Андреа Хёст - Snow Day [Touchstone - Extras]

"I joined Laura’s guild. Though I’m now tempted to see if I can team up with Julian to double-prank Cass." She paused in thought, then shook her head. "Perhaps if I’d worked it out on my own. Anyway, call me Sue. Want to go try out a snowboard?"

Oriel allowed herself be chivvied outside and taken for a personal lesson, along with introductions to luminaries she’d never imagined she’d meet. She could not quite understand why these people treated her so warmly, but it was impossible not to enjoy it. Not a goal she had worked for, or a hard-won reward, but a gift. She could only accept.

On his first official day as a KOTIS recruit, it was inevitable for Maxen to find himself obliged to stand stiffly upright next to Kadol. But Maxen was floating on a vast sea of smugness, and so he wasn’t bothered at all, though he was glad that Interface communication was prohibited, and so Kadol’s commentary was limited to the occasional whispered aside. It was only when they were finally dismissed—though with an expectation that they report to their next assignment promptly—that those around him were freed to gossip, and by that time everyone had been distracted by an unexpected guest at the assembly.

"Why Arden Ruuel?" asked the woman who had been standing on Kadol’s far side.

"Some kind of art commission, I expect," said another. "There’s no way Arden Ruuel would work for KOTIS in any other capacity."

"KOTIS has opened up to be so much more than Ionoth incursions, though," the first woman said. "Perhaps he’s changed his views."

"Possibly as a Sight Sight advisor?" Kadol suggested. He waved a hand to another group coming up, saying: "Jaxa, do you think KOTIS would use non-enlisted for Sight Sight reviews?"

"It doesn’t seem likely," Jaxa said, with that air of always knowing how everything worked behind the scenes. "Against protocol in at least three different ways."

Maxen wondered how they’d react if they knew the man was there to stare at his sister, but this wasn’t a topic he wanted to get into. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long for Arden Ruuel to flush out whatever bit of inspiration was clogging up his system, and leave them alone. Maxen was still a little annoyed that anyone would want to make art out of the idea of them being kinless, even though it had prompted some interesting discussion about just picking a name for themselves, one that belonged only to them. On some levels, Maxen liked the idea, but he didn’t feel it would make any real difference to who they were. Free, unlimited, owners of their own choices.

Spotting his sister among the sea of green and brown uniforms, he attempted to slip away from the bugs behind him, but only succeeded in leading them to her.

"Hello you two. Handling orientation okay?" Jaxa said.

"We’re fine," Maxen said, breezily. None of their needles could possibly have any impact, and he loved that they would not understand or believe his unshakeably sunny mood.

"It’s good to finally get into training," Oriel said, neutrally. But she, too, clearly could not repress a faint smile.

Jaxa stared at them with obvious dissatisfaction and Kadol, of course, could not resist saying: "How did your Snow Day go? We ended up having a fantastic, full-scale snow battle. It really makes a difference to go up against organised teams who have solid expertise behind them."

"I guess so," Oriel said, and smiled a little more.

"But of course a more non-competitive thing is fine, too," Jaxa said. "How did the Sky Wing get-together go? Any intense encounters?"

Maxen glanced at Oriel, and then firmly fixed in place his best off-hand tone.

"Oh, we just went to a family Snow Day," he said. "Quite casual, really."

END