Ender's War

Chapter 27 - Snakes and Strawberries

Piercing blue eyes sparkled as they followed the floating figures with intense interest. Flashes of orange light reflected off of dark irises, creating an ethereal glow every time one of the figures came close enough to the window.

Peter watched carefully, analyzing every bit of tactical information from the launchies as they carted Valentine around as if she were a princess. The exercise looked stupid. More than stupid, it was absolutely ridiculous, but Peter understood the purpose before it had even begun. His darling little brother had created this 'drag around the Valentine' as a way to prepare the soldiers for the inevitable dragging around of their comrades on the battle field. If it were anyone else, Peter would have commended them for their insight, but Ender certainly didn't need anymore praise. As far as Peter was concerned, Ender had already gotten enough of that for a lifetime.

He could see that Valentine was struggling. It wouldn't be obvious to someone who didn't know her as well as he did, yet her feet instinctually kept attempting to find a foothold where there was none. It was something that Peter had found himself doing his first time in the battle room a few days prior. He had lengthily argued in favour of his own training, expressing that he would be better equipped if he was allowed to train in the same environment as the others. Graff had begrudgingly given him clearance but only during the most unaccommodating hours of the night. Peter was certain that the old man did that to spite him.

A fairly skinny child glided along the one way glass, creating a screeching sound that made Peter shudder and insult the soldier under his breath. He had seen more than enough of that particular snot since the exercise started, and was growing tired of the child's obviously evasive technique. That kid won't be any good to anyone out on the field. I wouldn't trust him to have my back in any situation, the dodgy little shit. Peter made a mental note to himself to trip that one at the beginning of the mission if he happened to be unfortunate enough to be in the same team.

The annoying distraction prevented Peter from watching a brown haired girl deliver Valentine to Ender in the cluster of stars he was so dutifully lounging in. Of course, during the one time Peter had managed to sneak away from his tactical meetings to observe his little brother at work, he had just sat on his ass the entire time. Typical. Though, as the battle room began to clear out, Peter noticed that only half of the soldiers were leaving. The other half, including Ender were gathering in a circle in the middle of the room. Maybe this little excursion would be worth the wait after all.

Drills upon drills later, Peter wondered if Ender was ever going to do anything. As far as he could tell, his little brother was simply verbalizing what the soldiers were to do. There were no demonstrations, no walk throughs, or examples. Just words. Peter wanted to groan. He almost did. After everything he had heard about the Great Ender Wiggin, nobody had prepared him for how utterly boring he would be. And Peter had been too busy with planning his brother's downfall that he didn't realize how...mundane everything in Ender's world was. How odd.

He was just about to consider cutting his losses when a voice cut through his thoughts.

"If you're waiting for something amazing to happen, I wouldn't bother. Ender was told to take it easy after getting out of the hospital. Same as you."

Peter chuckled. "You don't think I figured that out by now?"

"Oh I do." The figure made their way out from the shadows of the corridor, and sat beside Peter on the lone bench he was seated at. "I just thought I would remind you."

"How thoughtful. And here I thought my little sister had forgotten all about me." Peter turned his head and was met with Valentine's intense stare. She was still wearing the Dragon army flash suit, but the helmet was no where to be found.