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After the rough inspection was finished, the junior officers moved to the front of our ranks, quietly and , and then forain aited Eventually ere rewarded with the sight of Colonel Stiethis way toward us He walked briskly The cadet co Caulder struggled to ht

They halted crisply in front of our troop Colonel Stiet ran his eyes over his ranked charges and gave a sh that seemed to say ere no better than he had expected We stood at attention while a small cadet band of brass instruments played "Into the Fray" as the Gernian colors were hoisted, with the Academy banner displayed below the us to the King’s Cavalla Academy He reminded us that the cavalla was not one iood as the weakest man in it, and every troop only as effective as the most ineffective patrol He expounded on this for so the obvious He urged each of us to help our fellows to be the best cadets they could be, in studies, in honor, in manners, and in skills Our ht eventually depend on other cadets we had helped to shape in these Acadereat pains to tell us that he regarded us all as equals, with equal potential to rise in the ranks and graduate well It did not matter if we had come to the Academy from the city, the country, or the frontier It did not matter if our fathers were the true cavalla sons descended frohthood or soldier sons of the old nobility or the soldier sons of battle lords All would be treated the same here and offered the sa, and yet soht see the new nobles’ sons as uncouth upstarts and pretenders

After Stiet had spoken to all the assembled first-years, the senior cadet commander addressed us He had plainly memorized his speech of welco of my belly distracted me from his words By the time the commander of the Carneston Riders spoke to us, it was difficult to stay focused on his words His name was Cadet Captain Jaffers He and his staff of third-year cadets lived on the lower floor of Carneston House and were ever ready to attend to both our needs and our discipline He discoursed far too long on the rules of Carneston House and its proud history I tried not to roll my eyes at that I had more "history" than the Acadeo! But each cadet captain appeared to be delivering the sa troops Even Colonel Stiet looked bored and ione When they finally finished, we continued to stand until Stiet and the senior officers had departed By the time our captain commanded that we shouldfro

They fed us well; I’ll give the hall was more crowded this first official day of term The routine of ourus yet again of our basic e, bacon, boiled beans, fried bread, and coffee After we had finished eating and given thanks for our food, he briefed us on the rest of our day All first-year patrols followed the sa of standards for those of us ere the soldier sons of new nobles We would be expected to live up to the gentle of old nobility, and he advised us that we could learntheir behavior

I think wehad been permitted at the table Instead, he quick-et our texts and other supplies and then herded us to our first class before hastening off to his own Military History shared a long, low brick building with Languages and Communication We filed into the classroo long tables Rory was to one side of me and Spink was on the other Gord walked slowly past us, looking as if he wished to sit by us, but the roas full and he went to the next row along with Natred and Trist Spink spoke quietly, "It can’t be easy for Dent to have to herd us around and then rush off to his own classes"

"Don’t expect rowled, and then we all jumped in our seats as our instructor shouted, "Stand up! Don’t you know you’re to stand when your instructor or any superior officer enters the room? On your feet this instant!"