Page 35 of The Seducer
Tristan lifted his chin and smiled at me.
Athena gestured for Tristan to come up and join us in front of the class. The boy was quick to get up and moved straight over to stand in front of me. He was the same height as Hans already and it surprised me, because I thought all Motlander males were small.
“How tall are you?” I asked him.
“One meter and seventy-seven centimeters.”
“Sorry, we don’t use the metric system in the Northlands. Do you know how many feet that is?”
Tristan shook his head while I measured him against my own body. “You’re about five-ten; that’s pretty good. You’ll be my height when you grow up.”
“How tall are you?” Tristan asked, looking up at me.
“Six-two, which makes me one of the smaller Nmen, but what I don’t have in height I make up for in charm and brains.” I grinned.
Athena spoke up and encouraged the children. “Maybe you have a question for Finn?”
A girl wanted to know if it was true that there were no girls in the Northlands.
“About one million people live in the Northlands, but only one hundred and ten are females. That’s why they are all very precious to us,” I said and looked to Athena. “Now do I get to ask questions too?”
“Yes, of course.” She smiled and pointed to the children. “I’m sure the children are eager to answer anything you want to know about going to school in the Motherlands.”
I already knew a lot since I’d spent time with students at the experimental school in the Northlands. Ten of them were from the Motherlands and they had answered my questions already, so I decided to have some fun with these students. “Okay,” I said and planted my feet a little apart. “I wanna ask the boys how many girlfriends they have.”
The children started giggling and no one wanted to answer, so I put Tristan on the spot. “What about you? How many girlfriends do you have?”
He shook his head and answered with a firm voice. “None. And I don’t want a girlfriend either.”
More giggles and head shakes.
“Huh. You know what, when I first saw you I thought you might be my younger brother or something, because I swear you’re my spitting image when I was your age, but now I’m certain that we’re not related.”
Tristan just stared at me.
“Any male relative of mine would have at least one girlfriend,” I stated with a grin. “We’re born seducers, you see.”
Tristan bit his lip and opened his mouth to ask a question but the principal was quicker. “Did you ever meet Pearl Pilotti?” she asked.
“Sure, Pearl married one of my good friends, Khan. He is our ruler, you might have heard about him.”
The small woman looked star-struck as she fiddled with her hands. “I’ve read all the articles and seen the interviews. They make such a handsome couple.”
“Is it true that Khan is your ruler because he’s your best warrior?” a kid asked.
“Khan is amazing, but our best warrior would be his brother Magni, who also happens to be my closest friend. We’ve known each other since we were children and just for the record, he’s not just our best warrior. Magni is the best warrior in theentire world.”
“Oh my.” The principal blinked her eyes. “He sounds dangerous.”
I shrugged. “I don’t recommend provoking him, that’s for sure.” Turning to the class, I said: “I have another question. How many of you can walk on your hands?”
Three of the children raised their hands.
“Come on,” I said. “All boys in the Northlands can walk on their hands before the age of six, and you’re telling me only three of you can do it?”
“Why would we walk on our hands?” Tristan asked with a puzzled expression on his too-pretty face.
“Why wouldn’t you?” I asked. “It’s fun and it’s a great way to build body strength. I still do it all the time, do you wanna see?”
