B. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-SEVEN: Family Matters III, part B

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157B

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The personal advisement meeting was on the first floor in a cozy spot that looked nothing like the cramped teacher’s office or bland conference room Alden had expected. A rectangular wooden table with just four chairs sat in front of a wall with an unlit gas fireplace. On the opposite wall, a gallery of matching wooden frames held pictures of famous alumni. There was a coffee maker with a bowl full of pods beside it in one corner.

It would have been a comfortable place for a meeting, except for the other attendees.

What the heck? Why? Alden thought while he nodded politely and let Lesedi Saleh show him her favorite kind of coffee pod and the selection of flavored sugars. Why these two? I don’t feel like I need advisement from either of them right now.

Up until the moment he’d walked in, he’d been assuming that lots of people were getting advised about something today.

But while Instructor Klein, who was sitting with his back to the fireplace, might have time for general student advisement at a time like this, Alden doubted that Principal Saleh did.

Isn’t she dealing with a hundred other things right now?

And they were both smiling at him a lot. Lesedi Saleh was understandable, but Klein? He smiled at some people in class. Not Alden.

His look usually says I’m more of a worrisome project he’s been given against his will.

Alden took the seat across from the man and stirred vanilla sugar into the coffee.

“As I was saying…” Principal Saleh stepped through the back of the chair, then sat down. “We just want to have a talk with you before classes re-start. We’re checking in with everyone who was on the bus Friday night. That was a much different end to your trip than we’d imagined.”

Alden relaxed immediately. It made more sense for this meeting to be conducted by the two of them if they were only checking on the few students who’d been on The Span.

“Since we have you here, we also want to offer you some options for finishing out the rest of this quarter,” the principal continued. “First, how are you feeling about what’s happened? Do you have any concerns or questions? Please feel free to talk about anything you like. The room is private, and anything you say will stay here.”

Alden didn’t really have much to say. The situation on the bridge was over. He was of the opinion that everyone in his class had behaved well and that Instructor Klein had done a good job of instilling order and giving instructions when the sirens first went off.

What had happened to him afterward wasn’t the school’s business, as far as he was concerned, so he brushed over it by saying he’d been transported to a flyer but there had been a problem boarding it.

He didn’t have any requests they could help him with right now, but he thanked them for offering.

It took him just a few minutes to cover it all, and he expected there wouldn’t be much more to talk about. But Instructor Klein and Principal Saleh kept exchanging glances that made him think there was a private conversation going on between the two of them.

“You’ve been performing extremely well in the gym,” Klein said finally.

Principal Saleh nodded. “In the short time you’ve had since you were accepted, your progress has been exceptional. We were talking about it just before you arrived. A preservation talent that doubled as a shield for you was already useful. In the past couple of weeks, it’s revealed a remarkable depth and versatility.”

“Thanks,” said Alden. “I’m still working out how I caught the tennis balls with my eyes closed. I’ve made a little bit of progress. I think it’s going to take me a while to get the hang of it, but when I do it should be really interesting.”

“Yes.” Lesedi Saleh smiled again. “Very interesting.”

“The new wordchain you’ve learned is also going to be helpful to you,” Klein offered. “Mastering chains is a good way for someone in your position to make up for low foundation points. If you have a knack for them and you’re willing to dedicate the time necessary to make them a reliable part of your toolkit, that’s something we’ll support.”

“Even if it leads the occasional classmate to decide you’re cheating with performance enhancing drugs,” the principal added lightly.

I decapitated that classmate, thought Alden, so we’re even now.

He was about to sip his drink when Klein said, “With as well as you’ve done, we all think it’s only a brief matter of time before you level. It’s good work already for the truncated quarter. With that in mind, we wondered if you might want to consider taking a break from the combat class.”

Alden accidentally stabbed himself in the chin with the wooden stir stick he’d left in his cup.

No! That’s a shitty idea! Why would they suggest it out of the blue?

“No,” he said, being careful not to add an exclamation point. “I don’t want to. Why would I?”

“We only have a few more classes until the end of term,” said Instructor Klein. “In the long run, skipping them for the sake of recovery and personal study might be for the best. You could focus on your wordchains and then start with a full course load again in January.”

Is this the same man who gave us all a huge lecture two weeks ago?

