On Saturday, however, he woke up with the distinct impression that the day wasn’t going to be a good one. Probably because he was in a world of fucking hurt. He rolled to the side with a grunt and slowly got up while silencing the alarm. Fucking hell… I have to call Lin. He sighed. That was going to suck. His first failure to appear. Well, at least it was a physical cause and not something mental. Not that he felt much mental drive to go to his lesson, but if he wasn’t in so much pain, he probably would’ve been able to force himself to go.

  “Good morning, Sam, everything alright?” Lin said.

  “It could be better. I, ugh… I exercised a bit too much yesterday. And now I’m hurting all over. So I won’t be able to make it today. Sorry for the short notice.”

  “That’s alright. You can afford to miss a couple of sessions if you need to. Take it easy for today. Maybe see a doctor if you’re really in such dire straits. And I’ll see you on Tuesday, yes?”

  “That’s the plan. For now, at least. I’ll keep you updated.”

  “Very well. Take care.”

  The call disconnected, and Sam laid back on the bed with a groan. Then the self-reproaching groan turned into a one of pain as his muscles cramped and forced him to alternate between stretching his entire body and collapsing into a ball until he managed to find the position that hurt the least. A minute or two later, after most of the painful spell was finally over, he straightened himself and slowly got up on two legs, grabbing at the dresser for stability. Luckily, he had already had some painkillers on hand even before the latest batch of medicine was delivered by Maurice two days ago, so he took two of those before anything else.

  Then it was time to slowly and painfully shamble over to the bathroom. Such a day called for a morning shower, so he grabbed his toothbrush and headed in. Maybe he was all cried out after yesterday’s show, or maybe the pain dulled his other negative emotions, but he didn’t feel like crying at all throughout the entire shower. Nor during or after the morning session of meditation that he somehow managed to convince himself to embark upon.

  After he had gotten dressed and sat down across from the monitor, ready to watch something that won’t force his brain to think, he realized that he should probably message Sarah with an update on today. Not because he thought she needed to know about him not going to Lin’s training. But because they had made plans to meet for breakfast afterwards, from which they will go to their appointment with Farris. But since he was staying in, and he knew she was staying in as well, she would most likely be cross with him if he didn’t tell her beforehand so they could head to breakfast together.

  A couple of minutes later, and Sarah called him back. “How are you feeling?” she asked.

  “Pretty bad. I feel like I pulled every muscle in my body.”

  “It must be bad if you weren’t able to go to your lesson.”

  “I guess… I hope it’s not because of… how I feel overall, and that if I was feeling better, I would’ve been able to push on through.”

  “I’m sure it isn’t, but even if it is, it doesn’t matter all that much, right? You’ve already conceded to the fact that you’re going to have to start taking it easier and resting more. So look at today as both a physical and mental rest day. Even if you weren’t in pain, I think it would’ve been a good choice to not train today. You deserve, you need, a full day of just resting.”

  “I hear what you’re saying. I’m going to counter it with me still not having anything I want to do with all of this resting.”

  “That can’t be true. It isn’t. What about reading? You’ve been reading a lot.”

  “Exactly, that’s the problem. I’m only interested in reading one type of books right now. And of that type, I’ve only settled on the one series I actually want to actively read and I don’t feel like reading anything else. The problem is that with the pace I’m reading, I’m going to get through them way too fast. If I start reading during the day, I’ll be done with them in no time. I can’t allow that. In fact, I’ve already started cutting down on the time I spend reading.”

  “And what did you replace that reading time with?”

  “Hm… I see where you’re going with this. But so far, reading those books has been the only thing that I actually want to do. Everything else, while maybe nice and enjoyable throughout and in retrospect, is more to the tune of ‘I don’t feel like studying or training, and I don’t have anything better to do, so I might as well do that.’ I mean, if I actually wanted to make good use of my extra ‘free time’ then I would’ve started playing video games, or maybe finish watching one of the shows that I started and never got the chance to.”

