Reuniting with my parents was a whirlwind. My dad manned the gates when we returned. He hugged me and cried and embarrassed me in front of the guys. His boss let him leave early and he plucked me from the junior paladin’s convoy. I said a quick goodbye to them and they told them I’d see them soon. It had only been a few days since I’d seen my parents but it felt like a lifetime. My father took me back to our house. We all hugged and kissed each other. My mother was a torrent of emotions. Happy for my return, grateful for my safety, but mostly mad. Furious that I ever left the house. Hestiana hugged me and said she was glad her little master had come home safe.

“Deep inside I knew. I knew you were resourceful enough to survive on your own.”

I had gotten some rest at the college but there was something about your own bed that made you feel twice as rested. I woke up to the smell of Hestiana cooking rabbit for dinner. It was a delicacy, they decided to spring for the good stuff now that their baby boy was back home.

While we ate dinner, I regaled them of the righteous tale the Junior Paladins, and how I had gotten to level 3! My dad spent the whole time shaking his head in disbelief. Hestia's eyes shined with admiration. My mother just stewed. I told my parents that I couldn’t wait to see Clary and Ictar. My mother shook her head and said, “Well, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to see them now that you won’t be in the Junior Paladins anymore.”

I laughed, not noticing that she didn’t join in. “But, seriously, I report to Bhufo first thing in the morning for a debrief.”

“Well,” My mother said, putting her dish away, “That won’t be necessary, will it?”

“Why not?” I asked, pulling from my drink.

“I just told you. You’re quitting the junior paladins.”

I kept glugging from my drink “That’s not funny, Ma, “ I said.

She grabbed my father’s dish and stuck her hand out, waiting for mine, “I’m not joking. I told you, we’re pulling you out.”

“What?!” I asked in shock, “Why would you do that?”

She was tired of keeping her hand in the air. She reached over and grabbed my plate from me and went over to the bucket of water we kept for the dirty dishes, “How can you even ask that? Knowing everything you just told me, about how you almost died multiple times.”

“I told you that because I wanted to share some war stories!”

“One of your friends was almost paralyzed for gods’ sake!”

“Okay, well, maybe I didn’t tell that story right, because I wouldn't consider Barth a friend...”

“I mean it. We thought we were never going to hear from you again. We all began mourning you.”

“Hestiana said she knew I could do it,” I regretted it the moment I said it. I put her in a terribly awkward position. She was not going to speak out directly against her master. My mother shot her a glare. I turned back to my mother, “I’m in the junior paladins to learn magic.”

My mother kept shaking her head, “I don’t care. Learning magic doesn’t have to be so dangerous. It’s our job as parents to keep you safe. Isn’t that right, Timu?” She looked at my feckless father. He nodded in agreement.

No one was on my side. I stared my mother dead in the eyes and said, “You. Cannot. Pull me out of the Junior Paladins.”

“I am your mother,” she said to me, “I will do what is best for you. Feel free to sleep in. I’ll get in contact with Bhufo tomorrow and tell him you’ll no longer be a paladin.”

I shook my head over and over, unable to believe what she was telling me. I saw the way she looked at me. Like a child. I was a child. Still. If she wanted me out, that was it. I’d be out. Even if I wanted to resist, Bhufo wouldn’t listen to me over her. I would have to find some other way.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Let me just go to do the debriefing,” I said to my mother, “Please, I owe it to my troupe. I’ll tell him I’m out myself.”

My mother could tell I was serious, “Fine.”

Bhufo sat across from me in his office tent, looking over papyrus reports. “Since your parents picked you up as soon as you got to the gate, you didn’t get an opportunity to fill out an incident report. I’m reading over your colleagues’ works right now.”

“My colleagues.. The other children? I’m not sure all of them are literate.”

“They’re almost all not. Most of them drew pictures. See.”

He handed me a papyrus scroll with chalk markings of a giant spider and a kid with red hair and a sword, “That’s about right,” I said as I handed him the scroll back.

