The Exchange Teacher - Welcome to Dyntril Academy

The next morning, Basque expected to wake up alone, but Natt was still there. They'd separated in their sleep, and she now faced him—her good eye closed, and her eye patch still on the other. For a few heartbeats, he watched her sleep. He was crazy about her.

Reaching out, he brushed her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. He hoped he'd done it gently enough that it wouldn't wake her, but her eye fluttered open. She smiled at him, and his heart did a flip.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi."

They fell silent, just staring at each other.

Natt reached her hand out and brushed a strand of hair out of Basque's face. "Do all Hianb men have long hair?"

"Yes, in my culture, no one cuts their hair."

"Any particular reason why?"

Basque shook his head. "To be honest, I have no idea. It's just…how things are. We all have black hair. We all have it long."

"If we had a kid, I wonder what color hair they would have."

Natt's eye went wide, like she'd just realized what she had said. She shot out of bed, and her bare feet hit the floor. She was still naked.

"Natt?"

"I…I have to go. Don't you have to lead morning exercises?" She grabbed her discarded dress off the floor, walked over to the table, and picked up what she'd set down the night before. In the early morning light, Basque made out that it was her normal outfit that she wore every day.

His chest tingled. She'd come with every intention of spending the night. It hadn't just "happened" that she fell asleep in his arms. She wanted to fall asleep in his arms.

"Natt, wait."

She didn't turn around to look at him as she picked her shoes up off the floor. "I'm going to borrow your bathroom for a minute. I'll see you at the teachers' meeting?"

"Natt!"

She slipped through the door.

Basque flopped back into bed. The thought of chasing after her did cross his mind, but he knew how he felt after his sudden "Move in with me" outburst. She probably wanted space. She probably wanted time. She probably—fuck that.

Jumping out of bed, he ripped his door open and went into the bathroom. Natt had already put her pants on and was buttoning up her shirt when he went in. Spinning around, her eye went wide.

"Basque!"

"Natt. We were still talking."

She backed away from him, and he pressed forward. She looked down, then back up, noticing his nakedness, and her cheeks went red. "Could you put some clothes on first?"

"Can you calm down first?"

"No! I'm out here talking about kids with you like a crazy psycho lady! You probably think that's all I'm thinking about now."

Her back hit the bathroom wall, and she gave it a quick glance, like there was some way she could maneuver around to further escape. She clutched her still mostly unbuttoned shirt together.

Not quite pressing against her, Basque stood in front of her. The slightest movement would cause them to brush against each other. He looked down into her eyes, and she looked up into his.

"I'm just happy to know that I'm in that head of yours."

"Recently, I feel like that's all that's been in there." Her eye flicked down and up again. "Especially when you're looking like that."

Smiling, Basque leaned his head down and kissed her lips.

"Basque," she half moaned. Letting go of her shirt, she put her hands on his chest.

"Natt," he said. Raising his hands to her shirt, he began buttoning it.

Her eye narrowed in confusion as Basque took a step back so that he could see what he was doing.

"When I asked you to move in with me, and you didn't say anything, and then just watched me go, I couldn't handle it. I thought I was going to go insane."

"That's because—"

"You had your reasons. I mean, we've only known each other for a month."

"I was—

"Liked each other for even less. I was crazy for even asking. But I couldn't let you run away like that."

Natt stopped protesting and just looked at him.

"I know you didn't mean anything by it."

She looked away.

"Will you come back again? Tonight?"

She looked up at him and put her hand on his chest again. "We'll see."

He smiled, then backed away, causing her hand to slide off his chest. It smacked against her leather pants.

"I gotta go get dressed," he said. "I have a class to teach."

He felt her eye on him as he left the bathroom and went into his room. He was in heaven. He knew he was setting his heart up for hurt. He knew that in a few years, when he had to leave Kruami, he'd experience a much greater pain than when Rakelle had left him. But still, he didn't care. Just a single day. That's all he needed with her, and he had over a thousand of them coming.

He tossed his training robes on and went out to the training grounds. Soon, his class joined him, and he was happy and a tad surprised to see Emmah and Zophia come out with his class. They'd integrated into Medow's and Braelyne's pods, like they were natural members.

They were mostly through their stretches when Reianna's face lit up and she dashed past Basque and hurdled the dividing fence.

