Rutherford B. Hayes Campfire, Wednesday Morning

[endsthegame]

It'd become obvious from the radio last night that Valentine was doing her best to look as social as she could, butterflying from one place to another. Ender registered it all with his own brand of careful instinct, and fed the information into the plan that had slowly started to come together since just before he'd sent in for his transfer.

He knew now where he stood, back home, and Val could actually be an asset. In order to do that, though, he had to look as if her presence was actually doing something - otherwise they'd just send someone else, and not all of them he trusted as he did Valentine.

So this morning found him by his own campfire with a few sandwiches, courtesy of Ben's mouse droid. He'd thought about bringing marshmallows or the kind, but that would have looked too uncharacteristic, and anyway, it wasn't really the time for it.

[ open like a campfire is, yo ]

Comments

[endsthegame]

Ender smiled slightly. "You can turn just about anything into a weapon if you sharpen it right," he noted. He was an example of that, if anything. "I know potential in and of itself isn't destructive. Only if wielded by destructive people."

But judging those was an awkward science at best: just look at him and Peter. And Val.

[glacial_queen]

Karla gave him a sideways smile. "Now you're starting to sound like the males back home," she teased.

[endsthegame]

"I'm not interested in weapons," he said, bluntly. "That doesn't take away my gender. But applying those talents for other purposes, that's something else."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was confused. She felt like she'd given offense, but wasn't sure how.

"Not all the males in Kaeleer use weapons. They have Craft," she said, hoping that if she explained herself whatever misunderstanding she couldn't see would go away. "But they pride themselves on being able to to turn anything into a weapon if there is need. Males in Kaeleer also like solving problems" it was a big thing for them actually, much to the general annoyance of the witches "and so they also pride themselves on being able to take something completely unsuitable and make that into an appropriate tool for whatever situation they find themselves in. Which, I suppose, means that a weapon is another tool as they see it."

[endsthegame]

"I don't think that's simply a male thing," Ender said, after giving it some thought. He hadn't been-- offended, but he'd meant to clarify, because he really was tired of thinking about weapons. "It's a human thing; we all have our aspirations, our problems to fix, and they don't always have orthodox solutions. I'm simply stating that understanding, in and of itself, is a valuable talent to have-- for anything you want to apply it to, whether it's an orthodox problem or not."

[glacial_queen]

Karla nodded. She didn't necessarily follow all that, but he didn't sound angry, which meant she wouldn't have to apologize for anything. Apologies, even when she understood why she owed one, were something Karla tried to avoid at all cost.

"Not just human," she pointed out. "It's a trait shared with the kindred, too."

[Must sleep now. SP?]

[endsthegame]

"You're from one of the worlds with non-human sentient life," Ender took from that. "Who are the kindred?"

[ sure! ]

[glacial_queen]

"The kindred are the non-human Blood. There are dogs, several species of great cats, horses, and wolves, as well as the unicorns and the dragons. They wear Jewels, can do Craft, they can even speak, though they can only do so mind to mind. They're as smart as you or I," she smirked, "and smarter than a lot of the people I left behind in Glacia. They are kindred, but not kind, Blood but not human."

[endsthegame]

Unicorns and dragons, like stories from myth. Not unusual around here. He still remembered Jan. "I've met a unicorn once," he offered, "Unfortunately, you've missed him by a few months."

[glacial_queen]

"I've heard there was a unicorn here as a student. I would have loved to discuss the differences between my world and his." Unless..."He didn't happen to say where he was from, did he?" Perhaps her was from Scelt. That would mean that she wasn't the first person to cross over from Kaeleer.

[endsthegame]

"No," he said, with a shake of his head. "It's hard enough to determine where any of us come from at any given moment," Ender added, "I think Jan left by sea, but that's all I know."

[glacial_queen]

"Oh! The ocean? I've never seen an ocean before!" Karla looked excited. She hadn't done much exploring yet. "How marvelous!"

[endsthegame]

Ender nodded towards the town once. "The beach is pretty nice, especially near the evening," he said.

Mostly because Ender spent a lot of time hermitting out there, if he found reason to. It also made him think vaguely of Karal. "I've been building a raft. It's almost warm enough to go out onto the water."

[glacial_queen]

"Oh, it's plenty warm for me. In Glacia, we go swimming in the lochs almost until the snow flies. If nothing else, you can put a quick warming spell on your bathing costume and you're fine." Karla was getting quite excited. "Do people go to the beach very often?"

[endsthegame]

It was only the second time in Ender's life he'd lived anywhere near the water, but he didn't feel like mentioning it. "More so in summer," he said, "I think I'm the only one in winter. But I hear there's a class dedicated to it right now, actually."

[glacial_queen]

"The High Lord selected my classes before I even knew I was coming. Fortunately he picked classes he thought would be informative. Unfortunately, I guess he didn't consider playing on the beach informative. There are lots of other classes I would have taken if I'd known about them."

[endsthegame]

"You're still limited to three," Ender noted, "Which is a little conservative considering the abilities of some of our students..."

Ender wasn't using a tone that inferred himself - he saw no point in arrogance, but for him, it certainly was an issue.

[glacial_queen]

"Why is there a limit? Shouldn't we be allowed to take as many as we like? There are so many things for me to learn, and that's just so that I can settle into Fandom enough ot begin to learn other things."

[endsthegame]

"From what I can tell, the management likes to keep their groups small; whether they're easier to manage that way, or to improve the chances of students bonding in tight-knit, small groups," Ender mused, "I'm not sure. Could be both. But it limits the number of classes any student can take, because we only have so many teachers on staff - even if the administration seems to hire anyone."

[glacial_queen]

"Well then, it would make sense to cap the number of students in each class, not the number of classes one could take," Karla pointed out. "Of course, priority would go to students who had signed up for fewer classes if they were approaching the class's limit."

[endsthegame]

"I think both are capped," he said, easily. "One cap adds to the other. I'm not exactly in the loop about administration details, nor do I want to be."

[glacial_queen]

Other than a grumpy expression, Karla didn't really have an answer for that.

Soon though, "These classes seem very...informal. Is that standard for Fandom's curriculum?"

[endsthegame]

"In spring and fall, they're a little more intellectual," he replied, "But even then, there's a good chance you'll find yourself 'paperwork errored' into something a little less conventional. Probably to circumvent having to put in harder caps." It wasn't paranoia when he had a good base for it.

[glacial_queen]

"Oh. Will I still be limited to three come fall?" she asked. "And are there no classes during the Windsol season?"