Private Friend or Foe

[Irina Jesart]

Sleep had been difficult to get since the raid, if she was lucky enough to drift off, every sleepy snort, or soft footfalls of the Academy guards stirred her awake. She couldn't trust those within her own cohort, not when so many of them had taken part in the raid of the Fifth.

Irina would need to start her climb alone. A difficult thing to do, but not impossible. When the quiet whispers of those who like to stay awake late finally fell away and the air in the room seemed to shift as most fell asleep, She moved. Slipping out from beneath the sheets, she set her eyes upon the stick resting near her head, and opted to leave it as she padded barefoot to the door of the barracks, and slipped out of it into the night.

She ducked into the shadows instantly closing her eyes and opening herself to the force, becoming aware of everything around her as her sense heightened, and she focused her attention on the ground at her feet, on the vibrations that thrummed through it.

Confident in her awareness, and in her mission she began to move, with silent steps towards the higher cohort barracks, pausing now and then the hide, either by climbing up, or tucking into shadows as patrols brought guards across her path.

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

Sleep continued to escape the young pup. Aerik had found that his mind was no longer at ease thinking there could be an attack at any moment. Certainly his hearing would pick up any commotion before it happened, but the Nox Lupo could not make himself find peace or solace in that just yet. It bothered him that several in the academy had seen the chaos as an opportunity to try and take out the fifth cohort as well. They had miscalculated. There were those in that cohort which were clearly stronger than those placed even in the first. Whether it was purposeful, strategic, accident, or punishment, the rankings were not the best indicator of potential or danger. Aerik walked away from that night understanding one thing.

Everything was a test.

The night sky was dark. Jutrand was under a new moon. Aerik was grateful as this phase gave him a respite from the pain of his imminent change. It would come soon, but for now the pup could rest in the knowledge that tonight he could feel a bit more normal. Since sleep eluded him he could at least sneak out without detection. They hadn't caught him yet, even with increased patrols against outside attacks.

Aerik was quiet on his feet, and like the natural predator he was, the pup had learned to stay hidden. What he did not expect was to see another student out of the barracks. It seemed they were trying to make their way to the upper cohorts. That probably was also not a smart idea, but Aerik's habit of finding his way outside the academy wasn't either. For now, he opted to follow the girl to see where she would go.

A close call nearly saw the pup get caught as it appeared not all the guards had fallen asleep just yet. He ducked into a familiar corner that he knew was a safe place to hide. It allowed him to watch the guards without being seen. What he had not expected was find himself pressed into the same small alcove as the girl he'd been following.

He almost said something, but the sound of boots scraping against the floor of the corridor kept his tongue. His orange eyes looked the student over. Her skin was almost as dark as the night sky. Her hair was nearly the same. This one he remembered from the placement exams. She made it into the fourth cohort, but Aerik did not recall her name. When the guard passed by, he let out the breath he had been holding.

"Should be safe. Sorry for cramping you in," he said before slipping out and heading down the hall toward the gate which would lead to garden maze.

Aerik was not heading to the upper cohorts.

 

[Irina Jesart]

Had Irina not had years of etiquette training and discipline to not react to things that caught you off guard, she might have let out a gasp or a shout of surprise at the sudden invasion of her hiding spot. The discipline did not stop her heart jumping into her throat. She shuffled back a touch more to make a space between them, though it made little difference to the close proximity she found herself in, heat rushing into her cheeks as she found herself staring into golden eyes.

A beat passed, the vibrations of the guards boots moving past them running up her feet seemed to snap her out of the freeze she had found herself in as she looked away, peering of his shoulder to watch for the guards passing. This would have been a perfect moment for either of them to take out the other, a thought that drew her chestnut gaze back to him. He was one of the Executioner's children, that much she recalled, though his name evaded her mind completely. Even if she was inclined to take him out, she wasn't sure she'd want the wrath of his father coming down on her.

It may have been that within the academy, your family names didn't matter, if you fell, your name was dishonoured as a failure for not being able to graduate. Unworthy of the title 'sith'. Yet whatever rules the academy had, she imagined would matter little to a member of the Dark Council. The loss of a son was still the loss of a son.