"You came!" Reianna said and grabbed the hand of a girl with chartreuse hair, Luvina. She was one of Class D's tournament entrants, one of Harnel's students, and the girl Reianna had fought/taught during the tournament.

Luvina wasn't alone. The other three entrants from Harnel's class were with her. They stood a bit back from Reianna and Class E.

"Yeah, I wanted to come yesterday, but didn't want to come alone." She looked over at the other three.

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Reianna looked around Luvnia and waved at the others. "Hi! Welcome! Come on, we're almost done with stretching."

Pulling Luvnia's hand, Reianna distributed the new students out to the pods who didn't have a noble in them yet. Basque was surprised when Ryleegh pulled Eoghwin into her group. It was the most proactive thing he'd ever seen the girl do.

Reianna put Braxton in with Avae, who blushed and waved at him. Kamryn rolled her eyes—she no longer seemed to hate her pod mates, but she also still didn't seem to particularly like them.

The last girl, Leviah, went into Emilisa and Fawna's group. Of the four Class D students, Leviah seemed the shiest, but being with those two chatterboxes, Basque could see her opening up in no time.

As the stretches finished up, Basque yelled out, "Ten-k! Five-thirty per k pace!"

"Understood, Gerenet-Shr!" his class called out in unison.

"Basque!"

Basque's shoulders slumped at the voice. It'd been a long time since Krill had interrupted the morning drills. "Reianna, point!"

"Understood, Gerenet-Shr! Two files, follow me!"

Krill came and stood next to Basque. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he watched the students run out of the grounds, and Basque was surprised that the man did nothing to stop them. He was sure that's why the deputy headmaster was there, that he was upset nobles had joined in the training with the commoners. He either didn't notice or didn't care.

"What do you need, Deputy Headmaster?" Basque didn't turn to look at the man; he kept his eyes trained on the exit from the training field.

Krill did the same. "I want to make sure everything's fine with your rat and the meeting this morning."

Basque had too much to worry about to rise to Krill's bait and ignored the 'rat' comment, despite the heat that flared through his body. "You don't need to worry."

"After this morning's teachers' meeting, you, the girl, and I will take a carriage to the Arches' Chambers. There, Duke Jorellan and Earl-ess Wendina will claim that she's a mage based on her performance in the tournament."

"Earl-ess Wendina?"

"Miss Sanya's mother."

"Ah, Reianna's first opponent from the tournament."

Krill nodded, still not looking at Basque. "You must let them make their statements. I don't care about the Earl-ess, but the Duke must make his presentation to the arches."

"What are you getting out of all this?" Basque asked.

"You don't need to worry about that."

Basque finally turned his head to look at Krill. "I do if it affects my students."

"It won't affect your children, Basque. This is really easy. All you need to do is prove she's not a mage, and that's the end of anything that will affect…them."

Facing forward again, Basque sighed. "And then back to business as normal between us?"

This time, Krill turned to face Basque, taking a step with his left foot and rotating his entire body to face Basque. "I'm not a sadist, Basque. I'm not aiming to have children die. I just want to create the best warriors possible."

"And that's why you get angry when Student Death Rates are too low?"

Krill sighed. "I've seen half a class get wiped out on their Yani patrol excursion in the third year because the teacher was too lax with their training. All because they thought like you did, that SDRs were barbaric.

"I know what you think of me, and don't worry, I think the same of you. But I have seen what you've done with those commoners. I hate you as a person, but I respect you as an educator."

Basque didn't look at Krill.

"I won't say anything about those nobles joining your extra training lessons, but neither will I shield you from their teachers when they come complaining, and complain they will."

Krill turned and headed back into the academy building, leaving Basque alone. What the Yani was that? All Basque could manage to do was stare at the deputy headmaster's receding back.

He didn't trust him. This sudden change—it was suspicious. Krill was easier to understand when he was making villainous threats and pulling medical aid from injured children over wounded pride.

Basque preferred that one-dimensional beast. Like a Yani, it was easy to understand and deal with, but this version of Krill terrified Basque. Krill's assurance that nothing would happen to Class E was worthless. After all they'd been through, Basque wouldn't trust Krill to hold a glass of water without spilling it.

But he had no choice. He just needed to be aware that he was making a deal with a devil. He just needed to prepare himself and his students for the day the devil came collecting.