  “Well in any case, I’m going to send Maurice to check up on you. Call me if you need me. We’ll go to breakfast together, right?”

  “Right. See you then.” Sam breathed out in relief. How hard was it on Sarah not to suggest coming to spend this time with him? Thankfully, she didn’t. Hopefully, she wouldn’t bring it up after their meeting with Farris. Let her focus on herself today for a change. Get some serious studying done.

  He settled down to finish the video. There was a conversation to be had there, about the differences between watching internet videos, whatever you wanted to call them, and watching ‘regular TV.’ Why wasn’t he able to bring himself to watch anything new from the latter type yet? Unification and Integration notwithstanding. Maybe watching the documentary was reason enough not to watch anything else? Better to finish with it before moving on? At the very least, it was a good excuse.

  He was in the middle of an episode when a knock came from his door then Maurice called through, “Sam, it’s Maurice.”

  He got up with a sigh and a pained groan and walked over to admit in the doctor. “Good morning, Maurice. I hope that Sarah hasn’t interrupted you during anything important.”

  “No worries, I don’t usually work on Saturdays after all.”

  “Right, cause there’s nothing important a person might want to do on their only day off.”

  “Not only. I get Sunday as well, lest you forget.”

  “You also work on Sundays sometimes, and Saturdays. That wasn’t my point, though.”

  Maurice waved him off as he took a sit across from him. “So, how are you feeling? Just general muscle strains? Or should I give you a more through check up?”

  “Is my answer going to change anything?”

  “Right you are, give me your hand.” Maurice spent the next three minutes with eyes closed while holding Sam’s hand, before getting up and doing the more usual physical check up of prodding Sam at different points of his body and asking him if that hurt. Honestly, one of the best things about magic is that Sam was no longer worried about giving the wrong answers to medical questions. Or at the very least, he didn’t need to worry with a doctor as good as Maurice examining him.

  “What’s the verdict then?” he asked as Maurice sat back down.

  “Muscle fatigue. Just like you said, you pushed yourself too far yesterday, or maybe just in the last few weeks in general, and your body needs rest. That’s what I would prescribe to someone in your condition, at least. A couple of days of rest. However, since you probably won’t appreciate a being forced to rest ‘that much,’ I’ll just supercharge your body’s restoration to help you through this. Still, if you don’t feel considerably better by tomorrow evening, then you shouldn’t work out. Doctor’s orders, alright?”

  Sam nodded. “Alright.”

  “Good. So this will take me about ten minutes. Feel free to just ignore me and go back to what you were doing.”

  “That won’t distract you?”

  “It won’t. And I’d prefer you distracted..”

  Sam shrugged. “Fine, as you wish.” The next ten minutes were very uncomfortable as he wasn’t able to enjoy the documentary all that much with Maurice standing behind him, hands on Sam’s shoulders. Thankfully, ten minutes on the dot, and Maurice stopped.

  “Alright,” he said, “you should start feeling better in the next couple of minutes. Don’t do anything more physically exerting than walking and by the end of the day, you should see a marked improvement. Drink a lot of water and eat a lot today. I’ll let Sarah give you the whole lecture on what else you should and shouldn’t do. I’ll check up on you tomorrow at the hospital, alright?”

  “Yeah, sure. Thanks Maurice.”

  The doctor nodded before glancing at the monitor. “What are you watching, by the way?”

  “Unification and Integration. It’s a documentary about the elves… you know.”

  “Oh. I heard about that one. I think I even have it on my watch list. Somewhere.”

  “Is it the same watch list that you said you added The World at War to?”

  “Yes. And I will watch it, don’t worry.”

  “Well, a doctor’s word is sacrament, so I’m sure that you will. Let me know what you thought of it when you finally watch it.”

  “I’ll do just that. Goodbye Sam.”

  “Bye.” Sam held his hand up as Maurice closed the door behind him. He then leaned back with a sigh before looking longingly at the bed. “Hm… since I’m taking sleeping pills anyway… might as well.” He clicked play on the video, moved the chair away and then laid back on the bed, sideways as to still see the screen.