She exhaled when he moved away, releasing a breath she didn't realise she had been holding, slipping out of the alcove after him she paused noting the direction he was going. Her eyes drifted towards the barracks of the Second and Third cohorts. She took a step towards them, but there was a nagging sense of curiosity that she couldn't simply dismiss that he was clearly leaving Academy grounds.

Why?

She could sneak into the other barracks any night... but she'd never know the answer to that question unless she followed him. she let out a soft click of annoyance at her plans being disrupted and turned her back on her original direction, skirting back into the shadows to follow him.

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

The garden maze was one of the few green spaces in the academy district. His nose appreciated the aroma of the life which grew in the fertile ground that made up the puzzle. It had taken a few nights, but Aerik had memorized the turns and obstacles that could keep one trapped inside for hours. His intent was not to escape, but rather make his way to the center of the maze where the grass was soft, and the stars of the night sky visible.

It was a small pocket of nature which was safe from the light pollution of the area. Perhaps it was the reward of finding the center of the maze, nonetheless, Aerik loved it. There were few places for him to escape to that reminded him of his father's home planet of Stewjon, but this was one of them. As he slowed his pace and rest in the turf, Aerik studied the visible constellations above. This was a place of peace in the midst of the chaotic nature of the academy.

She had followed him, her scent was on the air. Aerik didn't care. They could have killed each other earlier if that was their intent. For now he felt safe, at least until the girl gave him a reason not to.

"You can join me if you want," he called out without looking her way.

There was a still a measure of cautious Aerik exercised in regards to his abilities. In this case it seemed more prudent to announce he knew she had followed him. His Lupo abilities allowed the pup a greater sense of smell and hearing than most humans possessed, and even if one masked their presence in the force they could rarely contain their smell. Aerik could also hear the slight variation her steps made as the weight of her feet pressed into the grass. It was soft, and faint, but discernible.

He smiled, waiting for her to come into view.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

 

[Irina Jesart]

Keeping up with him in the maze had been a challenge, holding back just far enough to not be seen, but also to know which way he would be going. Irina tried to recall each turn, building the path in her head, but she knew halfway through she would get lost trying to get out on her own. She'd had no idea these gardens were even here, her routine had been simple. Rise, eat, attend classes, train, study, sleep repeat. She had no interest in exploring the grounds beyond what she needed to know.

The deeper into the maze they went, the darker it seemed to become, the great hedges stretched toward an ink-black sky dotted with stars until they reached the center. She hung back, clinging to the shadows for safety until his voice called out and she frowned. Opening her mouth to ask how he had known, before deciding against it. It didn't matter that he had, only that she hadn't been good enough to stay hidden.

She stepped cautiously from the shadows, the grass cool against her and soft against her toes. She stared down at it, wriggling them. The desert in which her home was set had no such thing, plants that grew there were hard and sharp, adapted to survive harsh conditions, this was like a lush carpet, she moved watching it slowly rise back to normal without her weight on it.

Her gaze snapped up suddenly as she remembered she was not alone and whatever curiosity or enjoyment had been on her face vanished beneath a well-practiced mask of impassiveness. "I'm not afraid of you hurting me," she replied, not because she trusted him, but because she was confident enough in her abilities that he would find it difficult to do so. "I never knew there were gardens. certainly not what I expected to find by following you."

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

“You should be.”

The retort was definitive and ignored any amount of confidence the girl expressed with her reply. He did not overestimate what he was capable of. Aerik knew what he had hidden from the others, and he knew this one had no way of knowing. How could she when Aerik did not fully know what he was capable of?

He pushed himself up, the palm of his hand sinking into the soft grass as he turned to regard the girl. Where he had noted the color of her skin before, the added light of the stars above made the features of her face more visible. She was pretty in her own way, but kept herself stoic, unexpressive. It was likely how he looked as he returned to his position on the grass and looked up at the night sky once more.

“Explore more. There is far more to this Academy than what they have allowed us to see.”

The cohort system was designed to weed out the followers from the leaders, Aerik was convinced of it. His estimation of the system was that not all those at the top were deserving of it. It was likely a test to see if they could keep it. Certainly they had impressed, there was no doubt that those who had ranked higher had shown off their skill. The question remained whether they had shown all they were capable of or not.

