In Too Deep

~ 1 ~

"You want me to what, Sir?" I ask incredulously, one eyebrow cocked up in surprise, shifting in the leather chair across the desk from my commanding officer of nearly two decades.

"Teach, Richard," he replies, doing his best not to make evident his amusement at my discomfort.

I cringe at the use of my birth name, rather than my preferred middle name.

"It should be no more than a year, two on the outside. The Deheomhan have been defeated, but we have intel that some who escaped here before their world was destroyed may be trying to blend in at some of the schools, hoping to later infiltrate here. And let's face it, Izumi and Gen could not play a teaching role. And Mr. Williams..."

I laugh at the mental image of my friend teaching at a university and give a slight nod. "I see your point, Sir," I begrudgingly concede. "And just what would I be teaching?" I ask after an extended silence, "And where?" I add as an afterthought.

"The university outside of Glencoe," he states as he clicks the pen he'd picked up to keep his hands busy. A habit I am prone to as well, but after some excessive teasing from Jax, I have worked on ceasing. I'm half tempted to grab a pen from his cup and do it to see if it makes him cognizant of his action, but I refrain from doing so, with great effort. He stops clicking the pen and sets it down before looking up at me briefly, before his eyes go back to his screen to the left of his desk. "I thought you'd like to be somewhere closer to your homeland."

I start to make some retort, but I think better of it. Still, I cannot stop the snort of amusement I release, causing the general to glance my way. "My Father would certainly have been proud. He'd always hoped I'd become a professor, rather than a soldier," I finally reply, as close to an agreement as I'm willing to give. "You still have not told me what I'd be teaching, or when this assignment would begin."

The general stands and goes to the large windows behind his desk; I can imagine that the workers and vehicles look like nothing more than toys from this high up. The general makes a show of studying them as he debates how to share the next part of this assignment. I feel I won't like it as he drags out the silence that has set in heavily between us. "There are a few subjects you are technically qualified to teach," he says cautiously, as I stand and make my way over next to him at the window, clasping my hands at the small of my back, a habit ingrained in me from my days at the academy. I keep my posture straight, guarded. Becoming more and more certain I won't like the direction this conversation is headed. He finally takes a breath and glances at me sideways before answering my question. "The ones that seem to have brokered the most interest are Ancestral Studies, Literature and Celtic Mythology."

I suck in a sharp breath and jerk my head to look at him. "Please tell me you're joking," my tone pleading, causing my voice to pitch slightly.

"I thought you'd enjoy such lessons," he replies, thrown off by my response.

"I would. Yes. But teaching it to those who don't give a damn about it...I'm not sure how I'd fare, Sir."

"You would be teaching those going for their doctorates and master's degrees, so they would share the interest that you do."

Despite my efforts not to react, I baulk. "And what pray tell qualifies ME to teach these scholars. I'm a soldier, Sir. I hold no higher degree in such studies. My master's and thesis were in cyber forensics, intelligence and security."

"Do you remember the project you did when you first came here?" he asks slowly.

"Which one? There were several papers done to get admitted here."

"Your history and that of your clan."

I somehow manage to choke down my laugh. "Someone read that drabble?!"