It was the morning after Nura spoke with Vanta. She joined a gathering of young Threshpanians within one of the student commons. There were three dozen students taking part in the Tovre's astrogations course, and all of them were nervously awaiting the updated standings in the placements to be announced.

The commons was little more than a collection of tables and chairs where students could study between classes. It could only accommodate twenty in anything resembling comfort, so the crush of furred bodies was claustrophobic even for youths who lived in cramped conditions all their lives.

Nura kept her eyes locked on a viewscreen mounted on the bulkhead. The screen currently displayed the latest standings of the pilot course. Nura was pleased to see Canas daj'Gan in the second placement, beneath Davik rev'Horn.

It came as no surprise to see a boy holding the rev in the top spot. Honored as the rev were, Nura couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Davik. It must've been lonely to have never had a twin, neither in life or in womb.

Her eyes were starting to burn from the lack of sleep. Gods of Water, but she felt like a mess. After speaking to Vanta, she ended up sobbing into her pillow for an hour or two. She couldn't even really say why. Relief and gratitude, a fair amount of shame as well. She capped off her evening by neglecting her studies and watching Fey'lin dramas until the middle of the night. The sooner these teenaged hormones were out of her system, the better off she'd be.

Nura looked around at the other prospective astrogators. Not all aimed to someday work at a starship's nav comp but were expanding their skill-set to make themselves a more attractive candidate for a position on a crew or perhaps a marriage into another family. Nura took a wide range of biology courses for similar reasons.

Amid a sea of brown and black fur, Meras shi'Tomi stood out like a nova against the void. Her imperfect white coat was singular and set her apart from the rest. The crowd didn't press as tightly around her, as if having a disgraced family name was something communicable.

Her eyes were lidded as she watched the screen and her arms were crossed over her chest. Meras knew what to expect from the placements and only came as a formality, or perhaps for masochistic curiosity.

No, that's not it at all, Nura decided. Meras came as an act of defiance, a declaration that she could be shunned and ridiculed, but she would not be intimidated. She would never be afraid.

It was the most magnificent thing Nura had ever seen.

Before she knew what she was doing, Nura was sidling through her classmates. She broke through the small ring of bodies encircling Meras and stood by her side.

Meras glanced in her direction, then did a double-take. "Something the matter, Daj?" she asked, her voice carrying equal measures of confusion and wariness.

Nura realized she was staring, probably appearing like a lunatic of some sort. She gathered her wits and turned towards the viewscreen. "It seemed less crowded over here," she said.

Meras gave a rueful laugh. "You see the watchers in the wings?"

"Couldn't miss them," Nura replied. She glanced towards the doors of the commons. They were being kept open, and a crowd of students almost as large as the gathering of astrogators was massed in the corridor.

Some were curious onlookers or gossips, still others were twins coming to support their siblings. The greater portion, however, were senior students from the pilot course. Nura easily picked out Canas from the crowd. While she was glad to have her brother near, she wasn't sure why the rest of the pilots came to watch.

"The pilots' final exercise for the semester is a three gate, ten aumeter run from Ulysses back to the Fleet," Meras explained. "Their instructor sprung it on them in class this morning. It's happening in five months, the week after the Psy-Agency screenings."

"How did you find that out?" Nura asked.

"Velos heard it from Jano, I think. He made sure I knew."

Nura nodded in understanding. A run of that length would require several jumps to slipstream. The pilots were here to recruit. "They'll need an astrogator."

"And a mechanist and sensor board operator. A four-point crew and an observer from the Baullock. They're taking mid-sized transports out."

That sounded... just awful. Stuck on a transport for two and a half days using her own slipstream calculations? Nura had barely survived a single aumeter. Gods of Stone, she hadn't even attempted to engage a jump gate yet. Those lessons weren't scheduled to begin until the next week.

Nura felt suddenly dizzy. She'd have to make excuses and turn down anyone who was foolish enough to ask her to be on their crew. For their own sake. "I'll have to pass on that," she said.

Meras gave her a look that actually seemed sympathetic. "Sorry, Daj, but jhot'Rin's also going to be springing something on us later."

Nura looked at her, aghast. "Don't say it."

Meras winked at her. "Afraid so. That run's our final exercise, too."

Nura would look back on that moment later in life and decide that this was when she stopped truly believing in the gods.

Around her, the students began to get restless. Nura looked to the viewscreen and saw that its display had been cleared. The placements for the astrogation students came up a few moments later.

At the top of the list, number one in the placements, was Meras shi'Tomi.

Nura's grin split her face. She'd hoped, but never expected. Whatever comms Vanta sent had done what he promised to do.

She braced for some manner of commotion from the other students over Meras claiming the top rank-- positive or even just bitter denials-- but they were too concerned with their own rankings to worry about anything else.

Meras' arms fell to her side, and she stared open-mouthed at her name on the viewscreen. "I don't understand," she whispered. Meras turned her eyes to Nura. "Did you do this?"

That feeling of inexplicable guilt again. Perhaps Nura had overstepped her bounds by taking things to Vanta. She hadn't considered that it was possible Meras would resent that kind of help.

Nura felt something touch her arm. Meras was looking at the viewscreen again as if she was worried it might correct its mistake and display the real placements. She used one of her hands to cover her mouth while the other pressed its fingers to Nura's wrist, the offer of friendship.

She was grinning beneath her hand, and her eyes were getting wet.

Nura took Meras' hand in hers.

She nearly forgot to check her own standing. Her eyes traced down a number of lines before she found her name.

Nura daj'Lera, fifteenth placement.

She'd have been lying if she said that didn't spoil the moment somewhat. There were fourteen other students who were serious about the astrogation course, and she was placed beneath all of them.

