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And I knew that the days of my boyish freedo rides with Sergeant Duril; no idle evenings spent listening to my sisters practice their music or er a lad to sprawl on the hearthrug and play with lead soldiers I was a man now, and days of study and work awaited ers found the tiny snowflake of lace in my pocket Carsina, too, awaited hed as I thought of her and the long ain, let alone the years of duty I must serve until I could claim her I had not realized that my father had also approached the rail of our vessel until he asked, "And why do you sigh, son? Do you not anticipate your days at the Acadehtened to stand tall before I spoke to erness, Father," I assured hiht not approve of htly earned her, I said, "But I shall ave ht have hts, for he added wryly, "I am sure you will But in the months to come, you must take care to concentrate your mind on your lessons and duties If you are ho, you will not focus, and your instructors ood officer It takes independence and self-reliance to be an officer in the forefront of battle or stationed at our farthest outposts I do not think you would be content to earn a less de and supplies than to actual confrontations with the foe Let them see your trueyou the lory Promotions conment there, and you may find that your ambitions are more swiftly satisfied"

"I will heed your advice, Father, and try to be worthy of all you have invested in me," I replied, and he nodded to himself, pleased with my answer

Our river journey was the least eventful part of our travels It , for that part of Gernia is h the wide Plains, and the little towns and villages that cluster at likely landing spots resens posted along the riverfront to announce the name of the town in no uncertain ter the rew denser than it did on the prairie, it varied little

My father saw to it that I did not waste ht with him his copies of the texts he had helped approve for the Cavalla Academy, and insisted that I attempt the first several chapters in each book "For," he warnedbefore dawn to rush to breakfast and then classes will be a foreign experience You may find yourself wearier than usual, and distracted in the evening by the co men at the study tables in your barracks hall I a cadets often fall behind in their first weeks and never catch up, and hence earn lower ht otherwise be expected of them So if you are already versed in what you will study in those first weeks, youwith your instructors"

And so ent over texts on horsey, and the history of Gernia and its military forces We worked with ht to come onto the deck with him and demonstrate that I could identify the key stars and constellations that uide a horse soldier alone on the Plains On the occasions when our boat docked for a day in so, we took the horses out to stretch their legs My father, despite his years, remained an excellent horseman and lost no opportunity to share the secrets of his expertise with me

Early in our journey, there was an incident that disrupted our crew and justifiedPlains over the land The sunset wasin the placid waters before us I was on the bow of the ship, enjoying it, when I saw a lone figure in a sainst the current The little boat had a small square sail, not even as tall as the man himself was, but bellied out ind The ht, my view of him partially obscured by the sail I stared at hiainst him, his boat cut the water briskly as he steered up the main channel of the river