Raten accompanied them but still acted like himself which caused questions with the Kattie who knew Vorden well enough to notice a difference. He did try to limit himself to comments such as how he enjoyed watching Lana's butt sway as they walked. He had her giggling. She enjoyed his quirks. He wasn't Sil but he wasn't a bad guy. He had a more fun personality than Vorden, that was sure. He also bought ice cream for all four of them. He said it was the least he could do to spend the time in the presence of three beautiful women. Lana watched to make sure he used the correct card. Even Kattie was enjoying his company at this point.
Lana looked at Dilly, "Have you any plans after we graduate?"
She shrugged her shoulder. "My talent is not appreciated so I can't say that I do. We still have a year, but my clothing doesn't sell online and most think it's too expensive no matter where I sell it."
Lana looked a bit sad, but her heart was beating faster. "Have you ever thought of being a personal seamstress? Maybe working for a family?"
"At the tournament some families and factions looked at my work then moved on. Noone was interested in it."
"I am." Lana looked at her seriously. "This stuff I bought today was intermediate level, but I will need stronger clothing as I gain strength. Honestly, I'm going to need someone of talent at my side to make me new stuff once I gain that power."
"But you said for a Family," Dilly responded.
Lana nodded. "I'm an original. I'm going to create my own family just as some would create a faction. We are at the beginning stages. You can help keep me safe with clothing. I'll take care of you. You won't need to put yourself in danger. In fact, I'll keep you as far away from danger as I can."
"Are you strong?"
Raten chimed in, "PFFT! I trained her. Of course she's strong," offering one of his half smiles that looked so sexy the day she kissed him.
Dilly smiled. "It's a deal."
They returned to the base. Kattie and Dilly broke off toward the dorms. Raten took up his favorite station walking behind her. She thought it was funny and started swaying more deliberately once they crossed the threshold into the agricultural department. She heard a soft growl escape his throat. She giggled again as she opened the door.
As soon as they both entered, he had his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck while his hands explored her front. He knew this was Sil's girl but he was now only allowed to touch her after the words they exchanged at the tournament. Not that he had done anything with anyone else anyway. Sil was always with her and Vorden was always with Quinn. Raten didn't get much time out unless she was having a fighting lesson. Lana was not his forever person but she was definitely worth having around. He could agree with Sil this was one sexy woman.
Her jacket wasn't zipped so he started unbuttoning her uniform shirt, whispering in her ear, "do you have any of those outfits?"
"Sil has them in your room. You can rip this top off if you wa…"
She didn't even finish and it was gone. Lana was already feeling a little breathless when Raten whispered in her ear once more, "he wants us to take turns, how's that?"
"I prefer it. I feel better if he participates. No offense," she smiled at him.
He allowed her to turn around and she was standing in front of him in a bra, her jacket and her uniform pants and boots.
Raten slipped his fingers inside her bra, "how about we leave the jacket on and nothing else?"
She made it happened and they had fun for a few hours. While Raten and Sil returned to the dorms to sleep in their own bed, Lana still slept really well that night.
The next morning, she got up and went straight to work. With plans for the summer, Lana wanted this paper done in two weeks so she could spend the last two weeks trying other things for those energy bars. She was sure there was a way to accomplish that goal and she was going to find it. Her friends and Vorden continued to take turns ensuring she was eating and such. They even did her laundry for her so she could focus. She turned in the paper at the two-week mark and Nis announced to her class that her first paper had been successfully published and she was given the first copy. She signed it and returned it to him with a smile.
Later that day, all the students were called out to the second-year training grounds. The first years were all lined up in a form of formation and the same for the second-year students. General duke called everyone out to let them know he thought the student that went by the moniker Night Demon was a terrorist for beating up a teacher and wanted him to turn himself in. Of course, the trees had already told Lana that Quinn was the person that was labeled with such a moniker. Students could be quite strange.
A student named Bill stood up for the Night Demon claiming to have been saved by him from bullies. The trees had told her of what happened, but she often complained within herself that the trees were oversharing. Duke wanted to put him in the dungeon for being in league with a terrorist. Others started speaking up then Duke wanted to put them all in the dungeon for colluding with a terrorist… Lana was listening to the whole thing realizing just how little intelligence was required to become a general. She then looked at the students and truly wanted to smack her forehead. A military school that doesn't teach discipline. None of the students were in rows any longer having all moved forward in their anger at the accusations. While Lana didn't blame them, she did wonder how such people were expected to win a war against a race that killed 80% of the humans in the last war. The military was proving to be a joke to her in many ways.
General Nathan got involved. Then the question of credit stealing by bullies came up. Duke got incredibly defensive and threatened General Nathan. He stated all the students were lying. Lana thought this whole show was so incredulous she wished for a bowl of popcorn. At some point, the Night Demon appeared before General Duke. A fight ensued where Lana learned how powerful a soul weapon could be, a bit more about what the earth ability could do, but the most valuable lesson she took away was it was possible to deal heavy damage to a person with a soul weapon even if you are not yet strong enough to have one. The final blow in the popcornless-spectacle was Quinn utterly destroying General Duke's arm when their fists collided. It felt so…satisfying. There was no arm to find. Nothing to reattach using the healing ability. Poof.
The most satisfying part was the last two weeks of school. Not a single student dared to bully another.