by Katie Pottle
Lep nodded. “Yeah, that first one you threw over to us almost got intercepted, but Bart fought them off like a champion.”
“Oh, I’m so relieved. That big guy hit hard.” Cadin rubbed his shoulder once he got the armor over his head.
Sun’s shooting jacket appeared as fresh as if she had taken a stroll through the park rather than engaged in a battle.
She giggled and pulled Cadin and Lep into a hug, before grabbing ahold of Bart and squeezing him in too.
“Goooo, Dragon Fire!” They all shouted.
Upon entering the tunnel to the changing rooms, they met their opponents, who leaned against the wall and stared at the ground.
Cadin hurried over and held his hand out first to the warrior who had given him the most trouble. The boy’s eyebrows raised quickly as he looked from Cadin to his offered hand. The boy didn’t say anything, but took his hand and shook.
Cadin coughed, not quite sure what to do next. “I just wanted to say good match. You guys are really strong.”
The boy sighed and stood tall. Cadin had to glance up to take in his full height. How had he not realized before now how big this guy was? “Thanks.” His voice was deep and scratchy. “I’m ashamed to say that we underestimated what your team was capable of.” He dropped Cadin’s hand but kept his eye contact. “Continue strong. If you keep completing well, then we won’t feel so bad going out the First Round.”
“We will do our best.”
Everyone shook hands before they departed back to their own locker rooms. Instructor Kade was waiting for them, hands clasped behind his back, a gleam in his eyes.
“Congratulations, Gladers!”
Sun laughed out loud. She had brought the term with her from Lance, and it had stuck, at least among Challenge Club friends.
“So, what do we have to do next, oh all-knowing Instructor?” Lep asked as he pulled off his shirt and reached into his bag for a clean one.
“First of all, Leptan, there is a lady present,” He swept his hand toward Sun.
Lep glanced down at his bare chest. When he looked up, he was grinning at Sun. “Have I offended you or made you uncomfortable at all?”
They all knew the answer before she swallowed her giggles. They swam together as a team all the time. “Nope, as long as you wait till I’m out of the room before you go changing your pants—or your socks,” she added thoughtfully.
“Oh, now I’m offended!” His false hurt didn’t fool Sun as she tossed a towel at him.
Instructor Kade shook his head. “Now, back on track, please. Secondly, you will have one week before you compete in the next round. You will find out the rules to Round Two tomorrow at noon. Your training time in the Arena will double.” Instructor Kade glanced at each of them. “Any questions?”
They all shook their heads.
“Then, hand over your I.D. cards.”
Cadin grabbed his card from his bag. Instructor Kade pulled out a handheld kiosk and inserted Sun’s card first. He typed something in and scanned his thumb before removing the card and handing it back to Sun.
“Awesome!” She turned the card around so they could all see it. At the top of the card, under ‘Dragon Fire’ were several circles. The far left one on Sun’s card now shone bright green.
“Green light for each round you win. Red light if you lose,” Instructor Kade said. “Each green light is worth one full transferable credit.”
Lep rolled his eyes. “Now you tell us.”
Instructor Kade’s mouth twitched as he reached for Cadin’s card.
“We should celebrate,” Bart said, glancing down at his bright green light.
“Oh, no!” Sun exclaimed.
“What?”
“I just remembered that we have to have dinner with my mom.”
“Get to have dinner with your mom,” Instructor Kade said softly, squeezing her shoulder.
Sun hurried into the condo’s small but bright kitchen. She heaved her heavy load onto the center island and quickly moved out of the way so Cadin and Sara didn’t trip over her.
“Just breathe,” Cadin said, trying to calm Sun’s frantic energy.
“I only see my mother about once every couple of years, I can’t cook, and I stupidly committed to throwing a party for everybody!” She looked up at him, eyes imploring. “What am I going to do?”
“Take it one step at a time,” Sara said, unloading the groceries. “Now, I’m not much of a savory cook either…” Sun’s eyes bugged out before Sara held up her hands. “But, we don’t have to be, because today is Alberta’s day to help us and I already informed her about the party.” Sara shrugged. “We only have to be efficient helpers.”
