He nods. Thinks about it for a moment. "I'm - not that scared? I think I know how bad it'd be and I could take it even if I can't run away. They're not– I read their minds, they haven't ever killed anyone. And they're only okay at magic, and...I don't think they even really know how to fight? Not for real, because you aren't allowed to, right, they don't have any practice." Shrug. "I'm scared I might've made it worse for her and that's upsetting. It's not fair! She's really really good at magic. She shouldn't have to be scared of them when the only thing they're good at is - I don't know, knowing a lot of nasty sex words." 

"Not a very impressive thing to be good at. You could talk to her. She might have ideas about what she would want to do if she had allies, and she might be able to guess whether you will have made it worse and what would make it better. She might not, some people aren't good at that stuff, but you could check."

"Mmm. I can try. And - I'll just pay attention with Thoughtsensing all the time for a week. So I have warning if the bullies try to sneak up on me. I think if they haven't in a week then they probably won't." He shivers. "...I'm still supposed to go to my class this afternoon and then detention right after. It's going to be really hard to concentrate, but - I guess that's good practice too." 

"I think so." Hug. "What do you think you want to practice learning in detention, it's easier if you're trying to get something in particular out of it."

He leans on her shoulder and thinks about it for a while. "Maybe - not looking upset or scared or like I'm in pain, even if I am? I think I'm okay at that, but not that good." 

"Yeah." Squeeze. "That seems good. And practicing at it doesn't mean it was a waste if you don't do it the whole time, right, just that you have more practice than you did before."

"Mmm." He leans on her. 

Eventually the five-minute-warning bell for afternoon classes echoes in the distance, and Ma'ar sits up, trying to scrub some of the dried blood from under his nose with his sleeve. "I...guess I'll be back sometime tonight after detention." 

"I'll wait up for you." She kisses the top of his head. 

Ma'ar tugs his robes straight, picks up his bookbag, straightens his shoulders, and heads out with his face set in a blank neutral expression. 

She paces for a few minutes. Considers summoning a hertasi to ask what detention usually is for kids Ma'ar's age but she couldn't get the information to him and it is not generally a favor to children to have their parents interfering in their education. And she doesn't actually have any ground to stand on to kick up a fuss, it's entirely reasonable for a school to have punishments for starting fights and it's not a favor to anyone who wants to conquer countries, to protect them from ever being in trouble at the scale where it can be survived -

- and she doesn't regret having been punished in school, it made her more disciplined and able to function even under threat of torture -

She does not get anything done that afternoon and evening.

Ma'ar gets back just after midnight, letting himself in re-locking the door behind him. He looks...fine. A bit confused. 

" - hey." Hug?

He'll always take a hug, and he is very tired and relieved to lean on her, but - "It wasn't even horrible," he reassures her quickly. "I don't know why anyone thinks it is." 

" - huh. Probably you're tougher than them. ...also I cast Mage Armor on you every day and that might've helped, in Cheliax they'd wait for that to wear off."

"- No, I mean, they didn't even hit us at all. We had to skip dinner and weren't allowed to talk and they made us stand and copy lines on a blackboard about how we wouldn't get into fights, and then we had to go scrub the floors in the atrium. Some of the other students were really miserable about it because their arms hurt or their hands got cramped, but it was fine, really." 

"- bizarre. Well. I'm glad you're okay." Hug. "Do you want dinner now?"

"Yes, I would!" He looks faintly disappointed. "I didn't get to practice not looking upset at all, because I wasn't upset. Some of the other kids could've practiced it - honestly I don't know how they could've lived their entire lives without anything worse than that, it's so weird, but." Shrug. "I'm - kind of worried this isn't the real punishment and there's a secret one if you're disobedient enough, so I'll still try not to get any more detentions." 

"I mean presumably if nothing else they'll expel you if you make enough trouble, so you should definitely try not to do that." She stands up to make dinner. "I'm glad they didn't hurt you. You'll have other occasions to practice."

"Mmm." Ma'ar still feels confused as well, but it can wait. He yawns and blinks and tries very hard to stay awake until dinner is ready, and as soon as he's done eating he collapses into bed and is asleep almost instantly. 

She goes over to her desk. She's been working on a letter for him. He's not as good at reading Taldane as he's getting at reading the local language, but she suspects, now, that he can read well enough to decipher it, should he need to, which he probably won't.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Ma'ar oversleeps the next morning and has to sprint off without breakfast to make it to magic lessons on time. 

He comes back for lunch rather than eat in the dining hall, because bullies, he would prefer to minimize how much time he spends in crowded places where keeping his Thoughtsensing wide open will give him a headache. He does confirm that he found the girl who was being bullied before and asked if she was willing to talk in the afternoon after classes today and she said yes. 

Good for him. He can have lunch here and he can come back here with her afterwards, if they want to talk in secret.

Ma'ar impulsively hugs her when she offers that. "Thank you." 

He's back fairly soon after the final bell, with a red-headed freckled girl a few years older than him. "Carissa, this is Elwa, she's the... Anyway. Can you teach us nasty insults?" 

Elwa blushes ferociously and stares at the floor. "We decided that - even though Ma'ar thinks it's not fair that I can't fight back with magic - I can't do that and so it would be better if I could not cry and fight back with. With the thing they do." 

"Oh. Sure. Uh...is this a country where it's a terrible insult to say that a man let another one fuck him?"