Mass release: 5/15
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"Aren't you going to ask why we are here?" The bald guy asked me.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"They separated us in groups of 12, we're now in 74 groups!" Katos said.
"As expected," I sipped more rum. "So, we're the first 12 to cross it?"
"How do you know that?" Elias asked excitedly, writing with magic.
"I studied," rolling my shoulders nonchalantly, I took another sip of my drink, feeling it's high levels of alcohol warm me, but not quite enough yet.
Unfortunately, I cannot get drunk.
My attention shifted to Katos, "You are the 1st, from me to Davalyn where the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th. That leaves those six as the 2nd to 7th, forming the top 12 and hence the first of the 74 groups, all to be under the 16 wing leaders that form the top of year 3, setting a leader within the 1st years that will answer directly to the wing leader responsible for us. By how you are all around me, and I'm reasonably the strongest with Katos next, you probably picked me."
"We did!" Rakhad giggled softly. "You are smart and powerful, and you are also anything-proof, it would be dumb not to pick you."
"That was a horrible decision," I scoffed.
"You were born to be a leader, it was the best decision!" Percy exclaimed.
Sigh, "I already know the dwarf here, what are your names?" I asked them.
"I'm Kirstne Rashmiya," the monolid eyed girl with short hair said. "She is Laranette Deep-Raed," she pointed to the black girl with quartz pink eyes. "They are Fjorrod Iron-Fur, Mordyval Hawkhart, and Edwistyr Degaine," she pointed respectively to bearded boy, bald boy, and small eyebrows boy. "But you call us Kirsty, Lara, Fjor, Mordy, and Wistyr," they all nodded in agreement.
"Call me Albie," Rakhad told me, "short for Alberich, my middle name."
"And call me: Eli!" Elias joined in dramatically.
"Kirsty was 2nd, Albie was 3rd, Lara was 4th, Mordy was 5th, I was 6th, and Fjor was 7th, in the order we crossed the damned bridge," small eyebrows boy said.
I took more three spoonfuls of the stew, nodding. "Katos, Kirsty, Albie, Lara, Mordy, Wistyr, Fjor, me, Barbie, Percy, Sage, and Davalyn."
"Just Dava," she told me.
"Dava, then. Who is our wing leader?" I asked, but I cringed when all of them visually tensed and shared weird looks. "Fuck, it's Velothren, isn't it?"
"He's the leader of Wing 1, the top 1 of year 3," Albie told me.
I cursed, "Why did you put me in this position? Why not pick Katos as leader?"
"Oh, hell no," he groaned. "I don't want to answer to him. We would all rather answer to you instead, and you were born and raised to be a leader."
"So, you decided to make me the one to answer to him?" I hissed stressed.
"We… didn't think that far," Dava groaned.
"Big thing coming from a Mercier!"
She flinched, "I'm not like my family, Grace. I didn't want that future."
"What?" I frowned. "You wanted to be a rider?"
"Yes, it's always been my dream. I hate studying," she growled.
"Are any of you smart?" I asked them, profoundly annoyed. "Katos?"
"Uh, I'm not book smart, I am more physical, I don't like studying."
Groaning, I covered my face with both hand, "Shit," I stared at them again, finding Elias with his hand up. "You do not count, you are not allowed to actually interfere with us, even less to help us, you're only allowed to transcribe history, what you see happening. He doesn't count here," I groaned. "Any of you?" I asked the new kids, knowing that Sage is helpless, Barbie is dumb, Dava is surprisingly stupid, and Percy is low key the smartest of them and not that much.
The six of them blushed, "Nope."
An anxious laughter left me, "Percy, did you the general mental test?" A test every citizen of the Empire takes at 18, it helps getting jobs.
"Yes," he chanted.
"What was your score from 0 to 1000?"
"763," he sipped his beer.
"Given how the average cut is 580, that was a nice score," sigh.
"How much did you score?" Katos asked.
"1000," I passed my right hand over my head.
"You aced the the GMT?" Sage very much screamed.
I cringed, "Great, now everyone here knows, thanks dwarf."
"You aced it!" The idiot lowered his voice, still shocked.
"Of course, I did. I'm a Madalverel," I scoffed.
"Were… were your siblings also smart?" Kirsty asked me.
I couldn't help the loud cackle that left me, "Oh? No. They were not, at all, they hated studying. But their schedule was always better, freeing, they could do want they wanted in the palace, I couldn't. I had duties and they weighted on me since I was old enough to walk and speak, which I did early. They were all more dreamers than me, my sight was set in becoming the Empress and not letting a jerk that claimed to be my mate steal away my rightful place as the supreme ruler of the Donaar Empire, like my father did to my mom, and so did all the mates of my late ancestors like my maternal grandmother. My hands were tied."
"You also were no allowed to meet males," Sage added.
"What?" Dava gasped. "Was that true."
"Yes, I was not," I nodded. "No one but my younger siblings, my father, my grandparents, the members of the council, and you," I pointed to Sage. "Dad only allowed me to meet you because you're not my type in any way. All to avoid me from having any affair," my words left a bad taste in my mouth. "That didn't end very well and my first rebellious moment brought doom to the Madalverel."
"It wasn't your fault, Grace," Katos exclaimed.
"Sure was," I mumbled haunted, finishing the stew and going for the rice pudding, a sweet one, which is why I reserved it to have as dessert. "Sage?"
"Yes?" I felt his eyes on me, but I kept mine on the pudding.
"Don't cause trouble to me now that we're in the same group, got it?" He took too long to answer and I glared at him. "Got it?"
He clenched his jaw, "I still don't like you."
"We are even on that, but if you backstab me or our group,"
"I won't!" He said firmly. "I'm not my father, Disgrace."
"That remains to be seen, I don't trust your bloodline."
"Loyalty is important to me, care you believe it or not," he snapped.
"Prove it to me and I'll believe it. But keep it in mind that if you betray me or our group, I'll give you a taste of what your father did to me. It's a promise!" I hissed purposely menacingly and he swallowed but nodded firmly.