Teasing Out The Truth

[Arihant]

ooc: Sorry, it's not very good I was rushed off the computer

“It can’t have been that bad,” Arihant said sympathetically.
“It was,” Lynn groaned, pressing her hand against her forehead. “In fact, I bet it was worse than what you’re imagining.”
“You really just… melted?”
She pursed her lips. “Not straightaway,” she admitted. “I got a couple of good shots in there before he got at me.”
“See, I told you it wasn’t that bad,” he said, patting her on the back. Her hands gripped tighter on the branch that she was holding to at the motion, irritation instantly causing her muscles to clench.
“You weren’t there,” she muttered, shrugging his hand off.
He stayed quiet until she collected herself enough to talk again. He didn’t have to wait long.
“I mean, God! It’s just so unfair! My practical – my practical, of all things, and they put me up against a bloody metal bender! They hadn’t even let me practise with one before!”
“Maybe they wanted to test you,” Arihant suggested.
“I don’t bloody care if they wanted to test me!” she exploded. “When my only physical power is turning into a hunk of metal, I expect them to be at least slightly cognizant of the fact that putting me up against a metal bender will not result in the best performance!”
Arihant looked at her face. It had gone bright red. Her shoulders were heaving and her hair had fallen in messy strands out of its usual neat ponytail.
He didn’t think rationality was the best tack for a face like that.
“You’re right,” he said, and he could swear that he saw her shoulders relax with those two words. Women. “It was completely unfair. Maybe you should get your parents to write in?”
She looked up at him. “Actually, that’s not a bad idea –”
“They won’t,” her twin interrupted her. Arihant leaned forward and saw Kennedy’s face, toy-like from this height, gazing up from ground level. His eyebrows were creased with irritation.
“How can you be so sure?” Lynn asked defensively.
“They didn’t do it for me last year,” he replied, shrugging.
“That was completely different! You cheated in the test!”
“Well, it’s hard not to. Just too tempting,” he called up. “But more importantly, did you monkey-folk really have to climb up there?”
“What?” asked Arihant.
“I get that it’s easy for you,” Kennedy replied, sighing dramatically. “Mr ‘Physically-Enhanced’” – he slipped into Arihant’s voice for that one – “and Sally the Warrior Princess, but little ole Kennedy” – and now he slapped his chest for emphasis – “can’t climb trees!”
“That’s not our problem,” Lynn shouted, leaning back precariously, just as Arihant relented and said, “Fine, we’ll come down.”
Lynn glared at him. “No we won’t! He needs to learn how to look after himself sometime.”
“How does us sitting up in a tree and leaving him down there count as teaching him how to fend for himself?”
She smiled innocently. “It doesn’t. It’s just funny.”
He stared at her for a second, then shook his head. “You two have the strangest sibling relationship I’ve ever come across. I’m going down.”
He sprang away from his perch high in the oak tree and plummeted towards the ground, blurs of green and brown rushing past him on all sides. He would have executed it very gracefully if he hadn't managed to catch a branch in the face on the way down. The sudden, sharp pain when his neck snapped back threw him off completely and caused him to completely lose his footing when he landed. He landed on his ankle as opposed to his foot and crashed to the ground.
Kennedy burst out laughing. “God, Arihant, you should be a ballerina. Seriously. Your poise, your grace, it’s just incredible!”
Arihant would have hit him if the twin stabbing aches when he righted himself hadn’t distracted him from doing so. He hadn’t broken any bones, of course, but he was sure that he’d be getting a couple of pretty impressive bruises.
Or maybe he was just hoping that he would.
He pushed himself to his feet and glared at Kennedy. “I’d like to see you try,” he muttered sullenly.
“You wouldn’t; I’m not that stupid,” he retorted, still snickering. He glanced up at the tree where Lynn was still sitting, laughing just as he was and causing the leaves around her to shake with a noise of whispering bells. “Are you coming down, then, Sally?” he shouted.
“Fine,” she yelled back. “But I’ll be a bit, I’m taking the sane route.”
Arihant’s glare deepened as Kennedy said, helpfully, “Your hair is full of leaves, comrade. It’s an interesting look, sure, but I’d think that – ”
“Shut up,” Arihant said, running his hands through his hair to dislodge the remaining greenery.
And then he felt the lines of irritation smooth away from his face as he caught a glance of familiar white-blonde hair over Kennedy’s shoulder.
Kira.
She’d seen him. She must have. Her eyes were looking straight at him – he could tell that much, even though she was a good fifteen metres or so away. He hadn’t spoken to her in ages, or at least, not properly. He’d only had his last exam today, and revision had left little time for…
For what?
He’d think about that one later. That was what he always said, wasn’t it? I’ll think about it tomorrow. He was only a step away from turning into Scarlett O’Hara.
His hand waved to her and his mouth broke into a smile and called her name as if he had no power over them whatsoever, but he didn’t care. He was glad.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

This morning, Kira had received two letters from her parents.
The first had been from her mother.

