Theo was calmer than she'd expected to be,  all things considered. She was glad for the tea she'd composed herself with back at the room.  Good tea, Father had always told her, was worth more than its weight in fire gems.  She didn't have fire gems, but she had nerves, and the tea she used from her private hoard of Father's favorite evening blend made her feel better.  Sometimes thinking about Father had a similar effect, since he always seemed so in sync with the world, like his sure handling of the pushy Simple back on Delgado, when she'd been a kid.

    Pilot, that's what it was. Pilots had inner calm.

    And she, she was a pilot. That's why, she supposed, it was a pilot who sat to her right, at her table, and a pilot who sat on her left, at her table.  Assured of inner calm,  Theo advertently noted the location of the second door, and looked around with unfeigned curiosity, aware of the solemn patience of both her table mates. 

    Between them they'd had a lot of practice being patient, she supposed, with Flight Instructor yos'Senchul having to deal with wannabe pilots all the time, and Veradantha  -- and Veradantha having had more years than Theo could imagine to ... and there, so much for patience. Veradantha placed a small flat object on the table, flashed her hand over, and settled back, now that the clock was running.

    She'd been truly surprised to find them both waiting in the hall for her, and more surprised when they'd joined her at her table. Veradantha was her acting counselor, after all, and yos' Senchul in charge of first and second year pilots. But at this time of the night? Surely they both had other things to do than ...

    "Waitely," was what yos'Senchul had said, with careful hand motion a quick Welcome pilot, and slight bow perhaps a sign of the seriousness of the moment, "you are prompt.  This should not take long, after all, and to make that so we should all be seated and ready."

    And that was that. No small talk, no explanations, no comfort, other than the fact that pilots had inner calm.

    Wilsmyth sat with an administrator or teacher she didn't recognize, pointedly looking away from her, mostly at a pile of hardcopy in front of him.

    Chelly sat at the head table, such as it was – it's hard to have a head table with three rectangular tables arranged in a triangle shape and each with three chairs sitting behind it – but there he was, very busily not looking at her and not looking at Wil, either. Since Wil sat in the middle of his table as she did at hers, that left Chelly a tunnel straight ahead to look at, along with his notebook, and the people who flanked him.  Wil's table still lacked someone, and they had a few minutes until the ...

    The Commander walked in, looked about, pulled the door to the conference room closed.

    "Mister Frosher," she said, "please designate one of your associates to take this empty seat; I'll sit to your right."

    Chelly looked to his right and left, quietly said, "Dorts is a pilot – so someone  in admin, it looks like.  Goueva, you fit that several times."

    That lifted a hand in acknowledgment, gathered a few items, and made way with a minimum of fuss.

    Right, Theo thought. Veradantha is here as admin, too. Keeping track of jobs is hard.

    "Thank you all for coming on short notice; as desk man on ops the decision to convene is my responsibility. This is an informal fact-finding session convened by the officers of the watch as per standing orders in instances where accidents or conflicts involve the need for medical intervention or staff attention; no notes are to be taken and no notes are to be taken away.  Should no consensus be reached over the items under discussion this evening, a formal process will begin, possibly as soon as the close of this session."

    Chelly's voice was good and strong for all that he was reading from a cheat-sheet, with the head of the academy at his right hand.  "Does any member of this fact finding wish to go directly to formal process? If so, please state your case now."

    Peripheral vision is a wonderful thing, except that it almost cost Theo an inadvertent laugh as hands on both sides of her flashed quick instructions, Veradantha's No perhaps a tenth-beat behind yos' Senchul's Silence.

    Chelly looked about, checking with the others at the front table before looking toward Wil, and then, almost pointedly, at Theo.  She folded left hand over right, looked right back at him, but made no overt motion or sound. Inner calm, she thought to her fingers.  Inner calm.

    Chelly gathered his breath a moment, and then nodded, naming all of the present so that he was sure who was who, and so they could be too, and then continued.

    "With the consensus of all present parties I will state the situation as it came to the attention of ops."

     Inner calm.




   
    Chelly's recitation was bare-boned: a call for medical assistance with security back-up came during the early evening free-flight period, with a witness reporting "a discussion or something" between a pilot and the acting field coordinator during which one person "was just about knocked out one handed" and the other was "bleeding to beat Betelgeuse." 

