“We need to come up with a plan,” Erianna said as she sat down to join him for breakfast. “We both know that Farris will be looking to score some major points against the both of us, and at our expense. So we can’t let him dictate the flow of the conversation.”

  Sam nodded noncommittally. “Hey, I’d be the last person to argue against planning in depth before a social interaction, don’t get me wrong. But I can’t help feeling that you’re stretching the joke a little. You’re really close to making it no longer funny and just plain weird.”

  “I’m not joking, Sam.” Erianna held his gaze. “Maybe you don’t stand much to lose, but I do. Farris is going to needle me on every little thing I’ve done and said in the last half-year before coming here. And then use it to ‘analyze’ my behavior in the last five days.”

  “So?”

  “So, he going to gloat. Do you want to give him that triumph? Over both of us, mind you. All your questioning and doubts as to who he was going to send to teach you… Poof, gone in the flash of my uncle’s self-satisfied smile.”

  “He does have a pretty annoying self-satisfied smile,” Sam admitted. “But it’s still none of my business; I’m not going to get involved with your inter-family drama. Even if the fact that you’re royalty makes that drama much more juicy. Besides, how do you know he’s going to come swinging at you? Maybe he’ll want to use this opportunity to finish covering our bases. Go over in full detail his programme for me, and your part in it.”

  “Are you even listening to yourself? Why are you’re trying to defend him?”

  “I’m not trying to defend anyone. I just don’t want to be caught in the cross-fire of a conflict I have nothing to do with.”

  “The ‘conflict…’” Erianna quoted with her fingers. “Is, was, mostly about you.”

  “That’s just the surface level analysis of the latest development. Really, it’s about the… complex relationship you have with your uncle. How you always want to prove him wrong, and thus that you’re better than him.”

  “What?”

  “No idea. I’m just talking out of my ass. So, game plan?”

  Erianna lightly kicked him in the leg. “Was all this really necessary?”

  “Eh, it’s not like I was lying or anything. Why, you’re hurrying somewhere? Is that it? So I should apologize for not taking seriously your joke demand for us to come up with a plan?”

  “For one, yes.”

  “Well, I’m sorry. Happy now?”

  “You’ve still got a long way to go before I’m placated.”

  “What else is new?” Sam shrugged. “For every foot I take out of my mouth, I put another two in.”

  Erianna winced. “Maybe start by avoiding disgusting images like that.”

  “One person’s disgusting is another famous director’s not even disguised fetish. Anyway, you were talking about coming up with some sort of plan?”

  “Yes, we need to present a united front today. Can’t let Farris separate us into two different camps.”

  Sam nodded gravely. “I agree. Most Saturday meetings between mentees and mentor are lost the moment the two mentees are no longer speaking in concert. God only knows how many lives were lost as a result of such needless factionalism.”

  “You’re being annoying again.”

  “I stopped being annoying before?”

  “Look, Sam, can you just go along with me for a moment? Can you do that?”

  Sam sighed. “Alright, You have my undivided and completely humorless attention.”

  “Finally. So, we need a plan. Because otherwise, Farris is going to, at the very least, needle me and gloat over being right. And I don’t want to give him even that satisfaction. Or, at the very worst, he’s going to make fun of both of us, the situation we’re in, and pat himself on the back after every second sentence. Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of Farris holding the fact that he was…”

  “Completely right?” Sam ventured.

  “Relatively accurate in his predication that I will be a good teacher to you.”

  “And that we’ll become fast friends.”

  “Tsk. Are you trying to make it more difficult on us than it has to be?”

  Sam shrugged. “I just don’t see what you’re so worried about. So what if Farris got his guesses right? He’s still an asshole that went about bringing them to life in a sub-optimal way. I never much lacked for ammunition against him, no matter the occasion. I don’t think this time will prove any different. Besides, the more he acts along the lines you’re so worried about, the stronger our—or at least, my—position becomes. I’m all for games and jokes, but seeing as this is our first joint meeting together, I’m expecting some actual business to be discussed today.”

  “Alright, so that’s another thing. We got to hold him in place and remind him of his responsibility. You want today to be educational, worth practical value? You better make sure that Farris doesn’t run roughshod over us and completely dominates the conversation with his jokes and gloating.”

  “Aren’t you being a little too harsh on him?”

