Snow episode

The day marked the Inductees second month at the institute. It was also the first day of snow. Crystalline snowflakes had begun to lazily float down from the cloudy skies, covering the land in a thin carpet of frosty white. The only problem was it never stopped snowing.

Cain stood shivering in the open field behind the Rock. His jacket hugged his training uniform tightly. By his side, Horrow had his hands wrapped around his body, thin wool gloves doing little to protect his hands from the sharp bite of the wind. Both of them were carrying wide wooden snow shovels on their belts.

At least they finally gave us some winter clothes.

The rest of the company were busily shovelling snow off the main expanse of the field. Head Instructor Junpar stood nearby, overseeing the busy children. Even the Instructors were within the ranks of the Inductees, actively participating in the chore. They shovelled haphazardly, muttering curses under their breaths.

Cain and Horrow had asked Head Instructor Junpar for a quick break, which she allowed. Eleni had given Cain a sharp glance which he had outright ignored.

Got to rest when I can.

The past month at the Institute had been hectic. Their training with Sir Bradforth and Head Instructor Junpar had changed drastically. One-on-one sparring was almost all they practiced with Sir Bradforth. To be fair, Cain and the others improved dramatically under his tutelage. Head Instructor Junpar had also shifted away from merely practicing formations. Now they also incorporated team battles into their lessons. Each squadron would take turns facing each other, simulating field combat. Instructor Thorne was in charge of commanding them. Of course, she didn't participate in the actual fighting.

Over the past month, they had gotten increasingly adept at working together. They were forced to put away there differences and personal relationships to fight side by side. Even Cain and Jorn didn't clash with each other during these trainings. If anything, they were a duo nobody wanted to face. They were to resume such training today. After clearing away the snow of course.

Cain sniffled, the cold getting the better of him. He turned to Horrow. He wasn't looking any better.

Horrow was now a pivotal part of the squadron. While he still refused to show off his true skill, his demure and affable personality was the glue that brought the squadron together. More and more now, the squadron would participate in activities together after the day's end. Horrow was the leader of the group and had made friends with most of the commoners. He had actually begun to get very close to Sasha el Brun, the Inductee whose parents worked at a temple in Laconia. Their chemistry and affection towards each other was obvious. The topic had become something Cain brought up often to tease the younger noble. Cain thought his reactions were adorable. He had heard romanced often bloomed within the Institute. With young boys and girls living in close proximity, it was impossible for certain scandals to occur. While it seemed that Horrow and the others were enjoying their youths, Cain still allotted all his free time to training with Eleni. Although his efforts were paying off, he couldn't help but feel like he was perpetually injured.

Maybe I should ask for a day off. That is if Eleni doesn't threaten to poke out my eyes.

Cain had made mind boggling progress in both his swordsmanship and mastery over his Blessing. He could now condense his Blessing to a seventh of its original size. Even for Eleni, it had taken her half a year to reach the level he had. Cain continued to surprise the Bellona with his rate of learning.

During his training with Eleni, he had learned a lot of her past over brief conversations during their nightly trainings. She had begun physical training at the young age of ten. She spent the first five years of her training practicing swordsmanship and learning of martial philosophy. The year before her induction, she focused on harnessing her Blessing. She had apparently grasped Fa's Blessing around eight months before she joined the Institute. Now, she could condense her Blessing to half its size. Unheard of for an Inductee merely two months since inducting.

Jorn, however, continued to be a mystery. After their spar, he had shown more respect for Cain. No more glares were thrown in his direction. The giant mainly kept to himself, simply observing the comings and goings of the squadron from afar. To this day, he never showed himself in the Red Room other than to sleep. But to be completely fair, Cain essentially did the same. He was still unsure what to think of the blacksmith's son. There was definitely more to him than what met the eye.

Cain sighed, their short break coming to an end. He joined the others in attempting to clear away all the snow. The problem was that new snow continued to fall. Hopefully Head Instructor Junpar would be satisfied with state of the field soon.

As Cain threw a shovelful of snow to the side, he watched Horrow and Sasha converse. They were chatting quietly, but were clearly laughing and fooling around. Cain felt a bit jealous, but was also irritated by the fact that they were too occupied with each other to help shovel the snow. It seemed that Cain wasn't the only one sharing that sentiment. Appearing out of thin air, a large snowball struck Horrow on the back of his head. Not expecting a surprise attack, he fell face first into a pile of snow. Sasha snickered besides him until she took a snowball to the side of her face.

Eleni stood a dozen meters away, a chesire grin on her face. Snow covered her brown wool gloves. Cain couldn't help but laugh. It was an unimaginable scene. A Bellona warrior throwing snowballs at a Fabii of direct lineage. Horrow rose with a vengeful anger, determination written on his face.

Stolen story; please report.

As Eleni goaded the blossoming couple, Horrow reached down to gather snow. He tightly packed the snowball in his hands and then proceeded to throw it with all is might. The projectile sung true on a direct collision course with his attacker's head. But this was Eleni. She swiftly dodged the snowball by slipping to the side. The snowball intended for Eleni ended up hitting the crouched over back of another Inductee.

"Hey!"

Another snowball followed, this time being Sasha's. Eleni rolled to the side, another snowball materializing in her hands. She expertly threw a curveball which exploded on Sasha's chest. Cain grinned. They weren't going to have all the fun themselves. He reached down and collected enough snow to be called a boulder. He then crept behind Eleni, where she was busy reloading another projectile. He then threw his boulder in an underhanded toss. It landed directly on top of her, nearly encasing her entire head while maintaining its shape. What resulted was a confused Inductee stumbling about wondering why she suddenly couldn't see. Cain laughed out loud in triumph.

