Ravela stood outside the Police Academy. Today was the last day of her being a recruit. That was if she managed to pass the final exam. She didn’t really doubt her ability to pass the exam, but Ravela still stood outside the building for twenty minutes, just taking it all in.

After this last exam, she would have until the end of June to wait for the results, and afterward, she would have a few more days before she was sworn in as a police officer. Then, another week before, they assigned her to a department to be a rookie.

She had already planned out the week to pour the concrete for her hideout. Not the most exciting last week before work, but it was something that needed to be done with enough time on hand. Laena and Safora would already be back in Gradjia by that time. Almost a month earlier than last year. She wondered how that was possible but wasn’t about to research the machinations of the school system too deeply. Sometimes, things had to go her way after all.

Ravela shook herself out of her contemplation. Now was the time to write one last exam. It was a full written exam that would contain a full police operation and your conduct throughout it. In many ways, she would say this fully written exam would be the most complex exam so far and would probably find its way to any superior under which the respective recruit would serve. It was to be a reflection of the standards they learned being applied by the individual officer. She wondered how hers would fair in the eyes of Instructor Harmond.

There was only one way to find out. Ravela finally took the brave step forward and walked into the main lobby of the Academy building. She spotted two people she knew well sitting together, talking among themselves.

Sheriff Thorn and her friend Keeper Namon sat together in one of the many waiting arrangements.

The old sheriff was the one to spot him first. “Ah, Ramiel, there you are. It's a bit later than usual, I’ve been told. The exam will start soon, so you should hurry up and get going. We’ll talk later. I think the good Keeper and I best go eat lunch meanwhile.”

Ravela nodded her understanding and made her way to the exam room.

Every recruit was in a tense but oddly anticipatory mood. One more exam before they finally were done. If they passed, they would become sworn officers within the next week and start working two weeks from that. They had come so far, and the stakes were high. Nobody wanted to fail and redo the entire training all over again. Those who had failed once before ran the risk of their dream ending right here.

Ravela took one of the few remaining free spots close to Alan and Kahli.

Alan was in a good mood recently. On the other hand, Kahli had become much more demanding of Ravela over the months of working together, and she had no idea why. In her opinion, being partners and getting to know each other should have led to her relaxing a bit. Instead, she had become more tense.

“I thought you weren’t going to show up. What was the hold up there, partner?” Kahli inquired.

“Relax, I just stood outside for a bit, taking it all in.” Ravela waved off the nervous energy of her partner for the better part of the academy.

Her partner looked as serious as ever but backed off and concentrated on herself afterward.

Ravela looked at the clock ticking away. It was mere minutes to the exam. It may as well have been an hour.

She felt more at ease waiting on a tower at night, waiting to go blow for blow against the Bomber, than waiting here to write on paper.

Instructor Harmond entered the room looking every bit as tense as most of the recruits. She had no doubt he felt much as nervous as the recruits taking the exam. He was probably questioning whether he had done a well enough job together with his colleague. He was no doubt praying that there wouldn’t be a single one cheating, too.

Ravela took a deep breath, preparing herself for the last hurdle.

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Laena sat with the e-guitar in the practice room. It had been hit or miss for most of the school year, whether she would find it already borrowed by another student or managed to get her hand on it. If she was truthful with herself, it had been misses only. There was one student who seemed compulsively possessive of the instrument, and the few times she had gotten her hand on it, her day had demanded only a short practice of her.

Today was different, for all her grades were in, and all the lessons were now of a more preparatory nature. Most teachers didn’t mind when she was missing these last few days, and her friend would keep her in the loop. They had a system for taking days off so they would stay informed on the upcoming end-of-year trips and events the school provided as educational rewards. Safora probably sat in a classroom right now, desperately trying not to fall asleep.

Laena had the whole day to play and practice. She grinned and opened one of the many books filled with all the notes, and sat down on one of the stools in the practice room.

After roughly an hour of practice, she could hear a ruckus outside and a female student yelling angrily. Pausing her playing, she listened for a moment.

“What do you mean already borrowed!?” The enraged girl screamed. She sounded furious.