  A downside of not needing glasses anymore, he thought as his ringtone woke him, is that there are fewer barriers to you falling asleep. “Hello?” he answered, still bleary.

  “Sam?” Sarah asked. “Everything alright? You’re late.”

  “Oh… Shit, I’m sorry. I fell asleep. I’ll be right there. Just need to put on my shoes.”

  “It’s alright. Take your time. Wash your face first. I, and Farris, can wait.”

  Sam nodded to no one and hung up, never intending in the least to take his time. Still, he figured that if he didn’t wash his face, then Sarah would be able to tell that. So it was only three minutes later that he made it down and met up with her.

  “Sorry again. After Maurice left, I switched to the bed. Guess there’s nothing more soothing for me than to hear about the battle with the highest amount of casualties in elven history at the time.”

  Sarah laughed. “It’s alright. I already told you. And it’s only been a couple of minutes anyway. How are you feeling?”

  Sam made a stretching motion, first with his arms, then his legs, and finally with his entire body. Once he came back up, he said, “Much better. Still pretty bad. But a lot better. Magic works wonders.”

  “Only in moderation. And only if you take it easy on yourself. Did Maurice tell you about not doing anything physically demanding?”

  “Yes. He also told me not to work out tomorrow if I don’t feel markedly better. And about drinking and eating a lot. And that you’ll lecture me about anything else I might need to know.”

  Sarah nodded as though she suspected as much. “Alright. I’ll give you some light stretches to do after we finish with Farris. But besides that, there’s nothing much that you have to know. Just make sure to…” Five minutes later, when her lecture was finally over, Sam was able to divert the topic of conversation from him to ask about Sarah and how she was feeling about the next week. A topic which Sarah was obviously reluctant to spend time talking about, but Sam’s repeated questions, even going as far as to ignore or straight up override her attempts at diverting the conversation, forced her to spend the rest of their walk, and the first couple of minutes of their meal, talking about herself.

  The major at the Web Communications complex was back on duty today, and while he still led Sam with the same haste as the previous times, he seemed a lot less stressed out and worried compared to usual. The force of habit at full display, showcasing that a continuous and structured interaction can grind away at even the greatest of man’s fears. They were led to one of the rooms Sam had previously occupied, which forced him, against his will, to consider the chances of him using all the rooms. He shook his head. He couldn’t let Farris catch him thinking along these lines. He wouldn’t prove the bastard right.

  The bastard in question materialized shortly after the major had left them alone, sitting behind his desk like last time. “Good morning all,” he said with a bright smile, “please, take a sit. I know you’re suffering from some physical overwork, Sam. Wouldn’t want you to suffer on my account.”

  “How do you know about that already?” Sam asked as he sat down.

  Farris just smiled and enigmatically tapped at the side of his temple. He held that smile for a couple of seconds before chuckling and saying, “Nah, I’m just kidding. Lin Jingway informed Dan just as the latter was finishing writing his weekly report about you. I asked him to move it forwards to before our meetings.”

  “Are you saying that usually what would happen is that I would go to my session with Lin, then while I’m at breakfast, he would report to Dan about it, who, in turn, would process that report into his own and send it for you to read. With you being able to finish reading it by the time I get here?”

  “Not usually, no. It just started this week. And what’s the problem with that, anyway? It’s only a couple of pages. Both of them should have their own report all ready to go even before today. I’m not asking for a minute by minute replay of your week, just a general brief. And this week was even shorter than usual. Not much to talk about, really. Except dancing around the subject of your mental state and inability to train and study as efficiently as you usually do.”

  “A topic which you have no problems talking about directly,” Sarah noted.

  “But of course not! My relationship with Sam is much too close, too strong, too precious, for us to avoid talking about certain matters simply because they appear too personal. Besides, it’s not like not speaking of the situation out loud and in accurate terms will make it disappear. Both me and Sam are greatly appreciative of stating the honest truth as it really is.”