  Erianna shrugged. “Maybe I am. But that’s no reason not to prepare for the worst. Especially since we don’t have anything better to do right now, right? In your overarching formula of worthwhile conversation topics, we’ve got this entire meal open to whatever topic entertains us enough to not leave any significant gap in the conversation.”

  “Now you’re just showing off. This is the sort of thing that will give Farris extra ammunition, by the way.”

  “It’s your fault for being a fast study and forcing me to spend almost half of my waking time with you since coming here.”

  “Are you doing this on purpose? Also, it’s hardly half your waking time.”

  Erianna started counting on her fingers. “Monday and Tuesday, pretty much the entire day. Wednesday, almost the entire day besides the evening workout.”

  “Well, you’re the one who decided to join my half-session with Dan that day.”

  “I had to know how what you and your day would look like when splitting it up between the parts under my jurisdiction and everything else.”

  “Alright, but Thursday and Friday we were only together for the workouts.”

  “And meals. And we had that study session last night.”

  “Hm… yeah, that’s more than half. Yikes.”

  “Did you just say ‘yikes’ to spending time in my company?”

  “I think we both know that the yikes was on your behalf, princess.”

  “Good man.” Erianna smiled. “So now you see the necessity of planning beforehand? Farris already has all this ammunition to use against us. We can’t slip up and give him more.”

  “Alright, maybe I’ll concede to your point. But answer me this: as long as I get mine, meaning a significant portion of the call dedicated to practical matters, why would I care what we spend the other portion on? I mean, I’m not really feeling the heat of being in Farris’ sights. Anything he can raise against me, I can return just as easily. So it’s really just you that’s under threat. And… what’s my incentive to spend time on energy working together with you when I get mine, no matter what?”

  Erianna bared her teeth. “Farris isn’t here. I am.”

  Sam laughed. “Indeed. Great counterpoint…” He let out another chuckle and raised his eyebrows at her. “So what would you do, anyway? If you needed or wanted to vent your anger on me?”

  Erianna pursed her lips in thought. “Good question. I can’t stop teaching you or helping you train, obviously. I guess I can just… I don’t know, be annoying?”

  “Be annoying? That’s all you came up with? That’s my card. You have so much more in you to just relent yourself to being annoying.”

  “I don’t know. I never really had to display my displeasure towards people I liked. At least as an adult. How would you vent your anger?”

  “Close a door on my middle finger.”

  “Does it still affect you even though your finger is back to its original form?”

  “The only effects—after the initial healing was over—were psychological. That’s probably not going to go away. At least to some degree. I assume that once I get enough magic in me to protect me from all hurriedly shut doors that some of the psychological baggage would dissipate. Anyway, we were talking about how to actually voice our displeasure with people close to us. Let’s see… the silent treatment is always a possibility. Although, in your case, you can only employ it in purely social situations, which greatly weakens it. Maybe making them work for their penance? I don’t know. That’s why I asked you.”

  Erianna chuckled. “So it seems the only recourse you have is to go along with my plans. Otherwise you’d leave me with no option but to censure you, and since I have no real ability to censure you, you’d be a real jackass to do so.”

  “I guess so.” Sam sighed. “So what’s the plan, chief?”

  “I don’t know. We spent so much time talking about the need for a plan that I forgot what I wanted the plan to be.”

  “May I suggest winging it?”

  “May I suggest that we spend the next twenty minutes coming up with something a little more concrete?”

  Farris nodded thoughtfully. “It’s a good plan, I must admit. Shame me every time I veer off topic. A little dangerous, though, don’t you think? Considering Sam’s proclivities in the area?”

  “I’m willing to take that chance,” Erianna said.

  “Well sure, it won’t backfire on you. Straight as an arrow, is my favorite niece. Once she sets her mind on something… it’s a one-way ticket between where she is now to where she wants to be— Sam, would you please stop looking at your phone? We’re having a conversation here.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Hmm…” Sam put the phone back in his pocket with a grunt. “Sorry, had to get back to Felix with something. I’m all yours. Let’s dedicate the next half an hour to the bit and the rest to something with actual substance, yeah?”

  “And what’s the bit, prey tell?”

  “Oh you know…” Sam waved about. “The whole gloating and making fun of one another business. Trying to appear like you don’t have one of the healthiest family relationships I’ve ever encountered.”

  “You hear?” Farris winked at Erianna. “Healthiest family relationship he ever encountered.”

  “He said one of.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Still counts. More importantly, you don’t disagree?”

  “That depends on your conduct today.”

