The Exchange Teacher - Welcome to Dyntril Academy

Basque woke with a start. His hands flashed out for his attacker, but they'd already pulled away from him. When his eyes focused, he saw Sophia in a nightgown with her beautiful, vivid violet hair down, framing the soft features of her face.

He checked the time. It was 2:30 in the morning. "Sophia?"

"Basque, sometimes you are just so thick! I don't know what to do with you!"

"I'm sorry?"

"I mean, I know you've got a good heart, but it's a shame that your head doesn't quite match."

Basque blinked. He'd never heard Sophia speak so frankly.

"Seriously? You thought I'd be mad because you and Natt rutted like pre-Yani animals out in public for anyone to see?"

"The way you say it makes me think that you're kind of mad about it…"

"I don't care that you and she had sex! I care that you were so sloppy about it! Tell me, how'd that end up for you?"

Basque bowed his head.

"Exactly. Just to let you know, while I can actually talk, I like Natt. And honestly, it could have been a lot worse. You could have wound up giving in to Julvie."

Basque raised his head. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

Sophia slapped her forehead. She looked around and then opened one of his drawers. She grabbed a pair of socks and threw them at him. They bounced off him and landed on the bed. "Soft-hearted, hard-headed moron!"

Basque raised his hands. "Sorry! Sorry!"

Sophia rubbed her face. "Look, I know that a lot of the subtle clues I give you go over your head because of cultural differences. You just don't have the wherewithal to pick up on them."

"And don't forget that I'm a moron."

She smiled for the first time that evening. "Yes, there is that too," she finished with a cute little laugh.

"So, what are we going to do?"

Sophia went over to one of the chairs at his small two-person dining table and sat down. "Well, I want to continue the Hianb lessons, but writing only. That way, I'll be able to pass notes on to you. But, if it's discovered that I know your language…" She shook her head.

Basque didn't need her to finish the sentence. As an ambassador, he only had the three rules, but it was an overall mission understanding that there was a limit on how much they could teach about Hianbru. No one was teaching the language.

"What else?"

"Well, I agree with you. The kids need to eat here. Things will continue to escalate in the cafeteria."

"Is there any way around the rule you so happily ran me over with earlier?"

"I'm thinking about it. Second-years are allowed to eat in their room so they can 'study' more, but first-years are required to eat in the cafeteria to build 'solidarity.' But you and I both know that just means giving noble kids a chance to take their fears out on Class E."

"Is that why you don't like Class E?"

"Of course! How could I like watching those poor children getting abused? There's got to be a better way."

"In Hianbru—"

"I don't want to hear it," she said, holding up a hand and shaking her head. "Here isn't there. You won't be here forever. Yani, you won't even be here for the next batch of commoners brought in as fodder in a year."

"What do you mean? I'm here for five."

Sophia shook her hair. "No, you'll be with these students all five years."

"I'm not just a first-year teacher?"

"No, you're the Class of 637's teacher. That's how it's done here. You'll be spending all five years with the same group."

Basque's stomach churned. He had to work with those same "teachers" for five years? There was no mixing up? "Wait, does that mean those teachers were all in the same group for the fifth-years last year?"

"For the most part, yes."

"How…" It didn't make sense. Some teachers worked better with some ages than others. The teachers would become insular groups. Groupthink would become an even worse issue. Moronic Yani-shit like what was going on between Julvie and him would make life permanently unbearable. "I think that's possibly the dumbest thing I've heard since I got here."

"It's not as bad as you think. Higher-ranking teachers, like Marchioness Julvie, only stay around for two cycles. Lower-ranking teachers like Baron Harnel usually stay for three, maybe four, if they earn the head teacher spot after their third year. Some don't have much to do and cling on as specialty teachers like Viscountess Ulivia."

"How is this the first time I'm hearing this?"

"They've set you up to fail. They want to blame the student deaths on you and Hianbru."

So that's what it was, and why they were making his task harder and harder by swapping out the plans that had been approved with things he couldn't possibly teach at the last second.

"Not only are they playing games with the lives of children, but they're doing it as a political ploy as well?"