  “Will you stop speaking for me?” Sam asked.

  “Why? Was anything I said wrong?”

  “Not particularly. I just don’t like it when you speak about the two of us like we’re two peas in a pod. For so many reasons.”

  “Name one.”

  “OK… One, you shouldn’t know me that well after only this brief period of acquaintance, especially since it only consists of infrequent meetings.”

  “That’s not a good reason. Name another.”

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  “Are we really going to play this game?”

  “It’s up to you. You’re the decision maker for the occasion. You get the last say in what we do and don’t talk about.”

  “And what if I don’t have anything I want to talk about? We’re just going to sit here silently?”

  “Like that’s ever going to happen.”

  “Didn’t you want to watch a movie?” Sarah asked.

  Farris waved her off. “That was for next week. This week was just supposed to be a frank and open dialogue with you two. And organic. That was the most important part. Just let you lead the conversation and see where it takes us. Hopefully to places that would fulfill my curiosity about Terran culture and history.”

  “What movie do you have planned for next week?” Sam asked.

  “I don’t know. I was going to let you pick.”

  “I’m not going to pick anything. If you want to watch a movie for some absurd reason, you’re going to have to be the one to pick it.”

  “Alright, alright. I’ll pick the movie… Incidentally, is there any movie you particularly want to watch?”

  “Nope.”

  “Damn. Foiled again.” Farris leaned back with a laugh. “And you, Ms. Khan?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Why did you call me that?”

  “No reason.” Farris smiled innocently. “Just seemed appropriate. You being the sole adult in the room.”

  “I think you should watch Life is Beautiful. It’s the perfect movie for when you’re feeling down.”

  Sam furrowed his eyebrows at her. “You’re joking, right? There’s catharsis and there’s ‘this is too fucking sad and you’ll feel like they’re taking a catheter out of you.’”

  “What are you talking about? Sure, it’s sad at times, but it’s like the hallmark feel good movie. It’s a Christmas classic for a reason.”

  “Oh. You’re talking about It’s a Wonderful Life.”

  “OK, sure, I guess. So what’s Life is Beautiful, then?”

  “It’s a Holocaust movie.”

  Farris grimaced. “Mhm. That’s not a very good suggestion, Ms. Khan.”

  She frowned at him. “I obviously wasn’t talking about that movie. Sam got what movie I was thinking of. And stop calling me that!”

  “Fine, fine. I’ll write down your correct movie suggestion then. Now, to actually important matters, Sam?”

  “Hm?”

  “How are you feeling today?”

  “Didn’t you ask me that already?”

  “No. I just said that I know you must be reeling from your physical overexertion. I didn’t ask how you are feeling about it. Or whether you’re currently feeling better. Not to mention the actual elephant in the room.”

  “Ah ah… so which one should I answer first?”

  “It’s up to you really. Me, I’m just trying to find ways to fill our meetings’ time in order for them not to appear superfluous.”

  Sam chuckled a little. “Well, you’re still going back to the same old jokes, so maybe try to branch out a little…”

  “If it works, it works. I don’t see a reason to stop with them now. So… my questions?”

  Sam sighed. “What is there to say? I feel pretty much the same as last week. Maybe a little better. Who knows? And my whole body fucking hurts because I pushed myself too far yesterday evening.”

  “And morning,” Sarah interjected.

  Sam cleared his throat. “Then as well, maybe. Maurice patched me up a couple of hours ago, so I’m feeling not as worse now. And that’s it.”

  Farris nodded before turning to Sarah. “Do you think that’s it?”

  She shook her head. “Not really.”

  “She doesn’t think that’s it. I’m inclined to agree.”

  “Are you trying to gang up on me?” Sam asked. “Is this the team up no one expected?”

  “No teaming-up, I assure you. After all, me and… Sarah here, have too much of a differing opinion when it comes to our expectations and worries for you.”

