"Probably! I found this cool trick where if I wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle and then go back to bed within a certain amount of time then the monitor doesn't count it, and it wrecks my sleep schedule but I'm trying to train my circadian rhythm to - "

"Can you just please sleep. You're perfectly competent to train them in the basics, if working with Larana won't be a problem for you? Might give you some recovery time."

"...I can probably manage. Larana's not terrible."

In the meantime, Sher has climbed onto the top of the bunkbed and jumped off, falling face-first--

--only to land on his feet at the very last second.

"That's not showing off, it's his version of pacing."

"Well it's terrifying. I absolve you of responsibility for that one, but try to bring the sane one back in one piece, Rai. And go to sleep."

She leaves to attend to whatever other fires need to be preemptively dealt with.

"I am not mad."

"Thou learnedst to swim by telling one of the older kids to rescue thee because thou wert about to drown and then jumping off the highest diving board."

"I was a schoolboy. --And it worked."

"OK, so, that is good information! - in seriousness, if you do unsafe things during training, Larana's going to zap you. He's only OK if you don't give him a hard time. Also we could all die."

"I shall not do anything unsafe."

"Or things that are unsafe to other people without thine astonishing reflexes. --I apologize, he hath never been a slave, he doth not know."

"Well, hopefully the learning process isn't excessively painful." Hopefully she doesn't get zapped a bunch tomorrow, she hates getting zapped. "OK, so, my bunk is over there, if you really really need anything you can wake me up, but take into account the fact that I'm already teeeechnically under the sleep limit and that even if I fool the monitor I can lose about one more hour before the impairment from sleep deprivation becomes equivalent to intoxication.

- annnd I just realized how unsafe that is with new people. OK. New plan. Don't wake me, I'm gonna get a full six hours and skip composing, please be ready at the door by 0547."

"I shall do as thou sayest."

"Thank you! And I'm sorry about this, we're usually way better about things but everything has been insane recently. Uh. Goodnight then. Sher. Vel."

Sher gets into the bottom bunk next to Vel and says in Kimbundu, "I don't like it that you told them I'm incompetent."

"It buys us more time to catch up with the tech, and we can't let them know about"-- Vel almost says 'Elara' but worries that someone might catch the name--"our home planet."

"You could have told them I was a slave with my chip out."

"Everyone who sees the way you talk would know you were a free Liar."

"You mean human."

"No, I mean Liar. You're a Liar now, you have to get used to it."

"I could pretend to be a slave."

"I'm sure you could, General."

Sher made a noise like "mmmrmf."