Énouement

Chapter Eleven

We had to go to one of the public areas to pick up the color code. It wouldn't be available here because it never needed to be. All the older kids would be finished with dinner soon, and we don't want to go near the mess hall. Ender decided he wanted to go to the game room instead. I wasn't about to go to Salamander army by myself, so I really had no choice but to follow him.

I guess none of the other games appeal to him, because Ender went to the public desks at the back of the room and signed onto his own private game. He went to fairyland. I didn't want to see what he would do to the body of the giant, or what he had already done to the body. So instead I walked up to the arcade games and played alone, until Ender was ready to go.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye, reading his face. Whatever game Ender was playing, I didn't want to. I didn't want to see it. Suddenly my screen went black and a message appeared.

REPORT TO YOUR COMMANDER IMMEDIATELY. YOU ARE LATE. GREEN GREEN BROWN.

By the looks of it, Ender had gotten the same message as me. He looked angry, scary even. I walked over to him and smiled as I softly took his hand. My smile did nothing to improve his mood, he just looked angry as he snapped off the desk and led me out of the room.

The color wall lit up the ribbon of green green brown. Ender touched it and followed as it lit up before him. I still held his hand, and followed behind him calmly. I didn't know what made him so angry. What the game had shown him or the fact that he had to stop playing it. I was glad that he had stopped though.

Armies were larger than launch groups, and the army barracks room was larger too. It was long and narrow with bunks on both sides; so long, in fact, that you could see the curvature of the floor as it bent upwards; part of the wall of battle school. We stood at the door, and a few boys glanced at us, but we didn't keep their focus. It was like they didn't even see us.

They just kept on their conversations, lying, and leaning on bunks. They we're discussing battles, of course - the older boys always did. That's all there was to talk about here. They're all so much larger than Ender and I. 10 and 11-year-olds towered over us; even the youngest was eight, and Ender and I were quite small for our age.

I didn't know which was the commander, but most were somewhere between battle uniform and what the soldiers always call the sleep uniform - skin from head to toe. My mother would have a field day if she knew that they allowed male and female children to see each other nude on a daily basis.

A couple boys had desks out, but very few were studying. We stepped further into the room and the moment we did we were noticed.

"What do you want?" Demanded the boy who had the upper bunk by the door. He was largest of them. I noticed before, young guy and who had whiskers growing rapidly on his chin. Did they not teach the boys to shave in battle school?

"You're not salamander."
"We are now." I said. I really wasn't in the mood for these rude boys.

"We are supposed to be, I think," Ender always started out with politeness. He was always better meeting new people than I was. We took out our order papers and showed the boy, I'm guessing he was the door guard. He reached for it but Ender and I both put the papers of his reach.

"These are meant only for Bonzo Madrid." Ender said.

Now another boy joined the conversation, a smaller boy, but still way bigger than Ender or I.

"Not bahn-zoe, pisshead. Bone-so. The names Spanish. Bonzo Madrid. Aquinostrod ha lamps español, Señor Gran Fedor."

"I'm sorry, but we're six and white. In case you didn't notice. We don't speak Spanish." I rolled my eyes.
"Tori, your Greek. It's not that far from you." Ender tried to reason.
"And your Polish, but I don't talk to you in German!" I snapped.