Aerik’s lips curled into a grin when she commented about following him. He could have rubbed it in that he knew she had been from the moment she made the decision, but the pup let it go. Not many of the students knew of the gardens. Aerik was convinced this was an entrance reserved for the sponsors, or Sith like his father. It was decorative and opulent in nature. This was not the kind of thing which had been designed for the enjoyment of those housed within, but rather a feature for those on the outside.

“What exactly did you expect to find?”

He padded the grass next to him inviting her to join his stargazing. A cool breeze moved through the branches of the green bushes and shrubberies which made up the walls of the maze. It created a rustling sound that came across Aerik’s ears like music.

Nature was meant to be enjoyed.

 

[Irina Jesart]

Irina might have retorted, maybe challenged him, had they been in broad daylight and within earshot of others, but truth be told she was already tired of the posturing. Fights broke out on the daily, petty squabbles for each acolyte to find their place in the pack. She wanted to think it would settle after a few weeks, that perhaps she wouldn't have to sleep with one eye open, but that was not the nature of this academy.

"I didn't come here to explore."

Her gaze drifted upward towards the stars, aware of him looking at her. Even if she closed her eyes and pretended, the breeze that rustled through the trees wasn't like home. At home palms creaked and cracked, their leaves scraping against each other. Here it was all...soft.

A stark contrast to what happened within the walls. She eyed him warily as he padded the grass next to him, inviting her to join him. Sje searched his face, trying to discern if there was malicious intent there. He was quite striking with a sharp jawline, and soft blonde hair, but it was the golden eyes that drew her attention most.

A rogue thought crossed her mind, that her father would have had her hide for being near any boy without a chaperone back home. She smiled, making a mental note to keep thisnout of her letter home, if she would ever be able to send one.

Shrugging at his question, she move to settle carefully into the grass next to him, her feet tucked underneath her as she ran an idle hand over the soft blades.

"Perhaps you meeting with a sponsor, or your family. I'm not entirely sure."

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

Of course she had not come to explore, few had. It was what made many of the students unaware of the academy's surroundings. Aerik was a predator, like his father and like his siblings. They would be more beast than animal, but as their father was a wolf, so were they. The Lupo traits were known to any who knew what Gerwald was. It would explain how the girl had gotten caught despite her best efforts not to. She couldn't have known he would hear her from a great distance, or catch her fragrance in the cool night air. They had been too close earlier for him not to catch it then.

He let the answer go. The moon was hidden, and it allowed Aerik to enjoy a night of peace. He was not going to ruin it because of an argument with a stranger. Perhaps they would have to posture and hate each other in the morning, but tonight under the cover of the stars with no one watching, they could simply be themselves. The academy was going to change them. Graduation was far off, and if they were going to survive their time, they would have to adapt. This would be Aerik's last full moon as he was, and nothing was going to keep him from enjoying it.

Not even himself.

"My sponsor would be more likely to shun me than meet with me in secret with some kind of advantage," Aerik chuckled.

Carnifex had not made their entrance easy, even if he had ensured they would enter. His rank, 106, it was almost embarrassing, even more compared to the fact his sister was 70. It smelled of manipulation. The pup was not dumb enough to blindly accept their placement had been earned, but rather dictated.

"If the moon was full, you would have seen my father. It is the only time I'm allowed to leave."

His father had made the arranged concession with the headmaster. Both agreed that should his children make it into the academy it was a danger to allow them to be unsupervised for their first change. They did not want to see the reputation of the academy tarnished by a wayward transformation. This was a matter of nature, not leadership or learning. No one gained anything by keeping the pups from growing into what they were becoming.

Firebrand eyes locked onto the image of the wolf in the night sky. Whether it was an actual constellation of the Jutrand sky, or a shape their father had stumbled upon, it brought the boy some small comfort. Gerwald would be looking at it now, Naedira would be as well. Aerik closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before releasing it into the night. He sat up on his elbows and watched the girl play with the grass. She seemed curious and intrigued.

"You act like you've never seen grass before."

 

[Irina Jesart]

Irina pursed her lips in thought wondering if her own sponsor would meet with her. She knew well enough that she was not Darth Malum's only sponsored student and he would have little to gain from providing her with any advantage, so why bother? She might have caught his eye among the noble heirs of Eliad, but here? Here there were differently requirements. She filed the thought away for later consideration.