So, that's what he would continue to do, he thought as he looked out at the pastures where his students were out training. By this point, they would be about halfway done, so instead of running out into the fields and joining his students, Basque stood in the training grounds to wait for them to come back. Standing with his arms crossed over his chest, Basque stared out into the pastures beyond.

"Morning, Master Basque."

Davith's short, round body trotted past Basque on his way out to the pastures. The terracotta-haired man spent more time checking animals for corruption than he did in a weapons workshop, and Basque had trouble remembering that was the teacher's actual job: to teach weapon repair.

Unlike a lot of the other teachers, Davith seemed impartial towards Basque. His impression of Davith was tainted by that lunch on the first day of school, as he'd been eating with Tan and Ulivia, but he'd stayed above the fray and seemed like a decent man. Maybe he can give me some insight into what Krill is up to.

"Baronet Davith, hold up a second."

The shorter man stopped and turned around, his movements smooth and fluid as always. Someone so portly had no business moving so gracefully.

"Can I help you with something?"

"I was wondering if you knew what's going on with my student, Reianna."

"Ah, the girl the school is buzzing about."

"That's her."

"Well, I know that she's been accused of being a mage, but as her teacher, you'd already know if she was or not."

"She's not."

Davith nodded. "That's fine."

"Anyway, what I want to ask is about Krill being unusually cooperative. I can't figure out his game and why he'd help me and Class E's commoners."

Davith shrugged. "I've never really gotten into politics. I just get my ten annual kills from the farm here, then do some weapon repair in my free time."

Taking a different tactic, Basque asked, "Well, what do you think of the Hianbru alliance?"

The two of them stood in silence as Davith looked at Basque's feet. After a long moment, Davith looked back up at Basque's face. "I like you. You're a great teacher who cares, like Miss Cormick. You're as bad at politics as I am, though, way too honest and straightforward."

He scratched his head. "If every one of the Hianbruns is like you, it'd be nice, but I'm sure you've got your own Viscountess Ulivias, Baron Harnels, Marchioness Julvies, and Miss Cormicks."

Basque was a bit taken aback by the personal level at which Davith had answered the question. "You seem like you care about commoners and Class E. Why don't you help with things?"

Tilting his head, Davith gave a slight shrug. "It's not that I'm indifferent, but I'm just one guy. My lands are pretty small. I only have fifty-two residents. Nothing I do will make waves or changes. Honestly, I'd be surprised if a noble outside the academy even knows who I am."

"Even small things help."

"That's why I check the animals for corruption. Speaking of which, I should get going if I'm going to have time to get the chickens done before the meeting. To answer your question about Earl Krill, involve yourself as little as possible."

Basque watched the man trot off. He wasn't sure he'd gained anything from the conversation. "Beware of Krill" wasn't exactly groundbreaking advice, and everything else could be summed up as "I won't be your ally."

The four people Davith used as examples were really the only thing that gave Basque a pause to think. The way he'd said it, it was like he was listing them as the antithesis of Basque. Was he telling Basque he couldn't trust Harnel and Natt?

But that didn't make sense as he'd also complimented Natt, saying she cared and was a good teacher. Basque almost regretted talking to the man and was now more confused than before their conversation.

His gut told him he could trust Natt and Harnel. After the night he had had with Natt, he could only trust her. And Harnel had practically pushed the two of them together, and was a former commoner.

Reianna's silver hair came back into view, and two rows of rainbow-colored hair followed her back into the training grounds. His class breathed heavily, but weren't doubled over and panting like the six visitors.

"Well done, all," Basque said. "We're calling it a bit early this morning. Reianna and I have to go off campus for a bit. Miss Cormick will take charge during our normal lessons, and you will go to Baronetess Alestra's dance class today."

Several students complained about the dance lessons, while others talked about Reianna and Basque leaving campus.

"Reianna, standard uniform this morning and wait in your room, please."

"Understood, Gerenet-Shr."

"To those of you visiting us this morning, you're welcome back every morning, and feel free to join us in the afternoons as well. You can invite your friends, too. Oh, and be sure to tell your teacher that you are coming."

From their separate pods, Emmah and Zophiah looked at each other. The students from Class D didn't react.

"Are there any questions?"

A couple of students shook their heads, but most just stood and watched him.

"In that case, see you all in a while."