The soft golden light shimmered across the two forms curled up in bed together, their bodies squished close in a bed that was most certainly designed for one. Jared Thael Conrad slowly began to stir, years of habit and self-discipline pulling him out of sleep despite his late night activities at the grad party. In response, the gold light began to shift and intensify, suddenly sweeping across the room in luminous arcs; it seemed almost playful. Interspersed here and there were flashes and specks of multihued colour, dimmer but much more energetic. A particularly bright flash of gold caused Thael to open his eyes and sternly usher his spirits back into invisibility. At his insistence, the gold light grudgingly dimmed then disappeared. He sighed in satisfaction; Roy was still soundly asleep, his own spirits zipping around overhead. In the nearly two years they’d been together, Thael’s spirits had caused no amount of morning irritation for his companion. Thael didn’t mind them though, in fact he was grateful. For as long as he could remember, the tall blonde Guardian had been afraid of the dark. It was a deep, irrational fear that he still struggled with. When he was very young, he could never sleep unless he had a nightlight on. After his spirits arrived, they’d gently taken over that role, making sure it was never completely dark around Thael.

He glanced at the clock on his bedside table: 9:32 am. He’d slept in later on occasion, wrapped in the comfort of Roy’s arms, but he generally prefered to be up a little earlier. He took a moment to gaze lovingly at his boyfriend: even in sleep, a small smirk was fixed on Roy’s lips. With one final effort, Thael heaved himself out of bed and enjoyed a luxurious stretch. He checked his phone as he got dressed-shorts and a t-shirt for his morning jog-and saw that he had a text from his mother. [i]Hope you had fun last night! I love you, and I’m so proud of you.[/i] He’d have to find time to give her a call, but between their schedules, it wouldn’t be easy. Once Thael’s youngest brother had turned 8, he’d been shipped off to join his siblings at Oakridge, and Mom had gone off to run the ER at a military hospital near the front. She was a few time zones away and working 14 hour days, so they rarely had a chance to talk.

Thael slipped quietly out of his room and set off on his jog. It was a perfect day for it: bright and sunny, but not too hot. He was feeling surprisingly good considering how much of last night had vanished into a haze. He remembered doing shots with Kate and Olivia, getting into a chugging contest with Kimbo, and he had a vague recollection of pouring gin and tonics for Jyn saying “cause, you know, [i]Jyn[/i] and tonic? Get it?” Overall it had been a great night, and his headache was entirely bearable.

He passed a few bleary eyed friends from the football team as they made their way to breakfast, squinting at the bright sunlight and lurching about unsteadily. “Morning Kyle, Brad, Jake!” he called out to them cheerfully as he ran past. They responded with an array of grunts and halfhearted waves, unable to match his energy. Thael chuckled to himself; there was a certain amount of pleasure to be had in rubbing his early morning cheer in other people’s faces, especially fellow football players. Many of them focused entirely too much on their sport and not enough on academics, which Thael disapproved of. It might be easy to forget here at Oakridge, but there was a war going on. For Thael, football was a distant second to his combat training and schoolwork. He did it because it was a good way to keep fit and learn about operating as part of a team, but guys like Kyle seemed to think they could make a career out of the sport and took it way too seriously.

The team had done well under Thael’s leadership: he was well suited to being a quarterback, and team captain. The coach established a strategy and an objective, and Thael-having memorized every play in the book-decided on the best one to fulfill the objective. Football was easy for him because nothing too unexpected ever happened. There was ample planning time, fixed positions, and predictable patterns, none of the unpredictability of his advanced tactical courses. Much to his chagrin, Thael had continued to struggle with those classes. He could beat the preprogrammed sims just fine, even the advanced ones, but the instructors in AdvTac delighted in throwing extra challenges at their students. Thael had been running an urban combat scenario just the other week when the instructors had decided to suddenly give his AI opponent overwhelming air superiority, just to see how he’d handle it. As it turned out, the answer was ‘not well’. Thael had failed the sim and taken 80% casualties to boot. Just remembering the incident caused him to cringe. He’d still passed the class, but whereas before Thael had been a shoe-in for SWARG, but now he wasn’t so sure, and that uncertainty gnawed away at him.

If he could just make it into the Special Warfare and Reconnaissance Group, he’d be fine, Thael told himself as his run took him up the small hill covered in Oak trees for which the academy was supposedly named. The SWARG instructors could doubtlessly help him overcome his problem, Thael was sure of it. He just had to make it there. He paused at the top of the hill, overlooking the whole campus. It was beautiful here, that was for sure, and he’d miss it. There were so many memories of him and his friends scattered around campus, and there was a good chance he’d never see it again. Thael caught himself before his thoughts got any more melancholy. Yes the academy had been a great place to grow up, but it was time to move on to bigger and better things. With renewed determination, Thael resumed his jog, heading for the Windsurfer cafeteria in hopes of grabbing a hotdog for a late breakfast.

 He’d barely set foot in the cafeteria when the announcement came over the PA system. He was stunned for a moment. He could hardly believe, he’d made it, much less all of his closest friends. He’d made it into SWARG. He’d made it! A weight suddenly seemed to lift off Thael’s shoulders, and a bubbling feeling of joy swept through him. He threw back his head and yelled at full volume “WOOOOOOOOHHHHH!!!!” then set off at a sprint back to his dorm. There should be just enough time to shower and get into his uniform.