  Farris smiled widely. “What are you so worried about? It’s not like I accurately charted the perfect course of action mere seconds after I heard about the appearance of a new, one-of-a-kind wonder, unseen before in the history of the Web. It’s not like I perfectly executed my plan, making sure all of my actions resulted in the exact set of circumstances I wished to bring about. And it’s not like I knew exactly what would happen at the personal level when I brought my two main pieces together.” He looked as though he was going to say something more, but instead he cupped his chin in one head, appearing thoughtful.

  “Wow,” Sam said. “When he puts it like that… he does sound like a brilliant strategist of some kind. A shame about all the other facets of his personality, though. He really gets in the way of making his brilliant schemes, brilliant.”

  “Now that’s just hurtful. Name one thing I did wrong while carrying out this scheme?”

  “Morally wrong?”

  “No, not morally wrong you exasperating zealot. Practically wrong. Diminishing my returns from my wise investments.”

  “Hm… I know I shouldn’t, but a part of me likes being thought of as an investment.”

  “All of us soldiers are an investment in some way or another,” Erianna said. “Although my status as one is a little less altruistic than yours.”

  “Eh. What’s the difference between training you to be the supreme commander, and a dentist pushing their kid to study dental medicine so that the practice could stay in the family?”

  “One affects the lives of billions.”

  Sam laughed. “I should make that joke, but I’ll let you off this time. After all, you’re completely right, we’re all an investment. And not just us soldiers. Pretty much every citizen in our modern nation states is an investment for the future. In some way or another. And with human capital being what’s it worth today… we’re pouring a lot of money into ourselves.”

  “Great,” Farris said, “truly enlightening and profound. Can we get back on topic, please? You two have the uncanny talent of preventing me from dictating the flow and direction of the conversation as per my preconceived plans. And this time, I feel that you’ve crossed a line. I was really looking forward to today. And you two ruined it!”

  Sam smiled widely. “Couldn’t you have just… figured out what we were going to do beforehand? Using… I don’t know, your special magic or whatever? I mean, I’m no expert on threads, clearly. But… kinda seems like it’s your fault.”

  “Very funny. Don’t think that just because you’ve started learning about threads, that you’re safe from me joking about stuff you shouldn’t ask about yet. Let me tell you something, my young protégé: there’s a lot of knowledge out there that you’re going to brush against before you’re ready to learn about it. And I’m going to be there every step of the way, making sure to remind you and annoy you by refusing to answer seemingly unrelated questions.”

  “OK, but you were going to do that anyway. So it seems like I only gain by not going along with your shtick today.”

  “If that’s how you see it. I exacted you to be the bigger person… oh well.” Farris laughed and turned to regard Erianna with actual earnestness. “How are you setting in, Erianna?”

  She shrugged before scratching her nape. “Trying to disarm me?” she asked, attempting to, if you asked Sam, hide her reluctance to answering in the same manner asked.

  “Of course not. I let you two fool around for a start, but you must know that I was never going to actually begin our conversation today with a joke. First, we get the serious stuff out of the way, then we can move on to some more lighthearted barbs.”

  “I’m feeling fine, Farris. You don’t need to worry about me.”

  “I’m not worried. I’m just interested. I know your brother and mother were constantly messaging you—”

  “You have a very warped definition of constantly.”

  “For working-class royalty, it was pretty frequent.”

  Erianna laughed. “I suppose so. So what do you want to know that I hadn’t already said to Mother or Alan?”

  “I have no idea what you told them. It’s not as though I asked them to report on your conversation, then tasked some underling to prepare a report on your mental state.”

  Erianna rolled her eyes and looked at Sam. “You see that? Just because I’m family, I don’t get the same special treatment that you do.”

  “So?” Sam made an incredulous face. “Is that supposed to somehow make up for the obvious favoritism being shown to you when compared to me? My traineeship is still nowhere near as extravagant as yours was.”

  She laughed and elbowed him lightly in the ribs. “Don’t be an ass.”

  “In my defense,” Farris said, “besides his spear training, the only reports I get on Sam are complied solely by the Terran authorities. Why, I had to rely on my own judgment in order to ascertain how Sam was feeling in the past.”

  “And we all know how that turned out…” Sam sighed. “I had to watch the Simpsons Movie.”

  “I thought you had a good time!”

  “Eh.”