Sun took a couple of deep breaths and nodded.
“Plus, Bart and Lep offered to help too,” Cadin said, backing up towards the door. “I can fly over to the C.V. to find them…” He had one foot out the door before his mom tugged him back in by the shirt collar.
“That would be too many wings in this kitchen. We can make do.” She narrowed her eyes at him until he nodded.
Gur flew up, landed on the window ledge and squawked twice.
“No food yet, Gur. Go hunt or play in the gardens for a bit.” He rubbed his dragon’s scaly head before he turned back to his mom. “What can I do first?”
The aroma of crushed herbs mingled with that of the fresh bread hot out of the oven, which was a significant improvement from the moments before Alberta had arrived. Cadin didn’t know how they had managed to burn honey, but it smelled anything but sweet.
“Okay, you two,” Alberta said, waving her flower coated arms at Cadin and Sun, “Out now. Go help your friends decorate.”
Cadin didn’t need to be told twice and lifted the apron over his head as he grabbed Sun’s hand and pulled her along before she made any more suggestions about the menu.
He felt Sun stop, and turned to see her with her eyes closed and head tilted up to the sky. She took a deep breath and quivered.
“Are you cold?” He couldn’t imagine how that could be possible. The evenings on Condor were far warmer than Glade.
“No, just decompressing for a second.”
“Sorry, I feel a little clueless about how to talk to you about your mother,” Cadin said.
Sun opened her eyes and found his. Even in the low light of the evening her eyes still shone crystal blue. “Honestly, I feel the same way.” She peered out over the Fineman gardens. “I’m mad at her for walking out on me and my dad all those years ago. I don’t think I told you that was one of the reasons we chose to leave Lance. Too many memories of her there. I guess she didn’t really walk out on me. I had the option to go with either parent. But I knew if I left my dad, he would be crushed beyond repair.” Her voice hitched. “I also love her. She is my mom and she really does care about me. My emotions get all tangled whenever I see her. I want to be all mad at her and love her at the same time.”
Cadin nodded. “And maybe that is okay. Who says it has to only be one or the other?”
Sun laughed, even as tears pooled in her eyes. He stepped in to hug her, but stopped at the sight of incoming guests. His dad led Ali and Aaron, all carrying trays covered with foil.
“Hi, guys,” Tal said, stopping in front of them. “I invited these two for the party. They’ve been working hard the past couple of days at the armor booth and figured they could use some fun.”
“You guys were awesome!” Ali said, patting Cadin on the back.
Aaron dropped his tray off and smiled on his way back, eyes focused on Sun. “I was excited to witness that warrior spirit of yours in action,” he said quietly when he got to Sun’s side. Sun blushed, but didn’t say anything.
Cadin had the urge to punch Aaron’s pretty face before his dad handed him the tray. “Drop these off while I change, please.”
Ali followed him to the table and nudged his shoulder when he veered off course, eyeing Aaron’s hand that was now around Sun’s waist.
“Oh, don’t worry about him
,” Ali said cheerfully. “He’s a harmless flirt. That girl is adorable but way too young for him.”
Cadin wasn’t so sure that Aaron felt the same way.
“Hey, can you tell me your secret to getting through those contracting tunnels?” Ali asked as she pulled the foil off one of the trays, revealing an assortment of several varieties of cheese.
“What? Oh, the tunnels.” Cadin shrugged. “I just actively cloud-shifted the whole time to keep it from closing in on me.”
Ali’s eyes got wide. “That must’ve sucked your energy dry! Most teams didn’t even bother with them. Speaking of teams, how did the other teams from Glade do?”
“All three teams that went today won.” There had been utter pandemonium in the boys’ room after everyone returned. “The only Glade team that has to compete tomorrow is Araina’s team over there.” Cadin waved his hand in the direction of the girls who were quieter than normal.
