Orn hurt. All the time spent on a horse had finally caught up, or more accurately it had reached a point were he could no longer ease the pains in his body. He no longer had the energy to heal and the little he had stored in the beast stones in the months since the goblin mother were also empty. This left him using whatever healing energy he gained just to numb the pain to fall asleep.

He actually snapped at Bloom when his roommate tried to get him wake up. The frightened look on Bloom’s face made him feel horrible. He apologized and Bloom laughed it off, but Orn could still see a shadow of fear in the boy’s expression.

I feel terrible about it, Orn thought as he sat in a chair by the door. Madam Bode had seen the state he was in and told him to sit there when the class started. This left him with little to do except stew in the memory from that morning. Tryign to distract himself form the memory he looed up to the mostly empty floor. Madam Bode coached a pair of students currently dancing, while the rest of the class waited their turns in the chairs along the walls.

She is taking it easy on us, Orn thought as he looked at the other students around the room. I cannot believe it did not realize it earlier. She has been doing this since Jolm stated with the horses. Taking the extra time to stretch and warm up slowly at the beginning and end of class. She has barely made me or Adles dance at all.

At the thought of his most frequent dance partner, he scanned the room. Adles sat in a chair on the left wall looking battered. The other students seemed to be room seemed worn down, but Adles seemed to be in almost the same state as Orn.

A few minutes later, Madam Bode released the class and the all slowly made their way out. Orn was in no rush and decided to wait for the last of the noble students to leave before he stood. Adles gave him a weak smile as he trailed the other noble students out.

Orn took a deep breath and pushed on the arms of the chair to start lifting himself. His legs shook but did not buckle, so he started for the door. With slow measured steps he made his way outside. I cannot do this again. I am going back to the barracks. They can kick me out. I am not ridding another horse today.

Orn blinked at the brightness of the afternoon sun as he walked through the doorway. The noble students were gathering on the side of the green. Is that the headmaster? Orn shaded his eyes. That is the headmaster. I wonder what this is about?

“That should be everyone,” the headmaster’s voice came from the center of the crowd. “Everyone listen closely. Professor Jolm received an invitation to work on the palace on the fall gala. This will unfortunately mean he will be unavailable to teach for the remainder of the term.”

This instantly caused a buzz, as the students began to murmur to each other. Being in the back Orn heard one of the other students whisper, “thank the goddesses.”

Orn agreed with the sentiment, if not where it was directed.

The headmaster must not have heard the comments, or decided to ignore them. “Fortunately, I have been provided his notes before he left. As I call your name come forward.”

The headmaster began to read off the names of the students, and Orn was surprised to realize he had learned a lot of their names. I guess cleaning their silverware actually did teach me something.

At the headmaster's direction, the called students moved to stand beside the wall. When the large majority of the class had been called, the headmaster turned to speak to them. “Based on your instructor’s notes, you are exceeding his standards. Jolm’s class will resume after the mid year break. You are invited to the solstice event, should you wish to attend, but you do not have to go. I will see you after the break.”

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As the released students walked away the remaining students seemed resigned as they waited for the headmaster to continue.

“There is definitely no favoritism here,” Kao muttered.

He stopped to look around the remaining students and noticed that none of Jolm’s favorites were in the group. The wealthiest and highest ranking boys had disappeared. Adles seemed to be the only one with a courtly rank of “knight” that was allowed to leave. His eyes scanned the crowd and fell on the headmaster who was watching him. After a moment Orn realized the headmaster wanted him to move forward with the rest of the class. Orn stopped a couple paces behind the other boys, and waited.

“For the rest of you,” the headmaster continued, realizing Orn would not approach any closer. “I have been informed that you are not prepared to properly interact with other nobles. Therefore, you are required to attend the solstice event next week.”

This comment elicited a series of groans from several of the students.

“Silence!” the headmaster snapped. “If you do not want to go to the event, then you should have proved yourself capable of interacting with nobles. You should be thankful the young women of the capital’s finishing schools will even speak to you; considering what I have seen in these notes.” The headmaster shook a stack of papers in his fist for emphasis.

“You clearly are not prepared to deal with other nobles in a social environment without embarrassing yourselves, and your families. You will all go to the event and you will treat the young women there with respect. To be perfectly clear, that includes not allowing them to see you do not want to be there. Nobles must frequently attend events that they do not want to. Consider this the first time you bear that responsibility for your house.”

“I encourage you to spend the next week preparing yourself for the event. You may go,” the headmaster made a dismissive motion before looking at Orn. “Not you Blackthorn. We have to talk.”

Orn shuffled forward and waited for the bad news that he knew was coming. I wonder what it is now?

“We are both aware of how Jolm views you,” the man said stoking his beard. “Therefore, I think it best that I review you performance personally. Follow me.”

Orn understood the headmaster meant well, but he just wanted to curl into a ball on his bunk and die. However, the headmaster was fair, and had stood up for him multiple times at that point. So, rather than protest, he hung his head and followed the old man into the classroom.

The headmaster then questioned about the coats of arms on the walls, the relations of their houses. Then about tableware, and etiquette, before interrogating him about the activities Jolm had put the class through since the Orn started attending.

“You are unsurprisingly not a total savage,” the headmaster said after Orn finished describing the parts of a horse’s tack. “My assessment is you are more prepared than it appeared to Jolm. However, your knowledge about the noble houses of the kingdom and their relations is severely lacking. You will also likely struggle to maintain a conversion with your peers, since you seem to only know the most basic aspects of the activities they are likely to discuss. Starting tomorrow, you will come here to resolve your appalling lack of knowledge about the noble houses. If you manage to rectify this failing and attend the Solstice event I see no reason you cannot learn more about noble diversions under Jolm.”

Orn grimaced at the reminder that he would still have to deal with Jolm after the break.

“That is an understandable reaction,” the headmaster managed with a sigh. “But based on what you said he is teaching you. The mid year break will give you both time to get away from each other. I will speak to Jolm over the break and come up with a way to ensure you are graded fairly at the end of the year.”

Based on Jolm’s flagrant disregard of the headmaster Orn doubted it would matter. Instead he silently stood and walked stiffly toward the door. If he was going to solve this he would have to do it on his own.