"Did you say District Rhubarb?"
Imre nodded absentmindedly at his father's inquiry.
"I've never been there myself but-"
"Oh! Let me get the - the - thing!" Harvey leapt up from his seat on the tube and scurried to the detachable information device near the door. Bringing it back to his father and brother, Harvey opened the general introduction to Rhubarb.
"District Rhubarb is a quaint marketplace that houses a network of merchants, herbalists and craftsmen. A grand variety of goods and services from all over the Empire can be found here, attracting many people for its unique barter and exchange system, Rhubarb has been likened to an open bazaar from ancient Earth…"
Opening up a map, that momentarily frightened the brothers as it burst out of the interface, Harvey scoured the 3D model of the District for a place to eat lunch.
"There's some really good reviews for this one and this one."
Imre lightly tapped Harvey's back, on the space between his shoulders, indicating for him to correct his posture and move the device further away from his face.
"I want to go to the food street. It will have a lot of different foods since the District is so multicultural."
"Yeah! Let's do that actually. We will go through the whole street and try a little of everything! Can we, dad?"
"Sounds like a plan. It's not too far from Mr Asoka's shop either."
Naturally, Harvey's plan to consume the whole food street did not come to fruition, there were just too many stalls. Nonetheless, as the family of three strolled towards their next destination, holding their full stomachs, Harvey vowed to defeat the food street the next time they came.
Imre consulted the map that he had downloaded from the tube information centre, to ensure they were heading the right way. Harvey held Imre's wrist and brought it to his eye level to also see the map on Imre's BrainCell, and steered them in the opposite direction. Harvey was very aware of his older brother's constant battle with direction and didn't trust him to get them to Asoka's shop, and rightfully so since they had exited the wrong way from the food street following Imre's directions. Imre patted Harvey's head, expressing his helplessness with the gesture.
"Are you happy with the syllabus that the school's got for you?"
"Yeah, I mean they did all they could with how little Teacher Adley gave them. Apparently, well I didn't know, that it's not uncommon for students to have separate apprenticeships before they start courses. So they decided I'll mainly follow the study groups in the upper course that have also done apprenticeships, but I have to attend four hours of intermediate every week and pass the semester exams."
"I was surprised that they were so flexible settling Harvey's own course."
"I would have expected it, dad. Harvey is considered very ahead of everyone else his age, in mech design, and is really talented. I would even say that he can be top in the field in the future, and not a far-future either."
"Don't boost his ego, Imre." Theodore side-eyed Harvey's smug smile that curved from ear to ear.
"I think Harvey has a right to that ego though, really. He works so hard, incredibly hard, and his works have a creativity and innovation that can't be learnt at his age."
Harvey could no longer hold in his gleeful giggle, that had a hint of insanity mixed in.
"But it's not that many students have apprenticeships before starting courses, the students that Ms Lee mentioned are more than likely from wealthy families that can afford these apprenticeships and they have already completed the beginners and intermediate courses so Mentors would be more willing to take them on."
Theodore frowned, "Will Harvey be able to keep up?"
"I will. Definitely. Don't worry, dad. I'm not going to waste such a good opportunity. Levgardian is the best choice for Mecha related courses."
"I did some research before you both came, to get a feel for the schools that you could be assigned to but Levgardian was…"
Harvey laughed at his dad's confused expression, "Yeah, it started as an elevator school for Green Cultivation and then turned into one for Mecha design, engineering and military units. The education package had a bit of the history of the school, plus I did some research on my BrainCell, and apparently, Levgardian was considered the third-best school for military-based education. That is after all the schools were forced to convert to teaching mecha and military courses. I think Levgardian is one of the schools that adapted the best to the sudden change, mainly because of the current Dean, it's just that the perception of the school by the public is not that great especially since its achievements are shadowed by the schools that the previous Emperor funded, especially since all the strong Evolved traits that were scouted were forced to go to those schools. In fact, the current Emperor's Left-Marshal and a lot of the military's Mecha engineers graduated from Levgardian."
Imre shot a look at Harvey and raised one of his eyebrows.
"It happened yesterday night. That's why I looped this morning." Harvey kept on looking straight as he answered Imre's unspoken question.
"Did you at least get some decent sleep?"
"Yeah, I crashed pretty soon." Seeing Imre open his mouth, Harvey quickly interrupted him, "You're dealing with your own Evolved trait and it's so much worse than mine right now so I thought it's just better for you to get some sleep."
"Mmm. Thank you. Whenever you need to talk to somebody you know dad and I are always here."
Theodore felt a little lost listening to his sons help each other out. A deep sense of shame, hollowing out his stomach, emerged as he realised his own lack of understanding and care for his children.
"You fell into your Evolved trait?"
"Yeah, it's not that bad, dad. Don't look so concerned. After reading the education package I was just hell-bent on finding out more and more about the school."
"Anyway, what did you think of the Commander-in-Chief?" Imre watched Harvey's expression discreetly as he waited for his answer.
"Ah, Vincent's cool. Turn left here."
Theodore almost tripped at his youngest son's first name basis with the Commander, shaking in fear as he glanced around.
"He's very supportive of what I want to do, and it's nice to have someone to talk to about my Evolved trait."
"That's it over there?" Theodore looked sceptically at the storefront; the painted door and window frames had faded from its vibrant red into a sickly intestinal pink, from what he could tell from the small amount of paint that had not chipped away.