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I instantly hated it Not the construction aspect: I appreciated the chance to prove e in a practical way No, I dreaded having to choose between Spink and Trist, for I was certain they would be my only choices And once we had selected one or the other, I feared the divided loyalties within our patrol would ha done As I dreaded, Trist immediately smiled round at us and announced, "How about it, fellows? You know I can get this done"

Oron and Caleb i hand "Wait I want to propose a different man for the job"

"Not Spink," Oron said decisively

"No, not Spink," Gord shocked"I propose Nevare His marks have been excellent and ave hi in this sort of work Isn’t that true, Nevare?"

Only a week ago, I would have flushed with pleasure at Gord’s praise, and at the newly appraising stares that ave me Today, I only felt intensely uncomfortable Did I want praise fro? So I only said, grudgingly, "I’ve built a cattle bridge or two And helped with the footbridge formoment of silence Trist looked shocked, not just that Gord had proposed someone other than Spink, but also that he had chosen orously, and after a ed "If that’s what you felloant," he said, as if he didn’t care at all Caleb ienerous of himself to concede, and I suppose it was As it ere still standing about uncertainly when Captain Maw announced, "Time is up Name your commanders"

"Cadet Nevare Burvelle," Trist announced before I could say anything Then, quietly, to me he added, "You’d best do your job, Burvelle If we fail this, then we all go down because of you"

His words changed my warmth at my comrades’ support to a liquid fear in iven e for this post? Because a failure noould be such a spectacular defeat? It chilled , tilted his head at me and jovially commanded me to "Lead on, Commander Burvelle"

I think that, even said in jest, it does so to a man the first tiht about it as Maw ordered all of us to follow hiathered an armful of supplies from our pile and followed hie rather than, as I had first considered, insist that Trist take it on Mahistling as he led us out into the cold and the wind We trae of campus There he motioned us to set down our loads and invited us to survey the creek

When I stood by the stack of supplies Maw had given our patrol, ash at the edge of our landscaped Acade its steep, s, now bare in winter’s grip The gap we had to cross was not especially challenging Once, perhaps, Tiler’s Creek had been a real creek I suspected that nearby households siphoned off most of its water and dumped waste into the small trickle that remained At the bottom of its muddy ravine, the "creek" was littleof ice, and only about eleven mucky feet wide It was immediately obvious that we had only one wooden plank that was long enough to span the creek We had a quantity of shorter boards, rope, canvas, stakes, a mallet, several knives, a hammer, a saw, and some nails My heart sank

"Let’s sort out our ested

That was apiece will reach across the creek"

Spink then chimed in, "Looks like we only have one We o I would ostensibly be in charge, while the two natural leaders actually made the decisions and set the tasks I felt the faued ood officer I was too solitary, too independent, too accusto it all ht about me; I did not have what it took to lead

The rest of the patrol began to move to obey Spink’s and Trist’s instructions I realized ain I tried to put my father’s steel into e I’ood if we don’t have anything to support it Foundation first"