“What? That doesn’t make you better than me,” Felix said, but the half-scowl he was trying to suppress was telling a different story.

“Relatively better,” Sam said. “When comparing between our two starting points, at least.”

“Nah. No way.”

“How the hell not? I’ve got it from straight the mouth of the highest pedagogic authority we both submit to. Dan said, verbatim, that I’m way better at seeking than you or he were at the beginning.”

“So what? That doesn’t make you better than me. It just means that you’ve had an initial advantage that I didn’t have. Probably because of your Thread-Weaver cheat powers. Am I right, Yvessa?”

“What?” she asked with a shake of her head. She wasn’t paying that close attention to their conversation. “How the hell should I know?”

“You’re the only other person here with experience with other cheaters. So, does your Thread-Weaver best friend also gather by seeking?”

“Erianna? Yeah, she does.”

Felix upturned his hands, as though presenting a comprehensive and convincing logical argument. “Well, there you go. It’s got nothing to do with you being better than me, Sam. It’s just your natural inborn—or whatever a Thread-Weaver is—advantage playing in your favor and giving you an unfair head start over me as I was years ago. Which doesn’t prove that you are better than me in any way whatsoever.”

Sam furrowed his brows. “Except that it does, and you just did.”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“Are you hearing yourself? You just admitted that I have an advantage over a past version of yourself. Fair, not fair, it doesn’t play into it. I’m not trying to argue that me being better than you was earned in any shape or form. But it is an irrefutable fact that when comparing both of our starting abilities with seeking, I am better than you.”

“Better than I was, you mean.”

“No. Better than you. We’re not comparing current ability with seeking. But rather initial talent with the technique. A years-old constant for you, maybe, but a constant nonetheless. You’re right, of course, it’s all brute luck. It’s like comparing Usain’s Bolt’s genetics to your average high-school sprinter. Sure, what matters in the end is, obviously, Bolt’s amazing work-ethic that let him harness his physical talents to their limits. But it doesn’t change the fact that when comparing the base stats, the starting position in both runner’s careers, Bolt is better, and will always remain better. Because genetics, exactly like initial talent in our case, don’t change… Without outside intervention, at least.”

“Yeah, I was about to say. You don’t get to preach the immutability of genetics when you’re always harping on about how much your body is better than it used to be.”

“That’s a fair comment. And I’ll be the first to admit that my body has improved. That the me of today is better than the me of a hundred years ago in all physical aspects. It’s not a normative statement, despite the normative-sounding verbiage being used, to say that A is better than B when comparing between their amoral objective states.”

“Still not going to say that you’re better than me.” Felix crossed his hands.

Yvessa sighed. “How are you two still on that?”

“Well what’s your opinion then? Ms. Watching From the Sidelines?”

“Sam’s obviously right. Being as attuned to gathering by seeking as Dan says he is does make him better than you. In this one ultimately meaningless department. Which makes this entire conversation even more meaningless.”

“To be fair,” Sam said, “no one’s arguing for the meaning of either the comparison or the dialogue surrounding it. I think we’re all aware of its banality.”

“Maybe you are, Sam. Are you?” Yvessa asked Felix with a tilt of her head.

Felix clicked his tongue and waved her off. “Don’t try that judgmental crap on me. Just because I know the argument is meaningless doesn’t mean that I have to accept the other side’s reasonings and conclusion.”

“What argument?” Sarah asked as she sat down to join them for dinner.

“Nevermind the ‘argument.’ What do you have to say for yourself? This is the most late you’ve been to a meal ever since Sam entered the picture. More time playing unnecessary electives catch up?”

“No. Class just ran late, is all. I had nothing to do with it.”

“Likely story…”

Sarah ignored Felix’s mutterings, choosing instead to start playing catch up with the rest of the table. Somehow managing to eat even faster than her usual breakneck pace. Although, she didn’t last more than three bites before her overly-worried instincts came to the fore and she stopped her devouring to ask, “So what was the argument?”

“Nothing for you to worry about.” Sam patted her back to calm her, sure, but also to help her (and his by sympathetic proxy) digestion. “Just whether me being so much better at seeking than Felix was, makes me better than him.”

Sarah’s face brightened. “Oh, right! Today you were going to start studying the fundamental gathering techniques. So how did it go?”

“I just told you, I was found out to be way better at seeking than Felix was.”

“Can you elaborate further?”

“In what ways? How much better is my talent with seeking when compared to Felix in percentages?”

“Alright, enough!” Felix said with an exasperated sigh. “Just give her your daily recap so we can finally move on to a different topic.”