    "A moment, Mr. Frosher."

    Chelly stopped, head turning rapidly. The Commander's hand motion was a soothing for clarity toward Chelly – and a scathing discussion talk talk discussion as she glanced between Wil and Theo. Her look was less than warm and Theo wished she had some tea to sip on...

    "I've been called from dinner to discuss a discussion between several of our students. I see. Please continue."

    Theo felt as if she'd shrunk, but the Flight Instructor's brief fluttering hand  was calm with it's fly the ship.

    "Accounts vary somewhat," Chelly continued.  "The witness suggests he came upon a an animated discussion in progress, one which, I guess the word is escalated because both parties were focused on different goals.  The witness indicated that perhaps Pilot Waitely was refusing to thumb-print something and during the insistence, accidental contact occurred between the individuals and ...

    Theo's move forward was slowed by Veradantha's smooth not a problem hand motion. Wil, meanwhile, jerked forward, glaring over at Theo.

    Chelly went on.

    "The result was that both parties went to the infirmary.  Pilot Waitely suffered a flesh wound to the scalp; Wilsmyth suffered contusions and a few moments of disorientation."

    "First strike, Mr. Frosher?"

    This also from the Commander.

    "The cameras might tell for sure, Commander, but the sequence seems to have been an accidental ummm ... an accidental swipe of the notebook Wilsmyth carried, which caught Pilot Waitely by surprise. Pilot Waitley's response was, I gather, a move of the dance, a trained response --"

    "Thank you. Please continue."

    "I ask the involved parties if the summary of events to this point is accurate."

    Theo sat back, thinking hard, willing away her blush, willing away her anger. Inner calm.

    "Yes, but --" Wilsmyth began, though a hand on his arm restrained him.

    "I think yes," Theo managed.  "That's what Bell would have seen. I mean, that's what happened, I guess. I got swiped upside the head and yeah, that dance move was right there. Automatic."

    Chelly glanced around, then down at his cheat sheet, head nodding as if he were mentally clicking off options as he read them.

    "We have a situation that was not the result of an inherent fault in the physical plant of the academy, nor was it the direct result of catastrophic equipment failure, nor of procedure."

    He paused, nodded with authority, and went on.

     "Does any member of this fact finding wish to go to formal process now? If so, please state your case."

    Theo could see Wilsmyth staring at his pilot advisor, and saw a flurry of low to the table hand talk she couldn't get much out of. For her part here hands were still after acknowledging Veradantha's low-voiced, "Please wait."

    Chelly looked about carefully and nodded.

    "Who will assert being a victim?"

    Now it was the administrator who was whispering into Wilsmyth's ear, and the Flight Instructor's slow and low motion: best stay course.

    After a few moments Chelly tapped his cheat sheet, looking relieved.

    "We now go to a short discussion of events prior to the witness account.  As no charges have been brought to this point and neither has indicated a claim of victim, precedence goes to the senior."





    Theo vibrated with anger and tension, the phrase inner calm, inner calm bouncing around noisily in her head.  Her advisors walked on either side of her, Veradantha professing a preference for something out of the ordinary, it being so late in the evening, while the Flight Instructor was saying something Theo wasn't quite catching about  a simple snack from Toovil that could be had for a half-hour's work...

    They left the admin building, cool air and silence flowing over them.  Lost behind were Wilsmyth and his companions, who'd gone right when they'd taken the left at the hall. He'd been laughing, though she didn't think he had anything to laugh about either.

    At that, she wiped her hand on her jacket sleeve again, She certainly hoped never to touch him again. Without a doubt laying him out on the floor was something he'd deserved, no matter how accidental it was, and shaking his hand may have satisfied custom in a way Father would have approved of but it certainly hadn't satisfied her.

    "Orn Ald, that's fine for you to say, but Theo has classes in the morning."

    Hand talk, compressed and sudden. Theo caught sleep later, fix  three now quick and then realized they were heading at quite a clip toward the faculty airstrip.

    "Theo, I'm not sure we've been clear with you, but we wish to speak outside the range of official ears."

    "Why did we have to act like losing my hours was an accident?" Theo tried not to whine but wasn't sure she'd succeeded.