***

Darling,

We are expecting you on the first train home tomorrow- and we'll be at Dublin Station, and waiting. Now that your exams are over there's no more reason for you to stay in that school for another few weeks until term recommences in late July. They've given you these weeks- you should use them constructively.
I've already heard that a certain cousin of yours won't be spending all of his time at home with his family. Your father and I both feel it would be best that you do not follow the same route. We'd like to you to stay at home with us. And this year, come home for Halloween.
It's the least you could do.

Regards,

Mother

***

The second had been from her father.

***

Sorry, kiddo, your mum made me do it.

I know what it was like at Orchid Hill when I was a kid- hell, I'd still live there if I could! But you know I don't like to argue. Anyway, it won't be so bad. You'll have me, and the kids out in the street. Do you remember Eric? He's grown about a foot at that boarding school of his! He doesn't go to Orchid Hill... but have you heard of the Emerald Valley Institute?
Christ, where they come up with these names I'll never know...
Feckin' snobs, the lot of them.
Not that you're a snob, kiddo! But I heard a bit of British in that accent of yours last time you were here. Shake it off, or I'll be kicking you up North, you got it?
... Hmm. That felt politically incorrect.
Aw, to hell with it.
Anyway, I miss you, Kira! I guess I can't call you kiddo for much longer. You're 17 in November. That's amazing! Come home- I want to be part of the woman you're becoming.

Love Dad.

X.

