After the conclusion of the public executive meeting, Sam and Cassandane had immediately gone to the central hub of the Angelship and boarded their shuttle. The rest of the crew had studiously avoided any mention of their late arrival as they went about the standard flight procedures, but there had been an undeniable distance in their behavior throughout the rest of the day. Three shuttle runs had been completed in rapid succession, with Cassandane almost singlehandedly loading and unloading cargo each time. Cassandane rebuffed every attempt at conversation, leaving Sam in the role of silent shadow.

They arrived late for Cassandane's shift on the generator, and the boy on duty before, Reginar, made another attempt to chat up Sam. That effort did not go well with Cassandane's dark mood overshadowing it. The day ended with Sam in her cot, feeling hung over from nerves and the constant tension emanating from her dire mentor. She stared upwards at the ceiling while waiting for sleep to claim her. Thoughts weighed heavy on her, preventing sleep. She suspected Cassandane's threat to Hafnym had not been false. Her mentor teetered on the edge of a monstrous breakdown and the token victory from that morning had done nothing more than delay the moment of reckoning.

At some point, she must have slept, because Sam woke the next morning to the sound of water running in the bathroom. She prepared herself for the day without a word, then followed Cassandane to the cafeteria for breakfast. They ate peppers stuffed with squash and beans alongside assorted fruits and vegetables with hummus dip. The delicious food did little to support the somber atmosphere, so Sam decided to confront the situation head on.

"I want to be your apprentice," Sam said.

Cassandane's only response was a tightening of her jaw.

"Your 'power play' didn't work because the Angmari are horribly racist against your kind. You can't win in a popularity contest here. So if you want that, you need to leave the fleet." Sam met Cassandane's hard eyes with her own. "But whatever you do, wherever you do it, I want to be your apprentice for real. You are the most powerful, the most talented person in this whole solar system."

"Most talented," Cassandane echoed. "Not necessarily the most powerful. Determining relative strengths is not a straightforward process."

"So will you keep teaching me?"

The dappled woman took a deep breath. "I will."

"If we go back to Earth, I want my friend Jess to come back with us."

"I . . . we are staying with the fleet. They need my kinetic talent, in spite of how ungrateful they remain. They need yours as well."

Sam bit her lip. "Are you sure? Yesterday you didn't seem . . . happy."

"I am rarely happy, Sam. But I am in control of myself."

"Good. So can we resume my training?"

"Very well. Let's begin on our shuttle run," Cassandane said.

Their walk to the shuttle halted shortly after they reached the zero gravity hub when the captain who had argued with Cassandane before intercepted their path. He towed an unused white Angmari crew uniform behind him. "Congratulations, Samantha Wilcox, you've been drafted." He shoved the uniform towards her, letting it float across the distance between them. "You have been assigned the initial rank of Soldier. Due to your paragon status, you are eligible for instant promotion to Corporal once you pass the examinations. Your duty assignment is as a porter for shuttle A2, serving under Centurion Stateira Cassandane." The captain's grim visage did not look pleased to be delivering the news to her.

"Thank you . . . sir."

"Teach her basic military ettiquette, Centurion. That will be all."

They maneuvered past the seething man and into their shuttle. While Cassandane went through the preflight checks, Sam changed into the uniform, which mostly fit. It seemed to have been tailored for someone with a curvier frame than her, but other than hanging loose in some spots, it managed to make her look suitably official. I am an Angmari now, she thought.

Once they undocked, Cassandane began to speak. "There are three main objectives in your training. First is to increase the volume of precursor you can handle. That requires time and consistent effort. The second objective is to increase your fine control of the talents. I will teach you exercises to assist in that area. They will be monotonous, but I expect you to practice them incessantly anyway. The final objective of your training is to master the seven synergies."

"And what are the seven synergies?"

"You have already seen energy manipulation. The common use for it is creating visible light, but you can create any frequency of electromagnetic radiation. I also introduced you to the manifestation of pseudo matter. Being able to create temporary constructs has many applications. There is also the creation of mental agents, which you have first hand experience with. Agents can only survive in a mind not enhanced by nous, so there are definite limitations to that synergy, though its use in controlling the leaders of a planetary population are unparalleled. Another mental synergy is mind binding, or the temporary linking of two minds. It is the only method of telepathy that allows for the reading of a foreign mind, though it is hardly a simple affair to interrogate someone. There is a synergy known as process influence that might be a bit complicated to describe at the moment. And the sixth synergy, which you are going to practice today, is continuous effect kinesis. If you infuse a dab of nous into animas, you can create an effect independent of your corona that lasts until the invested precursors are consumed."

Cassandane unclipped her restraints and the free end of her seat belt began to fly towards Sam until the belt cinched tight. Sam reached over to poke at the metal clip and her finger reoriented the clip, sending it in another direction until it reached the end of its leash once more. Extending her corona, Sam felt what seemed like a tiny little corona surrounding the clip.

"It's not in any way intelligent," Cassandane pointed out. "The direction of force is set in accordance with the object's initial orientation. Whatever direction is 'up' when you set the effect will remain 'up' until either the precursor is exhausted or changes to the object confuse the issue to the point that it refuses to function. So if you invest a fragile object, the effect ends immediately if that object breaks."

Sam pulled free the name placard from her uniform and began to prod at it with her corona while Cassandane continued her lesson.

"The synergies don't receive the same level of attention as the three talents because they aren't as immediately useful. They don't have much relevance to combat, either. Pseudo matter cannot penetrate skin hardening. Noetics are immune to all mental synergies. Energy effects are easily countered by a corona."

With an almost casual flick of nous, the placard in Sam's hands began to float away from her. "Hot damn! Cassandane, I did it! I did a synergy!"

"Very good, Sam. Now retrieve your item and do it again."