The majority of the class had gathered in the campus’ dining hall; a dimly lit, expansive room filled with dozens of small tables and a surprisingly low hanging ceiling that made it feel as if the floors above would collapse in on you at any moment. This definitely did not help to lift the mood of students who were nervous to leave the comfort of what had become their home over the past years, who were drained after a long week of last minute lessons and strenuous drills, and who were most likely mildly concerned for a classmate whose status was still unknown after collapsing during a jog only a few hours prior.
At the very least Kari Bree was concerned. She could not speak of the other students who, while not actually dissuaded from pursuing them, had been warned time and time again of the dangers of building attachments with those around them who could someday become another one of their bounties or assasination targets.
However, there were still those who clearly cared, like Ett Palicosa who had been determined, for whatever reason, to befriend Kari before they all went their separate ways post graduation.
Although, when Kari scanned the room, Ett was nowhere to be seen. She spotted eight or nine of her other classmates, all situated in one corner of the room eating their final campus supper. Another younger class could also be seen huddled together on the far side of the room, one of the only grades not already on leave for their short, end of the year vacation. But for the most part, the room was empty, filled mostly with stale air, permeated occasionally by the musty yet comforting smell of days old mushy food.
Kari unclipped her small holopad from her belt and powered it on, viewing the time and date, a bold reminder about tomorrow’s ceremony displaying itself boldly within the middle of the screen. She scrolled over to her messages, with less than a dozen contacts displayed. There was no message from Ett, nor update regarding Dorun Marr, the student who had been hospitalized for, what appeared to be, advanced stages of anemia.
Kari pressed her finger firmly on Ett’s contact profile, trying to remember when the girl had even given her her contact information. She had most definitely not requested it, however, she was somewhat glad to have it now.
The curiosity surrounding Dorun’s status felt like it was burning her alive, and she really did not desire to see any harm come to one of the few students who had actually contributed to her success. The boy was smart but feeble, and she just wasn’t confident that he would be able to survive a medical event of this caliber.
Hesitantly, she began to type a message to her missing acquaintance, feeling it was out of place as this was only the second time she had ever reached out to Ett, at least outside of questions specifically regarding their studies. However, she wanted… no, needed to know if the girl knew anything.
“Hey, are you awake? I figured if anyone would have heard anything about Dorun, it’d be you. Everyone here wants to know if he’s okay.”
Kari bit her lip as she typed the last sentence, using it to lessen her apparent investment in their situation as she acted on behalf of the student body. She didn’t know for sure that they weren’t worried about their classmate, so she was simply sending more of a general assumption and less of an outright lie.
Before she had realized it, Kari had sent the inquiry, and stared at the motionless screen for a few moments before placing her holopad down on the table beside her empty tray.
What was she doing? She probably wouldn’t see any of these students after a day’s time, so why was she so concerned? For all she knew, Dorun could have died on the spot when he had fallen out in the courtyard and there was nothing anyone could say or do. Life would simply go on. That was apparently the way of the assassin, or whatever they had all been training to become someday.
She glanced around the dining hall once again, all of the students basking in the soft yellow light. Some were having quiet conversations, others were sitting and staring in silence. Kari saw Vessa and Aerin Mardeen seated with Taron Chi, clearly deliberating something as they periodically glanced around before returning to whispering. Given the sisters’ reputation, they were probably planning some elaborate, end of the year prank. Although curiously, the ever somber and graceful Taron was not really the type to fool around. Maybe the sisters were simply rubbing off on him, given how much time they’d spent together over the past month or two.
Kari wished she had the same liberties that the student body’s upper echelon were afforded, and she supposed she still had more leeway than some students, being the child of an instructor and all. Still, as she looked towards the skilled Agen Wroth and Ike Beredun as they laughed at something on Agen’s holopad, she knew the instructors favored the top students, treating them as those who would assuredly succeed. Meanwhile, the average students like Kari, Ett, and even Dorun, at least in the physical department, were approached in a manner that almost insinuated that they would end up in a deadbeat profession without any hope of using the skills gleaned from their time at the prestigious academy.
Kari thought about her future. With her credentials and training, she knew that if she chose, she could make a fair mercenary or bounty hunter, a profession that would make many of the powerful Iridonian families proud. But one thing all of her schooling hadn’t given her was a passion and desire to keep doing anything she had been taught. That was a realization that had scared her.
A sharp pinging sound broke Kari from her brooding, and she realized Ett had sent her a reply. The girl explained that Dorun had actually been transferred to hospital a street over from their campus, and that while he was doing much better, she had decided to stay with him to make sure he was okay. Apparently Dorun’s parents lived offworld, so he had no one else around to keep him company during his recovery.
Kari felt a jolt of instant relief and set the holopad back down before receiving yet another message. This one simply read, “Do you want to come hang out?”
She pursed her lips as she stopped herself from cringing. That was really the last thing she needed to be doing this evening, and yet, for some reason she felt compelled to go. She looked around, and saw the trio of potential pranksters maneuvering their way towards the exit. Some of her other classmates were also putting their dishes away and gathering their belongings.