  “What does that mean?” Sarah crossed her hands.

  Sam put his hand on her shoulder to calm her down. “Don’t worry. He’s building up towards a self-deprecating joke.”

  Farris smiled. “Well, now you’ve ruined it.”

  “Go ahead anyway.”

  “Oh… very well. You see, Sam, Sarah cares about you as a human being. Her expectations and worries for you are rational, kind; she doesn’t want you to work too hard and suffer because she wants you to be happy. Me, on the other hand, I don’t care about you like that at all. You’re a means in my eyes, a tool for warfare, for ultimate victory. The only reason I’m concerned about your wellbeing is that I want you to be able to perform at your highest capability. So while right now, we are both aligned in worrying about ‘how you’re feeling’ and wanting you to feel better and take it easy, our motives couldn’t be any more different. So we can’t really be a part of the same team.”

  “How is that self-deprecating?” Sarah asked.

  “What do you mean? I just admitted to being a shit person. Unless we view this equation through a utilitarian lens, right Sam?”

  Sam yawned. “I honestly expected the joke to be a little harsher on you.”

  “That’s fair. I could’ve definitely taken it there, and we can go back to it in a while. But I didn’t want to distract us from the more important topic which is you addressing how you’re really feeling right now. After this morning.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Farris shook his head. “Why would you say that? Obviously you do. You’re too self-aware not to realize something like that about yourself. All three of us know what’s at the forefront of your thoughts. So why act like you don’t understand? Here’s a tip: if you don’t want to talk about something, stonewall. Deny participating in the conversation. Don’t lie and say that you don’t know or understand the opponent’s claim. Lies are dangerous. People can catch you in them. You don’t lose anything by refusing to engage.”

  “Oh wow. Are you actually mentoring me right now?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. That does count as teaching you something practical.”

  “Does it count as politics, though?”

  “Indeed it does. Again, unfortunately. But I don’t think you’ll need much help from me educating you about politics. You’re really good at one of the best political tools, diversion—changing the topic of the conversation.”

  “That’s called manufacturing consent.”

  “No it doesn’t.”

  “You’re right. If anything, it’s closer to agenda setting.”

  “You’re allowed to call stuff by their normal names. Not everything has to have a ‘unique’ name that has a dozen different definitions and interpretations. Just call it misdirection. And then, abandon your attempt at misdirecting and answer my question.”

  Sam huffed. “Look, what do you want me to say? Do I feel bad about skipping on a session with Lin? Yes, obviously. But I feel that something like this was bound to happen eventually, and frankly, that it’s a miracle that it didn’t happen earlier. Of course, maybe the reason it didn’t happen earlier was because I wasn’t feeling like shit mentally and was able to push through the physical shit when I greatly suffered from it, like today. I don’t know. What I do know, is that when I woke up, there was no chance of me going to that lesson. I’m sorry it happened. I’m a little angry with myself, but not over the top. That’s it really. I’m more than fine.”

  “Spoken like a person who’s truly feeling fine about recent events.”

  “I am feeling fine.” Sam grit his teeth.

  “What do you think, Sarah?”

  “I think that while Sam is not as OK with it as he’s willing to admit. That overall, he really doesn’t feel too badly about it.”

  “I’m willing to accept that analysis. How about you, Sam?”

  Sam let out a breath. “Fine. Whatever gets us to stop talking about this.”

  “Fair enough. This is the kind of stuff that you’re supposed to talk to a therapist about, no? And how did that go?”

  “Didn’t you get that information in your report today?”

  “I did. But it was very lackluster.”

  “Well I’m not going to tell you what we talked about.”

  “I’m not asking, although I will admit intense curiosity. I just want to know whether you’re satisfied, happy, feeling better, etcetera. The role of a concerned parent, if you will.”

  Sam barked a laugh. “Yeah, I don’t really do well with those. Anyway, I don’t think I have anything to tell you that wasn’t already detailed in the report. I’m satisfied with the therapist and the therapy. Hopeful that it would lead to improvement or whatever.”

