She let her eyes wander around the room, trying to remain inconspicuous as she glanced toward Dante, who sat staring blankly toward the projection overhead. That wasn't too odd in itself, but she couldn't keep the tiny smirk from her lips as she noticed Rox, slowly beginning to fall asleep at her desk. The girl had her head propped in her hands, but her elbow was sliding, inch by inch, toward the edge of the desk as her chin drooped and her eyes closed.

The message didn't surprise her. Everyone else in this class was bored too. She let out a small, resigned sigh when she saw who it was from. She'd been expecting this since Swede had given her that look when they'd played the simulator with those two Jaydes. Her hope that perhaps it had been swept under the rug by Nathan's reappearance was dashed when she saw the grin on Swede's face.

That warranted another glance in Dante's direction. Still staring blankly, eyes unfocused. Dante's cellmate Fin, seated nearby, caught her gaze when he grinned. Swede motioned toward her desk, sending him a little note, and he responded with a frown and a message that didn't make much sense. I dunno, but Nicolai and her got in a fight this morning, and Bali had to kick him out.

Interesting.

-Good morning, Nicolai. Feeling alright?-

- No. -

She copied her message and Nicolai's reply to Swede and flipped back to the main mail screen to see that she had a new message waiting for her already. Class fell back another priority level when she saw who it was from. Castor, asking if she knew that Nathan had returned. When she looked up to meet his gaze, the fearful look on his face made her reply immediately.

-Bali and I were just coming back from the showers when we heard them shouting at eachother in the barracks... some of the others said that they'd been at it for a while, arguing and everything, so we were gonna leave them alone when there was a big crash and more screaming. They'd locked the door and we couldn't get in, though, so Lem had to come and override the lock. I guess Dante threw her desk at him or something, and Nicolai refused to leave, so Bali kicked him out before he got in trouble with Lem. She just stormed off later, that's all I know but it was pretty nasty, Aria. Will you make sure she's okay?-

Swede sighed and nodded, sending him a little thank you note before turning to glance again at Dante. Hoping to catch her attention, she followed with a message to her, a quick good morning to see if she would even respond. She sighed again in relief as Dante started, looked down at her desk, and flicked her head to the side to give her a blank icy stare before giving her the cold shoulder and ignoring her once more.

His desk flickered to announce the new message arrival, and he opened up her query about what had happened and started to reply.

-Tayce Martial and I saw him attacking another student yesterday evening before lights out. He looked at us. We think he might be after the commander. Wasn't sure it was him; we thought he iced. Me and Hel both want to help if we can. He looks dangerous.-

This sounded serious indeed. Everyone in their circle and many people outside of it knew how badly disappointed Nicolai had been when Dante kept snubbing him, but he hadn't let that bother him in months. Now it appeared as if something had sparked that old flame, and it seemed considerably less playful than it had before.

Frowning, Pallas was about to email Dante when Castor's reply appeared in her inbox. She read it through and her eyes widened a little. They'd seen him attacking another student last night? The stories of what had happened to Wick had filtered down to her, of course. But that had been three days ago.

-Do you know who it was?-

She sent the message to Castor and then wrote a quick missive to Dante, identical to what she'd sent Nicolai, before copying Castor's messages over to Swede.

He and Helen had stayed in the Library until lights out last night, neither of them speaking much. There wasn't much to say. They both knew who Nathan was and what he had done. They both saw the strange light in his eyes when he'd turned away from the other soldier and looked at them. They had both felt the same irrationality coming from him in waves as he stood there smirking before turning to leave.

There had been some discussion of approaching the authorities, but they had precious little evidence, no idea who the other soldier was, and had both learned through hard experience how little attention the BattleSchool administration paid to violence between the students. They'd finally agreed that he would contact Pallas this morning in class, and so he had.

She was only partially surprised to read Pallas's letter, the forwarded message from Fin. Nicolai mad at her was one thing, and she already knew just what she was going to do to him. Nicolai mad at Dante... well, that was another. Pallas's evident concern made her smile, just slightly, to herself as another message popped up on her screen.

