Callie's Heroes

PART VI: RESEARCH ASSISTANT

"I'm here," Master Trainer Thorn said as he joined the small group standing around an out-of-the-way table. "Sorry for the delay, I needed to pass Nevikk off to Reynard. What's the emergency?" Then he saw Callie's grinning face. "Oh, this can't be good."

"Hey!" Callie snarled, but with a bit of a laugh in it. Thorn actually grinned back.

"In this case, I think you, in particular, might be intrigued," Master Healer Tasi said.

"Alright, he's here, so let's hear your idea," the Commandant ordered, gesturing to Callie with a little impatience to get on with it.

"Right. I had a thought regarding Jasryn."

"Jasryn? Who's that?" Thorn asked.

Before Callie could respond, Xera did. "Utora's visiting sister." Then they demanded, "What about her?" They definitely wanted to rush things along and get back to the evening's activities.

"I was talking to her a little while ago, and she told me she wishes she could stay here, away from the hustle and bustle of the city."

"Then she can apply for a position like anyone else," Xera said coldly. "Recruit Callie, I really don't have time …"

The Commandant's rebuke was cut off, though, Tasi putting her hand on their arm. "You might want to listen to this one, Xera. Trust me."

In response to her best friend's words, Xera quickly smoothed their annoyed face away, softening it instead. "I see. Apologies, then. It is … busy here. Please continue."

A little while ago, following her conversation in the trees with Jasryn, Callie walked the Gnoll back to Pixyl and Jesca, who had also been joined by Ambria, making introductions all around. Despite obligatory condolences from the Faun, leading to a brief moment of awkwardness, the intros went well, the young Jasryn immediately feeling at home with others closer to her own age range. Nobody else was from Imor, so it became a good, and distracting, discussion topic to talk about Marindine, Ambria's home in the Fey lands, and even Jesca's Cheetahkin village of Cadavilla by the River. These were all places Jasryn had never been to, or in the case of Cadavilla, even heard of. The Gnoll had been overwhelmed earlier, but with friendly people to talk to about something other than her sister, she soon had a full smile on her face.

After a bit, Callie ducked away from the others, seeking out Master Healer Tasi. She was the 'keeper' of the Symbiote populations that had been trickling in from the Juniper-led slug hunts, making sure they were fed and cared for, as well as keeping inventories of their types and quantities. As such, the officer seemed like the logical first step to even see if the plan she was hatching might be possible. Tasi was understandably skeptical at first, but once Callie explained her reasoning and the benefits to the camp's mission, she soon endorsed the plan.

"So here's the thing," Callie said, trying to stay upbeat as she replied to Xera. "Jasryn is like me. She likes numbers, organization and such. She's a Scholar by class, and hopes some day to work doing bookkeeping or the like. This is why you need her." Then Callie gestured towards Thorn. "You, in particular, need her."

"Me? Why?"

Turning to address Xera directly, Callie continued, putting Thorn's question on hold. "Jasryn mentioned you told her their family is reimbursed for Utora's Symbiote. Do I have that right?"

"Yes," Xera said, furrowing their brow at the odd question. "Soldiers who have been awarded a Gold Sword or Radiant Star pass their Symbiote to their heirs if it survives them. A Paladin worm is quite valuable, so they will get a sizable payment in lieu when everything is eventually processed. Utora's worm survived and will be returned here for reuse, maybe even in this next term."

"That's what I understood, too, then. Jasryn is planning to use that money to get a Symbiote for herself, as well as one for her little sister, who is a Healer."

"Wise investment," Thorn said. "They'd receive more than enough money to get both, with quite a bit left over, in fact."

"I think I see where you're going with this," Xera said, still slightly skeptical. "She wants to stay here, and you want to give her a Scholar worm."

Callie shrugged. "Not necessarily give. You could sell it to her and just collect the money once her family is paid. But Master Healer Tasi said we …" Callie cut herself off, leaning in to whisper, "she said we have eight of them. Four Healer ones too. There's no use for them here, right?"

