"I want the extra mixed-class lessons stopped!" Stevn yelled while pounding one fist on Krill's desk and pointing at Basque with his other.

Basque held his arms out. "They aren't new!"

"So? I want them stopped now."

"You should have objected months ago when they started."

"I'll object when I object! The lessons are creating divisions in my class!"

"I've checked the school rules, and there's nothing against students training with students from other classes during their free time."

Stevn rounded on Basque. "Yes, but a situation like this has never arisen before!"

"What situation?"

"Where students ignore the commands of their teacher!"

Krill raised his hand. "Master Stevn, please, calm yourself."

Class C's ruddy-brown-haired teacher snorted and pulled his coat straight. "That's easy for you to say, Deputy Headmaster. You aren't teaching a class that is being poisoned from the inside out."

"Please clarify for me. How is it being poisoned?" Krill asked, leaning forward and clasping his hands.

"And how are they ignoring your commands?"

"Basque!" Krill yelled.

Basque closed his mouth and held his hands up.

After giving Basque another glare, Stevn turned his gaze back to Krill. "Last evening, Miss Latiffany and Miss Emmah got into a verbal confrontation over the lessons and how close Miss Emmah is getting to the elevators. It's created a split in my classroom with those who agree with Miss Latiffany and the five students who go to Master Basque's extra lessons."

"It sounds to me like you just aren't doing your job as a teacher."

"Basque! One more interruption out of you and I'll send you into the hall while I make my decision."

Clamping his mouth closed, Basque frowned. He knew if he stepped out, the extra lessons would be done for.

"I've ordered the five dissenters not to attend training with Master Basque, as they are my students, not his, but they have refused thus far, using the claim that Master Basque so conveniently provided them—the teacher cannot dictate their free time."

Basque wanted to make a comment that the excuse wasn't convenient, just the truth, but kept his mouth shut.

Krill looked at Basque. "How many students from the other classes are showing up?"

"Fifteen from D, the five from C, and four from B."

"None from A?"

Julvie snorted. Basque looked at her. She stood behind Stevn with her arms folded under her breasts. Like always, she was decked out in nothing but pink.

"Master Harnel," Krill said, taking Julvie's snort as an answer to his question. "You've got the most kids going to these lessons. How is the cohesion in your class?"

Harnel scratched the back of his head. He looked at Basque, then shrugged. "I've not had any direct confrontations like Stevn has had, but I can feel a tension in the room."

"Master Tann?"

"I've scratched them from my rolls. I don't expect them to make it through the year."

Basque glowered at him.

"Don't you think that's a bit premature, Master Tann?" Krill's tone was droll.

He shrugged. "That's just how bad it's gotten in my class."

Basque clenched his teeth to keep his mouth closed. He wanted to reiterate that it was the teacher's job to maintain control in the classroom.

"Master Askar, this is your grade level. What do you suggest?"

The first-year's head teacher scratched his chin. "It is becoming a problem. I think we should forbid it."

"Forbid it?!" Basque said.

Ashkar looked at him. "I find this ironic coming from the man who locked his dorm hall for the first month of the school year."

"I locked the doors, but my students were not forbidden from leaving. Were they, Madam Julvie?"

Her eyes narrowed and her cheeks flushed. "No, they weren't."

"Enough," Krill said. "I've heard all the arguments. I'm sorry, Master Basque, but I'm going to side with the other teachers."

Basque pointed at Julvie. "Don't students from Class A train with students from Class B?"

Her response was slow. "They do…"

Basque looked at Harnel. "How about D? Don't you have some students that train with C?"

"Nobody is upset about that."

"Come on, Basque—!"

"Master Stevn, address your fellow teacher with respect," Krill warned.

"But—!"

"I don't want to hear it. Master Basque, this discussion is over. I will allow the teachers to use discretion."

"You mean discrimination! We all know that this will only go against my students in Class E!"

"We can't have disharmony in classes!" Stevn replied. Tann nodded behind him.

"Master Basque is correct. You need to create the harmony yourselves. That is part of your job."

"See! He's even stirring up disharmony here! That's why these Hianbrun bastards are here—!"

"Master Stevn! Enough!" Krill stood. "Keep your political theories out of the workplace. I am going to amend my decision. If you forbid your students from working out with Class E, you must forbid them from working out with all other classes." He stared at the Kruamian teachers.

Turning his gaze to Basque, Krill added, "However, congruent with that, all first-year teachers are now required to use the upperclass's training grounds for all personal workouts."

