The clouds are bright overhead, and the wind calm and slightly cool. There is a path made of white-painted wooden boards, with a sturdy wooden railing on both sides. Off one side a whole lot of water can be seen. Ocean, or a large lake. And a steep drop to the smooth rocks below. On the other side of the path is a slice of forest-garden, a mixture of tall fruiting trees, shorter bushes full of berries, and small plants that might be root vegetables or grains. All in full bloom and looking - and smelling - delicious. Voices chatter faintly from within the garden.
"What're Ibyabekan schools like, then?"
(She finishes considering and puts a student on the action that generates pets, and takes a pet from the stack to her tray.)
"They didn't allow pets, for example." He considers the board and puts a student on textbooks.
Caffa's pet can join her student when they go out hunting, taking up two spots. You have to pull cards from a deck when hunting; She gets a Nothing and an Injury, and scowls.
"So, temple schools. Wear your uniform and say the pledge every morning and raise your hand before speaking. Right?"
"I was in the military but only after school; the school was not part of the military." He places a token.
"The flavor of the doctrine hardly matters. The point is to learn to obey. Fuck that and fuck Kelos."
"The place that colonized this one. Really dysfunctional, the nobility are high and fighting with each other all the damn time, nearly genocided the Ejer, tried to drag us 'colonists' into wars that should never have happened."
"Oh. Ibyabek was also colonized by oppressors and eventually had a revolution to overthrow them."
"It's really neat, three people are loyalists and one is a Renegade trying to sabotage the other three. If the loyalists unanimously accuse the renegade they win, but if they get it wrong and the other three vote out a loyalist they lose, so you have to look at what cards people play to see if they're trying to make the mission succeed or fail - that's the other way to win or lose - instead of doing risky accusations..."
Caffa has no compunction about rambling about a different game while playing the first game.
"Oh, I had thought it was about a revolution, because of the timing..." Kyeo will continue to do his not very good best at the current game.
"It is a revolution! At least in the theme. The missions are all sabotage. You don't know if you can trust your fellow revolutionaries."
The game of Academy soon concludes with Caffa winning. Kyeo's students won one of the secondary rewards worth some achievement points, though.
"Getting dark. I'm gonna help with the dishes a bit- Goodnight!"
"Sure, why not. There's a rotation, scheduled by... Somebody. I forget. You can be on it."
"Honestly I should just point you at him, it's just I can't remember his name. I'm legendarily bad about names. Tall, entirely human, old, male, wears this coat with the five virtues written on the chest."