***

"Well," Lee sighed, handing his uncle's letter back. "I guess that settles that, then. We're going home."
Kira stuffed it back into her bag. "Well. Figures."
"Typical?"
"Typical," she laughed. "I'll never get my Orchid Hill Summer."
Lee grinned. "Maybe you don't want it."
She got up from the bench, stretching. "What makes you so sure?"
"Since when was a, 'maybe,' a certainty?"
She smiled. "What's the earliest train home tomorrow?"
"I wanna say..." Lee pulled a face, stuffing his hand in his pocket, and pulling out a crumple Cardsdale train schedule. Evidently, he'd been expecting these letters. But for Kira, it was a surprise every time they came. "Aah. 5.30 a.m. alright for you?"
If they were still five, she would've spat in his face.
"What do you think?"
"I think you're unamused."
"Incredibly so."
"Well?"
Kira looked down. "Well, what?"
"Anything you've got to do before you leave? Like... pack?"
Packing? Oh no, oh no, Kira didn't pack, she hated packing, she was terrible at packing! She, unfortunately, had inherited the inability to fold from her father, and the misunderstanding of the odd instrument known as the 'zip' from her grandfather, who, as it were, used to imagine that when you zipped something up, it would cut off the air of any animal living in the house. Being the proud owner of several cats and a donkey, he'd been understandably wearing of anything lacking in buttons.
Desperately, she looked at Lee. "Are you going to pack?"
"Of course not!" He looked startled by the very suggestion. "I'm a Conjurer. I don't need to pack."
... oh. Oh, that just wasn't fair.
"Then will you help me?"
It was times like this Kira was glad that Lee really was her cousin, not her brother. After all, any big brother in all the world would just love to spite his little sister- and this would be the perfect way to do it. If Lee was her brother, he probably would've grinned slyly, and replied, "Uh uh, you're on your own, snotface," or something equally derogatory like that. But no, thank goodness, Lee was her cousin; and cousins were much more inclined to be polite to each-
"No."
Her mouth fell open. "Wh... what?"
"Sorry, Kira," and he did look sorry, but that didn't mean she would forgive him, "but I have to go and tell Madeleine, and say goodbye to everyone. Jack's already gone, and he was sick when he left, so I didn't even get to say goodbye to him. I don't want to help you pack your stuff- you do it; it's your responsibility."
"B- but Lee!" she spluttered as he got to him feet too. "You always help me!"
"And that's your problem," he said calmly. "C'mon- how will you learn if you don't do it yourself?"
"Oh, that's not fair," she growled, hearing her shadows tittering beneath her as her temper began to give way. "We have plenty of time. Can't you just spare a few- ?"
"No."
"But-"
"No."
"Lee-"
"No, Kira."
"Well, fine," she snorted, turning on her heel. "Christ, you're such a lazy arse."
"Love you too, cuz," Lee called cheerfully, ambling away at a relatively lazy pace.
Kira, fuming, stamped on one of her giggling shadows as she paced across the courtyard and out past into one of the more open Gardens, heading towards the Blueberg Forest. She didn't plan on going back to her Dorm and packing any time soon. She wasn't in the mood for that now. Lee was going to and say goodbye to people-
God. Goodbye. She looked miserably around her.
She hated saying goodbye to this place- especially since the last time she had to- last summer- she'd known it could've been for the very last time. Thinking that it was a whole year on... it was scary. Soon, she'd have been Head for a year. Soon, Madeleine and Lee would've known each other for a year. And like her Dad had said... soon... she'd... be 17.
She only had a couple more years at Orchid Hill, and that thought terrified her. So she had to say goodbye properly. Otherwise, it never felt right for her to leave.
Yet...
Kira hovered, her eyes following a small, black-clad figure across the garden beneath one of the larger trees within the Gardens. From this distance, it looked like a guy... and he seemed to be looking... up.
Well, she soon saw why.
There was a horrible creaking noise as a second- this time familiar- figure fell from the top of the tree; a branch catching him on the way down. Horror gripped her and she automatically jumped forward in a burst of superspeed as Arihant fell to the ground with a horrible thud... before, as he stumbled upwards, she realised that actually, he was alright.
Physically enhanced? Hell, this guy was like Superman.
A small, sly, tinkling laughter came from the shadows beneath her feet; a new, softer, crueller laughter; a mocking laughter, that made Kira's knees go weak.
Just for a second, she'd forgotten.
She was still a good few metres away. She could make a run for it. She moved so fast, he'd never see her disappear. It'd be okay. Nobody would know.
And she'd see him again next term.
Oh, god.
Next term.
Arihant was someone she had to say goodbye to... but she really, really didn't know how-
"Kira!"
Oh. Well. That worked.
She smiled- a smile just as bright and genuine as the one he was giving her- approaching Arihant and his friend. Another person- a girl- sat up in the tree, watching them all keenly.
"Hey, Arihant," she spoke to him directly, unsure of how to address his company; then, surprisingly easily, she felt herself smirk. "Nice fall."

[Arihant]

