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"Someday, that will corily

But as with all risks that Trist took, it never seemed to take a toll on him Trist remained a favorite with the lad in the earlyhi time for him, for all that the boy irritated the rest of us I soon caeant Rufet’s attitude toward hi and presumptuous He seemed to think himself a small extension of his father, for whenever he encountered a first-year, he was very outspoken in giving his opinion of hi us in for Caulder on the way, the lad felt free to tell Rory that his unifor in, or criticize the shine on Caleb’s shoes Spink, with his ill-fitting garb, was often a target of the boy’s snide criticishteously seethed that Dent never told the lad to be off about his own business and leave us alone Caulder always had a cheery and co for Trist, almost as if he wished to be sure that we knew he favored the fair cadet

Worst hen the boy chose to invade our living space, often under the guise of delivering asome unnecessary reminder to us I soon learned that ere not the only house troubled with his visits He patronized all of us, new nobles and old alike So for hints of drinking, ga, or women in our barracks Others, ht from us the companionship his father did not offer hi other than a ser sisters and a n of thee that we ever saw He lived in the commander’s quarters on the ca hours In the afternoons he see he could be seen wandering about the campus alone

He did seean to seek Trist’s co the sanctuary of our upstairs common room Trist would share contraband sweets with the lad if he had them, and unlikely tales of encounters with Plainsmen and their beautiful women when his pockets were empty It was a tactic that seeed, he was one of the first cadets invited to share the commander’s table in his own quarters, a rare honor that Colonel Stiet extended only to those he considered of glowing potential It did not escape my notice that Trist was the only new noble son to be thus distinguished, even though the dinner invitations were handed out on a regular basis It singed my competitive soul that I was not so honored, and yet I stoutly refused to co the little boy’s regard

Dueme, I achieved solid marks in my academics as the year advanced tointer Not all le with his mathematics His faulty arithmetic foundation was an added hindrance to hiebraic concepts, his answers still depended on his ability to calculate accurately Rory struggled with his drafting, Caleb with language We all helped one another fro a weakness to our friends Despite the chafing between Spink and Trist, we becaroup, just as our officers had intended we be

Forand drawing Captain Maw seemed to me to be an even-handed instructor who paid no attention to old noble or new noble differences He seereat efforts in our class, but I quickly beca of a favorite with hienerous dose of practical engineering I gloith pride on the day Captain Maw referred tothat my skills had come to me with practice rather than fro us tasks that demanded nonstandard solutions, and he often threatened us that "there may come a time when you e without luuishedaalone Captain Maw created a set of rapids on a water table from a bucket of water poured down a raotiate the rapids and bear its cargo of lead soldiers to a safe landing at the bottoh marks for the class that day and was still flushed with success when he asked me to stay after and speak with him for a moment