-And where were you last night, miss?-

-"Nico's just pissed cause Dante has a new friend, and he's all jealous. He's being a jackass anyway so just ignore him and we'll keep her away from him. He'll live."-

One mystery solved. Nicolai hated to lose. At least it hadn't been about Nathan.

Castor's reply didn't help matters much. He hadn't identified the person Nathan had been beating on. Pallas pulled up the infirmary admissions, but there were no new reports listed. Whoever it was hadn't been injured badly enough to have to go...or was hiding it for fear of worse injury should they try to seek treatment.

Tayce Martial. It was a little early for her to be here, but under the circumstances, Pallas was almost glad. Castor and Helen were both good soldiers, responsible and intelligent. Nathan had been in her toon. Perhaps if she'd taken steps to separate him from the commander before he snapped none of this would have happened. Pallas was too logical to feel guiltily responsible about Nathan's actions; no one had expected him to do what he'd done to Dante and Swede. Still, it was unsettling to have him back here.

And why had he attacked Wick?

He lost his temper first, not her. Dante continued to stare blankly ahead as she thought, silvery eyes unfocused as she tried to ignore everyone. Swede had messaged her, but she ignored it, giving her friend a passive glance before turning her back to the room again. A little part of her felt guilty, but her anger toward Nicolai erased most of that. Her desk beeped again, a greeting from Pallas, and she looked down at her display, sighing in resignment. No peace today.

A quick "I'm fine," was all the response she gave, but the little message light flickered once more, and a note from Rox appeared this time, making her smile slightly to herself.

-Heyo, I heard what happened with flashboy. Ignore it, he's a fuckstick, and I'm gonna whup his ass good. I'll tell you about it lata, neh? Remember: Nolite te bastarde carborundorum. Our boys are gonna meet us after class. Cheer up. You look ugly when you frown. -Roxypoo-

Nathan might be after her?

Dante sighed tiredly, unconsciously rubbing her bruised wrists as she stared down at the note that blinked on her display. He'd attacked some other soldier, but... realization slowly bled into her gaze, melding quicksilver as she looked at Pallas again, eyes wide. She'd gone to see Jor, and in her preoccupation with trying to gain his favor, had noted but failed to really recognize his injuries. Wick couldn't do that kind of damage to him, not in her condition, and that left only Nathan who Jor could conceivably fight with. His swollen black eye and bruised face were a frightening testament to Castor's words, and Dante typed frantically in response.

Jor. Jordan Windhaven, Wick's consort, the same boy who'd attacked Dante on the first day of his transfer to Fox. Nathan had defended her then. Who could have foreseen his violent change of heart? Pallas was done attempting to work that out. Instead, she was puzzling over why he would attack Jor now.

"Class dismissed. But..." he frowned more severely against the instant rustling of uniforms as everyone tried to get up and leave as soon as humanly possible. "But, for Thursday's homework assignment, I want you all to read chapters 15-25 in "Wars of the World." Understood?" The groans echoing around the room made it clear they understood all too well. "Very good. Dismissed."

It took a long moment to shake herself fully awake as Dante slid through the departing students and over to her side. "Donovan and Dominic are going to meet us?" Rox grinned broadly, nodding and elbowing her friend conspiratorially in the ribs, until someone made a harsh mocking snort behind her, and she spun around to see Nicolai smiling with sugary falseness. "Gee Rox, you must have fallen asleep at least five times in class today. Boys keep you up all night?"

"Perhaps I should ask you the same thing, Mishkin. Bali and Fin keep you busy?" Dante giggled as Nicolai scowled, and he hissed in a malicous tone. "No, that's more of a twin thing, don't you think? Have a nice day, ladies." He stalked away as Dante turned to glance at Rox, her eyebrows raised in confusion. But Rox just shook her head in mock pity. "He's just jealous he doesn't have a man anymore, eh? C'mon, let's go before the boys get impatient. Heya Swede..."