“They look nervous,” Ali noted quietly.
“Yeah, I don’t think they will be celebrating with us much tonight.” Cadin couldn’t bring himself to feel sorry about that. Sun had asked them if they wanted her to postpone the party until after they completed Round One. What was only supposed to be a dinner with her mom had turned into an all-out party for the Glade teams to celebrate their victories. Sun hadn’t wanted the girls to feel left out. However, Araina had rudely dismissed Sun and the party, saying that they didn’t need meaningless validation.
“Sun!”
Grace and Francisco were dressed impeccably and gliding toward Sun and Aaron. Cadin turned back to Ali. “I’m going to go and say hi to Sun’s mom and—I guess he’s her step-father. Do you want to meet them?”
“Oh, he’s handsome. Is he foreign?”
“Yes, from Cloud System Twelve. How could you tell?” Cadin asked as they made their way over.
“How could you not?” Ali shook her head as if he was being ridiculous. “The angles of his face are shaper than most men around here, and he has a totally different skin tone. He also has very expensive clothes and a white Aura.”
“So…”
“Shush,” she said as they approached.
Grace and Francisco nodded to them.
Cadin realized he was supposed to make introductions. “I’m so glad you could make it tonight. This is Ali, Aaron’s sister. They are working my parents’ booth in the Competitors’ Village this summer. And this is Grace and Ambassador Francisco.”
“Lovely to meet you,” Grace said.
“Pleasure,” Francisco said, shaking hands with both Ali and Aaron.
Cadin could see Ali blush even in the diming light. “It is an honor to meet you—both,” she tacked on to the end.
Grace smiled at Ali and turned back to Cadin, seemingly used to young ladies fawning over her exotic husband. “We were quite impressed with your team’s performance. We were just telling Sunyar…”
“Hmm, hmm,” Sun said loudly.
Grace paused and nodded. “We were telling Sun how diverse your team’s skills were relative to others.”
“Thank you. And honestly the diversity part all started when Sun came over from Lance and tried to get the whole school to embrace archery.” He laughed at the memory and heard a giggle escape Sun.
“She is a gravitational force for sure,” Grace said softly, almost to herself. She looked around at the gathering people. “We weren’t expecting quite so many.”
“Yeah, sorry about that,” Sun said. “It kind of turned into a larger celebration party when the other teams won as well.”
“No problem. We were hoping to give your team a small token; however, I do not think it is appropriate in front of everyone when we got nothing for the other teams.”
“I can gather up Lep and Bart if you’d like before we get started,” Sun said.
“Yes, that will work.”
Ali grabbed Aaron’s arm and pulled him toward the main table. “It was nice meeting you,” she said to Francisco.
“Wait, why…” Aaron mumbled, looking back over his shoulder at Sun.
“Give them some privacy. Can’t you take a hint?”
Cadin laughed. He liked Ali. Though, that brother of hers was another story.
“Oh, hi.” Lep said as he joined them. “I didn’t even see that you got here.”
Both he and Bart shook hands with Francisco and Grace and they all moved to the outer edge of the courtyards.
Francisco nodded to his wife and handed her a medium-sized burlap bag.
Grace looked at them, eyes lingering on her daughter. “First, I wanted to thank you for being Sun’s friends. It is obvious when she speaks of you that each of you is an important pillar in her life right now and I am grateful to know she has you.” She radiated sincerity as she spoke. Grace straightened her back and nodded to Francisco who stepped closer to her side and wrapped an arm around her in support.
“We wanted to find something to honor your friendship and celebrate your team’s accomplishments,” Francisco said.
Grace pulled out four small dark satchels. She smiled as she handed one to each of them.
Cadin nodded as he took his, feeling the smooth bag. He could not guess what the object was inside, and itched to open the drawstrings and find out. Instead he turned to Sun. “You open first.”
“How about all together,” she said with a smile.
