I called it 'The Year of Pranks'. Everyone else called it 'The Year of Hell'. It made me laugh every time I came around a corner and a member of The Order would groan at the sight of me. It wasn't the recognition of my achievements that made me happy. It was that just seeing me was enough to make them unhappy, and that was how I liked it.

The only ones spared from my antics were the guardians, their children, and The Wise One. Everyone else was fair game... and I played the game very well. Everything that went wrong was immediately blamed on me, whether there was any evidence that I had done it or not. My notoriety knew no bounds and even people that I had never personally met knew my name.

*

“I'm finally back!” Kara Moor said as she walked down the shuttle's loading ramp.

“Oh, great. Another one.” A male voice said.

Kara stopped walking and turned to face him. “What was that?”

“N-nothing! I didn't say anything, miss!” The alien dock worker said and bowed deeply to her. “I'd never say anything against The Order!”

Kara knew he was lying; but, she didn't want to cause a scene over a few innocuous words and kept walking down the ramp. The alien stood up straight and another worker stepped close to him and whispered.

“She must have supernatural hearing, too.” The second worker said. “It's the pointed ears. They're a dead giveaway.”

Kara could still hear them and ignored their comments. She didn't stop walking and left the landing pad, then quickly walked over to the main administration building.

“Kara!” The woman at the desk exclaimed and stood up. “You've grown so much since you've been gone!”

“It's only been six years, Guardian Enelle.” Kara said and gave the older woman a hug. “How have you been?”

“These old bones won't let me play with the young ones like I want to.”

“You're not old!” Kara laughed. “You're only twenty years older than me!”

Enelle chuckled. “You're twenty-two, dear.” She said and kissed Kara's forehead like she used to when Kara was a child. “I'm old in both relative age and comparative age!”

“We'll have to agree to disagree, then.” Kara said with a smile.

“What brings you back to The Order's home world?” Enelle asked.

“You're looking at the youngest member of the council!”

“That was you?!?” Enelle exclaimed, then gave her another hug. “Congratulations!” She said and looked her in the eyes. “I heard the general announcement that someone new had been appointed to replace old Igifeus when he retired; but, they never mentioned your name.”

“That's the council for you.” Kara said with a smile. “Always trying to keep things secret until absolutely necessary.”

“I hope you're going to work hard to change that stupid policy!” Enelle said.

“Why else do you think I rushed back here?” Kara asked. “It wasn't just to see you, you know!” She said and let the older woman go. “I called ahead and asked for permanent living arrangements.”

“Come over here and I'll see where the staff set you up.” Enelle said and Kara stepped around the desk. “If they messed up and only gave you a small apartment, I'll make some heads roll!”

Kara laughed and put her hand on the woman's shoulder as they checked the system logs.

“They're lucky they did a good job.” Enelle said and asked for Kara's datapad. She loaded the directions into it and gave it back. “If you have any problems, you message me at any time, okay?”

“What if you're asleep in bed?” Kara asked.

“It doesn't matter.” Enelle said. “Just like the other two children I've had the privilege to raise, I will do everything I can for you for as long as I live.”

“Thank you, Enelle.” Kara said and gave the older woman another hug. “That means a lot to me.”

“All right, you better go before I start crying.” Enelle said.

Kara smiled and nodded. “You and I have a lot of catching up to do, and now that I'm a member of the council, I don't plan on going anywhere for a long time.”

*

“Are you sure it was wise to make someone so young a member of the council?” The first woman asked The Wise One.

“What is my name again?” The Wise One asked and laughed as it made a coughing sound.

“Very funny.”

“It is the perfect opportunity to introduce new ways of thinking into a group that has had the same members for almost twenty years with no change.”

“Wise One, that means Kara was only two when the last member was appointed.” The first woman said. “Doesn't that tell you something?”

“Yes.” The Wise One said. “You can count! Bwahahaha!”

“By the Goddess, you have a strange sense of humor.” The woman said, and The Wise One laughed some more.

*

It took almost a month for Kara to settle in to her duties on the council. They had started her with only a light regimen to deal with, and she excelled so well after a week with it that they assigned her the rest of her duties with only two of the council members expressing doubts. They were unfounded, because Kara loved her new job and her energy and enthusiasm lifted everyone's spirits whenever she was around.

After six months, she had integrated so well with the other council members that it was like she had always been a council member herself, despite being the youngest one. Because of this well meshed integration, Kara started to hear rumors and found reports of small incidents from all of the different departments, scattered all over the compound. Her old guardian Enelle had been an invaluable source of information for both the rumors and the facts, since she worked in the administration building.

As a kind of side project, she combined the incident reports and rumors into a timeline of sorts, and she was surprised at how long it had been going on and that no one had caught the culprit. It was during one of the normal daily meetings that she decided it was time that she got to the bottom of things. When the meeting's normal agenda was dealt with, she was about to ask for everyone's attention when she felt something disturb the Presence in the room. She looked up just in time to see a large cloth bundle fly into the middle of the room and slam into the floor.

SPLAT!

