Meanwhile, something else was playing on Courtney’s mind. One hundred and forty-six light years. A habitable world, one hundred and forty-six light years from Shinden. That was where Nava was saying she had come from. There was one world Courtney knew which was that far from where she was now: Earth.
The old home system of the human species was, technically, within the Clan Worlds. It was not part of the Clan Worlds because no one lived there. Well, there were people there, but they were more or less isolated tribes of survivors. They had no interest in the greater universe outside Earth’s atmosphere. The colonies on Mars and the Moon had been abandoned when it became clear that Earth could no longer support them. Occasionally, archaeologists or anthropologists would go there to look into the dead cities or the people left behind. Generally, Earth was left alone as an object lesson in how not to treat your planet. The only known location where intelligent life had evolved had been ruined by that very species of evolved apes.
Of course, there were probably other worlds at that approximate distance from Shinden. It was doubtful that Nava had quoted a precise distance. Earth was actually one hundred and forty-six point three-nine-six light years away, if Courtney was remembering it right. Nava had been extracted from somewhere as part of a classified ASF operation. Why would the ASF have been doing anything on Earth? Except… There had been a Redwing Faction base on Earth until the ASF had raided it. It had been all over the news because the Clan Council had been claiming they had put an end to the Redwings. There was no way that could be related. Right?
Someone in the panel decided to shift the discussion away from the use of mind-reading and Courtney decided to return her attention fully to what was being said. Speculating about Nava would get her nowhere anyway. Even if Nava had been born on Earth, that told Courtney nothing about the enigmatic girl. She was not a Redwing. Events suggested that was a highly unlikely possibility. When it came down to it, this was all about Courtney’s inability to let a mystery go, and she strongly suspected that Nava would always be a mystery.
235/8/14.
The panel on sorcery education was underway and things were not going especially well. Felix Leavitt Orlando had an agenda. It appeared to be denigrating SAS2 as much as possible.
His primary target was Auberon Ewart, the principal of the school. Felix’s opening remarks had basically indicated that the school on Shinden promoted a toxic atmosphere for any student not engaged in learning to use sorcery for combat, blaming the administration. Everyone else had started up with a more general view pushing forward with the future of sorcery education, but the person running the panel appeared to view Felix’s inflammatory words as a way to create an exciting panel. Or Felix had bribed him to push for whatever Felix was selling.
It did not really help that Auberon did not seem to be able to take the man seriously. Nava watched the principal, sitting up on stage with a sketchy smile on his face as Felix expounded his view that SAS2 fostered an attitude that might was right, that offensive magic was all that mattered, and she wondered whether Auberon was ever going to actually rebut any of it.
‘Principal Auberon Ewart,’ the panel’s compère said, ‘what do you say to Felix Leavitt’s quite stinging remarks?’
‘Stinging?’ Auberon replied. ‘Were they? I hadn’t noticed.’ The strange little man was wearing purple today. Maybe purple was wrong since it was a bright shade with a metallic quality to it. It could be seen in his waistcoat and bow tie. Shine a spotlight on him and he could have blinded people with the reflection. Joslyn Harris sat behind his right shoulder, ready to lend assistance if it was required. She was wearing the school’s faculty uniform dress and leggings and she looked just as efficient as ever.
‘I think,’ Auberon said after a short pause, ‘that I should yield my time to Mitsuko Trenton, our student president. She has more direct experience of the culture Felix Leavitt speaks of and I believe she’ll give a more relevant response.’
Nava inwardly grinned as she saw Mitsuko’s expression ripple. The flicker of annoyance was perfectly reasonable; ‘You utter bastard’ was flashing through Mitsuko’s mind, no doubt. Well, maybe not that. Nava was not sure that Mitsuko would ever come out with something like that, even inside her head. The sentiment was there whatever the actual thought. Nava checked her ketcom, which was linked with Mitsuko’s and Melissa’s. Melissa was pushing the profile of Felix to Mitsuko’s unit. This ought to be interesting.
Mitsuko was already speaking, however; she remembered Felix Leavitt’s profile well enough. ‘I’m not going to say that the culture of SAS-squared has changed since Felix Leavitt was there. There is still a “warriors before all” culture at the school and there probably always will be.’
‘Ha!’ Felix burst out. ‘It’s as I–’
‘Because that culture is not a product of the school.’
‘What?! Of course it’s–’
‘Perhaps Felix Leavitt would like to let me finish,’ Mitsuko said. Her voice was calm and not at all loud. It held no hint of rebuke. At the same time, it froze Felix in place and left his cheeks shading into red. ‘Felix Leavitt had something of a tough time at SAS-squared, it seems. He became vice president on the student council and yet his graduating test scores were not exemplary. He blamed the “warrior culture” of the school and the school itself for his poor results and, on returning to Floridia Three, he began a campaign to create a new school there, one