That's for treating me as your personal punching bag!

Horrow and Sasha cheered Cain on. Eleni rubbed the remaining snow off her face and glared at him. The other Inductees had all stopped shovelling due to the commotion. It didn't take long for them to realize what was going on. They looked at each other with childish glee. Once the snowball started to roll, it wouldn't stop.

Soon enough, the field was in mayhem. It was a complete free-for-all, snowballs of all sizes flying through the air. Even the Instructors joined in. Glad to not be shovelling any more snow, then began to yell out commands, attempting to coordinate attacks and flanking manoeuvres. What was a free-for-all turned into a full fledged war, Eleni on one side, Cain, Horrow, and Sasha on the other.

They fell into their old habits, obeying their Instructor's commands. Soon enough, entire walls were built, Inductees and Instructors taking cover and launching coordinated attacks. Small skirmishing parties attempted to flank their opponents, only to be met by defenders. All Head Instructor Junpar could do was watch in disbelief as she lost all authority over her Inductees and Instructors. She soon realized there was no stopping the madness. Even though she was partly angry that they weren't listening to her, she was inwardly proud at the speed at which her students formed their units. They were following their Instructor's commands to the dot.

As an older woman, she had years of experience leading soldiers under her belt. And it seemed that the young Bellona desperately needed some help. Shaking her head at the absurdity of the situation, she yelled while leaping into the fray. Even she couldn't deny the thrill of a snowball fight.

Only Jorn stood to the side, unmoving in the midst of the chaos. A couple Inductees had approached him with snowballs, only to be dissuaded by his stern gaze. No point in poking the sleeping giant. As he watched the laughing faces of the Inductees throwing snowballs at each other, his couldn't help but shake his head. This was the Institute, the training grounds of some of the most elite fighters on the continent.

What in Fa's name is going on?

...

The Inductees sat on the benches of the mess hall, melting snow dripping off their uniforms. It had been a while since Cain had so much fun. Even Eleni looked pleased, a small smile on her face. The snowball fight had ended in Eleni's victory. With Head Instructor Junpar joining the battle, the tides quickly turned against Cain. He now understood why some commanders chose to fight on the front lines with their soldiers. Eleni's soldiers had cried out in joy, newfound purpose and replenished morale infecting their ranks. With Head Instructor Junpar's genius tactics, Cain and friends eventually found themselves surrounded on all sides.

Now they waited for Head Instructor Neptune to begin his lesson. He stood at the podium as per usual, organizing some of the notes he had with him. Over the month, Head Instructor Neptune had covered most of the Line's history. Its construction, the three families, the settlements that came and went over the years. He talked of numerous notable Nomal raids and skirmishes that took place in the Greatwoods. Most importantly, he had talked about what life would be like at the line.

There were approximately ten smaller fortifications that operated under Fort Bellona. These smaller forts housed approximately four thousand people each. The smaller forts were essentially moderately-sized walled towns. They each had not only accommodations for graduated soldiers, but also civilians that worked to help with the fort's upkeep. This also included amenities for the soldiers, including bars and restaurants. He had explained most Inductees would be deployed to one of the unnamed forts.

Fort Bellona houses the most soldiers and the bulk of the Bellona family's personal legions. Fort Bellona was essentially its own bastion city. There were a total of twenty thousand occupants. Of the twenty thousand, approximately six thousand were of the Bellona army's personal soldiers. Around five thousand were standard graduates from the Institutes. The rest were civilians. Two out of three of Bellona's legions were stationed at the named fort. The last was separated between Laconia and Alexandria.

Head Instructor Neptune had also explained the military organization most of the continent followed. Armies were organized into legions. Each legion would be composed of around three thousand soldiers lead by a legate. Five regiments made up a legion, each with six hundred soldiers. Each regiment would be lead by a centurion. Within each regiment were there were two battalions with approximately three hundred people each. A battalion was lead by a conduit like Conduit Horicus of their Institute. Finally, each battalion had six companies, each company having four squadrons.

Cain realized the Institute was a battalion; it fit Head Instructor Neptune's description exactly. That would mean there were three hundred Inductees at the Institute. Honestly, Cain had expected more. It seemed as though there were a lot more people present during his induction. Of course this wasn't considering the two other Institutes. That meant that there were currently around nine hundred Inductees training across the east.

What was mind boggling to Cain was the size of a legion. He couldn't imagine the difficulty in coordinating all those soldiers. Especially in war. He had tried calculating how many soldiers there would be in a legion according to Head Instructor Neptune. The number came out to be three thousand people. Include the fact that three legions could be joined into what was called a greater legion, that meant that there were almost ten thousand soldiers to command. Cain tried to picture ten thousand soldiers standing side to side. He failed.

A greater legion could only be lead personally be the members of a noble family. The Bellona's greater legion was commanded directly by Eleni's father, her family's patriarch. In the central continent, each Patriach family had approximately two to three greater legions at their service. That meant twenty to thirty thousand soldiers. This was excluding the Emperor's personal greater legions. It was assumed he commanded approximately six. Sixty thousand soldiers.

Cain realized how small he was in the grand scheme of things. He was a mere speck among the greater powers that ruled the continent. Not that it mattered to him anyway. He just needed to survive for four years and he would be free.

Head Instructor Neptune began his lesson, but for the first time, Cain didn't pay attention. He was far too busy daydreaming of a peaceful future.