A fun excerpt from Fugitive Star! 

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The rays of the rising sun awakened Aylin as they spilled through the window, and it was a good thing that they did. One glance at the desk clock told her that her own inner clock was not operating on Pato’s schedule. She groaned softly and sat up, realizing for the first time that she was wearing clothes that were now far too wrinkled to be presentable. She sighed and told herself that there would most likely be a uniform for her to wear, if she could find it somewhere.

The clock was the problem. If the time it showed was right, and it should be, then breakfast was out of the question, and probably her first class as well. Just the thought of missing breakfast made her stomach growl in regret. She didn’t think she would make it through the day until lunch time without something to eat. She fished out her schedule from the mess of papers left on the floor. Maybe there was still time…

There wasn’t. Mercifully, she still had twenty minutes left until her first class, but that would not be enough time. She would be lucky if she could even find the right room before class started, much less locate the cafeteria and find the nourishment she craved.

The act of sitting up told her that her muscles were not used to all the strain of the previous day, and she allowed a moment to stretch and grimace. Then she carefully stood, found out that her legs worked, and investigated the closet as the most likely place for a uniform of sorts. Her guess had been accurate, for a long-sleeved white shirt and dark-blue pants were lying neatly folded on the shelf.

The pants were a little too tall, and the cuffs nearly touched the floor, but after she had slipped on her boots she stood tall enough to avoid tripping over them. The shirt fit fine, but Aylin made a mental note to ask for a better outfit size.

Her bags were lying at the foot of the bed, forlorn and abandoned in her weariness the night before and in her rush now. Aylin blinked to clear her eyes, swallowed hard to clear her throat, and glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes. She pushed the bags into a corner, grabbed yesterday’s crudely-sketched map and the schedule for her classes, and hurried out the door.

The young guard — she couldn’t remember his name now — had said something about a main hall that ran around the circumference of the arenhol field, and he had assured her that once she found that hall she could find anything. So that was the direction that Aylin headed.

She saw quite a few students now, some of them entering and leaving their rooms, some calling to each other and laughing in their groups, some poring over papers and flipping through open books, intent on their last-minute studying. Most of them ignored her, but Aylin didn’t care — she avoided them anyway.

Despite her hunger, she was glad to have missed breakfast, for it meant that she would not have to socialize to satisfy any inquisitive curiosities. She had not been there yesterday, but she was there today, and that fact alone was sure to raise questions. The less they knew about the circumstances that had brought her here, the better, for she could not risk too many people hearing her story. Already she was chastening herself for telling so much to the secretary at the desk… and the guard in the hall, for that matter. She was not off to a good start.

Much to her relief and surprise, she found the classroom quickly. More accurately, she found the science hall, and the Astronomy classroom was the first she came across. “Astronomy: Galaxies and Cosmology,” she read softly from the schedule list, “room 110.” The light was on inside, and the door was open, and through the window she could see a mostly empty classroom full of desks, with walls covered with an array of fascinating posters and models.

A middle-aged woman with short brown hair stood at a board, writing up some sort of schedule while nodding and talking to a young boy seated behind a desk. Most of the other desks were empty; only two other students, a boy and a girl, sat talking together, both hunched over books. She glanced at the clock on the wall and guessed that most of the students were still finishing breakfast. Her stomach griped in envy.

Tentatively, she entered, and looked quickly for a seat in the back. With luck, the class would not be full, and no one would notice her or question her presence. But her luck was out. The moment she entered, the teacher happened to look up, and her gaze fastened upon her newest student. For a moment, her blue eyes held a puzzled look, then they lit up with her smile. “Welcome,” she said cheerily.

Aylin smiled back and gave a little nod, but said nothing, and headed for the nearest chair.

