Dormin nodded. “Snuck in at night. Watched the guards for a while to time their routes. Talked to Sonoforen—Heth, as he now calls himself—then snuck back out again.”
“And no one but your brother saw you?”
“I guess not.”
Yung breathed out. “Remarkable skills, indeed! Dormin, do you realize how hard it is to get in and out of the Command School dormitory? To be on campus and not be stopped?”
“No one cares about rubbish men,” Dormin explained. “I figured that was the best way to slip in and out.”
Yung had a smile tugging at both ends of his mouth. “Very remarkable, Dormin. Sometimes our skills lie in what we’ve learned, but other skills are natural. I think we’ve found your natural ability.”
“Great,” Dormin rolled his eyes. “I’m good at taking out the rubbish and sneaking in to talk to my brother who cares nothing for me. What’s the point, Rector? I know you keep telling me this life is a test, but I’m failing it. I’ve got no more family—at least, none that cares about me—no friends, and no one that would even notice if didn’t exist. In fact, I can think of one or two older men who’d be happy to hear I was no longer alive so I won’t pose any threat to their rule. I just take up space, Rector. I’m even a waste of that space. I’m rubbish, too.”
Rector Yung couldn’t help himself. He leaned over and embraced Dormin.
Dormin’s chin trembled, but finally he put his arms around the rector and squeezed him back.
“You are a son of the Creator, Dormin,” Rector Yung whispered, “and that’s far more significant than being descended from some old kings.”
“Thanks,” Dormin murmured.
Rector Yung released him a moment later. “You’ve lived such a narrow existence that you simply don’t know all there is to know. Well, I know of something you can do, something amazing to match your remarkable skills. But I warn you, this may take some time.”
“Time is what I’ve got plenty of, Rector,” the young man mumbled. “No gold or silver or home or food or purpose, but plenty of time.”
“Time is the most valuable gift the Creator gives us, Dormin. Trust me.”
He shrugged. “So what can I do?”
“You will stay with us, Dormin, as our hired hand,” Yung decided. “No one here knows you or your heritage. We can say you’re our nephew. As scruffy as you appear right now, not even your mother would’ve recognized you. You can work for us, we’ll feed and house you, and during our evenings, I’ll teach a few things. Things you’ve never imagined. But how long this takes depends on your response to one question.”
Dormin eyed the rector suspiciously. “All right. I guess I would be foolish to reject your offer.”
“If ever you don’t want to continue, Dormin, you are free to leave,” Yung assured him. “I’m not forcing you, just giving you an option. You’ll not be a prisoner in my house.”
“A prisoner,” Dormin whispered with growing dread. “How did you know about that?”
“Your family may think they kept quiet the fact that for three generations they enslaved their servants, but Dormin, word has way of trickling out of even the most tightly kept houses,” Yung whispered back. “Just know that I know, and I’d never treat you in such a way.”
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Dormin said apologetically. “And I’m grateful for the offer. Actually, I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be than with you and Mrs. Yung. She makes the best biscuits.”
“That she does!” Rector Yung said, sniffing the air that was already filling with the scents of breakfast.
“So,” Dormin said, clapping his hands on his legs. “What’s your question?”
Rector Yung studied him. “Dormin, what color is the sky?”
“Blue,” he answered automatically. He didn’t even glance out the window at the blazing orange that leaked into the room, tingeing everything around them in a carroty hue. “Everyone knows that.”
Rector Yung glanced out the window at the ignored evidence and sighed.
“Dormin, you’re going to be enjoying my wife’s cooking for a very long time. But that’s all right. That’s why we’re here.”
---
A full moons’ period after his brother’s late night visit, Lieutenant Heth left his last class, marched out onto the greens of the campus, and over a slight rise at the edge of it. The cool Harvest Season air showed his breath as he walked. A few minutes later he strode down the gentle hillside and over to the massive Administrative Headquarters. He kept his cap down low over his eyes, marched up the white stone stairs, and through the grand entrance doors.