“Young girl, not in that tone.” The instrument ward said. “And why are you disturbing the other student in their practice rooms? This is highly inappropriate. You know how many upset students came to me today?”

“How else would I find my guitar?!” The girl yelled.

Laena felt irked by that student. This was as much her guitar as it was Laena’s. It was a school instrument.

“That talentless slop probably got grease all over it and tuned it all wrong!” The rowdy girl declared indignantly. “And she is in one of the rooms back here. I just heard it moments ago. I bet she sits in there listening to us.”

The teacher responded this time in an angry voice. “Listen, I don’t care how troubled you are. You will not hassle other students because you have a hissyfit over a free instrument that is open to be borrowed by any student! Do you hear me?!”

“B-but that’s just-” The girl sputtered.

“No, buts! That’s final. You have no idea how often that other student showed up, and you were already hogging that guitar. Just because you only joined the class next year and got so much free time, that student couldn’t possibly hope to get here before you most of the time.”

Laena’s interest was peeked. She carefully put down the instrument and walked to the door, opening it. “Hello? What’s going on out here?”

No sooner had she announced herself to the teacher in charge of the situation and the girl that was hogging the guitar most of the school year than she heard a furious roaring scream. The girl spotted the guitar in the room behind her. And made a full lunge at Laena while screaming. “IT’S YOU!”

It was almost funny to Laena that her powers had kicked in the moment she heard that angry scream, and she could now see this tall blond Amazon fly at her in a rage. Her powers came in handy today, and Safora would be so jealous.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Preparing herself for the impact and subsequent rough and tumble over the floor, Laena wondered why this girl tried to get in trouble so much. She was at the same time quite upset because if this were any other student this barbarian might hurt them.

Laena paced her reaction, putting on a shocked and appalled expression while reacting correctly to catch the girl so she could control their fall and subsequent rolling on the floor.

It still took a while for the impact to happen, and her face began to feel stiff from the expression she had to hold while the furious teenager flew toward her.

So, much for a peaceful day of just practicing with the guitar.

As they rolled on the floor, Laena tried to ensure she didn’t suspiciously manhandle the furious girl trying to pull her hair. and cursing all the while.

They rolled for a bit, and Laena made it seem as though she randomly ended up on top of the girl.

“Why you!?” The girl continued being absolutely enraged. Pulling her hair and trying to push her off. The hair-pulling part still hurt somehow, and it took self-control not to fight back as Ramiel had taught her. She had to moderate herself in all things lest she run the risk of seriously harming a person, even if that person was behaving like an absolute brat.

It took some time before the teacher got the situation under control and separated them. No, before he separated the feral blonde from her, to be more accurate, Laena amended her assessment of what happened.

“This is outrageous. Kathy, control yourself. We’re going to the principal’s office right now.” The teacher declared out of breath.

Laena was busy readjusting her clothes and tried to sort out her hair in a way that made it look like it wasn’t a total mess after Kathy’s assault, but it just wouldn’t settle right. That upset Laena more than the girl jumping her. “Okay, Mr. Hollister, take care.”

The teacher looked at her a bit stunned. “What do you mean take care? You’ll obviously need to come with us.”

Laena furrowed her brows and raised her voice for the first time in this interaction. “What!? Why do you need me to come with you?! You got the culprit! You saw the whole thing happen. I didn’t do anything!”

“The rules are the rules, Laena Stone, and I don’t make them. I apply them.” His expression softened a little. “I’m sorry that you’ll be missing out on your practice time. Please, don’t make this harder on me than it already is.”

Laena's mouth gaped open in disbelief before looking at Kathy's almost gloating expression. She was at a total loss for words. Losing an entire day of practice to this nonsense. Laena stood there for half a minute, opening and closing her mouth to find a coherent response to this outrage, but she couldn’t.

While they walked to the principal’s office, she swore oaths of eternal enmity toward Kathy in the safety of her thoughts.

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Ravela walked out of the exam hall feeling lighter. It was done, and whether or not she made it was now up to those grading her test. She felt free, and hungry.

