Got it.
That was probably his way of saying that I can forget about having special status and that I needed to remember my place in the Citadel's hierarchy, which, despite my medal, was right at the bottom.
"I can't wait for conditioning tomorrow," Alar muttered, and there was no sarcasm in his tone.
Maybe he was eager to release some of the nervous energy we'd accumulated over the last three days with the grueling conditioning, and so was I, just in a different and much more pleasant manner.
It had been difficult to wait for something to happen, not knowing when and where the blow would come from, and it had gotten much worse after the assassination attempt, when our suspicions had been proven to be true.
I was a threat to those plotting against Elucia, whether without or within, and I had to assume that more attempts on my life would come. Maybe they wouldn't happen today or tomorrow, but at some point, they would, and I needed to prepare for them.
Having a weapon would be a good start, and that was one of the things I'd discussed with Ravel during our flight back to the Citadel.
Cadets weren't permitted to carry handguns or even knives, but Ravel was going to ask that an exception be made in my case. I'd suggested that Alar and I move in together, and that he be given a weapon as well, but Ravel hadn't been too keen on that idea. He'd said that he would discuss it with the head of the Dragon Academy and let me know.
When I finished telling all that to Alar, he perked up. "That was excellent thinking, Kailin. I'm much better trained than Shovia, and I will defend you with my life."
"So would she." I leaned toward him and kissed his cheek. "But thank you for saying that. I will defend you with my life as well. You know that, right?"
He nodded. "I know, and with all of your emerging powers, you'd probably do a better job of defending me than I would of defending you."
"That's not true. You are much stronger and faster than I am."
He chuckled. "But you can see the future before it happens. I have nothing on that."
"Kailin!" Shovia barreled into me with enough force to knock me back a step, wrapping me in a fierce hug. "Thank Elu, you're back. I was going nuts without you." She turned to Alar. "I missed you, too, just not as much. Codric, on the other hand, was inconsolable."
"I was not." Codric enveloped Alar in a brotherly embrace. "But I'm glad you are back. We have so much to tell you."
Alar took a step back. "What happened?"
Codric glanced at Morek, then shifted his gaze to the other cadets who were walking toward us, probably intending to welcome us back as well. "Let's talk in Shovia and Kailin's room."
"In a moment." I smiled at the other cadets.
They seemed more relaxed around me than they had been in the first days after the attack on Podana, and I wondered ifthe medal had anything to do with that. Maybe they'd realized that I was not a threat, or maybe they had liked my one-sentence speech about the medal belonging to all the defenders of Podana.
No one liked a braggart.
I exchanged greetings, shook hands, and smiled a lot, and then Alar and I followed our friends to the room.
The five of us arranged ourselves wherever we could find a place to sit. Shovia insisted that I sit next to her on her bed because she'd missed me, so Codric and Alar sat on my bed while Morek grabbed a chair. The space felt smaller with all of us in it, and it was charged with the anxious energy of anticipation.
"So, what happened?" Alar asked.
Shovia waved her hand at Codric. "You tell it."
That was surprising. Usually, she liked to be the center of attention, and I wondered why she preferred for Codric to tell the story.
"We did some research in the library archives," he said. "And we found intriguing patterns in rider deaths going back forty years. There might have been more, but we were kicked out by Captain Odinah before we could go through the older journals."
I lifted a hand. "Hold on a sec. First, how did you get into the library? And second, what journals?"
Shovia smirked. "It was my idea to go to the library. I thought I could charm the librarian into telling us some of the juicy gossip that was circling around the Citadel and that the military types were not going to share with first-year cadets. But as usual, things worked out differently than I planned. Morek asked the guy about the journals of the first riders. The librarian said that the information was restricted, but he took us to the archives, where the journals of all deceased riders were stored. It turns out that each rider has a journal, not only with their entries, butalso with comments from their instructors, commanders, fellow riders, and so on. Each also has the cause of death listed."
"Interesting." I shifted a few inches away from Shovia so I could look at her face. "It would seem that I was ahead of the game with my journaling."
Shovia's eyes widened. "I haven't thought of that. What if you are a reincarnated rider?"