Sam chuckled, but complied with Felix’s directives, nonetheless. “So at the end of the day,” he said, “my daily schedule remained unchanged. Same old, same old.”

“Are you really trying to complain about having managed to comprehend and execute both seeking and excavating in one day instead of two weeks?” Yvessa asked.

“Hm… I wasn’t thinking of it like that… But yeah, I guess that’s a fair assessment of the way I said it.”

“And not the way you feel about it?”

Sam sighed. “Guess not… You’re really twisting my hands here, not letting me feel dismayed about these recent developments. But whatever. I can take it.”

“Did you just complain about not being able to complain?” Felix asked.

“Yep.”

“Unbelievable…”

“Not really. It’s just the way of the world, I’m afraid. It’s the prerogative of the most talented to feel unsatisfied with developments that would have left the less fortunate feeling elated.”

“You know, I don’t like this new side of you. I prefer the old you, from a few hours ago. When the only thing about yourself you were sure about was your ability to make fun of yourself.”

“Felix…” Sam tapped his head. “Don’t be such a secondary character. Use your brain and you’ll figure out that nothing’s changed. I’m still operating under the same parameters as before.”

“God, you’re so annoying when you’re not crippled by self-doubt.”

“Now on that, we can agree. Wait. No we can’t. You mean to say that I’m not annoying when I am crippled by self-doubt? Me being annoying is mainstay joke number one in my arsenal of self-deprecating humor. You can’t take that away from me! No matter how old and stale the joke gets, and how grating on your nerves I become when I tell it for the hundredth time.”

Felix nodded with a smile. “Now that’s more like the Sam I grew to barely tolerate in the last two weeks.”

Sarah cleared her throat, having already done a fair amount of the same action for her plate. “Try that again, Felix.”

“Grew to love. Grew to love.”

“That’s better. Like how Sam is at seeking compared to you.”

“Hey! C’mon now. You’ve got to at least have the facade of impartiality. You’re giving Sam way too much power over the group dynamics acting like that.”

“As opposed to when she wasn’t here and the only thing we were talking about was… what?” Yvessa asked.

“She’s got a point,” Sam said. “My shenanigans do take up a lot of the group’s time.”

“Shenanigans?” Felix asked. “You’ve done nothing with your life but study ever since you returned. Amazingly, your life is somehow even more boring than Sarah’s.”

“Well sure, I’m not arguing against that. I mean, as long as you’re saying that I’m trying harder than Sarah is—”

“I am,” Felix said.

“You are,” Sarah added just a micro-second later.

“Ugh… enough out of you two sycophants. Now, where was I?”

“Meandering your way towards some stupid joke, I’m betting,” Yvessa said.

“No one’s going to take you up on that bet. That’s like one-to-one odds. But enough with the distracting, I was going to say something in response to Felix’s—”

“Was it going to be anything substantial; that’s important for us to hear?”

“You know it wasn’t. It was going to be a half-baked joke. About how I bring a certain joie de vivre to our interactions by force of my awesome personality alone or something along those lines.”

“Still managed to get it out in the end, didn’t you? Are you happy about that?”

“Not really. I might bring joy to everyone surrounding me, but it is my greatest curse to never avail myself of that very same joy. Much like Pagliacci the Clown in whatever the origin of that bit really is. Although, obviously not as good as Pagliacci because that sad sack would’ve been able to segue to the reference much more neatly.”

“Motion to not talk about Sam anymore for the rest of the meal,” Felix said after a couple of seconds passed without conversation resuming.

“Agreed,” said Sam and Yvessa in unison.

But it was Sarah’s silence, her lack of objection, that ensured the suggestion’s pass. Although, it did not ensure its implementation. Providing yet another example of the crucial role active enforcement plays in order to ensure lawful behavior in the anarchic environment of a military academy social group. For after only a couple more moments of silence, with no sound to be heard around the table expect Sarah’s and Yvessa’s eating, and Felix’s fingers drumming on that very same surface, Felix said, “So what are we going to talk about if not Sam? He is the most common topic of conversation as of late.”

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“Did you really just break the very same motion that you yourself raised before the table?” Sam asked.

“I sure did. Just as I’m sure that you have an obscure historical reference to compare my actions with.”

“I absolutely do. Let me take you all the way back to the roaring twenties. In fact, we’re just about to bid them goodbye. And in the center stage of the act—Nah, you know what? I don’t have power for geopolitics right now. Too much actual Web-politics for me to catch up on.”

“We still use the term geopolitics,” Yvessa said.

“We? You’re speaking Sarechi.”

