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"Cadet Burvelle, you are diser Colonel Stiet could not direct at Lord Tiber had found a target in me

"Yes, sir Sorry, sir" I finally found s and walked fro continue Even after I shut it, the sounds of the altercation followed me I walked down the hall, around the corner, and then stopped to lean briefly on the wall Of course I should have gone immediately to the doctor hat I had seen It seeuesses and suspicions, with no real facts to base them on Now I had earned myself a letter of complaint to my father, a note inthe old noble cadets, and the reputation of a coward a the new noble cadets I was sure that was how Tiber and his father must see me; I had held back when I could have cleared his name, because I was afraid to oppose those who had beaten him That was how it must look to them That was how it looked to me, now And Caulder would be sure to let all his new noble friends know that I had naed back to h the rest of my day in a daze

In the days that followed, Spink, Gord, and I all see a snitch, for often there were low catcalls alked somewhere, or spit-wads that seemed to come out of nowhere e studied in the library Once, studying alone, I left ht a reference book I canes of an to feel that I had made a sorry mess of my Academy years, one that would followlifelong friendships, I had co, it seemed, only two close friends And one was someone I didn’t even like all that htly to my uncle, as he had requested, and received frequent missives in return I was honest, as he had badeHe constantly told me to stand firm with my comrades and know that we acted in the best interest of the Acade suchwords I felt that at any ti snowball, more ice than snow, and the destruction ofroom, and once, a crude na further happened to our roohtened his watch upon his domain, but that was a small comfort Still, I looked forward to my uncle’s daily note as if it were a lifeline to keep me connected to a world outside the Academy I had written my father my own letter of explanation, and my uncle assured me that he, too, had told my father what he knew of the incident Nevertheless, I soon received a very cold letter fro me of my duties to be honest and above reproach in all I did, lest I shame the family name He said ould discuss thewhen I ca He also wrote that I should have consulted him rather than my uncle on these matters My uncle was not, after all, a soldier and did not kno matters such as these were handled within the military Yet, even so, he did not write exactly what I should have done, and I did not have the spirit to keep the discussion alive in a second letter to hian to receive ht at first that the letters were from my uncle as well, but then I noticed that he never opened them in the bunkroom as the rest of us did our letters Yet I only learned the truth the first ti a letter As I sat down beside him at the study table, he hastily turned aside froes with his body

Some part of me must have suspected the truth before that, because I instantly foundhihed ees and slipped the as he ad"

"Strange!" I interjected, and then lowered lanced about the library There was another cadet two tables away, intent on his own studies, but other than him, ere alone

I envied Spink for a moment; I had not heard from Carsina in teeks I knew she could only send me a letter when she visited my sister, but still I wondered if her interest in reener Spink had irl, and on his own decided that he liked her And she liked hiht of Carsina, and she suddenly seemed a sort of hand-me-down, a connection passed on to me born of my father’s alliance and my sister’s friendship Did she likeme? If we had met one another casually, would we have felt any attraction? How nized Epiny’s insidious influence onyour ownto do with ood cavalla wife for me, one ould understand her duty to her ether What would Epiny know about the characteristics of a stable husband? Would Spink find that strength in Epiny, if he did lass curtains and foolish ideas sustain her in a border hoht, I pushedto talk to you about Epiny I think I should speak to my uncle about her interest in seances and spirits and her experihter isin, before she harms her reputation What do you think?"