  “Well that’s good to hear. I’m satisfied with ending today’s discussion of your mental well being here. Unless anyone else has anything else to add? No? Alright then. Moving on… You’ll be happy to know, I’m sure, that I’ve finally settled on the final four options of who I’m going to send to teach you about threads. I’ll keep working on that. We still have time, after all. But I should have the person picked in about two or three months.”

  “And who are the choices?”

  “I’m not telling you. That will impact the objectivity of the selection process.”

  “Are you going to tell me after the selection process is over?”

  “No. That will impact the subjectivity of my enjoyment of keeping you in suspense.”

  “What enjoyment could you possibly derive from that? I don’t actually care who you send to teach me as long as you think they’re good.”

  “Sure you don’t. You know who also ‘doesn’t’ care? My niece. I think because of Yvessa. She keeps needling me, questioning me about my choice and my process. So I’m getting a pretty big laugh out of keeping her in the dark. Don’t worry though. I’m not so cruel a person as to keep it from her indefinitely. I’ll allow you to reveal to Yvessa, who will then tell Erianna, who your teacher is when you finally meet them.”

  Sam rolled his eyes. “Figured it was something like that. Actually, I was starting to think that you were planning to teach me yourself with the amount of free time you managed to find to talk to me with.”

  Farris nodded thoughtfully. “Now that’s an idea… Let me think about that. The logistical feasibility and whatnot. I’ll have to consider that most throughly. Incidentally… what led you to developing this theory?”

  “Well, I just thought that the reason you’re keeping your cards so close to your chest is because you think there will be something comedic about the initial meeting between me and my would be teacher. But since I don’t know what the joke might be with any other potential teacher besides you… that only leaves you.”

  “Hm… Yes… yes. That is very logically sound. Alas, my lips are sealed.” He mimicked locking his lips.

  “Oh good. So now you’ve given up completely on trying to make this meeting worthwhile.”

  “Tsk. Obviously, I was just talking about that one particular subject. I’m still going to keep talking about a bunch of other stuff. Trust me.”

  “Like what?”

  “Politics maybe?” Sarah suggested.

  “Now who’s teaming up with whom?” Farris grumbled.

  “Oh that reminds me, did you ever see the documentary Unification and Integration?” Sam asked.

  Farris gasped exaggeratedly and made a show of leaning back in shock. “What’s this? You, Sam Anders, are asking me, Farris Ninae, about a media item and not the other way around? Have you truly changed so much?”

  “Don’t be an ass.”

  “Yes, I did watch it. Right when it came out. We helped finance it, you know?”

  “I know. That’s why I asked. I wanted to know whether you had any impact on the documentary. Censoring, framing, that kind of stuff. You as in the royal family, obviously.”

  Farris shrugged. “Probably. Although you’d have to ask my sister how deep our involvement went. But I expect that she herself wasn’t all that involved as well. Probably the person who was in charge of our public relations at the time. Not to be confused with government’s Royal Department for Public Discourse. Although we tightly control both, of course—Dammit! You made me talk about politics.”

  “You made yourself do that. I just asked a question of a personal, familial nature.”

  “Nah. You definitely made me do it. It’s because I’m such a gracious host and an incredibly observant person. I knew what kind of stuff you wanted me to talk about, so I unconsciously started talking about that in order to better entertain you.”

  “Well consider me better entertained. Now what about Sarah? Don’t you think she deserves some topics that are of interest to her to be at the forefront?”

  “Of course. But we were already talking about you, weren’t we?” Farris smiled widely, and Sam was forced to laugh a little.

  “Screw you two,” Sarah said, although not without a hint of a smile of her own.

  Farris held up his hand in apologies. “No no, but he’s right. We should cater the conversation towards you as well. For while I might not be your mentor, you are still a future tool in my arsenal. So… I don’t know… are you ready for your tests? According to Dan’s files, you have conveyed to him worry about two particular courses.”

