it's immature.  I also need to eat more, I've lost too much weight since my uncle and father died. Jacob smiled again, glad his message had been received.

----

Kayla heard what Jacob said to Ebony and wondered what else he could possible want to say to her.  She noticed he was just staring down at her and so she looked up and was sucked into a pair of endless light yellowish brown, fawn colored, eyes.  Unlike before where she felt like she was being dragged into a whirlpool and drowning.  This time she felt a warmth surround her, cradling her, an embrace like that of a parent.  The small headache and nauseous feeling that had been plaguing her felt like it was dissipating and the headache was now a small thump and she remembered when she was talking to Lucas she had overheated and had a bloody nose.  The nagging feeling like something was wrong or off was replaced by a caution of the unknown. She had nothing to fear but fear itself; the things that went bump in the night were a figment of her overactive imagination.

Blinking like she'd just woken up Kayla smiled at Jacob as he guided her to the group.  She felt horrible because she hadn't really listened to a word he said when he was talking to her.  She just nodded and made little affirmative sounds as if she was listening.

My nose started to bleed again, she thought absent mindedly.  When she was younger her nose bled whenever she got over excited and it looked like she hadn't outgrown it.  When she and Jacob joined the group it seemed as if they had missed an overview of where they would be going.  She didn't really care because they were going as a group.

-----

Anthony didn't miss that his cousin had stood silent looking down at Kayla for the past 4 - 6 minutes. He would bring it up when he and Jacob were alone.  He also noticed that even though Lucas was talking to the other 5 first year students his eyes never left those two as they stood there silently, looking like they were having a battle of wills. And from the look on Kayla’s face Jacob as had won.  He watched Kayla stare at Lucas then watched as he'd turn around only to see her look away so she wouldn't be caught staring.  He smiled to himself as they started toward the next building. Anthony watched as the girl reached into the inside of her blazer and pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her nose as they joined them.  She replaced it after looking at it with a frown.

Anthony led the way out of the side entrance and through what looked like an English rose garden from one of the old tombs, with pictures and ancient writings. He allowed the students to stop for a moment   and appreciate the flowers that were not common on most of the planets in the system. He hid his look of amusement when he saw the young woman take a deep breath and stop to smell the fragrance of the roses. When he turned to gather the students he noticed that she and Ebony were beside one another again.

"This garden is a shortcut to the science and mathematics building," said Anthony as they walked into a building made of big gray stones that resembled a castle from a fairy tale.  "This building has four floors, the first two floors are for computer science and engineering.  The third floor is dedicated to math and the fourth floor to science” They didn't go up to any of the floors just walked through one entry and exited out another.

The walked on a faux cobblestone path for about 15 minutes passing by various trees, flowers and bushes.  On their way they saw a lot of different bird species some common to the group and others they'd never seen before.  

"This is the fine arts building.  You will find the room numbers for your classes on your schedule.  This building houses the classes that teach foreign languages, diplomatic speaking and of course painting and other stuff like that."  Anthony had no idea what people learned in this building aside from how to finger paint.  He could hear one of the boys saying that he did that when he was a first year in primary school.

They exited the fine arts building and walked off the faux cobblestone path onto a dirt path.  Jacob and Lucas seemed to be enjoying themselves as they walked around, you'd never know from the way they were walking that they had just stood for over an hour and now had been walking for over an hour and a half.  The other first years were starting to feel muscle cramps and soreness as they walked up an incline to their next destination.

"Can we please stop for a break," asked Quaid Moore.  “We don’t know what the games are tonight and if we keep going at this pace there’s no way we’ll be ready for  a sparring match.”

Anthony sighed as he turned and looked at the bunch of out of shape, rejects that he couldn't believe made up his group.  He glanced at Lucas and Jacob, who hadn't even started to sweat, and looked back at the first years that looked like they'd pass out.  Alexander Ruffin was wheezing reaching inside his coat pocket for an inhaler. Quaid Moore was rubbing the back of his leg as if he had a muscle cramp, Jorge Epping was looking around winded but looked like he could keep going, Gloria Dean was staring at her fingernails frowning.  Ma'Kayla Ward and Ebony Talisman were skipping around in circles and he smiled to himself.  Looks like the women of this group have all the stamina.  

After checking his handheld he finally spoke, "Let's take a 30 minute rest.  This will give you guys a chance to explore this area a little."  Before everyone started to sit down he continued, "The humanities building is at the top of this incline.  We placed a few amulets out since some of the professors and I thought it would be fun. If you find them you can use them during the sparring match."  

As they all walked off Jacob looked after them with a frown. “I don’t think it’s a good idea that  we are separating from the first years on this incline.”

“They’ll be fine. They have to deal with it sooner or later anyway,” Anthony replied.

“We’ve seen firsthand that this little incline is dangerous. Even Lucas and I have fallen down it and broken a few bones.”  Looking at his cousin he started off in the direction of the girls.

"They can do it by themselves, Jacob.” Anthony pulled him back.  “You know this is part of the trials.  Sit down and watch."  With that a chair shrouded in mist appeared and Anthony sat down and pressed a button on his handheld staring intently at the screen.  Jacob looked over to Lucas, whose nonchalant expression didn't change. Jacob sighed heavily realizing he needed to follow the rules or face the wrath of his parents.  Lucas walked over to Jacob, waved his hand and a three seat sofa made of vines with cushions of flowers, that looked more like it'd be at home in the English garden outside the dorm, raised out of the grass.  They both sat down and waited to see.

The 78 students from the Tianlong and Shishi dorms were all facing what was called by most students bitterly and hatefully 'The Trials of Despair.' These trials began before the sparring matches and were used to help eliminate students. Those who failed the trials were deemed weak-minded and usually sent to another Academy that didn't hold students to the high standards of this one.  All the schools were part of the Alliance but only this academy was meant for the elite. Depending on their  whims they'd let those that weren't privileged in so no one could say this school only favored the politically powerful or rich.  Because of the rigors of the trials even the rich can be dismissed to a lower level school.