She shrugged. “It’s not even a Sarechi word. Just goes to show how similar both of the words are.”

“Oh great…” Felix said. “A discussion of language. Now that would really uplift this evening’s conversation.”

“You’re the one that got us here.”

“Hey, I wasn’t pointing any fingers. I was lamenting my own failures just as much as the topic itself.”

“Well here’s a topic for us to talk about other than myself,” Sam said. “Your many character failings.”

“I don’t know… Are you willing to give up the monopoly you have on that subject? Hm… that didn’t come up quite the way I meant, right?”

“Did you mean to joke about how I’m always talking about my own negative personal qualities?”

“Yes, that was the gist.”

“That’s what I thought. Which could mean that you did get your joke across. Of course, if we were to take you literally, then I think it comes off less as a joke and more like you railing against me for always criticizing your personality.”

“That’s what I was afraid of, yes. Yvessa, which meaning did you understand?”

“The one that gets us off of this dumb topic,” she said.

“Look, you’ve been going on and on tonight about how everything we’ve talked about is stupid. I think it’s high time that you’ve come up with your own topic instead.”

“Fine by me, because there is actually something important that I wanted to talk to you guys about. According to the news, the elven-Terran military summit has practically, if not officially, concluded today because of Basil Lamius returning to Maynil.” She turned to Sam. “That’s your mentor’s second in command.”

“That’s news to me,” Sam said. “Three items of news, actually. I thought the summit was, for all intents and purposes, done with the moment Farris left it. That’s the way he built up his own self-importance, at least.”

Yvessa shrugged. “Going by the lack of any consequential leaking from the summit, we’ll probably—or at the vest least, the general public will—never know the truth of it. But in case there was anything of substance still left to be discussed after Farris left, there definitely isn’t now, with Basil gone.”

“Good to know…” Sam said, gesturing for Yvessa to continue leading the group in her chosen conversational direction. The ensuing conversation encompassed the rest of their (Yvessa’s and Sarah’s) meal. Although, it was less of a conversation and more Yvessa lecturing the three of them on the political ramifications of Farris’ capaciousness on the elven public sphere. Fair was fair though, Sam learned a lot. It seemed that when it came to modern-day elven history, Yvessa was a much better teacher.

The conversation lapsed as they got up to dispense with dinner’s last obligation; Sam excusing himself to go to the bathroom. But, as they started making their way out of the mess hall and towards their usual (although for Sam it was only three times a week) post-dinner destination, Yvessa tried to bring them back on track. “So, as I was saying, it all depends on whether Farris agreed to change anything about the elven military during the summit or whether it really was just to do with change within the Terran military.”

“Ugh,” Felix interrupted her, “can we please stop talking about that? Politics is boring enough, but hearing about how some elves don’t think the republic should be independent makes me depressed on top of being bored with the politics.”

“You can’t run away from reality, Felix.”

“No, but I can ignore it until I’m strong enough to browbeat it into submission.”

“You’ll never be strong enough to be able to not care about politics.”

“To be fair,” Sam said, “it depends on your definition of what politics is.”

“Do you have a definition of politics such that it is wholly separate from the war’s conduct?”

“Obviously not.” Sam laughed. “What do you think the relationship between war and politics—even by the most stringent definition—is?”

“Not necessarily, Sam,” Sarah said. “I’m not saying that I disagree with you, but it also depends on how you define the relationship between the two.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, an example that you’re probably familiar with is Clausewitz, right? About how ‘war is the continuation of policy with other means?’”

“I am familiar with that often quoted phrase, yes. But just so you know, I wasn’t going to admit it if I wasn’t familiar. But what’s your point? And more importantly, which interpretation of Clausewitz are you working with?”

“Think about it like this: Once common interpretation of his is that war is subservient or should be subservient to politics, a result of actions by the political entities. But we’re living in a different world. Where the war is a constant greater than the political entities themselves. So for us, we can claim that the inverse is true. That politics are subservient to the war itself. And yes, I know, that’s also a possible interpretation of him.”

“Yep. Anyway, I see where you’re going with this. So if the war is, in fact, a realm greater than that of politics, then we can envision an ‘ideal’ world, where the political sphere is so limited as to not have anything to do with the war. At least as long as we subscribe to a view that sees politics as something that only happens to politicians.”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Sarah nodded.

Felix shook his head in disgust. “Ladies and gentleman, exhibit B of Sam being a bad influence on Sarah.”

Sarah lightly knocked her shoulder against his. “I was on your side, Felix!”