“I’ve got a pretty good image of what happened, but I want to hear your side.”

“Well, sir, I would argue that first and foremost, it was a difficult journey. One filled with peril from a variety of threats in both size and danger. Were it not for the tremendous wit and skill of my team, I’m not sure I would be here. But more than anything, I am proud that we made it back all in one piece in spite of my cowardice.”

“I heard a very similar… cowardice?” Bhufo’s face turned to confusion, “Cowardice?” He repeated in a higher pitch.

“Yes, sir. I was a coward. There was a moment when we were leaving the Chacali camp. There was a prisoner there. Admittedly, not one of ours. I refused to go back for him. Ghala and I both did. But a certain cadet did. He was brave enough to return and save an innocent life set for slaughter.”

Bhufo looked at me, quite confused. He wasn’t quite sure what to say so he urged me to continue.

“There was another time, when the giant spider was attacking all of us in a cave.OUr plan was to run away. Strategically. One by one. Ghala was the first to go. I was the second. But one certain cadet stayed until the very end, placing himself in danger so that others could get away safely. Finally, the cyclops. I wanted to run. Ghala was useless. But one certain cadet led the charge and fought.”

“Why are you telling this all to me? Your cadets...”

“Are very kind. Very, very, very kind. The truth is I was probably more popular but I… am… not fit for leadership.”

Bhufo then leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, “And you’re telling me Ghala didn’t comport well either? This is a big deal. I’ll have to explain this to the Princep.”

“You see this bruise?” I pointed at the welt under my eye, “This was mutiny. When the bard’s neck got snapped, everyone lost their cool. Everyone cried, but the only one of the troupe to strike me. But the one member that held the line? The one that kept us all in check? Kaavi.”

Bhufo did not talk immediately. Instead he kept staring me down, studying me as he took in everything I was saying, “A couple of children were the only survivors of a huge successful raid. You were taken in as prisoners. You successfully escaped where you then faced a tarantuladon and two cyclopes. You don’t want credit for any of it? Hell, you want to give credit to someone else?”

“Where it’s due, sir.”

Bhufo let out a small laugh through his teeth, “You want me to make Kaavi head cadet?”

“He deserves it, sir,”

“This conflicts with… other reports. Ghala said you told him to hit you. Most people said that while Kaavi helped lead, you were still calling the shots.”

“That's a very gracious interpretation, sir. I feel that they were never able to fully shake me but really it was Kaavi’s humility that potentially kept them from seeing him as a leader. Rest assured, Kaavi is the one who got us out of the mess.”

“And Ghala…”

“A lying bitch, sir.”

Bhufo could not stop looking at me. The incredulity on his face painted every wrinkle. Every line and discoloration. He kept shaking his head and letting out small sighs before saying, “Why doesn’t it ever feel like I’m talking to an eight year old when I’m talking to you?”

“I’m almost nine, sir.”

He laughed. It was a single rueful chuckle before saying, “you can stop calling me, ‘sir.’ I can see you wince every time you do. You may be ahead of your time but you’ve still got a lot to learn.”

To this I didn’t say anything. He leaned farther back in his chair and stared up at this tent wall. “Son of a bitch, Egen. What the hell am I going to do with you?”

“Uhm… well… you’re not going to do much more with me. My mother is pulling me out of the troupe.”

He snapped back into a seated position and looked at me wide-eyed, “Right now? At this moment?”

“Unfortunately. That’s the other reason I came here today.”

“That’s miserable timing.”

“I know. Things were just getting good with my powers.”

Another laugh. This time with more warmth. Bhufo found everything I said a little insane, “Well, yeah. You reached level three in record time. You were ready for the next stage.”

“The next stage?”

He leaned forward in his chair and looked. He leaned forward in his chair, his head leveling to mine. We were seeing eye to eye. Almost like equals, “It’s time to choose your god.”