"Right, so don't follow you on a full moon unless I want to meet the Executioner," She smiled slightly before the second part of that sentence dawned on her. "How come you're allowed to leave?"

There was no accusation behind her question, while instinct might tell her it was special treatment, he was in Fifth. If there was any influence held here, surely it would have had him placed in the First or even Second Cohort. Logic dictated there was another reason, even if she was prying.

Her fingers dug a little deeper into the soft grass, relishing in the coolness of it between her fingers. His words made her hand retract away from it, collecting both of them neatly in her lap as embarrassment flushed her features.

"Of course I've seen grass." She retorted sharply. "Its just...everything in the desert is sharp and rough. This is...soft."

She averted her gaze, shifting uncomfortably under his scrutiny as her eyes drifted upwards to the stars again.

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

Did she not know what his father was? Aerik only assumed that those who had been in the Sith Order for any length of time knew Gerwald was Lupo, man and beast. There were those that called him the Emperor’s Hound, even if it was meant in a derogatory sort of way to imply he was nothing but a lap dog that did as he was told. Aerik hated the nickname, but it did not seem to bother Gerwald. It came with a lesson his father had tried to drill into him. A leader cannot please everyone.

If she did not know, then Aerik had a choice. He could either try and change the subject and distance himself from answering her question, or he could tell the truth.

Everyone in the academy would know soon enough anyway.

“Only on the full moon, and only until I no longer pose a threat to the rest of the students.”

It was as honest an answer as felt he could give without having to deal with inquiries he did not have the answers to. Aerik did not know everything he would change into, only an idea. He would be a wolf of some kind, but there were the other traits he and his siblings had which did not come from their father. The Lupo qualities were supposed to be dominant, but they had inherited other traits from their mother which they had no way of knowing the effects it would have on their other form.

None of them would know until the first of them changed. Aerik was going to be the first of them to change. His symptoms were far more progressed than the others.

“The desert, I think I would hate it.”

Now he was changing the topic.

“My father was born on Stewjon, and he takes us there sometimes. He has a house in the foothills of the northern mountains right on the edge of this massive forest. Everything is soft. The soil is fertile, and the trees… in the autumn the leaves change colors. I think it is my favorite season. I love the green of it all, don’t get me wrong, but until you have seen the autumn colors of Stewjon, you have not lived properly.”

It almost came across as an invitation. The pup was simply enthusiastic about what the city could not give them, and what he knew a desert could never promise. He supposed that did not mean beauty could not be found among sandy dunes and sharp grasses. Aerik was just convinced he would not like it, especially the heat.

He smiled.

“Tell me about your desert. What is life like there?”

 

[Irina Jesart]

"Oh." She said simply, followed rapidly by a more pronounced "Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't..." she trailed off.

Irina could have kicked herself, as the pieces of the very simple puzzle came together. She had forgotten what his father was, what in turn that meant he was. A dozen follow up questions crossed her mind as she looked at him, curiosity tugging at her, but his change of subject was signal enough that the line of questioning there was closed. Maybe another time.

She regarded him for a beat, watching the change in his face, the enthusiasm when he talked about Stewjon was almost contagious. There was a touch of jealousy that crossed her heart, that even in her dedication to her family home, she held no love for it.

Hesitantly, she shuffled a little closer, finally giving up the rigidity of her upright position and sinking into the soft grass beside him with a sigh as she pondered what to tell him.

"It's harsh and unforgiving. The days are hot, and the nights are bitterly cold and theres not much in the way of colour. Yellows and browns are about as good as it gets, except the palms and cacti. They pop with colour on the odd occasion they flower." She smiled sadly, her dark eyes reflecting the stars above them.

"There’s times, when the sun catches the sand on the wind, and it glitters like the stars, but even then, I'm not sure I could ever say I love it."

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

She talked about the desert with the same amount of disdain as the excitement Aerik seemed to talk about the forest. They were completely different people from totally different worlds. It made sense that their habitats would be reflective of that. Regardless, both of them now found themselves in the academy under the same stars all because they were trying to make a name for themselves, and ensure their families were kept in places of high honor.

Irina finally joined him in the grass, laying down on the cool, soft blades. The night air was also chilled, and the dew would begin to settle soon. He smiled, breathing in once more to store her scent in his memory. Aerik never knew if it would come in handy to be able to distinguish her from the others. Whether he made a friend or an enemy before the night was out would allow him an upper hand either way.

