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I kicked him under the table. "Well, aren't you the nice one."
He rolled his eyes. "I want to know where their rooms are. Someone needs to make sure he's being taken care of."
Tishlie was back quick enough. "Is that a bar?"
"We're adults," Eladehl told her. "So yes. Seems we're finally being allowed to grow up. So where'd you get a room?"
"The initiate wing," she said, shaking her head like that was a foolish question. "So, I'm assuming Eladehl ended up with Wraythe. Who'd you get as a guardian, Nariana?"
"A guy named Talin," I said.
Her brow furrowed. "I don't know him."
"He wasn't in our class. He was supposed to be the year before, but he was pulled away and missed his Choosing. Had to wait to do it with us."
Her eyes got big. "The baron's son?"
Eladehl choked on his drink. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Baron Ranndor," Tishlie said. "The main patron of the Temple of Temptation? He passed away last winter, but got sick just before the end of ninth year. His son was excused to go home to help put the estate in order. I mean, that's the only person I know of who missed the Choosing, but I don't know his name."
"He didn't say anything about that," I admitted.
She nodded, treatingmelike I was simple. "It's ok. You only got a 'good' in politics and society."
And it was called good for a reason, but fuck, this girl annoyed the crap out of me. "So, did anyone else we know make it into the Path of the Body?"
She proceeded to give me a list of who'd been assigned to what Path. From the sounds of it, only one person had been taken for the Path of the Word. Most of the rest had ended up in Action. Three of the people wanting the Path of Protection had ended up with the Path of the Body instead. Two people had been put in Obligation.
Then her eyes lit up. "And I heard there were a few that had indeterminate marks! Supposedly, such a thing has never been recorded before. They're sending one to the Path of Protection, but the other is amess.My mentor - well, former mentor - was on the Path of Action. She said that this girl? Her marks don't put her in a Path, so they want to let her choose. The High Priest thinks she faked them, though. Saval is insisting that she documented it, but now he's trying to say she's biased."
Eladehl pressed his foot against my leg in a warning to keep quiet, then asked, "So what are they going to do with her?"
"Sounds like she's going to have to prove herself. I mean, people try to tattoo themselves all the time. Kinda makes sense, though. Move up from Obligation to Action? Oh! And I heard that next week, we start learning about sexual orientation."
"Like, preferences for gender?" I asked.
With a groan, she made a production of rolling her eyes. "No, silly. Like they're going to start teaching us how to get each other off. Homework is making out! I heard the end of year exam for another class is to have sex in front of the entire class."
I looked over at Eladehl and he shrugged. "Could you do it?" he asked.
"I don't know," I admitted. "Maybe?"
"I definitely could," he promised. "Maybe we'll get you one of those strap-ons and let you go at me?"
"Eww," Tishlie mumbled. "No, I'm going to specialize in sensuality. I guess we'll have to learn bondage, subjugation, sensuality, eroticism, and exotic positions. Not this year, I mean. They'll just introduce us to the styles and then let us pick. Um, we're also going to have classes on self-defense, battery, and shunning. Thankfully, no more mathematics for us. The Paths of Action and the Word still have to take it, but we're exempt. Pretty sure we get an advanced literature class, though."
"What about the guardians?" I asked.
"Well, they're required to take sexual orientation with us. They also get like five classes on combat and weapons, one in meditation, and another that's just strength training." She took another bite of her meal. "But here's the best part," she mumbled, using her hand to shield her mouth. Then she paused to swallow. "A lot of our classes are with the higher class's initiates. The ones who become disciples after this year. We're kinda given a few of the basics and then allowed to pick the others until we've taken them all. That means we'll get to meet new people!"
Well, that was nice. It also made sense. "So when do we do all the picking?" I asked.
"Next week. They give us our first week off to come to terms with our Paths, then we have a day of orientation. After that is another week off because we need to make our schedules and have some time to find new mentors. Nari, you can probably keep yours, if she's still willing, but most of us will have to find someone on this Path who's willing to answer our questions."
"We're good there," Eladehl assured her. "She's staying with Amerlee, and her partner, Shalsa, has offered to be mine."
Tishlie nodded. "I heard you two had already declared as partners?"
