With this chapter, all four of Zayto's first team have been identified. can you guess who they are and what colors they might become? I am hoping that we get clarity about Ayon on Saturday and don't have to wait until September to find out everything about him. if so He will be written in as applicable and if not I will fudge it and make my own version of Ayon for the story.

Zayto reentered the baracks after a patrol on the street with Pietre. It had been Colin's night to sleep so she had turned in early so that she would be awake and ready to give the new recruits hell when they arrived.

"Zayto, Oh my am I excited to see you! The other day when I got my report letter I was hoping I would be able to find you! Your parents were so great to me, thank you for getting me in touch with them. This place is larger than I thought it would be! I was given my assignment and told to find my Rack but which way is the south wing?"

Pietre looked at Zayto as if to say you know this fool? Is this really what we have to train?"

Zayto nodded, "The south wing is this way. My rack is in the south wing so I will show you that way."

"Oh, am I in your rack? That will be awesome if we are! If I have learned much from your parents then I know I will learn a lot about you." Uley said excitedly.

Pietre just stared before breaking his silence, "Dude calm down. Over exuberance is not taken very highly here. Be glad the two of us are what other knights call commoners or else you might be kicked across the floor. For your information, all first-years live in the south wing."

"Nice to meet you I am Uley! I can't wait to work with you and learn from you either." Uley held out his arm to Pietre.

"Yeah, you are gonna be eaten alive in your rack!" Pietre shook his head as they walked along.

When they got to Pietre's rack he quickly ducked in and slammed the door to keep Uley out from his rack. He didn't want the probationary knight to come in and violate his rack.

"You are not in my rack. We received our assignments last night. There are six probationary knights to one existing first year. I am across the hall from you however it is frowned on to enter another's rack." Zayto explained as Uley looked at his report, "Oh ok so then I have someone named Colin as my leader? What can you tell me about him? Is he a strong warrior with good guidance? Will I learn a lot from him?"

"Umm, I am not sure how to answer your questions but I had better get into my rack before they start sending me my recruits down."

KNIGHTLIFE

Colin sat on the platform in her rack having just woken up and knowing that the recruits would start crawling in shortly she wanted to make sure she staked out her authority in the rack and stayed on the platform.

She heard Zayto with someone who seemed to know him and wanted to guess that this was Uley.

THe door swung open and Uley stood before her. His jaw dropped when he saw her, "Wait you are COlin! You're a female!?

Colin grinned, "Welcome to hell Dreamer. You are in for the worst days of your life if you assumed all knights are male!"

"Your kit goes back there, make sure it is always neat or I will make you reroll it a thousand times until it is." Colin sneered, "Oh and to make matters worse for you I am a bred knight and I have very little tolerance for Commoners let alone dreamers like yourself."

Uley shut the door and put his kit on the wall before taking a seat.

Colin pulled a box out from under the table, "All members of my rack will have to pass a modified version of the Templars puzzle before I will even let them train in the yard so You might want to take one and get to work."

Uley took the puzzle, "Are these things really required?"

Colin sneered, "YOu bet they are. Zayto told me all about how you cheated the first time."

"Wait you know Zayto but I thought you didn't like COmmoners." Uley said as he watched her get back on the platform.

"I said I have little tolerance for them. That doesn't mean I hate them. Zayto and I were assigned to the same rack up until last night. So he and I know each other pretty well."

"Traitor!" Uley sighed as he realized that Zayto had known more about his bunk mate than he had let on."

"DOn't be mad at Zayto. He was only playing along with me. I got to him ages ago. Joys of passing the test the first time. Now tonight will be your night to use the platform. We are going to go on who arrives first. I had it last night."

"But I slept just the other night. I don't need to go down for a few more nights." Uley stuttered as he looked at Colin.

Colin shook her head, "In the ranks of knights you don't get to choose. If you don't use the platform tonight then no one will and you will not get a chance to do so for another you want to see any action I would get on working on the puzzle as well."

Uley frowned and began sliding pieces around on the puzzle, "DO I really have to solve this whole thing? We are talking weeks if not months to solve it."