“She finally relaxes,” the pup chuckled. “I told you I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

The wind picked up, howling now through the greenery. His eyes closed as the young wolf smiled. It was peaceful, and the sounds reminded him of Stewjon. The only thing missing was the sounds of the animals which lived in the woods. It was for the best as the pup would have been tempted to hunt.

“It was your scent,” he said.

He turned to look at the girl lying next to him.

“You couldn’t hide from me because your scent was on the wind. I heard you too. We don’t have to change to use our senses.”

It might not have been smart to trust her with his secret, but he had already allowed another to know. He said nothing about his strength, that could remain his own for now. Most knew his father was a wolf, so as long as he played into that part of his nature it was safe to assume most suspected it. After all, his father was not a hidden figure among the SIth, and the pups had entered the academy bearing his last name.

A little bit of trust may prove to secure the girl as an ally rather than an enemy. Aerik just hoped his gamble would not be misplaced. This was not a game he was used to playing, but the pup had to start. He and siblings would not advance if they did not try or make attempts to do so. Not all of the tests would happen in their classes. Besides, Aerik was certain once he shifted it would only put a target on his back. He would need friends.

 

[Irina Jesart]

Irina felt the tension bleed from her shoulders, days of being coiled bracing for a strike from any direction unknotting from her muscles as the wind picked up, here eyes ahiftes trying to track where each rustle was coming from before turning her head to look at him with his eyes closed.

"Eliad is full of people who say one thing, and mean another. Nobles will offer to all the riches of the world with one breath, while with another they're plotting your demise. Trust is an illusion."

It was a hard habit to break, and notnone she really wanted to break entirely. The same games would be played here as the climb to the First Cohort began in earnest. Accidents would happen, fellow acolytes would disappear. It was a game she was well prepared for.

She found heat rushing to her cheeks as he turned those golden eyes upon her, snapping her own away, unable to hold his gaze she looked up at the stars. They were nothing like the stars back home.

"My scent, huh?" She shifted, slightly uncomfortable at the thought that a Lupo had her scent. It was a reminder that they were all prey to someone. There were ways to counter it though, surely. Hunters could find and kill prey without there scent becoming an issue, so perhaps she had to think and move like a hunter.

Sound, sound was easy to fix. She realised she'd been quiet for a longer than she meant to, her mind working overtime to process the information given.

"You shouldn't tell anyone that." She said softly, her voice barely above a whisper. "You'll lose the advantage giving away your strengths." She met his gaze then.

"Even your allies should only be trusted with what they need to know."

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

“So you should feel right at home in this place,” Aerik sighed. They had only been there for near a month, and the pup was already tired of how each of the students played the game. His siblings were the only ones he could trust explicitly, even if he was taking a risk with the girl next to him. “You sound tired of it.”

It was an observation, whether he was right or not she could confirm or deny. For all Aerik knew they were both just playing the game, but her posture, the cadence of her breathing, made him seem to think he was correct.

There was a silence between them for a moment as the wind blew and the night sky covered them. Aerik was fully relaxed. It seemed for the moment they had contented themselves from trying to kill one another. This was not just a place of peace for him anymore, but it was a place they could get a reprieve from the game of the academy.

Her warning came after a time. He only smiled.

“I haven’t told you everything,” he said.

It was the truth. He wasn’t saying it to play the game. They just needed to know how well they could actually trust each other. If they were going to be friends or allies, he had to test her sometime. Now was as good a time as any.

“Besides, everyone knows my father is a wolf. The HOUND of Empyrean.”

He scoffed.

“You should have tried growing on Jutrand in the heart of the Sith Order. Everyone here has an angle of some kind. Even the person my father trusts the most has their own agenda here. His position has allowed me to meet a lot of them, and it is one game after the other, because the truth is… they all want the upper hand. They all want to run the Empire, to be the best.”

His eyes shifted back up to where the moon should have been. The way her heart beat when color rushed to her cheeks was something Aerik did not know what to do with. Maybe they were too close in proximity. He was a pack animal however, and he was used to being this close to his siblings. It felt normal to be near. Distance was what bothered him, and it seemed everyone in this academy did their best to remain distant in some form or another.

