Page 16 of The Mentor
“Do they know how to fight?” Marco asked, closed his closet, and shoved his bag under the bed.
“Of course not.”
A small chuckle escaped Marco. “That’s going to be interesting. I’ve only seen Magni once or twice but he never came across as a patient man, and teaching a class of first-time fighters will require a lot of patience.”
“True, but he insists, so we’ll let him. Do me a favor,” I said. “Keep an eye on his training and let me know what you think, will you?”
“Sure.” His dark curls were long enough to fall into his eyes and he pushed them back. I didn’t tease him about his sorry excuse for stubble.
“Good. We have two hours before the first group of students arrive. In the meantime, I want to introduce you to everyone here. Especially Kya.” I paused and my next words tasted bitter. “By the way, just so you know: Kya is ranked the same as me.”
“She’s what?” he asked, surprised.
“I know. I’m not happy about it either, but because it’s an experiment one side of the border can’t overrule the other. We have to agree on everything.”
“Is that even possible?” he asked
“No. But so far we’ve agreed on the basic things and we’ll figure out the rest as we go.”
Marco nodded his head and clapped his hands together. “Anything else I should know before we go out there?” He pointed to the door.
“Yeah, I should probably warn you that the women…” I lowered my brow and thought about how to put it. “It’s not that they’re stupid, it’s just that they see the world completely differently from us and some of the things they say sound incredibly naïve and dumb. Try not to laugh, will you?”
Marco scratched his arm and tilted his head. “Give me an example so I know what to expect.”
“Okay, I’ll give you the worst one I’ve heard so far.” I straightened my back and blew out a long breath. “Gender isn’t important in the Motherlands. Not like here anyway.” I rubbed my forehead because just thinking about the major discussion we’d had over this thing gave me a headache. “They have this twisted idea that the children should shower as a group because it demystifies the differences between them. They want the children to feel comfortable with their bodies and they get really offended when we call them crazy for even suggesting shared showers. According to them we’re sexualizing children in an unhealthy way.”
“That’s a joke, right?” Marco said.
“I’m afraid not.” I exhaled noisily. “I talked to some of the other men about it and we think it’s because they grew up that way and never knew things could be different. It’s almost like they see themselves as gender neutral, and it’s fucking sad.”
“Yeah, but it’s not something I would laugh about,” Marco pointed out.
“No, but you get the idea, right? They say outrageous things.”
“All right.” He nodded and looked to the door. “Shall we?”
“Uh-huh.” We moved outside and were walking toward the school building when I gave my last warning. “Oh, and Marco. Don’t be surprised if they touch you. It doesn’t mean as much to them as it does to us.”
Marco nodded but he still looked taken aback when both Pearl and Kya took his hands in a formal greeting.
For someone who had never met a female before, Marco kept impressively cool when he stood surrounded by a whole group of them. The only time he looked nervous was when Kya patted his arm. Marco’s eyes flew to Magni before he took a step back.Good move, I thought and smiled.
Only a few hours after Marco’s arrival, the first group of students arrived. It was five girls, and as agreed upon, we men waited inside the school while the women greeted them. From the looks on the other men’s faces, I’d say we were all a bit awestruck when we watched through the windows.
The first girl I noticed was Mila. I’d seen her picture and studied her back-story, but to see her in person blew me away. She was adorable and looked like an angel child with her long blond hair, blue eyes, and pretty features. And then when Pearl came to greet her, the little girl’s shy expression vanished for a smile that revealed dimples.
“Is that the assistant?” Marco asked and pointed out the window to a girl that looked slightly older than the others.
“Yeah, that must be Shelly,” I said and watched closely.
“Huh, she doesn’t look like a genius. But then I’ve never met a genius before,” Marco muttered.
“You’ve metme, haven’t you?” Lord Khan pointed out with a sly smile. He and Pearl had come up with the idea for the school and were both here to see everything went according to plan.
“Yes, Lord, I apologize,” Marco said quickly and bowed his head.
“Which one is the twin?” Magni asked.