You have twenty-one classes between now and the end of the quarter! Be here ten minutes early not ten seconds late. Take your mediocrity elsewhere, time wasters!

“It’s fourteen classes,” said Alden.

He was trying so hard to keep the “What the hell are you talking about?!” out of his voice even though he was sure it was on his face.

“I planned to attend all of them.”

It’s why I’m at this school.

“I mean…I was already a little disappointed we weren’t having gym tonight.”

“You’re in a cast, Alden,” Principal Saleh pointed out.

“Yes, but I could have sat on the bleachers and studied what everyone else was doing. And my<<squishboot>> will probably be off by Wednesday. I’m seeing a really good healer.”

They were both still looking at him.

“…do I need to bring a note from him?” Alden asked. “I can do that.”

Porti-loth would most likely use tree sap to write, “Esh-erdi gave me this. I healed it,” on his forehead.

“We’re not going to prevent you from attending class if that’s what you want to do,” Principal Saleh said. “As long as you continue to navigate the course as well as you have been.”

What?

“But you have just been through your second disaster in a single year,” she continued. “The program is competitive and stressful. Those factors encourage power growth in most of our students. However, when life outside of school is delivering more than your fair share of difficulty already…intense training can be something that breaks you down instead of builds you. We want you to be particularly cautious about it given your situation.”

“Thank you, but I’m fine.”

“I also want to point out that this is as perfect an opportunity for you to take a step back as we could ask for,” she said. “Several other students, including a member of your class, will be taking personal time due to recent events. Your absence wouldn’t be shocking or resented.”

I am shocked and resentful at the suggestion though. So no.

“I’m really looking forward to being at every combat class,” he said firmly. “Ten minutes early.”

There was another awkward pause, then Instructor Klein clasped his hands on the table and dropped the smile in favor of a stern look that was much more natural on his face in Alden’s opinion.

“One thing we haven’t really had time to discuss with your class yet,” he said, “is how important mental state is. And how much superheroing, or any similarly taxing profession an Avowed might pursue, involves managing that carefully.”

For some reason, even with that line, Alden didn’t realize a small strike was incoming until it landed.

“Peace of Mind is an excellent wordchain,” said Klein. “Your use of it on Friday night was completely appropriate. But…”

******

This is not a big deal.

Alden shoved his hand forward to make the nonagon go faster. The wind cooled his face. He told himself his cheeks were only hot because the admin building had been warm and not because he’d gotten flushed from irritation and embarrassment.

It’s their job to make sure I’m okay. They were just doing it.

But he hated the way it threw his own efforts to sort himself out into disarray.

Here he was, collecting all the fallen pieces and putting Alden Thorn, CNH Student, back together again. He was busy deciding what to do and say about murders, commendations, and Matadero.

It was his life, he was going to handle it, and he was looking forward to reclaiming his little scraps of normal.

Then here comes someone to throw a rock at me because, “We just want to be sure you’re solid. One of your classmates expressed concern about you. Have you talked to a professional about this yet?”

He clenched his jaw.

This kind of thing is always a trap. You get annoyed because they’re picking at something sensitive. But if they notice you’re getting annoyed, it’s like, “We’ve found a problem after all!” and the questions just keep coming.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Or you say the wrong thing, freak them out, then they watch you like a hawk for months. And every time you have any emotion whatsoever from that point on it becomes something worthy of analysis.

Not that that would be happening here; he was just having flashbacks to a particularly horrible period in elementary school. Torsten Klein and Lesedi Saleh did seem willing to accept his decision not to prop his feet up and twiddle his thumbs for the next five weeks worth of combat classes.

Alden had explained that the incident on the bus had been triggered by the sudden lack of System features. That kind of thing wasn’t going to be happening every other week…

I hope.

He wondered who’d noticed and “expressed concern”. Not Haoyu obviously; he was fine expressing concern to Alden’s face.

Let it go. Think of the good things about the meeting.

They approved of his progress and the wordchain study. He’d gotten a free coffee. They hadn’t asked what was up with him and Esh-erdi.

Though Klein had made an odd comment about how he might want to steer clear of the university’s cultural advisor that could have been a reference.

They’d also reminded him to talk to his instructors as soon as the System announced that he’d leveled. So that he could get advice about choosing talents and foundational enhancements.