“You must be… Aylin?” the teacher asked. “I have a note here from the captain.” The smile had not faded. “We’re glad you can be in our class. My name is Miss Wynell.” She nodded her head at the young boy. “This is Kaden.” The boy swiveled in his seat to give her a small smile. Miss Wynell named the other two students in the room, but Aylin could not hear the words correctly and so did not catch them. Hearing their names spoken, the two turned briefly to look at the teacher and back at Aylin with a suggestion of interest, then their heads bent together in conversation once more.

There was the sound of chimes ringing outside in the hall, and Aylin guessed that it was the call to class. Voices could be heard beyond the door.

“It’s Aylin… Ragka, right?” the teacher asked unexpectedly.

For a moment, Aylin was caught off guard, confused by the unusual syllables attached to the end of her name, but then she nodded quickly. “Yes.” As the word fell off her tongue, she realized that it was the first she had spoken to anyone since yesterday in the hall.

The room filled up quickly, for only minutes remained until classes were to start. Aylin watched the students enter and seat themselves, most of them talking loudly with their friends.

Just then a group of girls entered, laughing at each other as they walked straight for the back. The girl in the lead was shorter than Aylin, and her long blond mane of hair was curly and shone in the light. She shrugged it casually over her shoulder… and turned her doe-eyed gaze straight upon Aylin.

For a moment, the girl stopped walking, and the two stared at each other. The other girl’s delicate eyebrows rose. “Excuse me?” she said, her lips parted slightly in surprise. “You’re in my seat?” Even incredulity looked attractive on her.

Aylin inwardly kicked herself, but kept her face frozen, mumbling an attempt at an apology as she picked up her stuff to move. This was exactly the sort of thing she had hoped to avoid. Heads of the other students were turning, some of them anticipating the confrontation ahead. It was unnecessary attention, and the situation looked as though Aylin was hurtling headlong toward making several new enemies. The girls had fanned out behind their leader, forming an intimidating half-circle and staring at her with defiance in their eyes.

The blond girl could feel the eyes of the class on them as well, and she was not about to back down. “You’re obviously new, aren’t you? You just have to learn — nobody sits in our seats, and that includes you.”

“Silanya, she didn’t know it was yours — you don’t have to make a big deal about it.” The voice behind her made Aylin turn, and she saw two other girls approaching, carrying books in their arms. The taller of the two was the one who had spoken, and she had her gaze fixed on the blond girl, the one she had just named as Silanya. The other girl behind her looked younger, with short, light-brown hair and blue eyes. She caught Aylin’s eye and gave a brief, small smile, which Aylin instinctively returned before ducking her head again. She did not want to draw any sort of attention, friendly or not.

But a glance in Silanya’s direction told her that her attention-avoiding luck was out. The girl's eyes were flashing, her anger mercifully directed for the moment at the newcomers. “Make a big deal about what, teacher’s girl?” she said carefully. “What will you do, report me?”

The girl’s eyes narrowed slightly. Then suddenly she turned, motioning to Aylin and the girl behind her. “Come on,” she said, “let’s go.” She threw a look over her shoulder. “Silanya just has to sit in that seat so she can be next to —”

“Shut up!” Silanya hissed venomously, but her furtive glance toward the boy seated in the row next to them betrayed the impact of the unfinished sentence.

Just as Aylin was wondering what she should do, the girl who had rescued her touched her arm lightly, drawing Aylin’s glance. “You can sit with us,” she said, her smile shining pleasantly in her green eyes, all traces of the altercation with Silanya disappeared. “Got plenty of empty seats, and we like new friends.”

Aylin looked around quickly, trying to think of a way to get out of this one, but the class had filled up, and the choices left were few, and quite possibly already claimed as well. So she just shrugged and said “Okay,” and followed the two girls to their own seats.

She quickly understood why the girl had mentioned plenty of empty seats. They sat down directly in the front of the room, only a few feet from the teacher’s stand. The whole first row was empty, and the students in the second row had twisted around in their chairs to carry on animated conversations with their friends behind them. She felt conspicuous as she slid into her seat, sensing acutely the pressure of so many eyes behind her.

