Sergeant Allister escorted Key out of his office and into the narrow streets. As they walked, they exchanged a few words of small talk, but then Allister dropped something unsettling. "Right now, you're in what we call Sergeant Designation," he explained, guiding Key deeper into the city. "There are several phases to it, and at this moment, you're in the ice-out phase."

Allister continued, his tone seeming too cheerful for what he was saying. "Basically, every other sergeant is supposed to ignore you. If they have to talk to you, they won't acknowledge you, your position, your existence, or even look at you, for that matter. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you, but your captain asked me to. I had to bend the rules a little bit for this meeting. But fortunately, here we are at the corner of Dunkle and Eepin Street, having a discussion."

Key looked up at the crossroad signs. "So you aren't supposed to be talking to me?"

"No. No one is," Allister stated bluntly. "Protocol states that if you have a meeting previously scheduled with a designee, you should arrange for someone to disrupt the meeting over a fake emergency. The sergeants are an exclusive group. There is a process of accepting you into the fold, and that process has already begun."

"Is this conversation part of the process?"

"No. This comes as a personal favor to Charles. That said, the best advice I can offer you is to keep your cool no matter what. This whole ordeal is created to help us understand who you are on a fundamental level. That means intentionally trying to upset you. Do not get mad, do not get even; just learn from your mistakes and move on. Next, you should pay attention to this," he said, moving his hands forward as if he were offering someone a gift. "It is not cheating if you are not breaking a defined rule."

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Before Allister could continue, they could both see a guard running down the street towards them.

"Sergeant Allister, is that you?" the guard huffed as he ran closer. "I'm so glad I found you. There's a big problem. We've been looking for you. The whole situation is bad!"

Allister raised his hands and told the man to slow down and catch his breath. He asked him to explain slowly what was happening, but the man replied that there was no time and he had to hurry.

Allister turned back to Key, "When you get the invitation and when things are unfair, all you have to do is stay calm, and you will pass. Now, if you'll excuse me, I clearly have an emergency to attend to; I'll talk to you later!"

Key had a lot to think about when he got back to his new office. He sat at his desk and considered everything Allister had told him. It sounded like the Sergeants planned some kind of event, and they were going to try to make him angry. If all he had to do was stay level-headed, he wouldn't let anything bother him. He was also pretty certain Allister had told him he was going fake an emergency before the emergency came up. The whole situation just seemed odd.

He put off thinking about it as he got lost in a sea of chores. He wrote monetary acquisition requests for all of the projects Trudie had started. She was spending a lot of money fixing the office; he just hoped he wouldn't get in trouble because it was too much.

He made Keebler deliver the letters while Lambro and Jory carried more junk to the street. Trudie finally showed up, but she wasn't dressed for work. Instead of helping, she informed Key that she had an appointment with Sefulu, who was going to show her the black dance. As soon as she left, he put Jory in charge and ran to the barracks to get dressed. If Trudie was going to learn the black dance, he would, too.