Flight School by Julie Steimle (any book recommendations txt) 📖

watching his father out of the corner of his eyes. His son's cheeks were flushed and he looked like he had just been kicked in the gut. She then looked back up at the Kevin and said, “He was picking on Salvar, sir.”

“Cadet Salvar?” the Kevin corrected.

Zormna nodded. “Yes, Cadet Salvar…sir.”

The Kevin glanced at his son who now averted his eyes to the ground, his face entirely red, and then returned his gaze on Zormna and Korven.

“I see,” he said. Then after a few seconds of silence the Kevin asked, “Did you talk to him first, before you pinned him?”

“Yes, sir,” she answered matter-of-factly. “I told him to leave Salvar alone.”

The Kevin nodded to himself, pretending to be assessing the situation in the moment. He did not want to let on he had been watching just yet. It mattered how you presented a problem so that the guilty understand clearly why they are deserving of punishment. Korven was silently blubbering on the floor now, no longer fighting Zormna’s hold. It wasn't quite clear if it was merely out of humiliation or understanding that he was in the Kevin's sights as a troublemaker.

“And what did he say?” he inquired with a show of sincere patience.

Zormna reported truthfully. “He said to make him. So I did.”

“I see.”

He strode back to Alea Sholda, rubbing his chin like he was considering something very serious. He needed the impact to be indelibly etched in their brains for the rest of his life—especially Korven's. Then as if making up his mind, giving up the charade, he placed his hands properly behind his back and said, “I saw it all Cadet Zormna, Cadet Korven, Cadet Salvar.”

The three children looked at him. Zormna seemed surprised. Salvar put his head down, embarrassed that his father knew how weak he was. Korven just lay there and wept.

“Stand up, Cadet Zormna, and let him go. His humiliation is enough punishment for today,” the Kevin ordered.

Zormna stood up immediately, climbing off of the boy. She stepped back towards her classmates. But Salvar could not let his eyes meet hers. He his gaze fixed on the floor, his face a deep shade of red while clenching his teeth in shame. Korven just lay there in abject stupidity and hatred.

“Dismissed,” the Kevin ordered. He jerked his head toward Korven for the class aides to help him up, giving them strict orders to not allow the cadet to run off or do anything stupid.

They quickly obeyed.

He walked back to the stairs.

The class dispersed back to their practice as the Kevin walked toward the observation room. Zormna followed Salvar as he marched toward the corridor as if to make his way to the bathroom where most likely he would stay for the rest of the hour in his embarrassment. Just as they were about to exit the room, the Kevin called to them. “Cadet Salvar, Cadet Zormna. Come here for a minute.”

Alea Sholda waited at the end of the room, watching the Kevin talk to the two cadets whom everyone knew he favored, though did not actually give them any technical advantage over the others.

The Kevin rested a hand on Zormna’s shoulder and smiled. “You did well, Cadet Zormna. Keep it up and you’ll make an excellent Surface Patrol officer.”

Zormna nodded, gazing up at him with gratitude. Her cheeks colored, her smile creating dimples which just made her look cute. It was a funny thing, seeing such a cute thing also being the same person who just skillfully took down a guy almost twice her size.

Salvar turned away and looked at the floor.

“And Salvar, I want you and Cadet Zormna to practice together from now on. I want some of her skill to rub off on you,” he said.

Salvar looked up and nodded, though not smiling.

The Kevin let the two cadets go. They turned and joined their class in the corridor.

The Kevin smiled. Perhaps he was wrong about Zormna Clendar after all. Could it be possible that a Tarrn child could be a Surface Patrol officer? Historically they all have been so physically weak and sensitive—that is, except for the very first one, Zeldar Tarrn. Could she possibly be the one they have been waiting for, after all these years? A real military leader?

The Kevin shook his head. That was the last thing he wanted to do to Zormna, place too high expectations on her. She was still just a child. It was too early to tell what she would become. Too early. He nodded to himself and decided to put the notion out of his mind. He smiled as he opened the observation room door. There would be time enough to worry about future later.

 

[1] Measured in QZR (Queen Zormna's Reckoning, A.K.A. Earth years—4 by Arrassian years.

[2] Orphan hairstyle where two longer strands than the rest of the hair hang down in front of the wearer's ears.

Resentment

As soon as his father was gone, Salvar grabbed the nearest flight pad and got as far away from Cadet Zormna as possible.