Ah.
Arihant really had to work on his logic skills. Somehow, he hadn't managed to factor in that when he saw Kira a few metres away, mere seconds after he had fallen hideously awkwardly in circumstances that would have broken a normal person's neck and more besides, that she would have actually seen him plummet to the ground. That convenient by-passing of conscious thought was probably because he himself had managed to forget it when he saw her standing over there.
Well. It was understandable. He hadn't spoken to her properly for ages, after all. It made sense that he was glad to see her.
A wave of heat rose in his cheeks as he replied, "Um, yeah." His smile grew shy. "It was definitely... one of my better ones..."
"I'll say," Kennedy snorted. Arihant ignored him.
"How - " He swallowed, suddenly and inexplicably nervous. Luckily for him, there was a soft thud behind him, and then a few equally light footsteps that brought Lynn level with Kennedy and himself while giving him a pause in which he could think of something - anything - to say. Arihant glanced over at the twins, and then reaslised how rude he was being.
"Sorry, this is Kennedy - you might know him, he's in your group - and Lynn."
"How d'ye do?" asked Lynn in a quick, breathless voice. Before waiting for a response, she turned to Arihant.
"I was wondering what that was, you know, you could have said."
"What?" asked Arihant.
"Well, it was a bit disturbing," she went on. "One second you're glaring daggers at this cretin" - she gestured at Kennedy, who was happy to oblige her with a cheesy grin - "and the next your face lights up like a Christmas tree with no one else here that I can see other than my idiot brother! I swear, for a second I wondered if you were on the turn."
Kennedy burst out laughing again as the meaning slowly sank in for Arihant. When he'd worked it out sufficiently, he stared at her.
"Thanks for that," he said weakly.
"Aw, don't get all pissy," she said. "I wouldn't care if you were. I merely point out that my Kenny-boy isn't exactly deserving of your affections. It's all right, so long's you were smiling like that at her."
Kennedy gasped in mock-offense. "Sally, that's preposterous. Arihant would be lucky to have me."
He stared at them incredulously, the dull heat in his cheeks sharpening to burning that made him praise the gods for his dark skin.
Then he quickly turned back to Kira, ignoring them. "How have you been?" he asked.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Oh. Oh... wow.
Yes. She knew Kennedy. She sort of liked Kennedy. He was one of her Spies; someone with a more... unusual combinations of powers than a lot of the others.
But she didn't know... Sally or Lynn? Which one was it? Kira figured she could avoid embarassment by simply never calling her by name.
And obviously she knew Arihant.
Arihant who, it seemed, was growing more and more uncomfortable for a second. Kira watched him; Kennedy and Sally/Lynn's words buzzing around her... and for a second, a brief thought crossed her mind-
No. 'Course not. He was just embarrassed by his friends. And really, who could blame him? Both were being a little ridiculous. Especially the girl.
Kira focused on her as she spoke in a quick, breathless voice. She was light on her feet, and obviously fairly physically fit. She was around Kira's height... but... solider, somehow. Or maybe Kira was just too skinny. Sally/Lynn (Sally-Lynn?) had brown eyes, she noted.
Almost as dark as Arihant's.
And she had some freckles spattering her nose. She was kind of... cute; possibly because of the magnificent grin on her face. She just looked so unbelievably... cheerful.
Kira hated herself a little bit for wondering- with just a touch of jealousy- if Arihant thought she was pretty.
Her conclusion?
Probably.
However, at the moment at least, he was definitely, definitely embarrassed by her.
He turned away, and Kira felt a pang of sympathy at the slightly stunned look on his face. It was the look of someone who'd just been slapped; or hit by a very fast flying object, and didn't know quite what to make of it.
Still, he did a pretty good job of recovering himself.
"How have you been?"
She laughed- uncertainly, at best. "I've been... tired, after the exams. But besides for that, things have been pretty okay."
Her eyes drifted behind him, to where his two friends stood.
"Er... and yourself?"

[Arihant]

Arihant was fairly sure that the slightly dazed look that had passed over Kira's face in reaction to the twins was just a prettier reflection of his own expression.
And for some reason, he liked it. He liked the idea of them being together in... in their dazedness. Just together in something. He didn't know why, but it felt good.
“Pretty much the same,” he answered, a faint echo of her nervous laugh pressing into his voice. “Except my – well, Lynn’s and my – exams only really finished a couple of hours ago.”
“And they were deadly,” Lynn supplied. “Seriously.”
“They weren’t that – ” began Arihant, but he was interrupted quickly.
“Maybe not for you,” she said, her continuing grin juxtaposing the accusatory tone of her voice. “Maybe for someone with your power.”
He flinched instinctively, but her next words proved the previous comment to be blessedly innocuous. “Chrissake, you have just about everything, don’t you? Speed, strength, virtual invinci-bloody-bility…”
“Or maybe he’s just better than you,” suggested Kennedy.
“Watch it,” she growled below her breath.
Arihant turned back to Kira, ignoring the wave-argument that he could just tell was going on right now. It was irritating at best, having friends who were practically telepathic and who never really tended to think about how annoying that stood to be for everyone else.
“Lynn and I are in a smaller Physical Control class,” he explained. “Because I have to do it for triple credit – I mean, it’s not like I have any other powers that I can… that I can learn about – and she has a pretty rare power. Kind of for the physical misfits, I guess." He shrugged self-consciously.
"Our class had... I think it was coursework, today. It goes towards our marks next year. We had to go up against elementalists just with our physical powers to protect us – actually,” he said to Lynn. “That’s probably why it was harder for you. Apart from the metal bender thing, that is.”
“What?” she said. It took her a moment to realise that he was talking to her, and her eyes softened as she stopped wave-communicating.
“I’m used to only having my physical powers to protect me. You’re used to having your other two as well.”
“…That’s a good point, actually,” she said, a reluctant note of praise creeping forward.
He tilted his head to the side modestly, then said to Kira, “I was up a water bender – and I thought I was lucky until I realised that you guys are far fiercer than the fire and electricity benders give you credit for.”