Stopping in the lobby for a moment, Ravela for the very first time took a moment to appreciate the abundance of food this society provided her with. Not suffering hunger had become so normal to her that she seldom thought about the rich blessing that was a society living without scarcity.

“Hey, Ramiel! Are you planning to run off?” Kahli called out to her, pulling her out of her contemplative state.

“What?” Ravela turned her head to her fellow recruit and soon-to-be former partner.

“The whole team is going to go celebrate, well, most of the team. Alan said he had to take care of his daughter. So, that leaves most of the team. We’re going to have a barbeque in the park, with most of the families gathering. Don’t think you can just sneak off without meeting everybody.” She said while hooking her arm under his, pulling him along as though that had settled things. “I’m driving, by the way, because I won’t be caught dead in that ancient car of yours.”

“Can people stop mocking my car? I think it is beautiful.” Ravela protested the last bit of her statement, forgetting to challenge the first part, thus giving Kahli license to take that as she ascent to coming along to the barbeque.

Again, another voice called out to her, waiting in the comfortable visitors’ area. Sheriff Thorn and Namon had returned from their, without a doubt, extensive lunch break.

“There he is!” Sheriff Thorn said, getting up from his seat. Kahli stopped pulling him but left her arm hooked under hers for some reason. “How did it go?”

Ravela smiled in a relaxed manner, responding by shaking his hand and trying to ignore the pats on his shoulder. People were certainly more comfortable making contact than she was, and she had to learn to live with that. “I certainly feel confident.”

“That’s good. That’s wonderful. The Keeper, here, and I wanted to be here when you came out to wish you the best of luck for your future. My best wishes from the deputies as well, of course. I hear that you have great chances once the grades are out, not that you need any luck. I’m sure good things are coming your way. I’ve been hearing things from my boy, you know.”

“Is that so? I guess news travel even when people say they won’t gossip, hm?” Ravela said, smiling a bit flustered.

Namon jumped in at this point. “Your fellow recruit plans to take you somewhere so that we won’t hold you for too long. I just wanted to congratulate you on the significant progress you made. It’s been quite the journey, and I hope to see you prosper more in the future.”

Ravela looked at Kahli and then back at her two well-wishers. “My apologies, Kahli Madri. These are Sheriff Thorn and Keeper Namon from Gradjia. The good sheriff got me to become a recruit in the first place, and Namon is a dear friend of mine. Friends, may I introduce Kahli Madri, my partner and teammate during the academy and also one of the Pliada City Police Department's finest in the very near future. We were just on our way to a barbeque, and I was just informed about it.”

Kahli used the chance to jump in. “And we’ll be late if we stick around.”

“Don’t be rude. They are friends of mine. I owe them a lot.” Ravela scolded Kahli’s cut-off response. “Sorry about that. I will come to visit you in Gradjia soon. Again, sorry for the shortness of this conversation. Maybe they could come with us to the barbeque, Kahli.”

Sheriff Thorn jumped in and said. “Ramiel, please, don’t worry about it. We already ate enough anyways. Namon and I will just drive back home. We can't leave our little town unsupervised for too long anyways, isn’t that right, Keeper?”

Namon nodded in understanding. “Yes, that’s quite right. And Ramiel, I’ll be looking forward to you visiting. It’s been quite some time since we last talked.”

Ravela understood what he meant. Then again, she hadn’t produced any major news articles since their last meeting, so that had to count for something. “I’ll be seeing you in Gradjia soon. Goodbye, you two.”

Ravela watched as they walked off, slightly annoyed with Kahli. “You know that was unnecessarily rude, right?”

“I’ve been studying and practicing for the past four months nonstop, and this is the first time I get to enjoy some free time after working so hard to remain in the top spots with you and the twin that I kinda don’t care right now. Maybe you and all the other recruits had enough free time during your training. I had none.” Kahli declared. “I’ve been waiting for a break for a month, Ramiel and I am not going to spend an hour hanging back because my teammate and partner, who I got tasked to drag along, neglected to visit his friends throughout training.”

