Aeromancer

Chapter 5 - In the Middle

When Seti was a child, he recalled one open discussion.

Critical Thinking with Ms. Gant was the student's favorite class. It wasn't a class where the teacher taught anything, but rather they facilitated discussions about the topic provided. Seti was certain Ms. Gant liked this period the most as well since she typically spent the time grading papers and only occasionally made a comment.

Today's topic was the great families.

"Which is a stupid name, everyone already calls them the mafia," one boy said.

The class laughed. It wasn't even funny, but people tended to laugh more just because the boy was the class clown. Seti hated how they were all in a good mood. Why were they happy? Not a single person in the class was above tier one. What was so fun about life when they were all puny?

It was only a few weeks ago when his mother divorced and moved out, to pursue her career as a mancer. His father had thrown Seti a new allowance amount, which meant he probably had more money in his pocket right now than anyone else in the class combined. He was adapting to the new life. It meant growing up, just like his father wanted.

"I don't get why we don't just put them all in prison. They break the laws, right?" Another asked.

"They break our laws," a girl responded, "but my dad says they have their own laws. My dad says they are like their own country, but living in the same land as us. My dad says they have a king. The boss of bosses."

"Then let's kick them out! They're nothing but ugly stupid crap!"

"Ahem," Ms. Gant cleared her throat without looking up from her desk. "Focus on the topic and not name calling."

"But I don't get why we don't kick them out. How many times do they fight with the Shepherds?"

"My dad says they fight over land a lot."

Seti looked down at his paper. Ms. Gant graded the class based on participation or on the notes taken. Since he didn't feel like speaking up, jotting his thoughts down was the only way to pass. She didn't consider accuracy, either. The idea for the class was to teach the students to think for themselves, even when an answer wasn't apparent. For that reason, Ms. Gant wouldn't correct false information. Just because the students agreed on something wouldn't make it right.

Great families - AKA "Mafia"

Different country?

Share shopping stores.

Bad guys.

He looked at the last line. Bad guys. They were the bad guys because they didn't follow the rules that the guilds made. That meant they should learn to grow up, too. Their bad example made anyone who didn't like the rules join them. All the criminals grouped up with the mafians.

"Don't be stupid," another person said. "If we try to kick them out, they'll fight back and we'll have to fight another war."

"Dad says if there's war with the mafia then the Third Age will end."

"Idiot! Ages don't end just because of a war. It has to be super big, like when all the divine people killed each other during Age Two."

"It's called the Second Age, not Age Two. Retard."

"Language," Ms. Gant said.

"My dad says when people swear it's because they aren't smart enough to think of a different word."