Basque understood Krill's game with the last addition. Basque had gotten around the early morning training session ban by "coincidentally" working out at the same time as his students and "answering questions" they might have about his particular exercises. Krill was trying to shut that off.

"I think that's a compromise we can all work with."

"Fine," Stevn said and stormed out of the teachers' room.

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The other teachers nodded and made their way out as well.

"Harnel!"

The large man lumbered down the hall towards the stairwell.

"Harnel."

He still didn't respond, so Basque ran up to him and flicked his ear. "Hey, fat bastard!"

At last, Harnel looked at Basque. "Hey, Basque."

"I thought you would have had my back in there."

Harnel shrugged. "It's not like I sabotaged you, either."

"It wasn't far off."

"Well, what do you want me to say? Lie that all my kids are happy about it? Tell you that I'm thrilled that over half my class is basically telling me I'm a shitty teacher?"

"Hey, Harnel, that's not—"

As they got to the end of the stairs and entered the first-year's classroom hall, Harnel stuck his arm out, forcing Basque to fall back behind him. "It's okay, I get it. Not only are you the greatest fighter I've ever seen, but also the greatest teacher. All hail the great Basque."

"Come on! Don't be like that!"

The large man didn't look back as he continued down the hall to his classroom. After watching him for half a second, Basque sighed and went into his room.

"Good morning, Gerenet-Shr!"

He looked out over his class. Every single face was looking at him. Every single student sat straight and ready to learn. Even Taraia sat straight and looked at him. "Good morning, class. I'm afraid I have some bad news."

Worry rippled through the class.

"I've just been told that the other teachers can forbid their students from training with other classes."

"Yani-shit!" Jame yelled.

"Jame!" his pod leader, Cayelyn, scolded him.

"Well, it's only been limited to training," Basque clarified.

"So, Emmah can still come hang out with us?"

"Yes, Medow."

"Oh!" Brealyne said. "We could empty out that one room and use that as a training room, couldn't we?"

"No!" Xav said.

Everyone looked at him.

He looked at Basque.

"It's not a secret, Xav."

"Gerenet-Shr's maid is living there."

"Sophia lives there?" Kamryn asked.

Reianna answered. "Sophia hasn't been Gerenet-Shr's maid in months. Yesenia. The girl with rose-gold hair."

"You guys know their names?" Jame asked.

"You don't?!" Taraia replied.

"No! It's still weird having someone wait on me like that! I don't like it."

"You should get used to it," Cayelyn told him. "You won't have time for housework and stuff after you graduate."

"Not like we have time for it now," Avae said.

"I love Justina," Dmi said.

"Who the Yani is Justina?" Kamryn asked.

"Our maid," Miya answered. "Dmi and Justina never shut up."

"Quiet, please." Basque ended their runoff conversation. "Jame, and any of you who don't know your maids or servants, you should get to know them. I've been told that they can go with you when you graduate."

The room exploded again.

Holding up one hand and putting two fingers from his other in his mouth, Basque whistled. "Hey! But we're getting onto something else. If you have any questions about servants, please ask Natt sometime later. I'm not Kruamian, so I don't know. There's more that I have to tell you, though."

The class was silent and stared at him.

"I will no longer be able to train you in the mornings." He held up his hands before they started talking again. "All first-year teachers are required to use the upperclassmen's field. So, my excuse of 'oops, we're training at the same time' won't hold up anymore. Morning sessions are still fine, and if some of your friends are forbidden from training with you, that excuse will still work. Any questions before we get into today's lesson?"

There were many questions, but they were all various forms of "What do I do if I can't train with my noble friend anymore?"

As Basque answered with variations on "not much," it touched him to think how far not only his students had come, but their relationship with the other students. So many of them had crossed the class divide, and he often heard other noble children chide their classmates when they referred to Class E students as "elevators."

Even though they were probably strong enough not to need to move in pods, and the atmosphere had turned friendly enough that they didn't need to either, they still did. He was no longer worried about them when the cafeteria opened up again next week. His only other hope was that with the reopening, he could send Reaggie back there to work, and Basque could start eating memorable food again.

Once he finished with their questions, he got into the class material about fighting formations and their usage against various Yani sizes, groups, and types. It was all theory, and he planned on them getting practical training on it after their winter break.

Of course, Yani identification wouldn't be done until their second year, and he was more sure of their fighting capabilities. He didn't want to dump live Yani out on them until he was sure they could kill them.