They all teased the satchels open. Cadin reached in and gasped when he pulled out his gift. An almost white ring shone between his fingers. It felt smooth and cool to the touch but was not quite a solid material. The grain waved like grass in the wind. Gur chirped and tried to make a grab for it.
“Hold on, Gur.”
“This is magnificent,” Bart said.
“They are pulse-rings,” Grace explained. “They are tuned to each other.”
“What do they do exactly?” Lep asked, holding the ring up to his eye.
“They connect you to your teammates by essentially alerting you through gentle pulses if someone is in danger or highly distressed.”
“Wow.”
“They are allowed in the Games because they don’t relay specific information. However, my generals use them because even a crude alert such as pain or panic from a fellow warrior can sway the difference in a battle’s outcome,” Francisco said. Cadin wondered what the Cloud System Twelve government was like compared to their Core.
“This is a truly thoughtful gift,” Sun said, slipping her ring over her pointer finger. “Thank you. Both of you,” she added to Francisco. She gave her mom a quick hug and shook her step-dad’s hand before backing up.
“Thank you, so much!” Cadin said. He slipped his ring on and found that it fit comfortably on either his right ring finger or thumb. He let Gur inspect it while it was on his finger.
The party was more relaxing than Cadin had anticipated. With Araina and her team focused on competing, and the other students in full celebration mode, there was no animosity or tension around the table. Gregor even tossed Cadin a party horn that he had picked up in the C.V.
Francisco was telling them about the view from their villa when Sun stood up suddenly.
“Dad!”
Cadin followed her gaze and found Ari standing at the entrance to the courtyard. His clothes were rumpled and hung loosely on his wiry frame. His thinning hair stuck up on one side as if he had traveled straight from Glade to Condor without resting. His eyes were wide and focused on Grace.
He blinked a couple of times and smiled when Sun ran over to him and gave him a hug.
“I thought you weren’t able to come for another couple of weeks,” Sun said.
“Oh—well, I ah got your message, and decided to hire Cindy to run the shop and port for me.”
He came because he heard Sun’s mom was here, Cadin thought. Evidently, Sun had the same idea as she looked back and forth between her dad, mom, and step dad. The party had slowed with the new arrival and no one quite seemed to know how to proceed with the awkward tension
building in the air.
Sara stepped up next to Sun. “Welcome, Ari! Come join our celebration. Your daughter was amazing today.”
Ari exhaled and ran a hand through his hair—messing it up further. “Thank you. I am rather hungry.” He smiled and gave Sun another one-armed hug as they walked toward the large celebration table.
Grace stood up, cheeks flushed, and alternated looking at Ari and back down at the table. Francisco stood up next to her and straightened his crisp suit.
“Hello, Ari,” Grace said softly as they approached.
He nodded, not quite looking her in the eyes. “Grace. It has been a long time.” His voice was suddenly dry and raspy.
Cadin handed him a glass of water. He took it and patted Cadin’s hand in thanks.
Grace took a deep breath. “Ari, this is Francisco.”
Cadin gasped quietly. He hadn’t realized that Sun’s dad had never met his ex-wife’s current husband. What an interesting moment, he thought as they shook hands. Cadin glanced at Sun and was shocked to see a look that he could only interpret as triumph play across her face. He’d seen that same look many times when she accomplished a tricky shoot that had been alluding her on the archery field.
Gregor blew his party horn and the celebration continued late into the night.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Weaving
“Ehhh!” A girl’s scream scattered Cadin’s dream. A pot broke in the courtyard, and he jumped out of bed and grabbed his sword, trying to wake up enough to activate his gins. Cadin burst out of the boys’ room and into the courtyard, gin-blade held aloft.
The sun was high, and Cadin had to blink a few times through the bright rays to try and make sense of the racket in the courtyard.
Araina was shrieking at her teammates—one of whom was crying into her hands.
“Whoa there, killa.”
Cadin spun around and Bart flinched.
“Oh sorry, Bart.” Cadin sheathed Tsuyo. He lowered his voice. “What is going on?”
Bart ruffled his wings. “They lost the First Round.”
