Énouement

Chapter Thirty Five

It hadn't occurred to me that with Ender's first win, he'd also eat in the commanders mess hall now. And I couldn't join him. I played with my food and took small bites methodically as the boys laughed around me. Hot Soup, Crazy Tom, Vlad, Fly Molo, and I were at our own table with the army surrounding us. A lot of the other armies were staring at us, some impressed while others glared. I sighed and placed my chin onto my palm. I was so lost in my train of thought it took me a minute to notice the boys had stopped laughing.

"You alright there, Miss America?" Vlad called out.
"Huh?" I looked around. The boys were all staring at me concerned. "Oh um, yeah I just, well..." I trailed off. I wanted so badly to confide in them, but what good would it do. My feelings of being separated from Ender wouldn't mean anything to them. They'd just feel bad for me, and I didn't need that. I bite my lip and looked back up, ready to dismiss their concern, but they were looking behind me. I squealed in surprise as I felt a hand rest atop my head and someone lean down to my ear. "Come with me." I pouted as he stood back up straight and nodded to the boys. "Excuse me while I borrow your goddess." I blushed and stood up from the table before smacking his shoulder.
"Alai!" I rolled my eyes and took his hand. I could hear sounds of protest coming from the boys but Tom and Hot Soup shushed them all.

"But you can't just let her-"
"We don't even know him-"
"Why is she just-"
"Ender will kill us!"

"You dull bobs!" I didn't stay to hear them explain who Alai was. I walked with Alai out of the mess hall and into an empty corridor. I let go of his hand and turned my back to him.

"Tori?" I hmm'ed back at him, clasped my hands behind my back, and walked forward on my tip toes. I heard him sigh. "You gonna tell me what's wrong?" I swung my arms out and twirled softly on the tips of my toes.

"I was so happy for him, when we won. I didn't realize he'd be going to the commander's mess right away. I didn't realize I'd be away from him..."
"And you've never been away from him." I dropped my arms and my shoulders sagged.
"No," I whispered. "Not really. And I have this feeling like its going to get worse.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

It was the seventh day after the seventh battle that Ender sat in Colonel Graff's office. Alone, he stared at the man in front of him.

"Seven days since your first battle Ender. And you've won seven battles, one a day. And your scores are unusually high too." Ender blinked. "To what, commander, do you attribute your remarkable success."

"You gave me an army that does whatever I can think of it to do."
"And what have you thought of it to do?"

"We orient downward toward the enemy gate and use our lower legs as a shield. We avoid formations and keep our mobility. It helps that I've got five toons of eight instead of four often. Also, our enemies haven't had time to respond effectively to our new techniques, so we keep beating them with the same tricks. That won't hold up for long."

"So you don't expect to keep winning?"
"Not with the same tricks." Graff nodded.
"Sit down, Ender."

Ender and Anderson both sat. Graff looked at Anderson, and Anderson spoke next. "What condition is your army in, fighting so often?"

"They're all veterans now."
"But how are they doing? Are they tired?"
"If they are, they won't admit it."
"Are they still alert?"
"You're the ones with the computer games that play with people's minds. You tell me."
"We know what we know. We want to know what you know."

"These are very good soldiers, Major Anderson. I'm sure they have limits, but we haven't reached them yet. Some of the newer ones are having trouble because they never really mastered some basic techniques, but they're working hard and improving. What do you want me to say, that they need to rest? Of course they need to rest. They need a couple of weeks off. Their studies are shot to hell, none of us are doing any good in our classes. But you know that, and apparently you don't care, so why should I?" Graff and Anderson exchanged glances.

"Ender, why are you studying the videos of the bugger wars?"
"To learn strategy, of course."
"Those videos were created for propaganda purposes. All our strategies have been edited out."
"I know." Graff and Anderson exchanged glances again. Graff drummed on his table.

"You don't play the fantasy game anymore," he said. Ender didn't answer. "Tell me why you don't play it."

"Because I won."
"You never win everything in that game. There's always more."
"I won everything."
"Ender, we want to help you be as happy as possible, but if you--"

"You want to make me the best soldier possible. Go down and look at the standings. Look at the all-time standings. So far you're doing an excellent job with me. Congratulations. Now when are you going to put me up against a good army?" Graffs set lips turned to a smile, and he shook a little with silent laughter.

Anderson handed Ender a slip of paper. "Now," he said.

BONZO MADRID, SALAMANDER ARMY, 1200

"That's ten minutes from now," said Ender. "My army will be in the middle of showering up after practice." Graff smiled. "Better hurry, then, boy." Ender turned to leave. "Oh, one more thing Ender." Ender turned back, but Graff's smile was gone and replaced with a grimace as he held out another paper. "Give this to Victorie."

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

We were lounging in the barracks. Most were dressing after their showers; some had already gone to the game room or the video room to wait for lunch when Ender came to the doorway. He sent three younger boys to call everyone in, and made everyone else dress for battle as quickly as we could.

"This one's hot and there's no time," Ender said. "They gave Bonzo notice about twenty minutes ago, and by the time we get to the door they'll have been inside for a good five minutes at least." The boys were outraged, complaining loudly in the slang that they usually avoided around the commander. What they doing to us? They be crazy, neh?

"Forget why, we'll worry about that tonight. Are you tired?"
Fly Molo answered. "We worked our butts off in practice today. Not to mention beating the crap out of Ferret Army this morning."

"Same day nobody ever do two battles!" said Crazy Tom.
Ender answered in the same tone. "Nobody ever beat Dragon Army, either. This be your big chance to lose?"

Ender's taunting question was the answer to their complaints. Win first, ask questions later. All of us were back in the room, and most of were dressed. "Move!" shouted Ender, and we all got ready to run. "Not you Tori." I faltered in my steps as Ender stopped me. The other toon leaders stopped short and stared at Ender as he held out a small piece of paper towards me, his face blank.
"What's this Ender?" I questioned as I took it in my hand. The paper slipped and fell onto the floor, and I stared at it in shock as the words glared up at me.

TRANSFER --- VICTORIE SOPHRONIA --- SIREN ARMY --- COMMANDER --- 1200

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Hey guys! So I'm going to tweak the timeline by adding a couple of weeks, just so I can do my plot. We're almost out of the battle school arc! I'm so excited :D thank you @jaydonlondon and @havensnowmalfoy for commenting!

Comment and vote please ❤️