“So maybe… maybe we decide that we aren’t going to play games with each other. I have my brother and sister, but beyond that I have not been so great at making first impressions.”

 

[Irina Jesart]

Irina could only offer a shrug at the suggestion she was tired of it. Was it possible to be tired of something that you had always done? She knew no other way of living, to her the game was simply a part of life.

But what if it wasn't?

What if it was possible to speak to someone without having to worry about what their next move would be, or whether their words were true? That was what was happening here, wasn't it? Irina had followed him because learning what he was up to might have given her an edge, not that she needed one over someone in Fifth but it helped to know who was creeping towards your back.

Yet, aside from learning what she could have done from connecting the dots sooner, had she been interested, she'd gained nothing. Except a semblance of peace, and a chance tonrelax and simply be.

She looked at him at his suggestion. The barest of frowns on her forehead. "I have no one." It was a statement of fact, rather than a plea for sympathy. Even back home she'd had no one, her father was too unstable to rely on and friends simply did noy exist.

"I think I'd like that."

After a moment, she turned onto her side, arm folded beneath her head like a pillow as she faced him. "Why did you and your siblings come tonthe Academy? You could have had your pick of the greatest as your tutors with your father's position."

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

No one. Aerik could not imagine what that would be like. He had always had his brother and sister. They were born together and they had trained together. Life had been lived together. Maybe it was because he was nearing his change, but Aerik's habit of sneaking off in the middle of the night had only become recent. It would happen at the next full moon. He knew it in his bones.

The sound of her shifting in the grass was loud in his ears. It would have been soft and calm to someone with less sensitive hearing, but Aerik heard it differently. More primal instincts needed to be suppressed. The sound of shifting in the grass called to the wolf that longed for the hunt, the chase of its prey.

Irina was not his prey. She was his friend.

He rolled over in the grass, orange eyes meeting chestnut once again. This time it seemed neither of them pulled away, at least for the moment.

“No games then,” he nodded.

They were coming to an understanding.

Her next question made him ponder. Why had they come to the Academy? There was an easy answer, but Aerik was not sure it was the correct answer. She was correct that they could have their pick of tutors with their father’s position, but Gerwald was not the type to use his power to influence the outcome of their education. The only odd arrangement was their patronage to Darth Carnifex. He trained them, until he entered them into the Jutrand Academy.

Aerik did not know why other than the fact the Dark Lord told them time would reveal their purpose. He had his reasons, but he held them tight to his chest. Their father did not truly know, but they had come to an agreement, their own understanding. Despite Gerwald being loyal to the emperor and empress, he seemed close and familiar with the Kainite god.

He shrugged.

“Duty.”

It was the easy answer, but she would be able to tell Aerik did not believe it.

“It is better this way anyway. Especially since all of us are in the fifth cohort. No one can say my father had anything to do with it. If anything we were rated lower because of who he is.”

Aerik chuckled.

“What about you? Did you come here to escape or for honor and family?”

 

[Irina Jesart]

The faint traces fo a frown creased Irina's forehead as she tired to recall what she could of the trials that they endured to get here, it made little sense to her that Aerik or his siblngs would end up in such a low ranking. Her own perhaps made some sense, but she'd never been aiming for high, in was good enough for what she needed, hugh coild be achieved from within.

His return question pulled her from her musings

"Gosh, why would anyone come here to eacape?" She chuckled before a sad smile settle on her face. "I came for family. My house on Eliad is one ofnthe oldest and used to be one of the most powerful, but through generations of bad choices, we have very little left. My father is..." she treiled off trying to find the right words for unstable and derranged, "unwell. I am the last of my line, so it falls to me to restore our name."

A shadow of worry crossed her mind. Irina had only been gone from him a few weeks, but knowing him and what he was like, she dreaded to think what paranoid mess he had worked himself into.

"I've never been away from him for this long." She said softly. After a beat she seemed to realise that perhaps she was revelaing too much, that she was trusting too much, and the shadows vanished back behind her well practiced mask of indifference.

"Karvok said something at the ranking ceremony. That the lower cohorts were in fact the strongest. We have the furthest to climb and the most to prove. I hope he's right."

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

Aerik shrugged. He had no idea why anyone would come to this place to escape. There would have been those who had a life worse than the academy. Some had snuck into the place, sponsors had picked them up, but none of them knew that yet.

