Kim Hae-sung leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath. He promised himself he would not cry. Nobody could know how much it hurt. Something quietly growing inside him felt sullied -- his affections suddenly cheap.

He supposed it was his own fault. He could have made enough noise the pair of senior boys speculating about the riding assistant's new favorite would have known he was still cleaning tack. Instead, he had listened to a tale of slow seduction and ruin of a classmate from the previous year.

"Do you think if Instructor Lang's family were not so prominent, he would still have a position?"

"I wonder how much they paid the Park family to hush things up?"

"I guess it was enough to buy Si-woo an officer's commission."

"Lang Yoo-suk is careful enough with his picks. Good looking boys whose families stretch their finances to keep them here. Ones who would choose money over causing a fuss."

"So, who do you think the new favorite will be? That kid, the one that came from Dageon? You remember the taller one with the long face who spends more time with the horses than with studying?"

"Who ever it is, they will be a bit lonely, and maybe not very confident. Then along comes Instructor Lang with his praise and attention and suddenly they can feel special."

"He probably shares some sort of secret. You know a test of how well his pick will hold a confidence."

"Even better if he can get them to share something of their own."

"Then some accidental skin-ship."

"What to you mean?"

"You know, ordinary touches that maybe go a bit longer than they should. Like he is testing the waters."

"How do you know so much?"

"My brother told me all about how he seduced the neighbor's servant. It was a scandal for a couple of weeks but then the girl got shipped off somewhere."

As they walked away, the older boy's conversation turned to other conquests and scandals. Hae-sung sunk into silent misery. He had no way to determine if what they said about Park Si-woo was true but what they said about Instructor Lang was too close for comfort. He had liked the special attention. Now he questioned everything, including the choice to apply to such an exclusive school.

The smirk one of the older boys gave him later in the day made Hae-sung wonder if they had known he was there all along. So maybe there was nothing their story. Or at least nothing more than trying to get back at a new student who had upset this term's rankings.

Still, Hae-sung reacted coolly to Instructor Lang's inquiries about his practice schedule for the semester break. The man gave him a questioning look but Hae-sung quickly joined the line of students dropping off their luggage near the carts that would take them on their separate ways. Normally, Hae-sung would have hung back to asked advice about the different races he expected to ride in the coming week. Instead, he put on a cheerful face and told jokes to the younger boys who were waiting for their families to come pick them up.

He would trail down to the city once the juniors were taken care of. Nobody assigned this duty to him. It was just something he thought a local senior class member should do. It would also give his mother time to get home from her job so he did not have to face his father alone.

Instructor Lang watched the boy leave with concern. He knew the kind of talk that was circulating. Distant family connections and a private loan fed the stories about Park Si-woo. Those hidden facts, and his own awkward attempts to console a boy who was being forced along a military path, were enough to have him placed on probation with the school administration. He did not want to give them any reasons to doubt him, even as his affection for Hae-sung grew. That was why he had contacted his brother's friend. If the boy chose to train in the Capital, Yoo-suk was sure time and distance would calm things down.

Scout Jia smiled broadly as he watched the students scramble to confirm their luggage was being directed correctly. He also took note of which senior class members stayed to help and which pushed their way through to the front of the line. When he met up with Lang Yoo-suk he shared his first impressions of the potential candidates.

"While the trials are wide open, I like to know who we should be watching for." He explained as they got him settled in the guest quarters. "The local guards and a couple of junior academies have joined forces with us so there should not be too many of the serious contenders left without a placement."

"The Headmaster would like you to drop by tomorrow. He was not very keen about the arrangements. He thought the school should host during the term."

"Yes, well it took a lot of convincing to get the guards to open things up."

"I will have to keep a low profile. They are still angry I helped one of their star prospects escape to regular officer training."

Ying-so gave the younger man a questioning look but when there was no response, he went on to explain how challenging it was to find the kind of talents their new group wanted to bring in for training. "Everybody has fixed ideas about the choice between academics, making, and combat disciplines. Not to mention just how few aspire to leadership roles. If you are not from certain families in the capital it is hard to get a foot in the door of a reputable training yard."

Yoo-suk nodded, then mentioned how even those with the best lineage still needed deep pockets to secure even a minor army commission. Then he warned his brother's friend, "The provincial guards rule the roost around here, so don't be surprised if you come up empty handed after the competition."