The younger girl took a seat directly to Aylin’s left, and the tall girl chose the right. After setting down a rather large armful of books and flipping her long hair back, she gave Aylin another smile. “My name’s Laurina Merrick,” she introduced herself. “That’s Kymi Delante,” she said too, indicating the other girl.

As Aylin looked her way, Kymi lifted her fingers in a small wave. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Aylin said in reply, then, feeling that an introduction of her own was necessary, said: “I’m Aylin Ragka.”

Then the chimes rang to begin class, and Aylin fixed her gaze on the teacher. She did not see the quick glances that her new friends shot each other over her head.

Miss Wynell approached her desk, carrying a book that was identical to the one Kymi now opened in front of her. She had just finished scrawling Aylin’s name on the inside cover, and she set it on the desktop. “That’s for you, Aylin,” she said, “and you’ll need a notebook to take notes in.”

Kymi leaned over as soon as the teacher had moved away again. “I’ve got an extra notebook if you want one,” she whispered. “You can borrow all my notes for this section too. We shouldn’t have a test for a while, so you got lucky.” She grinned, and handed Aylin a gray notebook, after tearing out a couple of the first pages.

Aylin didn’t know what to say. “You don’t have to do that,” she said awkwardly.

Kymi grinned. “I know.” She shrugged. “But we’re friends.”

“Yeah.” Aylin tried once again to turn her attention to the teacher. Friends, then. She had not really wanted or asked for them, but here they were, for better or worse. Friends… it was a new concept. For a long time, her throat was tight as she thought of Arnham, and she had to blink to keep her eyes dry.

But she could not deny that the concept of friends was a welcome one. If Silanya’s malice was any indication, friends like Laurina and Kymi might be rare at the Pato Center.

Then the teacher began talking, and it was time to take notes on the paper Kymi had lent her. To Aylin’s surprise, she found the class quite intriguing. Her father had taught her the basics of interstellar and extragalactic astronomy out of a huge book, which had only been made slightly less boring through Draekel’s enthusiastic instruction, but this class was different, and, to Aylin’s surprise, interesting. Miss Wynell taught with examples and questions that made the students think through their responses, and she was always ready with a smile for the correct answer and guiding instruction for the wrong one.

Beside her, Kymi and Laurina rapidly scribbled notes in response to the teacher’s questions — in fact, they were the main ones asking and answering them, along with just a few other students, including the young brown-haired boy, Kaden.

Then the class was over, and the students abandoned their chairs and headed for the door at the first sound of the chime. Kymi and Laurina stood more slowly, gathering their books and papers. “What class do you have next?” Laurina asked as they headed toward the door.

Aylin was extremely glad she had asked. Here was her chance to ask for help in finding her way to the next classroom. She most certainly could not make it in five minutes without assistance. “Um…” she checked her schedule. “Mathematics, advanced level… with Master Morresley.”

Laurina’s eyes had lit up. “No really? Me too! So tell me, are you actually a new student here, or did you just switch up your schedule?”

“No, I’m new, since yesterday.”

The other girl’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Where did you come from?”

Aylin did not exactly feel like answering that one, so she hesitated, and, to her relief, in the quick pause Laurina broke in again with another question. “Are you here as a… um, as a first-year student, then?”

“Yes, well, mostly. I’m hoping to get into some advanced classes.”

“That is so cool.” Laurina looked genuinely excited. “Well I’m glad that for now we’re in at least these two classes together.”

“I’m not in that class,” Kymi put in from beside them. “But I’m still advanced. I’m in my second year, but I’m taking third year math.”

As it turned out, the next class was not far, in fact, it was just down the hall. It was emptying of the previous occupants — a thick stream of younger students, as Laurina and Aylin entered. The room was similar in appearance to the one they had just left, with the desks aligned the same way, but the walls held different posters and the teacher was a man.

