THE APPLE OF SNAKES

xliv. tested waters

Every year, the midterms and final exams for Taayir's class had been different. There was no way to predict what they were until they were doing them. Nerluce hadn't been expecting anything less.

But he also wasn't expecting to sit in a room for this long.

Taayir had come into class late, stood up front until they were all quiet, and then called a name and walked out of the class with that student. They all sat, quiet and waiting, not sure if this was a part of the test or not. It seemed like it could be. Taayir was rather unorthodox. However, nothing ever happened. Taayir just came back in, stood until they were all quiet, and called the next person out.

"Come on angel, you gotta know something," Nerluce whined, draping himself over Aristide's desk. "Are you taking the test?"

"I don't know," Aristide said.

Which was the same answer he'd given to all of Nerluce's other questions. He didn't know where the students were going. He didn't know what the test was. He didn't know which order they were going in. He didn't know why they were waiting or what was with all the mystery. Just as Aristide had said, he didn't know anything. Or at the very least he wasn't going to tell Nerluce anything.

Nerluce groaned, setting his head on Aristide's desk. Corbett, across from him, scoffed.

They'd been waiting for a while now and there weren't all that many people left. Lyana and Hamelin were two of the first to leave and now Eko had been pulled as well. The only two people Nerluce had left to talk to were Corbett and Aristide and a girl whose name he didn't even know in the back of the class. 

"Just give it up, Nerluce," Corbett said. "Why are you even worried? You'll fail either way."

"Maybe I'm worried for your sake," Nerluce snapped, shooting the yellow-haired boy a pointed glare.

Corbett glared right back.

He was... different from the rest of Nerluce's friends. He wasn't nearly as frigid as Aristide - he seemed to actually want to talk to people most of the time but... he still had thorns. Eko said that Corbett was like a cactus. Nerluce hadn't known what the spined desert plant was before Eko explained it to him, but he found it a rather fitting metaphor.

"You both ought to conserve your strength," Aristide scolded. "Take this time to focus." He flicked Nerluce. "You need it."

Nerluce huffed.

Taayir came in again and they fell silent quickly. There was hardly anyone left. Taayir took the girl and left. That meant there was only Corbett, Nerluce, and possibly Aristide, though no one knew if he was taking the test or not. Sometimes he did, sometimes he was just Taayir's assistant.

"I wish they'd given us the order," Corbett grumbled under his breath. "Would be a lot easier to focus if I knew when I was going. Or what I was focusing on."

Aristide turned his head, long lashing gazing curiously at Corbett. Nerluce frowned slightly. Aristide never seemed very interested in anyone or anything. What about Corbett could have possibly drawn his attention? 

"Have you ever fought before?"

The question caught both Nerluce and Corbett off guard. Corbett scrambled to find his composure, not expecting to be spoken to. "Um- I... no, Head Disciple. I have not."

"In battle..." Aristide turned his head slowly as though he was thinking very carefully about what he was going to say, "In battle, you don't always know what you're supposed to be focusing on. There will always be unknowns. And your enemies won't always let you pick the time of your fights." He leaned his head onto his hand. "That is something you will only learn outside of the planning tents."