Ellis rolled her eyes yet again. Why would she need to know this? She knew where she was going - off to the Farm in a few weeks. What did her classifications matter? Healer/Defender… she knew that the medical side of things would come in handy, but defense? What did it matter if she knew the difference between a tettsui and a shuto anymore?

She supposed hat the healthier she was during each of the pregnancies, the better off she would be once she was planetside, but she still would rather have been sleeping in rather than going through her usual Kata.

Ready. Turn, block, turn block step turn block, step turn block and on and on. She could do it in her sleep, and, truth be told, she had.

She had no sooner shouted a "Ki-ai" when she found herself sprawled on the ground, the side of her head stinging.

"So, Ellis, you seem to have lost your focus." Sensei Riker stood over he without any indication that he had hit her in the head with an iron-armed backfist. Ellis scrambled into a submissive pose - she knew her sensei was pissed just from his stance.

"I'm sorry, Sensei, it won't happen again!" She humbled herself before him, hoping for the best.

Riker chuckled, anger dissipating. He held his hand out to help her to her feet. "Of course it will, Ellis. You are nearly eighteen, and teenagers have a habit of forgetting the lessons they have been taught. But I hope that it will at least happen fewer times than it might have otherwise."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Yes, Sensei!" Ellis slammed her right fist into her open left palm while giving a stiff bow from her waist.

"Good, good," Riker began, " Ok, line up! Face the flag!" As one, the class lined up, then turned towards the Panmavors flag. "Bow," he shouted, and in unison they did. "And... begin your meditation."

The class of thirty, ranging in ages four to eighteen, knelt as one, placed their hands on their knees, bowed their heads and closed their eyes.

Three minutes later, class was over. Each student removed their belt, then stood to collect their belongings. As Ellis left the dojo, she, like every other student, first bowed before leaving the mats, then bowed before exiting the classroom. She didn't think she would ever be able to ignore protocol, even if she weren't a student.

She had barely made it out of the door before she heard her name being called.

"Ellis! Ellis!" Sensei Riker caught up with her.

"What's this I hear about you going to the Farm? Why would you do that - put your body through that? You're top of the Defense program's class. You could become a general some day!" Riker's grey bearded face rarely showed emotion, but she could see concern now.

"Yes, Sensei, thank you. But I have to ask - would I ever be free? I mean really free?"

Riker paused for a moment. "Maybe not, but you would be close enough for it to mean the same thing. Don't waste your talents on this, on this twenty-years mission! Many don't make the requisite number of births and become cleaners or worse!"

"But Sensei," Ellis responded, "even if I were High General of the Allied Forces… if even one of the Discarded gave me a direct order, would I still not have to follow it, regardless of my own training or desires? A life of slavery is still a life of slavery is it not?"

Her sensei sighed, his barrel chest deflating a bit. "I suppose you are right. And there's nothing stopping you from becoming whatever you want when you are free. I just… I think I will miss you."

She wrapped her arms around her sensei in as close an approximation of a bear-hug as she could manage. "Me too," she said before quickly letting go and running down the corridor after her friends.