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira felt her eyes sparkle a little wickedly at that. Underestimated indeed. Waterbenders were a walking stereotype amongst Elementalists. In fact, every element was a walking stereotype amongst Elementalists. Every element was naturally competitive with each other.
Fire versus water.
Earth versus air.
Electricity versus metal.
Ice versus lava.
Well. You got the point.
An Elementalist's stereotype was defined by the characteristics of their element. It automatically meant that if you posessed the power of fire you had a hot temper. If you had ice, you were a cold person. If you had earth... er... you were a bit thick (poor Lee).
And if, like her, you had water...
You were calm. Serene. A push-over. Light. Gentle.
Kira always thought it a terrible shame that people forgot that water also had the characteristics of a raging ocean in a storm.
"Which bender?" Kira asked softly.

[Arihant]

"Michael Ellis," said Arihant.
"Michael Ellis?" Lynn scoffed. "Isn't he an Academic? Jesus, Ari, I got another Warrior!"
"Michael Ellis may be an Academic, Sally-face, but have you ever seen him? He's top of his water control class."
Arihant got the feeling from Kennedy's defence that this Ellis person was probably a friend of his. He'd known Kennedy long enough to recognise the verging-on-ludicrous loyalty he displayed for all his friends.
"But that's because he's an Academic!" said Lynn. "Elemental classes aren't all about combat, you know. He might just be really good at making the water make pretty shapes. Or it could be theory."
"So people who aren't Warriors are automatically unable to hold their own in a fight?" asked Kennedy defensively.
"No, I didn't say that," said Lynn quickly, glancing over at Kira. "But Warriors automatically are because we have to be. I mean, we don't know any healing or anything beyond basic first aid, and we're not... well, OK, we don't have to be smart. And most of us can't really do the whole subtlety-spy thing. But we know how to fight."
"Diplomatic, Lynn," said Arihant appreciatively.
"But avoiding my question," Kennedy pointed out.
She rolled her eyes. "If you're getting your knickers in a twist thinking I'm saying that Spies are bad at fighting then you can calm yourself right down. I'm not, I'm just... pointing out that all the Warriors are excellent at fighting. But yes, most of the Spies are good too. It's just the Academics and the Ca-"
"Good?" interrupted Kennedy. "God, Sally. I think a metal-bending spy stands to be a lot worse for you than a metal-bending warrior."
"I'm afraid I don't believe you," said Lynn sceptically.
Kennedy raised his eyebrows and turned to Kira. "And there we have the overly smug words of a Warrior who has never seen Ailith Rayner in action."
"Who?" asked Arihant, his extreme ignorance of most Orchid matters being brought painfully into the spotlight once more.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Aah. A Group debate- her favourite kind.
She smirked at Kennedy, then looked at Arihant. "Ailith Rayner's a prodigy. She's one of my Spies- but she's also nothing short of incredible in all forms of combat. You at least should recognize her- she's so good, she goes to Warrior Training along with Spy Training. Then again..." she paused, "so does Josh the Carer, and he's a little backwards with a blade."
But Josh the Carer was infamous. Ailith Rayner was simply fantastic.
Kira had had this all worked out a long time ago.
"Academics and Carers aside, there's no real comparison between the Spies and Warriors," Kira told Sally-Lynn matter-of-factly. "Although the Warriors are good at fighting- Madeleine's a bit of a prodigy herself- I like to think of them as... say... the brute force of the school. Thing about the Spies is..." at this point, she glanced at Kennedy, and beamed, "we don't just have to good at fighting. We need to be good in combat, strategy, deception and more. War may be an art- but Spying... that raises the stakes to a whole new level of skill."
Kira only prayed that Madeleine never, ever heard her saying that.
Suddenly feeling a little awkward after her speech in front of Sally-Lynn and Kennedy, she looked at Arihant for support.
"Of course, I'm considerably biased."

