Page 171 of Carousel

“And that was how long ago?”

“Five years ago.”

“You joined at the very beginning of the war?”

“Yes.”

“What was the reasoning behind you joining the war effort?”

“I was told to. By my mother.”

This receives some chuckles from around the room. But Drake’s face is perfectly composed.

“She felt it would be an honourable thing for you to do?”

“Yes.”

“Build character in you?”

“Quite.”

“And did it? Build character in you?”

Drake sits higher in his chair. “I would not know. I believe character is assessed by the way others perceive you.”

Dezeeves’ face flushes. “An excellent point. Ara – please could you offer a word or two on Drake’s character?”

The light from the beams in the ceiling seems brighter, suddenly. It’s right in my eyes.

“Oh. Drake is⁠—”

Say something. Anything.

“— a good dancer.”

More laughs from the officers.

My eyes meet Meg’s. She taps my Integration book on her lap with her sharp nails.

I get the message. I am failing this test.

Pass the tests they have for you, my mother had said.

Although she had also asked me not to do anything that might get me killed, and I hadn’t heeded that last night.

Dezeeves was also amused by my comment, but now his face has rearranged itself. “A humorous answer. But I had asked about character rather than skill. Can you think of any character attributes Drake possesses?”

“He is…” I think back to last night. “Clever. Always one step ahead of everyone else. Or… me, at least.”

“Excellent. Anything else?”

“He is…”

An image in my mind. Drake and me. The world that had cleared for us, in my dream.

I learned it when I felt it. Just now.

“He is intuitive,” I say. “About how people might be thinking. And feeling.”