Read Online Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1 by Catherine Beery - Free Book Online Page B

long trailing feathers made them seem bigger. Ensign A’zarsha fluttered stepped back onto her stool. In her petite hands was a pile of sky blue cloth. Folded on top was what looked to be a navy blue jacket. She set her bundle on the desk between us. “This here is your 5 th class cadet uniform.  You wear that at dinner and any functions. A training uniform will be sent to your room. You are to take care of your uniforms. Stop by the seamstress as you grow and she will see to it that you receive new ones.”
                  Before I could nod my head, Ensign A’zarsha hopped down from her stool again. “Why they insist on making these desks for the big people I’ll never understand.” She muttered good-naturedly. I don’t think she saw my shrug. I heard her open a drawer. She disappeared for so long I started to get worried. I rose up on my toes and tried to peer over the expanse of desk. Nope, couldn’t see a thing. I settled back down on my feet. There was a clatter before she popped up again on her stool. “Sorry about that. Here, you will need these.” She said putting a stack of papers next to the pile of clothes. “The top sheet is a map of the campus.” She picked up a pen and with delicate fingers traced two paths on the map. I watched attentively. She glanced up with her amber eyes to make that I was paying attention. “This line here,” she said tapping a line, “leads to the barracks. You are on the third floor in room number 321. Your roommate is 5 th class Morgan.” She then tapped the other line that I saw went in the other direction of the barracks. It ended at a small square that said ‘medical’. “You will need to report there after dinner. They will run you through the placement tests and a check-up.”
                  The Avren slid the map aside to reveal a blank form of some kind. “Now I need you to fill this out so I can check your admission and add you to the roster and let the Medical Center know you are coming.” She said handing me a pen. I took the pen and glanced at her before turning to the paper. I wondered briefly if she was telling me what she would do with the information to be nice or to warn me not to skip out on the tests. I turned to the form and decided that it was probably both.
                  Being a generally honest person I filled out the form as fully as I could. I gave my full name, Rylynn Tara Sinclair of Colony Lenti . Sinclair was my aunt’s last name. I have no idea what my parent’s last name was… nor did I even know their first names. I knew next nothing about them. What I did know was that Aunt Sylvie had been the older sister of my mother and that they must have been close. But Aunt Sylvie never talked much about my mother or father. Whenever I asked she would get this look in her eye that held a universe of secrets. Then all she would tell me was that they had been very good people and that they had loved me very much. I never learned anything else, no matter how I questioned. Eventually I noticed that my pressing questions were causing my Aunt pain, I guess because her sister was dead. So I stopped asking, but I never stopped wondering.
                  I finished filling out the form as best I could not knowing what some of the questions meant and pushed it toward Ensign A’zarsha’s side of the desk. She smiled and told me that she would plug it in right away and pushed the uniform to me. I took it and the map and backed up a step wondering if I was good to go or not. I watched her plug in my name into her consol. I saw her hesitation, her quick glance at me, before checking the screen. She must have seen the verification of my admission because she seemed even more surprised. Eventually she turned wide amber eyes to me. She blinked and managed a small smile before shooing me away with her fingers.
                  I nodded back and made my way to the entrance of the building. My pace