  “How do you know about that? Does Dan send you a report about me as well?”

  “Not to me. And I haven’t read what he has written about you. But he has also compiled a list of electives for Sam and sent me them for review. And he wrote down other students’ assessment of those courses in there.”

  “Surely that’s some breach of privacy,” Sam said.

  “What privacy? You’re in the military. You don’t get any privacy when it comes to your studies and training. Also, it’s not like he wrote a psychological breakdown of Sarah’s opinion. He just wrote that she told him the courses were hard, and she was worried about passing the tests.”

  “Passing with good grades is what I was worried about,” Sarah said. “I’m pretty sure that I’ll be able to pass them.”

  “I thought you didn’t care about the grades?” Sam said.

  “I don’t, not in any practical sense. But I still want to get a good one.”

  Farris wagged his finger at Sam. “See, Sam? This is a behavior that you should refrain from. The only thing that should matter to you, as far as exams go, is to pass them. Anything else, should be left up to a practical assessment.”

  “How do you judge mastery of dwarven patterns in a practical sense?” Sam asked.

  “Quiet simple. Does the knowledge you posses on the subject allow you to further enhance your own strength or the strength of the allied forces? If so, is the knowledge you posses, adequate for the task? Or do you need to further enrich it? An exam score won’t tell you one whit about those two questions.”

  “Please tell me you’re being hyperbolic and you’re not just asking me to throw knowledge to the wayside unless I have an immediate way for it to help me become stronger.”

  “I was being hyperbolic, yes. But only a little. Notice what I said: ‘does the knowledge allow you to enhance your strength?’ Allow in theory, not necessarily in immediate practice. If you think that knowledge of dwarven patterns will help you or us become stronger. Then go ahead, study them to your heart’s content. But in that case, what does it matter what score you get on the exam? The only thing that will matter is gaining enough correct knowledge to make the correct application of it.”

  “Huh… when you say it like that, it actually does make some sense. But I feel like you’re giving me and my own judgment of myself too much importance in determining that stuff.”

  “That’s where I, as your mentor, and the other lesser figures in your life, come into play. I know every subject of study that I’m sure you will need to excel at. And I’m more than able to assess you at those by myself without the need for an exam. That should pretty much cover all of your basics. Anything else is up to you and yourself. A chance to let your own unique genius shine. But it shouldn't be curtailed or directed by test scores.

  “Same goes to you as well, Sarah. You have your own genius invention that you’re looking to bring about. What does it matter to you what score you’ll end up with? Or even whether you pass or not? As long as the course gave you the knowledge you desired, or it gave you a better idea of what knowledge to seek or not to seek, what does the bureaucracy of the course matter? After all, since you’re adamant about fighting on the front lines, then pretty much nothing extra you study right now is going to change your immediate future.”

  “I am well aware of that,” Sarah said. “But just because whatever I choose to study isn’t going to change my immediate future, that’s not a reason to disregard those studies. And exams are a viable tool for helping a person study more, and study better. The grade might not necessarily matter in the end, but the act of studying for the exam is what’s most important. I can’t half ass the exam while still wanting to get what I want from those courses.”

  Sam shook his head with a half-hearted chuckle. “I gotta tell you guys, not that I disagree with what you said, but not caring about exam scores… it’s definitely a luxury.”

  Farris shrugged. “And?”

  “Nothing. Just wanted to make sure the experience of the average person was not ignored.”

  “Who cares about the average person? Neither of you are average.”

  “That’s a god awful position for an educator to have.”

  “I’m not an educator. Leave minding the ‘normal’ elite to your superintendent and soft-hearted Dan. I concern myself with only the very best the Web has to offer and take under my wing only the top amongst those. I let other people take care of the general public’s educational proceedings and guiding principles.”

  “Don’t your new reforms have something to say about the general public’s education as well?”

  “They definitely do,” Sarah said.

  “How do you know?” Farris asked.

  “Maurice told me.”