“Yeah, well… if these are the kind of people who are on my side, then I’d rather be alone.”

“Also,” Sam said, “may I point out that Felix was being doubly an asshole because he hinted that the only reason why you might know who Clausewitz was and what he said—or at the very least why you’d talk about him—is because of me.

Sarah turned her head sideways in consideration of Sam’s word. “Yeah… what the hell, Felix?”

Felix shrugged. “Eh, give me a break. It was a joke. I could’ve said something very similar about Yvessa when she was busy lecturing us about politics.”

“Maybe you should’ve said that,” Sam mused. “That way, I would’ve had the chance of not ending the evening as the most disliked member in our friend group. Slim chance though that might’ve been.” He nodded to Yvessa with a sigh.

She shook her head at him with a resigned chuckle. “Do you realize that you keep alternating between jokes about how you’re the most liked person in the group to the least liked one?”

“Not only do I realize that, but I am consciously aware of the fact before every joke of the sort that I make.”

“And you don’t see anything wrong with the fact that you keep doing that?”

“I think it’s fair to say that it’s pretty much impossible for me to not see anything wrong with any action that I perform. Except petting cats. I’m good with cats.”

“There’s a joke to be made there,” Felix said.

“I’m afraid that one is beneath even the likes of me.”

“Virgins?”

“Hmm… I’ll give you credit. At least you managed to subvert it somewhat.”

“Of course I did. I’m not like you. I’m better.”

“Keep telling yourself that. Maybe one day, you’ll find what you seek.”

“We’re not having that discussion again,” Yvessa said. Sam held up his hands in appeasement. Felix might’ve tried to reopen the argument, but he was stopped by Sarah making his day.

“By the way, Sam,” Sarah said just as the field came into view and he had lost his chance of escape, “I think it’s high time that we increase the difficulty of your workout routine. You’ve been doing the same routine for two weeks now, so don’t try to lie and tell me that it hasn’t gotten significantly easier.”

Sam stopped in his tracks, very much like a lifelong asthmatic being asked to run on a treadmill for the asthma test. The poor, bad-lunged fellow wanted to get better, but not like this. This was too hard. The other three stopped to stare back at him. Weirdly enough, Yvessa was the only one with a hint of sympathy in her eyes. “High time as in today?” Sam asked, throat drying as though in precognition of its future state.

“Of course today,” Sarah said. “Don’t forget that you’re up against the clock here; the faster you get in shape, the faster you could begin to fully utilize your combat lessons. I talked with Lin and Dan about this, and they were in full agreement. Lin even conceded to ease off a little bit in your lessons together. Although I assured him that wouldn’t be necessary, as you will be more than able to go on as before.”

“Again with the unfounded confidence? Haven’t I’ve shown you enough to dissuade you of any such notion?”

“No…” She stared back at him blankly, or, at least, her version of a blank face when it came to him. By this point, Sam could quite easily recognize the telltale signs—eyes too slow to blink and aimed at every part of his face except their counterparts, to name just a few—of the two-and-a-half weeks-old internal struggle raging in Sarah’s mind. Between doing what she thought she (and by extension Sam) should be doing and being wrecked by anxiety that she was wrong (for oh too many reasons, Sam might’ve not been privy to Sarah’s inner machinations, but he could easily put himself in her place and infer her possible worries) and will only end up hurting Sam in the long run, if not the short.

Thankfully, for both Sarah and the Web, Felix spoke up in support of her suggestion. Proving, once again, that good can come for even the most petty of sources. “I heartily concur with Sarah’s assessment and suggestion.” He raised both thumbs up. “I myself have had the very same thought about your physical performance during the last week, Sam. And I also concluded that not only were you having an easier time working out, but that you’re also more than capable of taking a step forward in the long road of combat fitness.”

“Did you now?” Sam asked dryly, happy to change the target of his complaining to someone less emotionally charged.

“Very much so. And you know what? I also came back to what Yvessa said about you giving it your all. And I found myself very much in agreement with her as well. The harder you make it on yourself now, the easier, and better, it will be on you in the future.”

Yvessa raised her eyebrow. “You disagreed with me back then.”

“I changed my mind! You convinced me.”

“Changing your mind because of other people? That would be a first. ”

“Ha ha. Very funny. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I just want to see Sam sweat a lot more than usual and have his breathing be painful. And I’m willing to say whatever will get me to that scenario. But, at the same time, I’d just be wanting him to go back to how he was two weeks ago after every workout, when they were much harder on him.”

“None of you are having such a hard time with your workout,” Sam objected.