“I didn’t neglect to-,” Ravela started and stumbled over something else Kahli had just said. “What do you mean by drag me there? Who told you to drag me along?”

“Does it matter?” Kahli responded without answering her question.

Ravela just followed her with a long sigh. Having colleagues and friends was such a hassle at times. On the other hand, the promise of free food sounded too good to complain about.

They drove to the public park and Ravela was surprised at the sheer amount of people gathered there. She saw many families and uniforms.

“Kahli, correct me if I’m wrong, but this doesn’t seem to be a barbeque for just our team and the families of our team,” Ravela uttered her suspicion.

“I mean, it is for most of the members of our team with people in the PCPD.” Kahli tried a lame excuse.

“So, you’re telling me it is really just you wanting me here for the big overall police barbeque so you don’t have to be outnumbered by the twins, is what I am hearing.” She concluded while crossing her arms.

“Can you not be weird about it? I don’t have many people I consider friends, and I hate huge crowds of people who all know my father and want to talk to me about this or that.” Kahli said, “Besides, there is plenty of food, and my father really wants to meet you.”

“Why would your father want to meet me?” Ravela wondered out loud while Kahli parked the car.

The woman responded with a bit of a cough followed by a shrug. It wasn’t something Ravela could work with. They got out of Kahli's car, and Ravela wondered if Kahli might have more vehicles than just the car and her motorcycle. It wouldn’t surprise her if she would spend all her money on acquiring things for her vehicles.

There wasn’t much time to dwell on her peculiar thought, though, as two people came out of the crowd, seemingly expecting Kahli’s arrival.

One man is dressed in uniform, and the woman is in a bit too warm clothing for the weather. Who would wear a sweatshirt in June, Ravela wondered. Both looked happy to see Kahli, though. Their eyes were visibly sparkling with pride and joy.

Ravela looked on as Kahli hugged the woman while the man in uniform looked on a bit more reserved. She assumed with these strong clues that these two were Kahli’s parents. Her eyes met the gaze of Kahli’s father, who seemed to muster her sternly.

He broke his gaze just in time for Kahli and her mother separating from their hug.

Ravela was a bit confused about the long stare and even more confused at his well-timed total change in expression when his daughter turned to him. She was sure she was missing context but had nobody to inquire about it, so she just passed it off as a father scrutinizing a man associating with his daughter.

Their greeting took some more time before Kahli finally turned around. “Ramiel, come over here and meet my parents.”

Ravela smiled and walked up, shaking hands with the father and then with the mother, hoping that the way around wouldn’t lead to anyone taking offense. She had no clue how the proper greeting order was and had so far neglected to research such matters, not that the society wasn’t complex enough to make a one-size-fits-all formula unlikely.

“Pleasure to meet you two,” Ravela said with a broad smile.

Her father was about to open his mouth when he was overruled by the mother, who was just hooking her arm and Ravela’s and declaring. “Oh, the pleasure is all ours. I’ve been dying to meet you, young man. I’ve been hearing so much about you for the last few months. Dear, why don’t you and Kahli find us a nice seat and get us something off the grill? I’m going to show our little newcomer here around and make some introductions.”

Kahli came closer to her mother’s side, intent on protesting. “Mom, stop being silly.”

Her mother laughed and waved her off with one hand, leading Ravela into the crowd. “Who’s being silly.” Then she turned her attention to Ravela. “After all, I’ve been hearing so much about this young man recently.”

“Mom!” Ravela couldn’t see Khali's face currently, but the embarrassed, shrill tone to her call after her mother while trying not to yell sounded like Kahli was back to being a teenager getting ignored by her mother. Ravela tried not to laugh within earshot of her partner.

She was confused about Kahli’s mother taking the lead and showing her around, but she didn’t mind. “So, where to Mrs. Mahdri?"

“Oh, first, we’ll have to introduce you to the other mothers.” Mrs. Mahdri said.

Ravela, for the first time, hesitated. There was something she was missing here, but she wasn’t too sure what it was. She just smiled and went with the flow. Today wasn’t the day she would stress out about anything. It was time to relax and just enjoy the moment.