  “Oh yeah… figures. Well, what do you want me to say? You caught me in a lie. I actually do care about more than just one percent of the military’s new recruits. Obviously, I want there to be a lot of recruits and I want all of them to get the best treatment possible. But I don’t care about how we get those results. I have no opinion on the matter. I leave it to experts—and those greatly concerned—to come up with whatever changes should be implemented to meet my desires. If they recommend only exams, fine. If they recommend the opposite, also fine. I don’t care. Whatever they say goes.”

  “I’ll give you this,” Sam said, “you are an expert at delegating.”

  “Most good leaders are. It’s a skill I will work tirelessly to impart on to you.”

  “Well I can’t wait for you to actually start teaching me stuff.”

  “Oh, don’t you start with that again. That joke is getting tired. Not to mention, a little hurtful.” Farris showcased his expert acting skills once again by choking up before drying his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I take it back. You’re an excellent mentor that knows what he’s doing and all our meetings are pre-planned to perfection.”

  Farris peaked out of his hands. “Do you really mean it?”

  “A little, I guess? I mean, I wasn’t going to be studying now anyway. Probably. So it’s not like I’m losing anything by talking to you. And you are right, we already talked too much about what the point of these meetings really is. So as long as I keep coming to them knowing what I know, there’s no place for me to complain, even if there is a reason. Which I’m not saying there is.”

  “Would you be saying the same thing once you’re able to go back to your old schedule and spend the entire Saturday studying?”

  “We’ll have to wait and see.”

  “He definitely won’t,” Sarah said.

  Farris nodded at her words with dismayed agreement. “Indeed. But! I think I have just the solution. How about we spend the rest of our time today studying something practical?”

  “Are you serious?” Sam asked.

  “Am I ever. I have started hatching this plan ever since I heard you were unable to attend your morning training.”

  “He’s not going to practice spearfighting now.” Sarah frowned.

  “Only theory, I assure you. Turn your eyes, if you will, to my computer screen.”

  The image distorted and Sam found himself sitting eye to eye with the aforementioned screen, Sarah to his right and Farris to his left. He rubbed his eyes. “It not just me, right? This is pretty disorienting?” Sarah nodded.

  “Yes,” Farris said, “it’s not the best to do this from my side, or rather the way I’m doing this. But you’ll get used to this in a couple of minutes. I’ve basically hijacked the transmission and I’m forcing it to split the images in two. But don’t worry about it. Like I said, it’ll soon pass. Until then, just a little heads up on what we’re going to do. We’ll watch some of your training videos, mostly the spars, and then we’ll have a one-sided dialogue where I attempt to teach you with words how to be better. Then we’ll just watch some more advanced videos. It’s all theory. You’ll think that you’re not getting anything out of this. And you’ll be partly right. You won’t be getting much, or anything really, right now, but some of what I tell you will sink down into your brain. And like saplings, it will sprout as you keep getting better.”

  “I know the deal, Farris.”

  “Good. So are you game?”

  “Is there an option for me to refuse?”

  “Of course there is. This is studying, or training, after all. And by your own admission, you were not planning on doing any of those right now. But, if you’ll allow me to provide you with my hook, I’m going to include comedy in my teaching. So really, this should count for leisure as well.”

  Sarah chuckled and clapped Sam on the shoulder. “Just like that documentary then.”

  Sam scoffed. “Yeah, with the only difference that I actually enjoy learning about history, whereas I don’t particularly care for fighting. There’s a reason why I was most interested in the non-wrestling parts of wrestling.”

  “Are you in or not?” Farris asked, leaning close to Sam.

  “Sure whatever. Don’t want to give you any more ammunition against me.” He turned to Sarah. “You sure you want to stay here for this? This is probably going to be boring elementary stuff for you. Not to mention you’re not fighting with a spear.”

  Sarah smiled mischievously. “I’ll stay. If only just so that I’ll be able to tell Felix that I got a private spearfighting lesson from Farris before he did.”