[Arihant]

He saw Kira's uncertain glance with a measure of surprise, but quickly roused himself and gave her a reassuring smile.
How much they'd changed in these last few months, if he was able to reassure her now. It felt like... maybe... they were just that little bit closer to being equals.
Though he doubted he'd ever progress far enough for that.
"Well, we all are, right?" Lynn said, a grin spreading over her face.
"Very true," said Kennedy.
"You're right," said Lynn to Kira, "insofar as an accomplished spy could have a much larger range of skills than an accomplished warrior. But... Well. Take this one."
She gestured at Kennedy.
"I mean, on paper his powers would probably make him a pretty good spy. He can hack into the enemy's computers, he can copy their appearances, he can wipe their memories. But if he ever managed to get himself into a close combat situation, then I doubt he'd survive to be incompetent another day."
"You realise you are talking about your twin's death here?" said Kennedy, miffed. "You could be a little less military about it."
"Your hypothetical death," said Lynn serenely. She turned back to Kira. "I think it depends more on the individual spy. I mean, I'd say this Ailith person - and probably you, seeing as you're the head, and some others - would be at least as good as a warrior, but all the warriors are good. If it came to a straight battle between the two groups, the warriors would win."
Then she hesitated. "And the strategy, and all that... Well. Madeleine's a brilliant head. I think she covers everything in training, right, Ari?"
Arihant looked at her, a bit startled. "Don't drag me into this, Lynn," he said, smiling. "I don't feel as strongly on this topic as you do."
She sighed. "Ari, for God's sake, are you telling me you don't have any group pride?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, I... well, I'd have preferred not to be a warrior."
Lynn looked horrified.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Kira laughed; half at the indignation on Kennedy's face, half at the horror on Sally-Lynn's. Clearly, she wasn't alone in thinking that Arihant may be better suited to that of an Academic. It was probably his powers more than anything else that had landed him in with Madeleine's lot.
He certainly didn't have much of what Kira would call, "bloodlust".
Then again...
Deron might not be so eager to agree.
"Your brother is not incompetent," Kira turned to Sally-Lynn with a confident smile, for this was something she was sure of. None of her Spies were incompetent, and this was why. "All Spies have a different area of talent- of... expertise. So what if his greatest strength isn't in combat? Combat is just one aspect of what we do. Technically, if you're a good Spy, you won't even need to know the basic face-to-face combat skills, because you won't find yourself in any of the situations that require it in the first place."
In a lot of ways, Kira felt that her Group- maybe, again, this was bias talking- was the most versatile of all the Groups of Orchid. It certainly brought in the widest range of characters- from those who deserved Oscars for their performances to those who could blend the perfect balance of speed and accuracy in one throw.
"And... I wouldn't go so far as to say all the Warriors are good," Kira chuckled. "Certainly, a good number are, and I dunno... maybe you're one of those privileged few... But not all Warriors can be good. None are bad, I'm sure... but surely you can't say that nobody there is clumsy with a blade?"
After all, Jack Trove was one of the best Warriors in the school. If Jack Trove was one of the best...
Well, she was straight back to brute strength.
"Yeah, I'm really prejudiced. Sorry."

[Arihant]

"Don't be sorry," said Arihant softly, and then he was immediately struck with how intimate - how inappropriate - those words had sounded. He blushed and cleared his throat. "I mean, they're obviously prejudiced too" - he gestured at the twins - "and they don't even have the excuse of being head," he said quickly.
Thank God, thank God, thank God for his dark skin. If he didn't have something to mask his blushes he didn't know what he'd do. It'd certainly be hell when he was around Kira.
But he saw Kennedy's eyebrows raise, and he was certain that dark skin or no dark skin he had seen until the next words came out of his mouth - "I'm sorry, could you two maybe stop using me as your examples? It's a little less than flattering."
Lynn had ignored Arihant's interjection and gone straight to answering Kira. "I... don't know if that's true. That not all warriors are good, I mean. I don't think it is."
She seemed uncertain for a moment, then raised her head with a confident smile that nearly mirrored Kira's.
"We go into battle. We're on the front line. The warriors... well, to put it bluntly, a bad warrior is a dead warrior. Now, I'm not saying that all warriors are brilliant, excellent, win-the-battle-singlehandedly types - we all have our unsure moments - but none of them aren't good. It's a pretty big incentive for self-improvement, the risk of losing your life. And in some of Madeleine's best cases it only takes a few weeks to get people good enough for front-line action. She's like a miracle-worker."
Arihant stayed very quiet, looked away. He doubted it would impress Lynn or any other warrior to know that he considered turning children into soldiers the exact opposite of a miracle.
He really shouldn't have been a warrior.