  Farris grumbled before turning back to Erianna. “Now that your new buddy has earned you some mercy seconds, we should go back to my question…”

  She frowned. “I already told you I’m feeling fine. Stop worrying.”

  “What kind of thing is that to say to your loving uncle? ‘Stop worrying.’ I’m more likely to stop reporting to the queen.”

  “Well just like with Mom, you don’t need to do it. I’m fine.”

  “Care to expound on that?”

  “Care to ask me a more specific question that I might be willing to a give a more detailed answer to?”

  “Alright…” Farris leaned back and looked at the ceiling. “Let’s start with the easy one. How are you finding your new accommodations?”

  “More than adequate.”

  “You said you’d be detailed.”

  “Sam…?”

  Sam sighed. “Technically, she said that she might be willing to be more detailed.”

  Farris nodded at him with a sarcastic smile. “Yes, thank you Mr. Anders. I’m glad to see that my niece already has such understanding and loyal friends by her side.”

  “The room’s fine,” Erianna said. “It’s not like I really need anything more than a desk, a bed, and a shower. I’m having Yvessa help me unpack this evening, and I decided to take up the academy on its offer of cleaning service. And Sam promised to come help me do laundry in the next couple of days.”

  Sam nodded. “I just like the idea of me being the one to teach someone how to do laundry. I mean, it’s a real challenge finding someone more sheltered than me, but…”

  “I thought we both agreed that we weren’t sheltered.”

  “Just because we agreed doesn’t mean I won’t bend the truth when there’s a joke at stake.”

  “And the food?” Farris asked.

  “Do we really need to go over everything?” Erianna said.

  “The only reason why I didn’t inquire so throughly about you and your brother’s previous excursions is because I knew exactly the state of the facilities being given to you, as they were either our family’s, or my military’s.”

  “Right… and of course, you have no idea as to the state of the provisions being supplied at the Terran military academies…”

  “So the food’s fine?”

  “More than fine.”

  “The gym?”

  “We’re done with this.”

  Farris laughed. “All right. So how are you settling into your new role? Wait, no before that, because that will require us to devote time to—as Sam here like to say, something with actual substance—how are you guys getting along?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?”

  “I want to hear it.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “We can do this all day.”

  “I can’t,” Sam said.

  “Then you better nudge your new bestie into being a little more forthcoming.”

  Erianna sighed. “We’re getting along fine. You don’t need to worry about us.”

  “Really? Are you sure? You’re not just saying this because Sam’s here?”

  “Sam would be much more comfortable if I told a joke at his expense right about now.”

  “Probably true.” Sam shrugged. “But it depends on the joke.”

  “So you two are already great friends, then?” Farris smiled. “Already gotten to know each other pretty well? Shared your shared interests? Discovered how right I was when I said that you two would get along swimmingly?”

  “You never said anything like that.”

  “Well I couldn’t tell you, that would’ve ruined the joke. Oh, and how was it? Tell me all about it! Was he surprised? Did he scream?”

  “Yes,” Sam said.

  Erianna pushed his head. “Don’t encourage him like that.”

  “But I was surprised.”

  “Yeah, but you didn’t scream.”

  “Was it at least funny?” Farris asked.

  “It was really fucking funny.” Erianna nodded. “Then he did this weird bit about doubting if I was really who I said I was.”

  “I was only half joking!” Sam protested. “Is it so outrageous to doubt the appearance of a princess outside your door at four in the morning?”

  “I mean…” Farris said, “for you? Yes. Considering you pretty much had the same thing happen before, only off by a few hours.”

  “Yes, of course. Well, forgive for not remembering the twisted sense of humor that the Ninae family has when I was abruptly woken up at four in the morning.”

  “Indeed, you should’ve known better. Especially after all the time we spent together. And all the hints I kept dropping.”

  “What hints?”

  “They were there. You just had to look for them. So, how does my amazing niece match up in your eyes? Are you confident in her abilities to teach you everything you need to know about threads?”

  Sam gave Erianna a puzzled look. “No…” he said. “That wasn’t the deal. She’s only here to teach me for the next year.”

  “Yeah, yeah, sure. But I was speaking generally. No complaints about the qualities of the person I chose to teach you, right?”

  “No complaints whatsoever.”

  “And what about you, Erianna? Found any shortcomings in the abilities of your new student?”

  Erianna rolled her eyes. “We get it, Farris. You want us to clap for you?”

  “We’ll save that for Sam’s graduation. Now, in truth, I actually did get a report on the progress of your studies together. Although you still have to write me one yourself, Erianna.”