He looked up as they entered and gave Laurina a warm smile. “Hello, Miss Merrick. Always glad to see you so early.” He noticed Aylin instantly. “Who’s your friend?”

Laurina gave Aylin a quick glance before replying. “This is Aylin Ragka, Master Morresley,” she said, carefully pronouncing her new friend’s name.

The teacher looked puzzled for just a moment, and glanced from Aylin to Laurina and back, his gray eyebrows raised, but then his smile spread once again across his face. “Aylin Ragka,” he said pleasantly, extending a hand. He was an older man, slightly older than her father, Aylin guessed, with graying brown hair and brown eyes. “Are you new?” he asked.

“Just came yesterday,” she said, hoping desperately that he wouldn’t ask —

“From where?”

She sighed a little. The easiest question to ask, of course, had to be the hardest to answer. “Mardoc,” she said simply.

She heard Laurina beside her give a little gasp. “Oh my,” she said softly, “you didn’t tell me. Are you here because of the —”

“Yes.” Her tone told them that she did not want to discuss it further, and they said no more.

“Well, we are glad to have you in our class, Miss Aylin,” Master Morresley said, breaking the tension. “I’m sure that Laurina can fill you in on what we’re studying.”

“You can sit with me again,” Laurina said matter-of-factly, and she directed Aylin to her seat. In the front, of course. Aylin sighed, beginning to wonder if she would always be sitting up here, on display for everyone who sat behind.

Laurina’s eyes were dancing. “Ooo, I can’t wait — I have to introduce you to everybody when they get here. Oh, I forgot — how old are you?”

Aylin had to think. She always got messed up when her birthday came around. Had it been only yesterday? It seemed so long ago. “Eighteen Standard.”

“Really? So am I. And so is Rynar, and Corleigh and Delvon, and, um… Harick too. This is great. Do you like the arenhol?”

“What?” The questions came so fast, she had to stop, think, remember… The arenhol, fighting with the ring and blade. “Oh, yeah, I do.”

“I absolutely love it. The others tease me all the time, but it’s so fun, and they tease me about everything else, too. What class do you have for the arenhol?”

Aylin pulled out the now-wrinkled schedule paper and handed it to her. “Here, you can make better sense out of it than I can.”

Laurina eagerly looked it over. “Oh, perfect! You’re in our arenhol class, at the end of the day. Let’s see…” she scanned the rest of the classes on the list. “Kymi’s in those two classes, and that one too… It looks like you’re only in three of my classes, but you’ve got a lot with Kymi and the others.” She handed the schedule back with a big smile. “I just love making new friends, and you don’t see many new people our age around here.”

“Yeah, I guess not.” Aylin’s mind was whirling, and she hoped it didn’t show on her face. Laurina’s enthusiasm was both catchy and draining, and the way that she switched topics without even taking a breath…

Just then, the noise outside the door intensified slightly in volume, and Aylin looked up as four young students entered, three boys and a girl, all about her age. The noise had resulted from a heated discussion between two of them, the girl with long, braided blond hair and determined blue eyes, and one of the boys, thin and tall, with red hair and a plaintive expression on his boyish face. “Come on, Corleigh, I won’t hurt it, I promise,” he was saying. “It’s a book, how much can I do to it anyway?”

“I’m sure you could find something, Finnolen Orrester,” the girl retorted. “I am not going to share my book with you just because you’re too lazy to walk down one hall back to your room to get yours. How are you ever going to remember to bring it if I help you every time you forget?”

By this time, they had reached the seats where Laurina and Aylin sat, and Laurina had stood up. “Hey everybody, this is Aylin.”

Four heads turned her direction, the argument was momentarily forgotten, and Aylin felt extremely awkward. She lifted a hand and smiled and waved.

Laurina began to introduce them. “This is Corleigh Krindelsten,” she said, pointing to the girl, who gave a friendly smile. “Finn” was the red-haired boy, “Delvon” stood beside him, with blond hair that was cut short enough to stick up straight and spiky. “Harick” was behind the others, and he gave an easy smile while observing her with bright brown eyes.