[Kira & Lee Norris]

Arihant's soft voice confused her so much, Kira felt it best to ignore. It was a sudden, unhappy reminder of where she was going this summer, and it was so, so much easier to concentrate on Sally-Lynn. Already, Kira liked her. She sure knew how to stand and fight for what she believed in, and that was a quality in people Kira had always admired.
"Madeleine's fantastic," Kira responded earnestly, "I know. Anyway, she's my cousin's fiancée. I'd be skinned alive if I said anything else. But not all the Warriors are on the front line," Kira reminded her. "I don't see how all can be good. Otherwise, those that were simply good would be labelled 'average', would they not? It all comes down to what the standards are. What's the point of being pretty good with a sword when everyone around you is so fantastic they're off the scale? Even though you're good, you'll still look bad in comparison."
She wondered if that made anymore sense aloud than it did in her head.

[Arihant]

Lynn looked confused for a second, then laughed.
"Wow," she said, her voice a little breathless. "I think you may have out-logiced me there."
"What?" asked Arihant, an incredulous smile plastered over his face.
"She admits defeat?" Kennedy sounded aghast.
Lynn laughed again. "Not necessarily... OK. Slightly." She turned back to Kira. "You're right - not all warriors can be good - but that's when they're compared with each other. When they're compared with the Carers and Academics, they are all good, and most of them are good when compared with most of the spies. I mean, if you took a randomly selected spy and a randomly selected warrior - hold on. Wait. Let me think about what I'm trying to say here."
"C'mon, Sally, give it up."
"No!" She cuffed her brother lightly around the back of his head. "OK, I've got it. You have your randomly selected spy and your randomly selected warrior. Now, if they were put in a straight-out fight chances are that the warrior would win because all the warriors are trained to do just that - win the fight. I know that a lot of the spies are good in combat, but that's not all they're trained to do, right? You have to spend time on all those other things, all those other little details, and after a while that would have to mean that in combat they - well, most of you - would be lacking the training that we have, all the strength and stamina that we have to cultivate."
She stopped for a second.
"I guess what I'm trying to say is - yes, it is true that the spies have a greater variety of skills and all that, and it's true that the warriors are, in some ways, the brute force of the school, but... I don't think that should be underestimated. The brute force requires a lot more work and thought than the other groups might think.
"We have to have a wide range of abilities, too, we just have to apply them to a smaller range of situations - because, let's face it, there's only so many situations there can be on the battlefield. We don't have to be subtle, true, we don't have to blend in, but we still have to think ahead in every situation, we have to be prepared for just about anything, and we can't just talk our way out of it with lies and acting. They know we're the enemy - you guys have an advantage that we don't, like you said, you can escape without any conflict if you have to, but we can't. And we can't always escape just using the 'brute force', either because I think that some of the enemy expect that. Marius' troops know that we're just teenagers and they expect us to fight like teenagers, all strength and no wit about us. If we weren't prepared to use some level of strategy and some level of deception in our fight we'd be at an extreme disadvantage."
She paused. "And if the spies can find their way out of situations just using one aspect of their ability then that's another advantage that we don't have. We need to use everything - all of our powers, all of our strengths - all the time, because we can't win any other way."
There was a silence after she finished, then she smiled, sheepishly. "Sorry," she said. "Got a bit carried away there. If it makes up for it, it takes a hell of a good debater to get a monologue like that out of me."

[Kira & Lee Norris]

ooc: OML! I wondered why you hadn't replied to me on this- I never actually thought to check whether it was my turn. Ugh. I despair with myself.