"Good for you that this is a modified version. It only takes hours to solve and a bred knight can solve it by the time they are entering primary school." Colin leaned forward and smiled as she sat back on the platform as the door opened.

A quiet reserved young man came in. "Announce yourself Knight!"

The young man whispered, "I am Bryant and it is an honor to be here."

Colin rolled her eyes, "I really got the best and the brightest didn't I? Go sit next to Uley here and get to work on your Templar puzzle after you hang your Kit on the wall."

The young man followed suit and as he sat down, "Why do we have to do the templar puzzle again?"

"It was made clear that some knights don't think they need to do it at all so in order to be a functioning part of my squad you have to complete it." Colin smiled as she crossed her arms.

ANother knight came in and sneered, "Who died and made you boss queenie?"

"That is lady Colin to you. I am your worst knightmare as you are here on a chance and have to prove yourself to the commander in order to stay."

Uley turned, "Dude don't tick her off she is a bred knight and I really don't want to have to deal with her unhinged."

Colin stood up and crossed her arms, "Alright we have Dreamer, we have Wispy and we have Mouthy so far. Dreamer here has already heard but my rules are simple. First one in the rack gets first night to sleep. Only one of us sleeps at a time and when you are asleep there are atleast two people in the room making as much noise as they want. It is your job to get used to sleeping your full cycle amid chaos. So Dreamer you have tonight, Wispy you have tomorrow night and Mouthy you have the third night."

MOuthy crossed his arms, "My name is Patrice and I will have you know that I am not mouthy but that you are forgetting yourself. You were technicnally first so thus shouldn't you have tonight?"

Colin thought for a moment, "YOu know you are right I was first but unfortunately for you I slept last night which actually fits my rules as I moved in here yesterday during mid lecture. So I did go first how is that for a logic bender? Put your kit on the wall and grab a puzzle."

KNGIHTLIFE

Zayto sat patiently. He pitied the lecture that he could imagine that the new recruits were getting in Colin's bunk but also knew that she could handle herself and that if they were right they were about to get the worst of the worst in recruits.

A girl let herself timidly in and bowed, "Sire I am Lady Ryse. I am ready to prove myself as knight."

I am Zayto and you will be pushed hard to prove yourself Ryse. It is unusual for a female commoner to become a knight. Tell me of your desires?"

"Historically my family were knights. My father chose to marry a commoner however I desire to reenter society of the knighthood. I have never been happy looking at life from the outside."

"How come you failed your test the first time?" Zayto asked hesitantly as he looked for the door to open again.

"I didn't fail but rather I missed my exam and had to take a retake as a member of my family became ill. Retakes are marked down heavily because of the inconvenience of the fact. If I hadn't had that happen I would have passed."

Zayto nodded she was more timid than Colin but he could see her potential and he had known that retakes while allowed were marked down so much that anything other than an above average score automatically failed anyone who attempted. Bred knights were the only ones who could even dream of pulling such a feat. mix that with her timidness and he knew that was the only reason that she had failed.

"I can't promise anything but I want to try and keep all of us on as close of the sleep schedule as we have had. It won't always work and it will be difficult. What night did you sleep last?"

"I slept last night So I should be good for another week." Ryse nodded as Zayto marked her name down in position seven. That works as I tentatively have night six currently but I am open to shifting. How long can you go without sleep?"

Ryse thought for a moment, "I have done sleep adjustment and can do two weeks. What about you?"

"Two weeks with meditation aiding me but we will be a team and can support each other. Do you know if you have a cousin Colin?"

Ryse nodded, "Yes, I have a cousin Colin. Do you know her? I haven't seen her since I was very young we aren't all that close. Not that we were allowed to be."

Zayto nodded liking the personality that he was seeing, "Yes She is across the hall. She and I work closely together. So expect to have her yelling at you a lot."

"Oh great that is just what I needed to hear!" Ryse said as she sat down in a chair."

"I will be honest with you as I will be with all of you. you are here on probation because of new laws that some knights do not feel they can stand behind. we have been told to be hard on you to whip you into shape. most people coming failed for one reason or another."