Sophia nodded. "Well, the political ploy is new."

"What is this shithole?"

"It's the best shithole in the country. The death rate for students here is half the other three academies. Outside of Class E, student death probability is required to be under 30%. Other schools don't even calculate that."

"Why would a parent even send their child to school then?"

"It's the law for nobles. If they don't send their children, they 'fall' back into commonality. For commoners, it's that sense of hope to become nobility."

"What is this shithole?"

"Kruami," Sophia said, and the two fell silent.

"So, have you thought of a way to get the students to eat in their rooms?"

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Sophia shook her head and looked at the ground. "I can't think of anything short of a Yani breaking loose in the cafeteria…"

"Okay."

She jerked her head up. "'Okay'? What do you mean, 'okay'?"

"I've got a couple of smaller Yani in my personal space."

She stared at him. She didn't say a word. She didn't move. After what felt like an eternity, she finally said, "You have Yanis in your personal space?"

"Yeah."

"How…is that even possible?"

"They're freshly turned, so the interface doesn't recognize them as interface users yet."

She shook her head. "I don't understand."

Basque paused. Was this something that Sophia didn't know, or was it something Kruami didn't know? How much should he say? But he figured that since it was Sophia, he could trust her. "The interface won't allow anything with an interface into personal storage. So, humans and wild-born Yani are out. However, if you get a fresh-turned Yani at the right moment, you can stick them in there before their interface is completely active."

"No, I don't care about the technical aspect. What I don't understand is why you would have a Yani in your personal space."

He looked at her in confusion. "I'm a teacher. Why wouldn't I have one? I've actually got…," he pulled up his personal space inventory list, "27 major, 46 minor, and 73 minute."

"Can they escape?"

"No! No. As far as we can tell, time doesn't pass in personal spaces. That's why food in there doesn't rot. You put it in hot, it comes out hot, even days later."

"I know that. Everyone knows that. But…are you sane?" Her eyes were wide, there was a tension in the way she sat. "Yani. We're talking about a Yani here."

"Yes, Yani are extremely dangerous if they're free, but worrying about one in my personal storage is like worrying about getting scalded by hot soup that's inside a refrigerator."

"The hot soup won't try to attack and kill me when you take it out, though!"

"I'm not going to just release the Yani here."

She covered her eyes with her hands and then threw her hands away from her face. "But why would you need to have a Yani in your storage in the first place?!"

"I'm a teacher."

She waited for him to go on, but he didn't. "You can't just say that like it explains everything! You're even more dangerous to the children than the Kruamian teachers!" Sophia shot out of the chair.

"Hey!" Basque said and jumped out of bed. "In over a decade as a teacher, I have never had a student die. None of this 'look left, look right' Yani-shit! No 'S.D. rates'. I will not have my teaching methods questioned by—" he cut himself off before he could say 'savages'. He knew it would kill his relationship with Sophia. She wasn't a savage. Many of her countrymen were, but she wasn't by far. He respected her more than a lot of his own countrymen. He could barely forgive himself for the unsaid insult.

"By who?" Sophia's voice was dark.

"Someone who's not a teacher. I'm sorry. I got heated."

"It's okay. I—I thought you were going to say something else." Her tone was also apologetic.

Basque rose from his bed, walked over to the table, and sat. "Come on, let's sit down and talk about the task at hand, getting the students to eat in their rooms."

Sophia nodded and sat back down. Basque couldn't help himself as he stole a glance at Sophia's face in the dim moonlight. As little as he thought about the culture, he couldn't help but find the people beautiful, and Sophia stood out among them, especially when she was in a more relaxed setting like this, with her hair down and her normal stoic, all-business expression off her face. His heart raced, and he forced it to calm.

Her face changed colors. Even in the low light, he could see it reddening. He looked down to where she was looking. His night robe was partially open, and his chest was exposed. He cleared his throat, repositioned himself, and used that as an opportunity to tighten his robe shut.

She looked up from his chest and back at his face. She moved a tendril of hair behind her ear and asked, "Sorry, you were saying?"

