A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Jorah shifted uncomfortably. It hadn't exactly been their intention in staying out there for as long as they had… It was Karesh's fault, really. They'd heard the rumours, just as well as anyone else, about the boy, Oliver Patrick, striking a professor.

No one liked Heathclaw. No one except those he favoured. He was particularly harsh with the Serving Class boys – those that had the misfortune of being taught by him – and so there was no lack of cheers when they found out that someone had finally gotten back at him.

Better still, Heathclaw had actually been removed from his post. It was cause for celebration. The name Oliver Patrick had been tossed around in regard to that event, and for most of the other students, it was a name that they could not attach a face to, nor a personality.

For Jorah and Kaya, though, it had been a different story.

Kaya had insisted that they go, just to see. He'd been fascinated by the boy ever since he stopped them in the hallway. He'd insisted that there was something interesting about the noble. He didn't have the same look in the eye as the rest.

Oh, there were many pleasant nobles, not all of them were bastards, but they still could not disguise the inherent belief that all of them had: that nobles were better than the Serving Class, in every way that mattered.

Karesh had been won over as well, merely by Oliver's comment that he would have made a good shieldbreaker. He'd been going on about it ever since.

"He said I'd make a good shieldbreaker! Him! After what they said he did to the Yarmdon, he sees a soldier in me. Isn't that something?" Was Karesh's most favoured line.

"I thought you didn't believe in that. You were agreeing with everyone else just a couple of days ago, that it wasn't possible," Jorah had pointed out.

"Yeah, but now that I've met him, it's obvious, isn't it?" Karesh was always quick to fire back. "Kaya, you think so too, don't you?"

Kaya had readily agreed. "There's something about him, for sure. He's got that scar on his cheek… It's got to have been from a sword. He's younger than us as well. Just the way he walks, it's obvious that he's strong… He's got that weird, what do you call it?"

"Light footedness?" Jorah had corrected wearily, tiring of the conversation.

"Yeah, that!" Kaya had readily agreed.

Despite their enthusiasm, Jorah was quick to warn them, again and again, about their casual treatment of nobles. Any noble. The two of them had already made a few potentially fatal mistakes around Oliver. From Kaya's inability to speak with the proper amount of respect, to Karesh nearly falling on top of him, the two cousins were absolute nightmares to watch out for.

And then, after the Three Trials, it seemed that the other students were coming to the same conclusions that they were. The scarred back. The unflinching way he took a whip. How he didn't even shiver when he pulled himself out of the cold.

Those things excited Kaya and Karesh. Even though Oliver was a year or two younger than the both of them, they talked of him with admiration in their voices now.

Jorah couldn't carry himself the same way. Like all nobility, he could not help but be wary. Oliver's obvious competence did nothing to assuage that worry of his, in fact, it only made him warier.

"Did it really not hurt?" Kaya asked, interrupting Jorah from his revelry.

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Again, Jorah was forced to correct him. "Use the proper titles, Kaya."

"Ser," Kaya corrected himself meekly. Jorah thought he saw him blush, but it was hard to tell with the round-faced boy. Even in the winter, Kaya constantly overheated. Even when it was freezing and snowing outside, he would be sweating.

"Mm, no, it definitely hurt," Oliver assured him with an easy smile. "I can tell you I definitely don't want to go through it again, any time soon."

"But you're up and about already, Ser. Most were sure you wouldn't make it through the night, but you're out already again, come lunchtime," Karesh said.

"He's been at lectures all morning," Verdant corrected, the priest saddling them with his piercing blue gaze. Jorah had to wonder why the priest seemed proud of that fact.

His announcement of that fact had the intended effect on Kaya and Karesh, as their eyes widened in further awe. "Really!? So it was nothing for you then, after all?" Kaya said excitedly, before remembering his manners. "Ser." He added.

"It definitely wasn't nothing," Oliver assured him again. Jorah wondered just how much patience lay behind that smile. He figured it likely wouldn't be much. Oliver must have caught him looking, for he glanced over at him. Jorah looked away, uncomfortable.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"Can't you see him holding his tray, you two?" Jorah said with a sigh. "They're both waiting to eat. Don't hold them up with your questions."

"Ah… Sorry," Kaya said meekly, bowing his head. "We'd better hurry on as well, otherwise they'll put us on last lunch for the rest of the week."

"Thanks for hitting Heathclaw, Ser!" Karesh said, a little too loudly, as they walked away. Jorah had to punch him in the arm for that one. Several other yellow-shirted students were staring at them now. He honestly wondered why he still kept the company of this particularly bothersome family.

"Acquaintances?" Verdant asked, as the two of them sat down at the table for nobles. Oliver noted the odd glances that were being sent his way, as he saddled the bench next to the priest. Or was it because of his loud conversation with the Serving Class? It was hard for him to tell at this point. Everything seemed to be a stepping over of the line.

He always seemed to be breaking rules that everyone else saw as obvious.

"Yeah, something like that," Oliver said, digging into his food. "They seem to be pretty honest boys. It's relaxing to have that, compared to the stifling air of nobility."