I did want to be judged honestly, she thought. It could've been worse. At least she placed above the students who were taking the course as an elective. Small favors, but she'd take what she could get.

With the placements announced, the commons began to empty. It was a slow process with the congested exit and the pilots trying to worm their way in to reach the astrogators. The pilots hurried to get to the ones they had their eye on before their rivals.

Someone tapped the back of their fist against Nura's shoulder, a casual gesture of respect. She turned and saw two pilot course students standing behind her.

"Hey, Daj," the one who tapped her said in greeting. It was Kalko daj'Korr, grandson of the patriarch of one of the oldest and most prestigious families in the Fleet. Nura recalled his name as being third in the placements. "You have a moment?"

Kalko was as handsome a youth as one could find aboard the Tovre. His dark fur was streaked with brown over his amber eyes, and he was tall with broad shoulders. He wore his hair long, and it was a striking silver color that gave him a distinguished appearance.

Nura's heart gave a small flutter. She once harbored a small crush on Kalko when they were younger. Haven't I grown out of that? she asked herself.

Frightening.

"Back off, daj'Korr," said the female pilot at his back. The words were said with a joking tone, but there remained a hint of challenge to them. She was Genna shi'Lera, a distant relation of Nura's that she'd only spoken with a handful of times. "I have dibs on family."

Kalko shrugged at Genna. "I respect that, but shouldn't placement takes preference, number seven?"

Genna pursed her lips and glared as a response.

Nura blinked rapidly, confused. "You want to recruit me?" she exclaimed. "I'm fifteenth!"

"You were second until the last exercise," Kalko said. "One flubbed slip doesn't make you a bad astrogator."

No, but being inept at a nav comp did.

Nura felt Meras let go of her hand. Ignored, Meras backed away to melt into the crowd.

Nura watched her back away and felt both sick and helpless. Vanta could send all the comms he wanted. He could coerce the instructors to give Meras a fair evaluation, but he couldn't change how she was viewed.

Nura's family name, her daj, would always place her above Meras. Try as she might, Nura couldn't think of a way to change that.

The Zhartomi were social poison.

"Placement takes preference, Kalko?" Canas said as he came near. "I heard you say that, didn't I, number three?"

Kalko's eyes went to Canas, and his expression fell. The defeat was plain on both his and Genna's faces.

"As you say," Kalko said as he took a step back. "Can't blame me for trying to snatch up your sister while you weren't looking, can you?"

Canas looked at Kalko with exaggerated confusion. "Not at all, but I'm not trying to get my sister. She's terrible."

I beg your pardon! Well, it was true, but who did Canas think he was? Nura had half a mind to shave him in his sleep.

"Hey, shi'Tomi," Canas called to Meras' back. "I'm looking for an astrogator for a joint exercise coming up. Mind manning my nav comp?"

If Nura lived a thousand lifetimes and saw the Void devour the last star, she could never love her brother as much as she did right then. Even if she did still want to shave him bald.

Meras hesitantly returned. She pointed a finger at her chest. "You're asking me?"

"Of course," Canas said. "I saw rev'Horn asking his cousin, so I thought I'd make a play for the Tovre's best astrogator." He jerked a thumb at Kalko and Genna. "Before one of these scrubs got smart and asked you themselves."

Nura reached out and took Meras' hand again, making sure that no one would miss the gesture. She couldn't contain her broad grin. "Please say you will," she said. "The idiot needs someone watching over him."

It might have been her imagination, but Nura thought she could feel a tangible spike of indignation coming from Canas at her comment. Meras, however, was clearly overwhelmed.

"Alright," she stammered. "Sure, daj'Gan. I'll chart your vectors."

"Good call," Canas said. "I'll drop by to see you now and then. Lots of work to do before we fly." Canas fist-tapped her shoulder. As he walked by Meras to leave, Nura saw that he pressed his fingers against her wrist for only a moment.

What had gotten into him? This was a side of her brother that Nura had never seen before. It was one thing for Nura to go around touching wrists and holding hands, but a boy doing the same to a girl was much too forward.

Nura glared at her brother's back as he left the commons then had her attention brought back to Kalko and Genna. Though momentarily taken with surprise over the exchange between Canas and Meras, they were back to arguing over who would get Nura on their crew.

In the end, Nura was compelled to take Genna aside and explain that she truly would be more of a burden than an asset. Nura could do that much for another Lera. Genna was skeptical at first, but soon agreed to find someone better suited for the task. She eventually left the commons feeling like she dodged a bullet.

That left Nura all but obligated to be part of Kalko's crew. Gods of Fire, but she hoped she wouldn't screw up his examination.

After Nura had quite enough of pilots, she looked around the commons for Meras. She was still there, leaning against a bulkhead and staring at something a thousand lightyears away. Her white fur was practically standing on end, and she rubbed at her wrist while her ears pressed against her head.

"How are you?" Nura asked her. "You seem a bit stunned."

Meras shook her head. "You'd think I would be," she said, "but I'm really not all that surprised." She looked Nura in the eye. "You got a way about you, Daj. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something different about you. Nobody else in this school would send a tug if I was floating without a suit, but..."

Nura leaned against the bulkhead next to the other girl.

"I used to have a lot of friends here," Meras said. "The instructors were good to me. Velos used to laugh. Then, that all went away because some relative I never met rigged an election on a boat I never heard of. So, I have to know. Why do you even care?"

The answer came to Nura at once. "Because it's not right no one thinks I should."

Meras looked away. She ran a hand through her long bangs and smiled. "Well, whatever your reason, thank you."

Nura took Meras' hand when she offered it.

"Come on, Daj. Class'll start soon, and I'm going to make it my mission to get you back to the number two spot."