As Sally-Lynn spoke, random formations of arguments floated past; each one kicked out of the air by a new one created by Sally-Lynn's next point.
"I would never underestimate a Warrior, in the same way I would never underestimate Madeleine. But... when you take that random Warrior and Spy, I don't think it's so clear cut as you think. Warriors might be more used to physical combat, but Spies aren't any way weaker or slower, because they are no less physically fit. As a Spy, you're trained to be able to improvise a lot more than a Warrior; work around your weapon, as well as work with it- wouldn't these be advantages in combat?" Kira hesitated for a moment, mulling over Sally-Lynn's argument carefully. She knew what she was talking about alright.
And she'd presented a pretty thorough argument.
"I'm not saying every Spy would beat every Warrior- but I wouldn't say every Warrior would beat every Spy. I think it comes down to the individual, and how good they are at applying their skills to the situation. The thing about Spies is, they're more flexible than Warriors. They can adapt to a wider variety of situations because, like you said, they've been trained to do so. But don't you think the fact that Warriors have to throw everything they've got at their enemies is another disadvantage? What if you threw everything at them, and it wasn't enough? Do Warriors have the capacity to recover from that?
"You guys are great at what you do," Kira looked up with a smile, "but let's face it, so are we. And if we weren't, there'd be no battles for you to fight. Without us, the Warriors are useless, because we're the ones who tip you off to every attack, and every nasty little surprise that could be waiting out there on the battlefield. Without us, you'd have nothing to strategise around. Without us, you'd never have the advantage- we are part of the reason you guys have so much success.
"Do you think the Warriors would really be so good without us?"
Well, she was aiming low now. Madeleine would kill her. She really would. She would kick her-
... Kira ran quickly back over her argument, and suddenly, she felt her smirk. From what she was saying...
Madeleine could only try to kick her butt. The outcome completely depended on Kira herself. It was an interesting thought- if all four Heads went head-to-head in combat, who would win? Since neither Macy nor Will really were... trained for it, Kira could only assume they'd come runners-up.
Madeleine, obviously, was Head of the Warriors for a reason. But hell, that couldn't stop Kira giving her a run for her money!
Saying that, something completely unexpected could happen, and Macy could kick all their butts.
That would- truly- be a day of glory for the Academics.

[Arihant]

Lynn hesitated. "Well... That depends on the-"
"Urgggggggggggggh," Kennedy groaned, flopping down on the ground in a feat of melodramatic exhaustion. "Sally, give up. Seriously. You're killing us here."
"What?" asked Lynn, looking to Arihant for backup.
He shrugged, not exactly wanting to be put into this situation. "I don't think you can argue with that one, Lynn."
"Exactly," said Kennedy, from his new position lying on the ground, propped up on his elbows. "Dear sister, you can't have already forgotten what we were told in all those Orchid History classes." He slipped into a voice which Arihant assumed belonged to the teacher who had taken them for said lessons. " 'The groups all specialise in different areas and have different strengths and, of course, their fair share of weaknesses. But!' " - and he raised his arm, stretched out his forefinger as Lynn erupted into giggles at this presumably very faithful impersonation - "We must remember that the groups are not designed to work alone; they fit together, much like cogs in a machine - and this, children, is the crux of the matter! The strengths of one group will compensate for the weaknesses of another. Orchid can only truly expect to win this war with all the groups in together in harmony. Four. Groups. One. Resistance!' " he almost shouted, banging his fist on the ground to punctuate each word.
Lynn was practically in tears with laughter. "Jesus, Ken, you should go on Broadway," she managed to sputter out between fits.
"I don't think they'd want me on Broadway as Professor Abernathy," he said in his normal voice, "but thankee all the same."
Arihant didn't quite understand what she found so amusing, but he grinned along anyway.
Sally took a moment to calm down, but did so, wiping her eyes and breathing more slowly. Then she turned back to Kira.
"OK, you've stumped me, you win," she said, and then turned to Arihant, mock-frowning. "Oi, Mr Traitor, did you already know she was this good at arguing? You could have given me some kind of warning before I got myself into a losing fight."
Arihant's mind immediately flashed back to Valentine's Day and he blushed again. "I had an idea," he mumbled embarassedly.
And then he was very worried by the look he saw on Lynn's face. She had quickly gone from teasing to extreme concentration, staring at him as if she was trying to figure out some complex algebraic formula.
Kennedy noticed too, and he sat up straight. "Sally, what is it?" he asked curiously.
"It's his wave pattern," she said, frowning harder. "It's different, can you see it?"
Kennedy sighed. "You know I'm not good with your waves," he said offhandedly. "Does it matter, anyway?"
"No, I guess it... Ah!" she said, and she grinned triumphantly. "I've got it."
"Lynn, what are you talking about?" said Arihant, feeling faintly scared.
"Don't worry, it's nothing important," she said, and turned to Kira. "Sorry, I should explain - I can see wavelengths. Y'know, light, sound, heat and all that. Everyone has a usual pattern, but his has been off for a few minutes." She smiled. "I'm kind of neurotic about wave patterns, it feels strange when they're wrong. But it's OK, Ari's just been blushing a lot more since you got here. And I think his heart is beating faster, too, but that's harder to tell."