Page 48 of Carousel

And how would I have? He looks so different.

I’d known him as the boy who would read books with me in the library and stay with me after our lessons, so we could speak more to our tutor. He was only a year younger than me, so we naturally stuck together.

His head is shaved now – no evidence of the long dark locks he used to have. His dimpled face is clean and smooth, and though he looks thinner and older, his smile is wide.

“I’m so happy to see you,” he gushes.

“Rike,” I say again, and I can’t help it – I run to hug him, almost knocking the tray from his hand.

But the one-armed hug he gives me in return is loose.

I quickly let go.

“I can’t believe it,” I say. “You enlisted?”

“I told you I would.”

When there was talk of war on the horizon, Rike had vowed to me that he would enlist to get away from his father – who was Chief Commander of the Guard and was a notoriously foul man – as soon as he could.

Rike’s smile. It’s like it’s fixed in place.

Something’s not right.

“Why are you here?”

I look at his uniform.

Brown and red. Like everyone else’s.

My face drops.

“You—”

“I heard Chapp tried to shoot a prisoner last night,” Rike interrupts, concerned. “That wasn’t you, was it?”

“Oh, no. He attacked another prisoner. Drake.”

“Drake,” he repeats. “Nice. You don’t hear many Old Rhavnan names anymore. And you’re Ara! A perfect name match.”

I shift, conscious of Cosmer’s presence beside me. How he’s been watching this whole exchange stiffly.

“Yes,” I say, steady. “We did notice the name match. It’s… certainly a coincidence.”

“Maybe it will bring you both good luck.”

“Maybe.”

“Have you had your first corrective instruction with Dezeeves yet?”

“N-No. I just got here.”

“It’s really okay,” he says, pleasantly. Still with that same, strange, manic smile. His dimples burst. “I was scared at first, too. But you’re in safe hands. And you’ll learn quickly.”

Cosmer steps forward. “Okay, Rike. Time to move along.”

“Yes, Officer,” Rike replies curtly, with a swift nod.

He takes a seat at a bench with a group of others, and he looks like he’s exactly that.