"Well, your suggestion was to turn a Yani loose in the cafeteria?"

Where seconds earlier her face had been flush, the color now drained from it. "Yeah…umm, well, it was just a thought that if there was a battle in the cafeteria, it'd have to be restored and during that time, students would have to eat in their rooms."

Basque pointed at her. "That's a brilliant plan!"

"Are you insane, though? What if someone gets hurt?!"

"Sophia," he reached out and grabbed one of her hands, "I promise you that no one will get hurt. All I need to do is make sure that there's enough physical damage to shut it down, right?"

She shook her head but didn't withdraw her hand. "It's too dangerous."

"I'll only let out one of the minutes."

"A month before you arrived, a chicken evolved into a minute and killed two servants and maimed a teacher before a task force of five teachers took it down."

"I didn't think they were that bad…. It's fine, I'll make sure no one gets hurt. Five teachers?"

"Yes?"

Basque shook his head. "Class E is going to rule this school by the time they're third-years…"

"Basque, why do you have so many Yani with you?"

He tilted his head. "How can you teach someone to defeat a Yani without them actually fighting a Yani?"

She pulled her hand away from his and grabbed the edge of the table that separated them. Basque's hand felt lonely. "That doesn't make any sense! That's like saying you wouldn't know how to deep-fry something without jumping into a vat of hot oil!"

He shook his head. "No, the point is to introduce fighting in controlled environments. There are too many variables in the wild, Yani are too smart and skilled out there. But if I can control the battlefield, well, then it's a different story. Like I said, I've never lost a student. Some have been injured, but injuries can happen during sparring as well, even with the interface's aid."

Sophia let go of the table. Her hand crept forward and took his again, grabbing the back of his fingers with hers. "So, we can really do this?"

Basque nodded. "What time do the kitchen staff arrive?"

Sophia's eyes lost focus for half a second; she was checking her interface for something. "In about an hour and a half."

"Okay, we should get going soon, then."

Neither of them moved. They just sat at the table looking at each other with Sophia gripping the top of Basque's hand. He didn't want to break the rare contact. As soon as the contact ended, he knew that it would be a long time before it could happen again.

Sophia swallowed. "We really should get going. I need to change before we go."

Still, they didn't move. Seconds ticked by. Basque wished it was light enough so that he could see the brilliant, vivid violet of her eyes and hair, but it was too dark to make out any colors.

"Sophia—"

And just like that, she pulled back. Her hand left his and the soft expression she wore only at times like these was replaced by her stiff business demeanor. "Master Basque, we should go before anyone goes to the kitchen."

She stood and walked to the door. "I shall return after I have dressed."

Basque watched her leave, then slapped his face with both hands and rubbed his eyes. What the hell was he thinking? She was right. They needed to keep their distance.

It was Rakelle. That was it. He was feeling lost and lonely. He was looking for a rebound. Someone he could talk to and respect like he'd done with her. Sophia was that person. She was brilliant at her subtlety; no, she was just brilliant. Not for the first time, he lamented that she was stuck in a society like this, where her full potential couldn't be reached.

He had to admit it, though, it wasn't just her lost potential that made him want to talk with her even more. After seeing Rakelle with Eder and knowing they'd been together, the pain of their relationship ending was almost gone. He marveled at the speed at which he'd recovered from the heartbreak. Or, was he just lying to himself? The pain in his chest constricted his heart the longer he dwelt on thoughts of Rakelle.

No, he needed to focus on the task at hand. Once again, Sophia had proven herself better than he was. She'd put on her mask and left. Basque needed to change and put on his mask as well.

Pulling out one of the many gray robes he'd brought, Basque dressed himself. He was going to need to stay in the shadows. He'd promised Sophia that no one would get hurt from their stunt, and it was a promise he would keep. As much as the thoughts of Rakelle hurt him, he felt he would be even more devastated if he lost Sophia's respect.

There was a knock at his door. "Master Basque, are you ready to go?"

Pulling his belt tight, Basque nodded to himself. "Yeah, let's do this."