The loosely tied cloth burst open and animal dung was flung outwards and splashed everywhere. Luckily, the splatter only reached their feet and dirtied the bottom of their robes, and a sound of incessant laughter filled the room for a second and disappeared.

“What was that?!” Kara exclaimed as she stood and concentrated on the flow of Presence around her. I can't sense anyone but the council members nearby.

Several of the council members sighed, then one of them spoke up.

“I'm surprised you haven't heard of our resident problem child already.” The scaly alien said.

“Hold on.” Kara said and pulled out the datapad she had compiled everything on and pushed the data into the room's holoprojector. All of the reports floated in the air in front of the council. “Are you saying that all of these incidents are by the same person?!?”

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“His name's Ullir, and ever since he graduated from the training course, he's been an annoying thorn in our sides.” The fluffy puff ball alien said.

“He's quite adept at using Presence and excels at using his custom-made Light sword.” Another council member said. “It's unfortunate that he uses those gifts only for mischief.”

“I think he might be running out of ideas.” The scaly alien said. “This one was pretty mild.”

“Mild?!? He just threw animal feces on the council!” Kara nearly yelled.

“Do you remember that time he switched the smoke grenades for sleeping gas before the guards training exercise last month?” One of the council members asked the others and chuckled.

“Okay, even I have to admit that one was funny.” The fluffy puff ball alien said. “It took them a week to wash off the whiskers and thick eyebrows that he drew on their faces.”

“Remember when he stole everyone's robes and made a huge tent out of it to cover the main garden?” The scaly alien asked. “We still haven't figured out how he did that without anyone seeing him.”

“Council members!” Kara exclaimed, and they stopped their musing and looked at her. “Why don't you punish him for all of these callous acts?”

“We have punished him.” The fluffy puff-like alien said. “It doesn't do any good.”

“Why not?”

“If he doesn't ignore us and decides to show up to do it, he completes the punishment quickly and then targets whoever assigned it for his next act.”

“How many of you...”

“We've all been the target at one point.” The scaly alien said.

“If he's such a problem, why haven't you kicked him out of The Order?” Kara asked.

“We can't.” One of the other council members said. “He's not a part of The Order.”

“Wh-what?” Kara looked at all of their faces and saw resignation. “Why... how... you said he graduated training! He's supposed to be a part of The Order!”

“Normally that's true, but...” The man sighed. “He's only twelve.”

“WHAAAAAAAT?!?” Kara yelled, shocked. “He... he's only...”

“We told you he was exceptional.” The scaly alien said. “In his own words, he's in a kind of limbo.” He chuckled. “Not a child and not yet a man.”

Kara took several deep breaths, and immediately regretted it because of the extreme smelling dung that had been spread around the room. She coughed for a moment and then looked at the council members.

“What is he going to be punished with because of this?” Kara asked and waved at the pile of dung.

None of the council members said anything, then one of them hit several buttons on the side of his chair and half a dozen cleaning bots came out of the wall and started to clean the mess.

“You... you're just going to ignore this... this... insult?!?” Kara pointed at the bottom of her robes as a cleaning bot made quick work of cleaning her boots and the hem of her robes.

The other council members exchanged glances and they all shrugged as one.

“Well, I'm not going to stand for it.” Kara said. “I'm going to find this Ullir and I'll give him a piece of my mind, then I'll give him an appropriate punishment!”

“Good luck with that.” The scaly alien said, and everyone chuckled.

“I don't need luck to deal with an errant child.” Kara said and walked out of the council chamber. She stopped the first pair of guards she saw and asked them to search for Ullir. The two guards exchanged looks, eerily just like the ones the council members had, and looked back at her.

“Master Moor, do you understand what you're asking?” One of the guards asked.

“Of course I do.” Kara said. “If you find him, bring him to my office and message me right away.”

“Yes, Master Moor.” He said and both guards left at a fast walk.

With their help, I should be able to find him fairly quickly. Kara thought and left the building to start looking for him herself.

After searching for four hours and asking everyone she met, she was no closer to finding Ullir than she had been when she started looking.

“Master Moor!” A man's voice exclaimed, and Kara turned to see a guard running towards her. He was soaking wet and looked like he'd been put through hell.

“What is it?” Kara asked.

“We... finally cornered him.” The guard said and took several deep breaths.

“Why didn't you message me?”

The guard held up his wrist communicator and showed her that it was crushed. “It's usually the first thing he disables when we try to use it.”

Kara sighed. “Where is he now?”

“He entered the East Forest Glade about twenty minutes ago.”

“The forest glade is for Order members to...” Kara closed her eyes for a moment, calmed down, then looked at the guard. “I want a room prepared.” She said. “I also want it escape proof.”

“Master Moor, that's not...”

“As a member of the council, I order you to do this. Have several of The Order members assist you.” Kara said. “I want a room to put him in that he can't get out of, until I can think of an appropriate punishment for him.”

“Yes, Master Moor.” The guard said.

“Make sure to get your injuries tended to first.” Kara said and covered herself in Presence, then ran as fast as she could around several buildings and through the central courtyard, then around the barracks and came to a stop at the edge of the forest. “The gall of him entering here.” She said and stepped into the forest with reverence. Once inside, the flow of Presence around her increased and calmness filled her. “He will be punished for abusing The Order's hospitality.”