    Veradantha spoke, gently.

    "Pilot Waitely, we shall need to adjust your courses immediately, I see. Should you like to declare a major I believe we can yet again amend your schedule and get you into a focused environment."

    They'd come to a fork in the path when  yos' Senchul's flashed a general query yes? 

    "You are hungry, Theo?" he asked.

    "Still mad. I ought to be hungry, I guess." She trudged on, still hearing the inner calm and still feeling tension in her shoulders.

    "I can understand your dismay, Pilot.  Would you be kind enough to pilot us to dinner? The flight will do us all good, I'm sure, and your choice at this point falls to deciding if you'd like to  partake of local fried and spiced night snacks or a quiet dinner at a A class restaurant?"

    She laughed.

    "You're serious? Fly us to dinner? I'm always hungry after."

    "Indeed. We all have had our routines disturbed by Wilsmyth's antics. Dinner will help. But what kind of meal?"

    "I'm not good for fancy, I think."

    "Excellent, if you'll step this way, there's a Star King VI I have keys to." He pointed, and a shiny, very new craft occupied the tie-down he indicated,  " Also, if we choose carefully, we shall more than make up the 'split difference' between the account-hours you've earned and the those as recorded by Wilsmyth. In the bargain, we shall certify night hours, and ... "

    "Thank you," the smiling Theo blurted. "I should have known things would be fine with a Liaden at my table! I owe so much to ..."

    "Silence!"

    They all stopped, the glare of the runway lights making them a tableau of dark cut-outs across the access paths.

    Instructor yos' Senchul's jauntiness was gone: in front of her was a dangerous man. She felt some of the dance roused in her, wariness answering his should set, his --

    "Ah," he said after a moment; a bit of stiffness released.

    "Student Waitley, this confrontation with Wilsmyth should teach us all much, but what it should not teach you, what you should never learn, is to trust and rely one someone simply because they are Liaden. "

    Theo realized she was gaping and still fight wary, struggled to return her countenance toward normal --

    "Listen to me, Theo Waitely.  The situation is such that indeed, our goals are similar, and my need as an instructor is that a promising student should have the opportunity to prove herself and not be victim to petty politics and power struggles.  You have acquitted yourself well, and I approve."

    "Always know where you stand with a Liaden, student.  Do they deal with you as friend, then that is a rare gift, and one to be examined. If they deal with you in business, deal carefully and accurately, and promise nothing you cannot perform. When dealing with pilots, treat as pilot and you will be treated so. Assume nothing, however, about someone simply because they are Liaden. If you are not within a clan and have no standing and no melant'i, a Liaden will treat you as disposable if that is convenient. If you display melant'i, as you do, expect to be treated reasonably.  Do not expect benefits from Liadens, unless you earn them."

    Theo stood in the light, trying to pull an answer to her lips.

    "Well put, my friend," Veradantha said, moving slowly but smoothly in the direction of the aircraft the pilot had pointed to earlier. She rambled on, and they followed, her voice gentle but getting louder as the whine of an incoming plane beat at them.

    "There is something in pilot lore which speaks to this, in fact.  As a pilot, the usual rules of behavior on duty are assumed to include a number of things.  Let us see – you can number them later if you like, and I will miss some.

    " Always know where your ship is and what state it is in. Always carry an extra weapon – this assuming one always carries two weapons to begin with – your extra is preferably one you are willing to use for a last stand. Be prepared to fight – we know you know this one! -- but be prepared to run and be small, for a dead or jailed or administratively restricted pilot flies no ship. When you walk in strange places be aware of those who may follow you, and though sitting with your back to the wall is useful, it is not always sufficient. Always know more than you let on, and share all of your secrets, even on your deathbed, only with those who will properly treasure them."

    They were close to the plane now, which shone with a flawless beauty. Theo giggled. Inner calm.

    "And," said yos' Senchul, "except under extreme duress, always perform a pre-flight.Here is the key. You will wish to do the walk, and then you will let us in to observe while you are PIC for this flight. I suggest either DurzAnn's, with the guaranteed grittiest Gar-grilled, or Hugglelan, where you can have anything, as long as you eat it under red sauce."