"We're just planning to send them back to Imor to be sold on the markets," Tasi added, also leaning in a bit. "But the Scholar worms are so common that they are practically falling from the trees, pardon the pun. Compared to an Advanced one, they aren't worth much."

Xera had a puzzled look on their face as they digested everything, and the look turned to confusion. "So why do we need her, especially with a Symbiote? All of our staff positions that would use the Scholar class are filled. Kela might have an opening at some point, but all of her people have committed to the next term."

"She said that I, specifically, was the one who needed her," Thorn interjected.

"That's right," Callie said. "You do. You're still bringing Warriors here next term, right? To try and turn them into supersoldiers by being around the other classes?"

"That's the plan. We might need as many as twelve to fourteen to fill out the ranks. We won't know for sure for a few weeks."

"How are you going to organize them?"

"What do you mean?" Thorn asked.

"Are you going to put them in the same bunkhouses as other Warrior types? Or mix them up with other types of classes? Or maybe a little of both? How are you going to track and correlate the outcomes?"

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"Uh, I suppose I haven't given that much thought yet. Just letting them bunk as the others do and seeing what happens would be my first thought. I don't have the time to plan it all out right now."

"Exactly," Callie said, gesturing toward Thorn and indicating to the others that he'd made the point for her. "Sir, if it were me," Callie continued, "I'd start by tearing through all the records of the previous terms. You want a full accounting of each recruit's class and what they learned in a single location."

"That's an easy enough project to do," Thorn said. "Kyra's a Gold tier Scholar, with a worm, too. She could do that in a day."

"Then what? You've got all that basic information, what do you do with it?" Seeing the perplexed looks, Callie continued. "You need to cross-reference against what classes were in their bunkhouses with them, to look for patterns of skill transfers. There might be references in the logs about other people they hung out with, too, and then more transfers could be traced. If our thinking is correct about how Symbiotes can pass knowledge around, I bet there is a way to ultimately guide that process, if the patterns can be identified."

"She's right," Tasi said. "She spent an endless fifteen minutes explaining it to me, but trust me, Thorn, in the end, she's right. Those logs contain a mountain of information, not just on what happened in the previous terms, but how we might want to organize the recruits in the future to encourage new melded powers. Someone just needs to digest it."

Thorn put on a considering face, as did Xera. Once again, Callie's nonsensical ramblings were proving to not necessarily be nonsense at all. She certainly was right about one thing. Beyond a simple cataloging of the logbooks, there was a lot of analysis that would be needed to suss those patterns out, and quickly, let alone devise plans to implement and track them.

"If I hadn't been a Ranger when I arrived," Callie said, "and you'd put me under Captain Kela, I can guarantee you this would be the type of project I would have loved to have been handed. In fact, part of me is a little jealous of Jasryn, if you bring her on board. You know I like numbers and organizing data like this, and she does too." Callie grinned, looking at Thorn and then the others. "Plus, you'd get a Gnoll version of me out of the deal!"

"That's … terrifying," Thorn said, actually grinning again in a mocking insult.

Callie knew Thorn tended to geek out a bit when it came to the Symbiotes, so she decided to dangle a little nerd-bait to strengthen the argument. "When I was talking to the Arkan the other night, he mentioned something," she said. "He said that if this works how we think it will, it could revolutionize how training takes place, if not a whole lot of other things. Sir, imagine being part of the start of that revolution?"

Thorn made a considering face, his eyes lighting up at the idea. Then he frowned. "But she's only, what, nineteen? Twenty?"

"She'll have her worm," Tasi responded, "and enthusiasm."

"I suppose that's true. She'll need some assistance," Thorn said, "at least for those first few days, just to get used to her new powers."

"Kyra," Tasi suggested as a solution.