Kara used several mental and physical techniques to expand her senses far beyond her normal range. That was only possible to do in high Presence areas, like the East Forest Glade, and she started her search. There were some dangerous creatures lurking about and she avoided them easily as she made her way deeper into the forest. It was a large area and it took her nearly an hour before she found a trace of Presence that wasn't a part of the forest. It was near a stream and led directly away from The Order compound.

It took Kara another half an hour for her to follow that trace of Presence to its source. She had used her best stealth techniques and had hidden her flow of Presence by holding it in close. She eased around the spot that she had pinpointed as his location and stayed well within the treeline and out of sight. When she was finally close enough to see her target with her own eyes, she remained still and observed him for several moments.

Kara was surprised that instead of the twelve year old child she had expected to see, she instead saw a fairly tall five foot figure with long dirty blonde hair. It somehow looked both dishevelled and clean at the same time. The figure wore a standard set of robes and outfit that were a different color, to show that he wasn't a member of The Order, one of their apprentices, or a student in training. As far as she knew, he was the only one that wore that particular color.

He sat on a large rock beside the stream, and if she wasn't mistaken, he was actually fishing in the sacred waters. Filled with outrage at his blatant disregard for the traditions of The Order, she readied herself for an intense battle and prepared to jump out of hiding to tackle him with all of her might.

I will have him! Kara thought with glee.

*

I sat on the large rock by the stream and thought about the prank I had just performed. I think I'm starting to lose my touch. I thought and laughed. Was throwing dung at the council the best I could come up with?

I pushed that thought and every other one out of my mind and started to meditate and practice various mental techniques. I sat there quietly for about four hours before I felt a disturbance in the flow of Presence in the forest as someone stepped inside. I knew that someone was coming for me, since no one else came into the forest during the day.

I changed tactics and quickly constructed a fishing pole and dipped it into the stream. I knew there were tons of fish and that taking a few of them wouldn't change the balance of Presence in the water. I didn't cheat and use Presence to catch the fish, either. I had learned that honing normal skills was just as important as honing the skills that use Presence, and I practised as much of both as I could. Of course, I had tons of free time every day to do that. I was always practising something because I had nothing else to do and only performed pranks to break up the sheer monotony of daily life.

It took me an hour to catch one fish, then another half an hour before the person looking for me approached. I didn't need my eyes to see her, thanks to my Detect Presence mental technique, and I was quite impressed by her. She had hidden her Presence almost completely and I had a difficult time making out her details. She had an hourglass shaped body with a moderately large chest, a thin waist, and shapely hips. Her bright pink hair was styled quite attractively, and when I focused on her face, I felt a surge of Presence from her.

I better stop her before she hurts herself. I thought, then spoke loudly. “I'm not going to run or fight.”

I heard her catch her breath and the Presence near her lowered in intensity, so I calmly turned my head to look at her hiding spot. “I mean you. The one with the pink hair.” I smiled at her when she poked her head out to stare at me in shock. “Just don't scare the fish, okay? I only need to catch one more.”

I watched her as she stood up and slowly walked over to me. When she sat down next to me, I got back to fishing. It didn't take long to catch a second fish, almost as if it knew I need it. I held in my laugh at that thought and quickly cleaned both fish and prepared a fire beside the large rock. I could feel her intense stare while I worked and neither of us said anything as I cooked up both fish. When I handed one to her, she started eating it without a word, then she suddenly jerked as if she had been poked with something.

“Ullir!” She exclaimed. “You are confined to your new living quarters for a week as punishment for your assault on the council today!”

“The only thing I assaulted was their nostrils.” I said and laughed. I saw her start to smile and then she scowled.

“I am a member of the council.” She said. “My name is Kara Moor.”

“Can I make a joke that I couldn't Kara Less?” I asked her, and she sighed.

“Ullir, this is a serious matter.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” I said and took a bite of fish. “You want to prove your might to the other council members.”

“That's not true!” Kara said. “What I want to do is show them that no one is above the council's edicts.”

“Except the council.” I said, and she caught her breath.

“They tell us not to steal, and yet they steal all the time.” I said and continued to eat. “They tell us not to take innocent life, and yet they hunt down rogues and kill them.”

Kara sat there with a stunned look on her face. “Ullir, that... that's not...”

“Yeah, you can't really deny it without lying, can you?” I asked, and she didn't respond. “Look, I'll take your punishment this time; but, it's a freebee.”

“A what?”

“A freebee. I'll do what you say this time for free, with no retribution.” I said and finished eating the fish. “All bets are off next time, though.”

Kara sat there and watched as I dumped several handfuls of water onto the fire and spread the ashes with my foot to make sure it was completely out. I then took the remains of my fish and her half-eaten one and tucked them under a small pile of leaves around the roots of the nearest tree.

“Are you just going to sit there, or are you coming?” I asked and walked away into the forest.

“W-w-wait!” Kara exclaimed, jumped to her feet, and quickly followed me.