It had been humiliating. He had been trying not to get into a fight, but Korven just would not let up. Alea Sholda had been on his case lately about being so easily provoked by Korven, and he was trying to avoid trouble as the instructor thought he was 'strutting around as the Kevin's son' and he needed to learn what it meant to be one of the squadron. And yet, what had to happen? Little, bad-tempered Zormna had to stick her hand in. And worse—she did exactly what he wished he could have done. If the Kevin had not been there, she would not have gotten away with it. Alea Sholda would have punished her for fighting and she would have ended up on bathroom scrubbing duty, again—never mind that she had absolutely done a perfect tackle and pin of a guy twice her size.

That was the other thing. Why was she so blasted perfect? Wasn't she supposed to be a delicate Tarrn for pity's sake? It wasn't fair that she was wicked smart for a little kid, or that she could fly like she was born to it. Not fair at all. And now this?

And his father wanted him to learn from her. She was younger! And a girl! Not fair!

"All in!" Alea Sholda called out to the class within the flight hall.

Salvar turned back with everyone, steering the pad with his feet so that he could land near the doorway. Once he was a foot above the ground, he hopped off and caught the pad with his hand, deactivating it. Zormna stood near the door, her dark green eyes down, her pale face once more quiet in private thought.

'Help her make friends,' his father had said. 'Help her be a good soldier,' his father had encouraged. 'Help her blend in.' All of his father's counsel had been nearly impossible to fulfil. Zormna had an explosive temper, which she barely controlled except on point of punishment. She didn't like being with people as she never really had been with people except for the few adults who had raised her and were now dead. When brought among her classmates, she found she hardly had anything in common with them and she thought most kids in her class were stupid things interested in silly gossip and ridiculous games. She was so serious-minded all the time. And in free hour, she often played alone.

The girls picked on her. They whispered about her behind her back and made fun of her extremely dark eyes and the cleft in her chin. They called it a butt-chin. 

So did the boys. The boys liked to pull her hair.

Of course, none of them did it when teachers were looking. And no one would volunteer information to confirm any reports of bullying. In fact, some of the teachers' aides disliked her, calling her 'Kevin's Zormna'. It was all because she was smarter than all of them.

But Zormna ignored all of them… up until now.

Glancing at her, Salvar frowned. What was there to do with her? And now he was told to learn from her.

Salvar sulked when they reached his quarters. Zormna had walked silently behind him, watching him carefully all the way down to the cadet dorms. She knew it was not the time to speak. She was smart enough not to bug him when he was angry. He walked to his room then sat down on his bed, still sulking.

Zormna leaned in, standing at the doorway, waiting for some word from him as he was her only friend. Nothing came. Salvar just stared at the underside of the bunk above him. Zormna peered down the hall and watched as cadets walked in and out their doors, and down the corridor to the main hall. She bit her lip, peeked down the hall again until she at last said, “Are you hurt?”

Salvar grumbled unintelligibly. She was being annoying again. Why did he have to be saddled with her?

Zormna stepped in the room. “If you’re hurt we can go to the infirmary and get some liniment.”

Salvar grumbled again with a glare at her. “Go away, Zormna.”

Zormna frowned. She stepped back to the door with a glance to the floor.  “I didn’t mean to embarrass you Salvar. I’m sorry. I just didn’t want Korven to hurt you. He was hitting you and Alea Sholda was doing nothing.”

Salvar still grumbled, though not so loud. Alea Sholda was a creep. But he didn't dare complain about that to his father. Everyone would see it as the 'spoiled son' superseding authority. It was no wonder none of his brothers wanted to join the Patrol. They probably got flack too for being the Kevin's sons.

“I’ll go. I’m sorry,” Zormna said, heading back out the door.

A pang of conscience stabbed Salvar in the stomach.

“Wait,” he called out to her just as she was about to leave.

But the words failed him when he looked at her wide green eyes and innocent yearning face that waited to be forgiven. He felt stupid and mad all at the same time. It made him more miserable when he realized he hurt one of the most helpless people (at least in his opinion) that he ever knew. It wasn't fair of him to leave her without a friend. She wasn't intentionally trying to embarrass him. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Zormna rubbed her eyes. She had been crying, though silently. That silence always meant she was hurt. She always retreated into silence when she was truly sad. “I am sorry. I didn’t know your dad was watching.”

She understood. It killed him how she just knew things. There were times he though she was psychic. Salvar shook just his head. “It was my fault. If Korven wasn’t so big…. If Alea Sholda would just…."

Moaning with a nod, Zormna chorused with, "I know. Alea Sholda is not fair. He should have done something, but he never does."

Of course she knew. Alea Sholda had it out for her also. She wasn't psychic. It was her reality too.

"Korven is going to go after you again," Zormna murmured, frowning. "When I am not around."

Salvar cringed. Was she right? She probably was. It was