"I am already in a minority being that I am a female in a career that is usually Male dominated." Ryse nodded, "Bring it I can deal with it. I knew what I was getting into before I even started taking the training classes."

The door opened and two other young men walked in and looked at Zayto and Ryse, "I told you we would meet plenty of pretty girls here."

Ryse looked at Zayto who stepped forward, "Lady Ryse is a member of this squad and will be your bunk mate there will be no hitting on her or devaluing her. I will not tolerate any of you being inapropriate in any way if you can't handle yourselves then you can show yourselves out."

"Geesh man lighten up, we are just foolen around. never thought we would be given a 2nd shot at being a knight."

"How come she's in our bunk anyway isn't there some sort of code?" the other wise mouth asked.

"No there is no code. women enrollment is so low that each class could have only one or two females in let alone any that pass into knighthood. you can't have a squad or bunk with only one or two people in it so we bunk with the men." Ryse stood her ground, "You will have to deal with it."

KNIGHT LIFE

Zayto grabbed a cold drink from the icebox and paid a ration coin for it. "I can't even right now. I was so hopeful that my new squad would be easy going when Ryse got here. our personalities just mesh and according to what she told me and what I could find from her records she didn't technically fail her exam. she missed her first exam makeup and then did a remake only as we all know remakes are marked down so significantly that very few actually pass with a remake test. but the other five members of my squad they have it out for Ryse. can't understand how a woman can be in thier bunk with them."

Colin nodded, "I have already given all six of mine nick names. Theres your friend Uley, he is dreamer. then there is Bryant I call him Wispy because he can barely make a sound. Patrice who is also known as Mouthy sounds like he would get along with your guys. I am constantly having to show him that I too have what it takes to run our squad. I have sleepy who wants to go one his sleep cycle tonight but he is going to have to wait. Uley wants to switch with him but I won't allow it they need to learn discipline. I also have old-timer I swear this guy has to have paid quite a share of money just to try and take the knight test as a middle-aged person. Finally I have Kiss-up seriously this guy does what ever I say without questioning. I winder if he actually has an opnion of his own."

"Pietre shrugged, "I know a few of the guys in my squad, they were from my sector, They aren't daring to act out because I have some interesting stories to tell the commander if they ever dare to try do something they shouldn't."

Zayto nodded, "I have never heard of the commander putting first years in charge of breaking knights have you?"

Colin shook her head, "Times are tough and he wants us to grow up fast, prove ourselves. I am just grateful that every night after dinner they get remedial classes and we get an hour off. cause it is gonna be a long night if Uley refuses to take the platform after. I am thinking an all night campus run in formation with battle gear."

Pietre nodded, "That sounds excellent I am for getting my guys to follow suit how about you Zayto."

Zayto nodded, "I think I may send a few of my guys along if they don't shape up. What other tricks are you working on Colin?"

"Well I got my hands on six preprimer templar puzzles which all my squad has to work on before I will let them train in any meaningful way. if one of them thinks the puzzle isn't needed to be a knight then they all have to do it. I however am not going to waste weeks waiting for them to complete the full version." Colin nodded as she described the torture they were all going through in her bunk.

"Oh that is miserable," Pietre started to laugh, "Wait did you say preprimer templar puzzle what in the world is that?"

"It is a consolidated puzzle that us bred knights have to master before we can even start the first wave of our schooling as young children. we take it instead of IQ tests. if you can't pass it in a reasonable amount of time then you are automatically considered a breeder."

Pietre shook his head, "Harsh. you do realize that more than the IQ tests go into confirming breeder status right?"

Colin shrugged as a group of specialists came into the lounge along with her brother, the specialists had experienced losses of their own but luckily not enough to warrant probationary new recruits."

"O look it is the sister who has grown soft sitting with her commoner friends. I don't know why you think you still have what it takes to be a knight." the boy sneered as he walked past to redeem a token that he had in his pocket.

Zayto sighed, "They will be out of class soon. should we get back to the bunks so that we can get them ready for the run."

Colin nodded, "Yes let's do that. I think the lounge stinks just a little too much of specialist jock strap right now."