A week passed. John had ended his R&R and was once more back at work, learning weaves, expanding his aura reserves through exercises and meditation, phasing into and out of the aether, and doing some basic physical exercises to keep his body fit. While he was talking to Relar one morning, Sor Al hailed Sariel through the holographic interface.

“Why do people use holograms and not communicate directly with their chips?” John asked Relar. This question had been bothering him for a while now. It was so much easier to communicate without needing a projector.

“For short messages people do use the chips. For longer conversations they prefer holograms. They feel that holographic conversations are more personal and hold more substance. It’s only true for us high elves. Very few humans use holographic technology to communicate. The night elves, dark elves and wood elves have their own ways. Dwarfs prefer screens. Drahig use aura emitters that are like our holographic projectors, but of much lower quality. They have not yet mastered machine-to-mind telepathic interfaces.”

“Why don’t humans use holographic technology?”

“Too expensive.”

Sariel entered the room, “teacher wants to speak to both of you.” With a telepathic command and a habitual wave of her hand Sariel transferred the call to the entrance hall.

“Relar,” said Sor Al, “I will need you and Sariel to come to Adan. Things are getting out of hand, and I can use your assistance.”

“Is it very bad?” Relar asked.

“It could result in total war if we make the slightest misstep,” Sor Al sighed, suddenly looking very tired. John had never seen her look this way before. “Jehun, I heard that you did well in the Tower.” Despite all the hard work she was doing and the prospect of war, she was still interested in John’s progress. It really touched his heart.

“Yes, it was easy once I got the hang of it,” John lied. It hadn’t been easy at all. “Can I come to Adan too?” Surely they wouldn’t leave him alone on this planet. He had been alone for far too long. He would be too worried about everyone to train.

“No, you will stay on Kumra,” Sor Al said with a tone that would brook no argument. “You are still a child.”

“I am not a regular child. I proved myself on the Swift Retribution.” He was far older than they realized and he was a skilled enough warrior to defeat Edrach, an elite elven warrior.

“That may be so, but you will stay on Kumra. Go back to the city. Andar will look after your daily needs. I have sent a lesson plan to your room’s console. Be diligent in your studies. You have a tendency to slack off.”

“I don’t slack off,” John grumbled under his breath. “You just expect too much from me.”

They drove back to the city. Relar and Sariel quickly packed their things. It seemed that realm masters didn’t like packing light. Relar and Sariel hugged John, and then left for the spaceport.

John spent his days following Sor Al’s lesson plan. In the evenings he’d go to the Entertainment Center and watch the performances. The elves in the Center treated him with courtesy for the most part but were very curt with their greetings. He could detect a look of contempt in their eyes. He started to feel like he didn’t belong on Kumra. Without Sor Al here, what was the point of staying? He might as well have been living in the wilderness.

Many months passed and there was news of war breaking out. So far they were only minor skirmishes, but people on the root way said the Empress of Oor was aiming for Aroth, and that war would come next month. John tried to contact Sor Al but couldn’t get through. He wondered what had happened to her. One evening in the entertainment center, after the show was over, an elven Star Dancer came forward to recruit soldiers.

“Can I join too?” asked John.

“Eh? You’re that Wild Child,” the star dancer stared at John. “All able bodied people are welcome. Are you sure you want to? We will be fighting humans after all.”

“I’m a citizen of Kumra,” John said proudly. “I will defend this planet and its ways with my life.” He felt he owed Sor Al and the Swift Retribution for saving his life. The elves would win this war. Though small in number, they were technologically superior. The humans stood no chance. This would be a chance to win some prestige. He would be helping the elves and helping himself at the same time. “I am also an arbiter of the balance and a realm mistress’ apprentice.”

“An arbiter and an apprentice to a realm mistress? You will be welcome.”

John found an armorer in the city and got his red armor suit refitted and refilled. He dismantled his blaster checking it for flaws and reassembled it, familiar with every part. He then signed up for military service. He was assigned to the capital ship, ‘Dawn’s Early Light.’ He traveled to the elven capital planet Eral, and boarded the ship in orbit. Dawn’s Early Light was nothing like the Swift Retribution. It was big enough to fit ten battleships, and shaped like a boomerang. It had green and red lights moving in patterns on the exterior like blood in the circulatory system.

John was to share his room with another elf. It would be good to have room mates, he thought.

“Human,” an elf walked into the room and scowled. “What are you doing here?”

“I was assigned this room,” said John.

“Move your bed to the other side of the room. I don’t want to suffocate in your stink.”

“And what if I don’t?” John asked, ready to fight. Some people only respected the strong. John enjoyed dealing with these types.

The elf phased into the aether. He was an arbiter too! John activated his perceiver circuit and could see the little light that indicated the elf’s anchor in the real. He closed his fist and punched just as the light began to distort on his left. The elf phased into reality and got hit. He went crashing onto the bed.

“Human,” the elf said, “you will not have a good time here. It will be best for you to leave. I say this out of kindness.”

“I’m staying,” John sat on his bed, and his eyes turned green as he began to navigate the root way, ignoring the elf.

“Have it your own way then, imbecile,” the elf said, and shifted his bed to a corner.

John left the room, glad to be out of the bad tempered elf’s company. He went to the mess hall. John could feel every eye staring at him as soon as he entered.

“That’s Wild Child,” he heard someone say.

“A human on this ship!” he heard quite a few say with disgust.

He hadn’t exactly been on good terms with most of the soldiers on board the Swift Retribution but they had not been overtly hostile. Things were different on this ship. As soon as he took a seat, the people on neighboring chairs would get up and leave. He heard quite a few remarks about human stink.

“They breed like rabbits and spread like a plague,” he heard one elf say loudly. “Look, there’s even one here.”

Loud laughter trailed after the elf’s words.

John ate his food in silence. He gazed out the window as the ship entered the aether wondering if he’d just made a big mistake. Without Sor Al’s protection, the elves were far more aggressive than anything John was used to seeing. He could fight one off but not an entire ship. Things would be tough in the coming months, unless he could somehow prove himself to them. He was a human, and they were fighting a war with humans. He had been stupid to sign up. He should have just hired a transport ship to Adan and found Sor Al himself, or waited on Kumra like she had asked him to. Who was he kidding? He was never going to win any prestige among an alien race. It was too late for regrets, John realized. He’d just have to take things as they came and make the best of it.