What the Kevin Sees

Have no friends not equal to yourself—Confucius—

It was not enough that the small cadet was attending all her classes. It was not enough that she was brighter than any child her age. It was not even enough that she was brighter than children several years older than her. Cadet Zormna Clendar was just too shy.

The Kevin (the supreme head of the Surface Patrol of Arras) did not know what to do with the small Tarrn child that had been left with him a year ago. He watched Zormna play with her flight pad in the cadet flight-training hall below from the dark observation booth, her fiery blonde bobbed curls whipping about as she flew. The eight-year-old[1] girl was perfectly balanced on the pad, taking skilled risks at dives and turns—but always kept her balance as if it were merely an appendage to her. She had mastered the flight pad in a short space of time without any difficulty. In fact, he could not find any senior officer that knew the flight pad better than she did. She was a natural. Which was a pity since she was so withdrawn among the cadets.

Possibly she could grow up and be a taxi driver or a bus driver, the Kevin mused. But it would be a waste of her talents to do such menial flying. She was an extremely good pilot. If only she had people skills. If only dealing with people did not terrify her. The Kevin sighed. Great pilots were sorely needed in the Surface Patrol, especially now. And a Tarrn such as herself would be safest in the Patrol.

The Kevin then turned and stared out the glass at his youngest son, Salvar, musing on him. He was another conundrum. All of his other children had chosen different career paths. Only Salvar had remained with the Patrol. It had been a disappointment, as they were all talented in their way, but his elder sons were training to be machinists and his daughter was in school to be a chemist. His last son, Salvar, was the only one who chose to follow in his footsteps to be a soldier. Salvar had potential too—only he was so small for his age and he had grown a little pudgy in his freckled face. Kids teased him when they thought his father, the Kevin, wasn't looking. Yet like a good soldier Salvar never told on them. He wasn't whiny about it.

Currently, his son stood at the side, waiting for a free flight pad on the floor—as there were only so many—patiently watching Zormna do her tricks. They Kevin noticed that Salvar had been true to his word and had dutifully befriended Zormna, protecting her from bigger kids when he could, and when he couldn't—getting a teacher to handle it. The pair were good friends now, though it had taken a while for either child to warm up to the other.

Zormna, it turned out, had a quick temper. And though she did not throw tantrums or anything, she grew sullen and brutally ignored you as if slamming a door in your face. She used to hit, before her teachers had her facing the wall nearly every outburst. And Salvar still thought of her as a baby. He initially had yanked on her mourning strands[2] when he got mad at her, but now they tolerated each other like brother and sister. Well, a brother with a wickedly smart little sister. Salvar was older than her by more than a half a year. But he was the one keeping up with her. And though Salvar did not like that, the Kevin reminded his son frequently that Zormna was a special kind of brilliant. And if he

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 23.02.2018
ISBN: 978-3-7554-7870-6

Alle Rechte vorbehalten