Sang the Stray (Completed)

29. Ice Capades

As we walked past one of the other training rooms, two Setari turned and greeted North. One had blonde hair and happy blue eyes, the other was dark featured with a more serious expression.

"Hello, North," said the blonde in an easy manner, his companion merely nodded.

"Hi, Sang this is Corey," North introduced the blonde then pointed to the other and grunted, "Raven."

What Raven said next, I couldn't translate right away and had to go back and listen to later to decipher, however, I still did not quite understand what he was saying.

"You have a Little Ave now, South," the dark Raven commented. He had an accent to his Taren, not quite like Silas's, more guttural maybe. "I give Little Thief and Corey fruits. You need to borrow some, eh?"

"My name is North," is all North said.

"No, I from North, you live with Silas in south," Raven volleyed back.

North just shook his head and we continued down the hallway.

"What he mean from north?" I asked, passing another Setari that I could swear looked exactly like Corey. I even did a double-take.

"Ravenstahl is from North Kolar," he answered simply.

Some of the other Fourth Squad members joined us in the dining hall. I felt more nervous this time, since many of the Setari from other squads were shooting us looks, some surreptitiously and others opening staring. Thankfully, Fourth Squad provided an artificial buffer between me and the rest, at least for now. We reclaimed our secluded corner and ate fairly quietly. When it was time return the plates and utensils to the cleaner containers against the far wall, Silas and Nathan accompanied me, like two tall sentries by my side.

We were almost finished unloading our trays and I noticed the Fifth Squad members enter. Tsee Rockwell and Tsen Williams blazed in, the girl named Jade following closely. She scanned the room seeming to look for someone. She focused in on North's turned back and slunk his way. Silas cursed under his breath and moved to warn North. Nathan was balancing a few extra plates precariously and a cup tipped over covering him in klavi juice.

"Shit!" he said putting the other items down and bending to retrieved the cup which rolled away under a nearby table.

"Hey, Girlie," an oily voice drawled behind me. I turned and stumbled back a step. One of the Fifth Squad members was standing so close I could smell on his foul breath. He had a goatee, the first Setari I'd seen with any facial hair. "I'm Greg. You should ditch the pretty boys and I can show you my enhancement." He leered and started to reach for me. Faster than I could even blink, Greg was blasted to the wall, his torso and arms frozen in ice.

"Don't touch South's Ave," Raven growled from his seat at a table nearby. Nathan pulled me into his side and mumbled a thanks to Raven as we passed. Greg mouthed curses and soon Tsen Jay Willams was breaking him free of the wall.

Kota and the others stood stone-faced at the exit. "This is unacceptable. I've already submitted a grievance report to the Council. Tsur Duncan said they will review the incident and make a decision," Kota told us as we joined the group and headed back towards the training area.

"Fucking idiots," grumbled Gabriel, then added, "Ha! Can't wait to see how Raven's cryokinesis is affected by Sang's enhancement talent. I think I could watch Greg getting iced over and over again, fucking hilarious."

"Well, if we're lucky Fifth Squad will get assigned Tunnels Rotation for a kaone or two," Nathan said. A kaone is like a fortnight, fourteen kai, days. Tarens don't have week or month designations.