  “I thought you said I only need to do one a month.”

  “Yes, but it’s generally agreed upon that when starting a new operation your submit an initial status report as well.”

  “Agreed upon by whom?”

  “Your current and future commanding officer.”

  “Well,” Sam said, “she’s here now. How about she give you a verbal report?”

  “Yes… that would be nice. Captain Ninea, if you will.”

  “Ugh…” Erianna muttered. “I hate it when he calls me like that.”

  “I think it’s cool,” Sam said.

  “I didn’t ask—wait, seriously?”

  “Yeah. Military ranks are cool. Being addressed by your rank by one of your family members, who’s obviously proud of you being of that rank, is also cool. It also helps the cool factor that Farris has the highest rank possible.”

  “Highest rank currently available,” Farris said. “There is a theoretical higher rank that was proposed after the Second Epirak Invasion began.”

  “Race you to it,” Sam told Erianna.

  “You can’t. You’re not in the Sarechi military.”

  “Damn… I really wanted to live out my Ulysses S. Grant fantasy.”

  “Don’t fret, young cadet,” Farris said. “Become the first Terran Chosen, and they’ll make up a new rank for you.”

  “Nice. Finally a worthy goal to strive for.”

  “You wanted to ask about my progress with Sam?” Erianna said.

  “I’d like to hear about it.” Farris nodded. “Dan gave me an approximation of what ground you covered. But I’d like you to go over it in your own words. Your own analysis.”

  “Is this because of Dan’s… situation?” Sam asked.

  “No. Nothing to do with that.”

  Sam looked for confirmation at Erianna, who shrugged before saying, “So we started with the basics of the theory. Types of threads and what threads are and theories about magic. Then went over the different aspects of the Threadsight before starting to practice. That was day one. Since then, we’ve mostly focused on practicing. A small lesson here and there between bouts of Sam opening his Sight and some preliminary stuff about threads recognition and what not.”

  Farris nodded thoughtfully. “That’s very good progress. You see? You didn’t need me to help you with a lesson plan, after all.”

  “It still would’ve been nice.”

  “In the short run, maybe. But I think it’s best, for both you and Sam, that you’re given as much leeway as possible for the next year. If I get too involved in planning, it sort of ruins the reason for picking you out to be Sam’s teacher.”

  “What does too involved mean?” Sam asked. “Because I’m pretty sure you’re not going to leave me and Erianna to our own devices when it comes to threads.”

  “Of course not. I was just talking about avoiding spending time on the more mundane matters. I’ll still be around for the big picture stuff. You know, the more enjoyable part of the teaching experience.”

  “I don’t think there’s anything enjoyable in the teaching experience.”

  Erianna shrugged. “Eh, I’m having fun.”

  “You have fun just sitting around staring at your core for hours at a time.”

  “So do you.”

  Sam blushed. “Mhm… maybe. I don’t know…”

  She waved him off and turned back to Farris. “So the plan for the next month or two is to keep going as we are. We’ll have to slow down a little in the coming weeks. After Sam’s core becomes fragmented and he starts needing to spend more time with Dan.”

  “And after the trimester starts and your own studies with them,” Farris said.

  “Sure… yeah, that too. But I really think that we’re on the right track. I don’t see any reason, if both Sam and I can keep to our current efforts and commitments, that we won’t be exactly where we need to when it’s time for me to leave for the Muster.”

  “Looks like you’re going to have your cake and eat it too, Sam. Graduate in two and half years with a Thread-Weaver’s training to boot.”

  “Ah ah…” Sam said. “As long as we can keep to our current efforts and commitments, though. That’s a pretty big if as far as one of us is conference.”

  Farris laughed. “It’s only big if you’re talking about absolute values. That’s how sure I am you two will meet and exceed my expectations. After all, neither of you has failed yourselves just yet. And no matter what you say, Sam, we both know that, for now, the hard part is behind you.”

  “No she’s not. She’s sitting right there.” Sam pointed to Erianna.

  “Tsk.” She shook her head at him. “That wasn’t great.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I had to deal with his sincerity somehow. Sorry you got caught in the crossfire.”

  “Well you better learn to deal with it, sonny,” Farris said. “I won’t have my niece suffer any errant damage. And I’m afraid since it’s you two amazing prodigies I’m dealing with, there’s a lot more sincerity coming your way in the future.”