Kari ran her fingers through her hair as she took a deep breath. She had a few things to do before tomorrow’s ceremony at noon, but technically it could all be done in the morning. This meant that she really didn’t have an excuse not to go. And besides, Dorun could probably use the company after the day he’s had. Not that she really cared how he felt. But she did owe it to him to make sure he recovered as comfortably as possible, and if that included having some company, then so be it. It was the least she could do, so Kari decided she would walk over and check in on him for a few minutes. But she wouldn’t stay for long.
The short stroll over to the community hospital was surprisingly brisk, the streetlights flickering to life as the sun, shrouded by rainclouds, slowly set behind the stony cityscape. Kari was able to enter and board the medical center’s elevator with no issue, and came to a stop on the seventh of ten floors. She quickly located Dorun’s room and peeked through the crack in the doorway.
Dorun was the first to notice her and waved her in, Ett spinning around in her chair and smiling warmly at their new visitor. Kari awkwardly squeezed her way into the small room, shyly waving at her two classmates as they eyed her curiously. Her academic courses on acting and charisma, traits invaluable to assassins, were clearly failing her now.
“Are you okay?” Dorun asked her.
“That’s what I should be asking you,” she laughed nervously, “I see you’re still alive, so… that’s good.”
Dorun smiled as he let his head drop back on his plush hospital bed pillow, “yeah, that’s about the only good thing to come out of this.”
Kari crossed her arms as she shifted her lips to one side, attempting to appear as sympathetic as possible. She knew it must have been hard on the boy, but he would be better before he knew it. At least, that is how she had originally understood it.
Ett patted an empty seat near the bed, inviting Kari to sit down with them, but Kari waved her hands frantically. “I can’t stay, really,” she said as she began to back towards the door.
She smiled at the two, “I’ll see you tomorrow at graduation, Ett. Dorun, do you think you’ll be out by then to attend to?”
Kari saw Ett grit her teeth, and Dorun softly sighed, “that’s the thing… I won’t be getting out here anytime soon. Especially not tomorrow, as unfortunate as it is.”
Kari slowed her exit, “well, a ceremony isn’t everything, right? My father wasn’t able to attend his ceremony either when he was younger.” She had hoped her statement would reassure Dorun, but his eyes indicated that she still wasn’t grasping something.
“Kari-” Ett began to speak up, but Dorun grabbed her arm, softly smiling at her. “Normally I would one hundred percent agree, but as it turns out, I’m not actually graduating…”
The room went silent as Kari stopped, scrunching her brow as she looked into the boy’s eyes, sadness and acceptance making themselves extremely evident.
“What? Why?’
“Well,” he said laughing somberly, “when they were treating me for the anemia, they realized that I had suffered a series of intense heart palpitations due to a rare, undiagnosed cardiovascular disease.”
Dorun lifted his hospital issued shirt to reveal two stitched lines across his abdomen, pointing at the lower one around two inches above his waistline. “Plus, when they went in to check it out, the surgeon almost hit my renal artery by accident. Would’ve killed me pretty much instantly if they hadn’t caught their mistake. I guess they don’t have any medical professionals here that have experience with this sort of thing, which is fair enough. At least they apologized, so that’s gotta count for something, right?”
“That’s horrible,” Kari said in disbelief, approaching Dorun’s hospital bed, “I’m… I’m so sorry.”
“Wait until you hear the kicker,” Dorun said, lowering his shirt and chuckling to himself once more, clearly his method of coping. “The headmaster contacted me about an hour ago and said that after they had heard of the diagnosis, they decided I was not fit to receive a certification as they were not confident I would ever be able to positively represent the school with such a condition. Apparently it usually only gets worse with age.”
“That’s not fair!” Kari exclaimed, feeling herself grow much more frustrated than she usually allowed, “I’ll contact my father. Maybe he can put in-”
“He was one of the instructors who signed off on it,” Ett said, cutting her off before she could try to give them any more false hope, “all of the instructors did. This is essentially expulsion, which requires a unanimous decision from the board of instructors. And just so you know, I won’t be at the ceremony tomorrow either. I think I’d much rather be here.”
Kari felt her heart sink. Why was she so concerned over this whole situation?
“I’m not upset,” Dorun said with semi-convincing sincerity. Clearly he had seen the worry and guilt suddenly consume her. “It all makes sense, and I trust your father and the rest of the board’s judgment. I was never good at any of this assassin stuff anyway. Maybe fate brought me to the school simply to help you two pass all of your exams.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Just sit with us for a bit, will you? Right before you got here, Ett and I were reminiscing about all of the funny things that happened back in Year Eleven. Do you remember the time they tried to teach us how to ride that Brezak?”
A rush of memories filled Kari’s head, and she couldn’t help but allow a nostalgic grin to take control of her lips. She looked back and forth between the two before sighing in reluctant defeat and pulling the room’s extra chair around to the other side of Dorun’s bed, Ett passing her a fleshly opened box of sweet Mantell Mix. The group began to laugh as Ett reenacted Dorun and Agen’s facial expressions as they fell off of the giant flying reptile, each explaining how they remembered the incident from their perspective.
And Kari found herself having fun.
She decided she would stay for just a little while longer. What’s the worst that could happen?
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