"That … could work," Xera said, nodding as if considering the whole plan in their head. "Kyra might even enjoy being in the role of trainer for a while, just for something different to do." Then they shrugged. "Why not. Let's explore this. Thorn, go and talk to the girl. Don't give her significant details. Instead, just tell her it's a special project needing a lot of research and organization, and don't tell her about the Symbiote. If she seems as eager as Callie suggests, and you get on well, she can talk to Kyra next and then me. If we each believe she has the aptitude and disposition for the endeavor, then we'll go from there. She's going to need to be fairly independent, though, so make sure she understands that."

"Just so you know, she's scheduled to go home tomorrow," Callie interjected. "So not a lot of time for interviews."

"We'll make the decision quickly then. This evening, even." Xera pondered for a moment, and then scrunched their face up a bit. "You know, as for the worm, honestly, let's just give her one. They are common enough among the ones Juniper leads us to, and we'll find another soon enough to replace it. Besides, documenting the need for payment may bring more scrutiny than we'd want. In fact, if you'd like, Tasi, let's arrange one for her sister, too, off the books. It's the least we can do for them after Utora's sacrifice."

"That's a lot of money to just give away," Thorn said carefully. "Maybe a small discount instead? At least for the Healer?"

"You said it yourself last week, Thorn, 'we're rolling in it'. Between the unicorn parts and the worms we've found, money isn't our problem. Our coffers will hardly notice a missing Scholar and Healer in the end. It would be nice to know they went to people that deserved them, too, not just to someone with money."

"Alright," Thorn said. "She may not realize how isolated we actually are here, so may change her mind. I'll go have a chat with her, and hand her off to Kyra if it goes well."

"Good," Xera said. "I'll find Kyra and let her know you may be sending Jasryn, and fill her in on the assignment." They turned to Callie. "Thank you for giving this some thought. If she works out, I'd like you to spend some time with her to discuss your perspectives in more detail once her joining is complete and she's settled. I'm sure your guidance would be appreciated."

"Sure! Happy to," Callie replied.

"Then I'll leave you all to it. Dismissed. Recruit, I need you to remain."

Callie was about to bound back to the rest of her friends and maybe give Jasryn a quick heads up before Thorn pulled her away, along with some encouraging words. The Commandant's simple statement and flat tone stopped her dead in her tracks, though. It had a tone that said she was in trouble. Slowly she turned back, putting on her most-innocent of smiles. "Commandant?"

"Thorn informs me that you were approached by Reynard? They talked earlier today."

"He did," Callie said. "Last night as the celebration was winding down."

"You were supposed to direct him to Thorn or myself if that happened. Was I not clear?"

"You were, but he sort of cornered me. I didn't really have any way to respond that didn't confirm everything, and my head was sort of spinning in panic at the moment. Sorry."

Xera hummed once as she took in Callie's excuse. "Well, in this case, it seems Reynard was simply curious, rather than malicious. I do want to be clear about my orders, though. Even in a situation like last night, where any statement might be inferred as a confirmation, you need to respond with a simple 'no comment' and send them to one of us. Are we clear?"

Callie nodded vigorously. "We are, yes."

"Good, we'll leave it at that, then."

A wave of relief washed through Callie that, save a solid verbal spanking, she wasn't in real trouble for talking to Reynard. Still, Xera was right. She should have just shut her mouth, save a repeated mantra of 'talk to Thorn'. She'd remember that for whenever the next time came, and there would be no doubt a next time, someday. Then, for a moment, she thought about asking what to do after she left, but decided that was more complicated than the conversation right now.

"Am I to understand that the incredibly lopsided score in the bunkerball game today was in response to Reynard coming to you last night? The Arkan mentioned overhearing something while you were Marshaling your team?" Xera raised an eyebrow at the question.

This was something Callie wasn't afraid to own. She put her hands on her hips and nodded sharply. "That's right. He could have come to me any time, but chose last night to try and get into my head before the game. Pixyl's too, probably. Neither of us appreciated it, so we decided not to go easy on the camp team today in response." Then Callie put on her best sly grin. "You know, simple, petty revenge?"

"The very best kind," Xera replied with a wink.