As always, they finished their day out on the training ground with Natt leading the main class while Basque worked with individuals. Once that ended, students from other classes would come join.

That day, only nine students came: the five from C, and the four from B. Not a single one of Harnel's students showed up.

"Gerenet-Shr?" Reainna said as she looked for Luvina to come walking out of the door.

"I'll go talk to Harnel."

"Thank you."

Leaving his class and their friends, Basque went into the school and headed to the teachers' room. Before he even went inside, he heard Harnel's distinctive laugh. Basque didn't understand. Ever since Harnel's reaction that morning, Basque was confused. He would have thought that Harnel would have been a vocal supporter of nobles and commoners getting together and bonding through training.

As he slid the door open, Basque's stomach bottomed out, and he saw the reason for Harnel's betrayal.

Julvie laughed and put her hand on Harnel's shoulder. Sitting in his chair, he looked up into her eyes and smiled.

"So, that's how it is?"

The two of them turned to look at Basque.

"You had plenty of chances with me, Basque."

Basque sneered at Julvie, but locked his eyes onto Harnel.

The massive man wrapped an arm around Julvie's waist and pulled her to him. "I think I've been pretty honest with you, Baskey."

"Honest?"

"I've told you over and over how desirable Madam Julvie is. Did you think I was excluding myself from that?"

Basque glowered at him.

"Thanks to you, I was able to secure a marriage agreement with her."

"Do you think she actually likes you?"

"I'd appreciate it if you two men wouldn't talk about me as if I'm not here."

Glancing at her again, Basque said, "I may be talking about you, but that doesn't mean I want to talk to you. I'm trying to figure out why my supposed friend here threw away everything he professed to care about for a lay."

"A damn good lay that you passed up on for a piece of trash," she said, then bent down at the hips and grabbed Harnel's chin. She lifted his head and turned it towards her, pausing her movements long enough for him to get a look at her cleavage, which she dangled in front of him. She pressed her lips into his, then pulled away. Basque felt bile rise in him as Harnel's cheeks went flush.

"Fine. You two can continue to talk about me. I just don't care to hear it." Harnel's arm slid down her body as she walked away. "Come to my room tonight, Master Harnel. We'll consummate the agreement then."

Basque wanted to vomit. "You can't be serious, Harnel."

"I'm as serious as a blackened horse's hoof."

"What about the whole 'never betraying your roots' thing?"

"How is this a betrayal?"

"You're preventing commoner kids from integrating with nobles."

Harnel stared up at Basque. "I heard C and B haven't stopped them, yet. Deputy Headmaster Krill's addition of making it all classes screwed Master Stevn over. So many of his kids work out with Class B that he'd have parents breathing down his neck for the next four years if he forbade that."

Turning towards his desk, Harnel started gathering his things. "Master Tann was hoping that Deputy Headmaster Krill would shut it down. It may only be four kids, but their parents are pretty influential. So, congrats on that."

"Congrats on that?! What about your students?"

Finishing putting his materials away, Harnel stood. "What about them? Thanks to this, I secured a marriage with a woman I've been after since we were students together. Not only that, but a contract stating she'll give me two children herself and accept any kids I produce through my allowed dalliances as full-fledged family members."

He put a finger on Basque's chest. "Those are the kids that I care about. Not these cling-on nobles who'd be better off training to be cityguards at a different academy. The commoners have you, and if ignoring some noble slop gets me my dream woman, then I'll do it in a heartbeat."

"She doesn't even like you!"

"Bwa-ha-ha-ha!"

Before, Hanrel's laugh made Basque's spirit feel light; now it just punched his gut.

"Pinky could never love anything but herself. I'm under no delusions there. But still, thanks to this, I'll be the man she comes home to. That is assuming I rise to the rank of earl a year after my stint here is done." Harnel put his hand on Basque's shoulder. "You and I both know that won't be too much of a trouble for me."

Harnel patted Basque's shoulder once, and Basque twisted away before Harnel could pat it again. Harnel dropped his hand to his side. "No hard feelings."

"For you, maybe."

Nodding, Harnel left the room.

Basque pulled out his chair and slumped down in it. He was staring at the floor and trying to process what had just happened when a hand squeezed his shoulder. He looked up to see Davith.

"Welcome to Kruami politics." The portly man patted Basque's shoulder like Harnel tried to. "This is why I don't want to go past baron."

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