The names and faces melted into a blur in Aylin’s mind, but she smiled and nodded and generally did what was expected of her. The four newcomers took their seats behind Laurina and Aylin, and the argument went on.

“Please?” Finn tried one more time, but Corleigh shook her head. “Okay, fine,” he huffed. “I’ll just share with Harry, then,” he said, throwing an arm around the smaller boy’s shoulders.

Corleigh rolled her eyes, sighed, and took her seat next to Delvon. A few more students straggled in, and some of them waved or called to Laurina but they mostly sat on the other side of the room, and they were not separately introduced. Aylin was glad for that, as she already struggled just to remember the ones she’d been told.

Then suddenly Laurina was jumping up again. “Hey Rynar, Teren.” She gestured to Aylin, who also quickly stood to greet the two boys who had just entered. In surprise she caught the gaze of the taller of the two, a dark-haired boy with gray eyes, the same young guard she had met only a day earlier when she had found herself lost in the Center’s maze of corridors. He must be a student, then. For a moment, she briefly met his eye, then looked down again in embarrassment.

Laurina was introducing again, with enthusiasm. “Teren and Rynar, this is —”

“Aylin,” Teren said, interrupting to finish the sentence. He smiled and gave her a nod. “Hello.”

Laurina looked surprised, and glanced back and forth between them. “You two know each other?” she questioned.

“I met her yesterday,” Teren explained. To Aylin’s relief, he did not elaborate on the circumstances.

“Well that’s nice,” Laurina said. “She’s our age, and she’s in a lot of our classes.” She went on to talk amiably — about arenhol tournaments — with the other boy, Rynar, whose curly brown hair fell over his forehead so that he kept brushing it out of his eyes. They sat down again, Aylin beside Laurina, Rynar on Laurina’s other side, and Teren in the seat to Aylin’s right. Aylin gave him a quick, surprised glance, wondering why he sat there, and almost wishing he would sit somewhere else.

“Glad to see you found everything all right,” Teren said suddenly, in a low voice with an amused smile.

Aylin gave him a startled look. “Oh… yeah. Thanks.” She was glad that the teacher had moved to the front of the class; her tangled tongue warned that she would not be very good at making idle conversation.

Master Morresley managed to rather effectively hush the noisy class. “If you have the assigned work ready from yesterday,” he was saying, “or any other late work you need to turn in” — here he sent a few pointed looks around the class — “pass it to the front, please.” There was a loud shuffling of papers as the students moved to comply, as well as a general increase in the amount of hushed noise. “Without the talking, please,” he said then, and things became a degree quieter.

When the lecture began, Aylin found herself scrambling to keep up. She just barely managed to scrawl down one major point before Master Morresley had moved on to the next one. The teaching was material she had learned before, but she found it difficult to follow this teacher’s rapid style, without the careful explanations and discussions she had become so accustomed to under her father’s tutoring. Now the whole class around her moved as a body, struggling to grasp the concepts, and if anyone straggled it would be difficult to catch up. She did take comfort, however, in the fact that beside her Laurina was also scribbling rapidly to keep up, with her bottom lip between her teeth and her brow wrinkled in concentration. Again, Laurina and her group of friends were the ones asking and answering a large majority of the questions.

Aylin decided that she liked Master Morresley, despite the difficulty of keeping up with the class. His face wore an ever-present and easy smile, and he would often lean upon his stand and stare thoughtfully at the students, asking them carefully worded questions until they answered for themselves those that they had just asked.

She left that class with directions from Laurina for how to get to her next one — marksmanship with a Miss Allister — trying to match up the names she had been given with the faces she had seen, and with hopes rising in her heart that perhaps she could survive here after all, maybe even be happy. The thought made her heart ache with both sorrow and deep longing.

Her next class was enough to crush her hopes almost completely.