“Nope. And I’ll tell you a secret: I never did. I could take it way easier than you are. Seeing as I wasn’t in any hurry to get in shape as fast as possible.”

“Point taken.”

“So are you willing to try it?” Sarah asked, having already retreated to a position that tonight’s change was only a suggestion.

“Of course I am. Can’t really avoid simply trying, right?”

“A goody two shoes like you certainly can’t,” Felix said.

“I take offense to that description. If only because I actually possess six shoes.”

“We’ve wasted enough time already, don’t you think?” Yvessa asked no one in particular.

Sarah straightened as though she were the sole deserving recipient of that chastisement. Turing to Sam, she said, “OK, so let’s try this new workout plan today, alright? And we’ll wait for tomorrow and Tuesday to see whether we make it permanent.”

Sam nodded sullenly and followed behind the three as they set towards an empty part of the outfield to deposit their bags. In a way, both Felix and Yvessa. and, of course, Sarah—so really everyone but him—were right. Sam had had an easier time working out in the last week compared to the week before that. And trying to increase the difficulty would certainly not hurt. At least not hurt the kind of person Sam was trying his hardest to become. So there really was no way that he could’ve refused to carry on with Sarah’s new directives. Still, the warm-up exercises she led them through weren’t very conductive for personal analysis, so Sam was left wondering where his knee-jerk objection truly stemmed for. Was he truly worried about something? Or was he simply operating on old hardware; automatically hating the idea of greater physical exertion?

Most likely though, he inwardly admitted through gritted teeth (more a result of unhappiness with his physical reality than his mental one), I just argued for the sake of it. Because I can’t possibly take what other people tell me about myself at face value. Well, if he was really arguing just for the sake of being contrarian, then he was already paying his dues for wasting his friends’ time. As the first change in his regimen was apparent straight from the beginning of his undertaking it. In the first couple of minutes of their workout, all four would-be Rulers were finally operating under the same directives and time limits.

But Sam’s new—and permanent for the near future, he’ll make sure of it—warm-up routine, which left him heaving, wheezing, and Felix grinning, wasn’t the end of his hardships. Ten or so minutes later, Sam found his mind receding, escaping from the turmoils of the present to the comforts of the past. To be more accurate, to two weeks and one day ago. As Sam spent the next ten minutes wondering whether his first workout in New Terra—of his new life—was as hard as this one? Or were there recency bias at play? And what would either answer mean for who Sam was as a person? And more importantly, for who he needed to be?

He was certain of one thing, though. Despite Sarah easily reverting back to her monstrous facade of a fitness-trainer, one thing was decidedly easier than it was two weeks ago. While his left leg being more nimble than his right did not make a return, his overall nimbleness did recover in some fashion. At least enough so that the last segment of the workout wasn’t decidedly much harder than all the rest.

Physically weary and mentally bleary, Sam struggled to a sitting position right where Sarah left him after she finished “helping” him with his stretches, and placidly watched three bright stars burning ever brighter under the stolen facade of Earth’s skies. He was too tired to go back to their bags, where he left his phone. Not too long after, but not short enough for Sam to feel pleased with himself, both Yvessa and Felix finished their cardio routine and settled next to him for the static portion of their regimen.

“See,” Felix said with a smile, “I knew you could do it.”

“Doing it once was never in doubt,” Sam replied with no emotion.

“Oh… thinking so highly of ourselves, are we? Fucking finally.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

“Maybe not consciously. But I think that deep down, you are well aware of your true capabilities; your real upper limit as dictated by both physical and mental strength. At least, I very much hope so. Otherwise, I can’t accept that someone as you portray yourself to be is better than me at something.”

Yvessa groaned. “Oh great, are we back to that again?”

“No…” Felix waved her off. “I was just trying to offset some of the saccharine in my statement with a less heartfelt comment. We’re all anxious to get back to you talking about how big of assholes elves are.”

She bared her teeth at him with a thin smile. “Just for that comment, you’re not going to get your wish.”

“Oh no! Whatever will we do with the rest of our evening if we can’t hear about the different factions of just the racist elves?”

“Go to sleep assured about Terrans being superior to all other races?”

“Ah,” Sam said, “back to the status quo ante, then.”

“Hey!” Felix directed a kick in his direction. “You’re the one that always goes on about how Terran culture is the best.”

“Yes, your point? Also, note that I’m talking strictly about pre-Integration Terran culture. I still don’t know enough about you modern folks to have a logical basis from which to diss you.”

“When has that ever stopped you from criticizing something?” Yvessa asked.

“When has it ever stopped anyone after the advent of social-media?”