As she explained that her father was unwell, Aerik nodded. He understood what she was saying to him. Gerwald had never gone mad, though he had heard stories of his father’s youthful indiscretions. It was something of a joke to some, but Aerik did not find it funny. People made mistakes when they were young, it was what youth was for, wasn’t it? He did not wish to be among those that did, but he had likely made some already.

There was something of worry in her voice perhaps. She had not been away for this long, but Aerik had, at least from his parents at times. Their training before the academy had often seen them take trips to learn things they could not on Jutrand. He watched her face shift. Suddenly she was indifferent once more.

So, they were still playing a small game. They were learning to trust each other. He had given a secret and she had given a secret.

Karvok. Aerik knew who she meant, but he had not met the beast yet. At least he did not know them. His smile faded as it hid behind the stoic gaze of his vibrant eyes. He was tempted to look away, but instead he locked his eyes with hers.

“The higher ranks are pampered,” he said. “We are not.”

His words were cold, but they were accurate. It was all a test. How would the higher ranks respond when those who had nothing to lose came after them. Those in the first cohort had nothing to gain and everything to lose. This was the arrangement. It was how the game was designed. She was in a cohort higher than he was, by one, but still higher.

A sigh escaped his lips. They were hiding behind the reality of the academy once more. A silence rests between them, though Aerik does not look away. Instead his lips pull into a smile once more.

“If we make it to the top, let’s make an agreement, we won’t let the benefits make us lazy.”

 

[Irina Jesart]

There was something in the intensity of his gaze as his smile folded away behind it, perhaps in response to her own mask, that made Irina want to look away. Was she wrong to hide behind it?

Irina held his gaze and managed tonavoid shifting uncomfortably, offering a small nod in agreement. The upper cohorts were pampered, but the power they held over the cohorts was evident in the raid. She wanted to paybthe Firrerro back somehow. Loosen his grip on the seat he had. Thay had been the whole point of her sneaking out had it not?

"When." She corrected him, with a small smile "When we make it to the top." The breeze washed over them, bringing with it the sweet scent of jasmine, growing somewhere in the maze. The smell made her close her eyes, breathing deep, her toes curling with delight. When she opened her eyes again her smile was wider.

"I'll agree to that and to help you reach the top. Would be nice to have a friend. We can watch each others backs. Although," her face dropped slightly "I suppose you have your siblings for that."

Aerik Lechner

 

[Aerik Lechner]

WEARING: xxx
TAG: Irina Jesart

When. She sounded so sure. Aerik was not. He had already experienced extreme prejudice in his ranking. Whether it was because who is father was, or it was the meddling of his sponsor, whatever reason it had been, his rank had been rigged. Aerik was convinced of it. Perhaps Irina deserved her rank, maybe she did not. It could be a test for them both, what would they do about their low ranks?

For his part, Aerik knew that was the case. Would he rise to power? Power was not something to be given simply because of his last name. Status was earned. Leadership was taken. For him, the game was rigged, and it was not rigged in his favor. No, there was a purpose for him being at the academy, and in the fifth cohort, but the pup had not figured it out yet. He hated the idea that he was nothing more than a pawn in someone’s schemes, but then again, so was every other student.

“You’re going to help me?”

That was a first. Aside from the others which were like him, creatures, he had not met too many of the other students which gave him any kind of favorable opinion. There were alliances to be made, and some which already had been. However, Aerik was not sure there were true friendships which had been formed as of yet.

Everything in him screamed that all he needed to ascend were his siblings. Oh, they could rise together without anyone, but that would not prove he was a capable leader. Aerik needed to tally others to him, to a cause. The pup just had no idea what that cause was as of yet. It was not to simply raid the other cohorts, or play the games which the crooked and lifeless priests put before them. They needed something even more than bringing their families honor. Aerik would figure it out with time, and he had at least 4 years to do it.

“My brother and sister will always have my back, and I’ll always have theirs.”

He smiled, then frowned. Aerik knew what she meant, what she was really saying. The way she said it would be nice to have a friend was something that reminded him of what she had said earlier, before they retreated back to their stoicism. She was all there was to restore her family’s honor.

“And now, I’ll have yours too.”

Aerik was creating a pack, and he did not even realize it.