back home and in the shower. She didn’t need or want an audience for her runs. Regular Harpers—norms as the shifters called them—had found her morning exercise routine something of a novelty when she’d first started. They seemed to find the demands of everyday life enough to maintain their physical health. They didn’t understand that Amanda wasn’t running for health, she was running for strength and stamina. Two things she was certain she’d need during the trials.
The shifters around her hadn’t said a word, for the most part, though their silence spoke volumes. She didn’t understand why they were so opposed to her candidacy. It seemed a simple matter to her. If she could survive the trials, then she was an asset to the community. And if she failed, then she was the only one hurt by it.
Of course, she wasn’t completely naive. The shifters would have resented anyone trying to encroach on their sacred turf. Though it seemed unlikely she’d be starting a trend or anything. Norms weren’t exactly breaking down the door to get into the Guild. In fact, in the nearly five hundred years that humans had lived on Harp, there hadn’t been a single non-shifter who’d even attempted the trials, much less one who succeeded. She’d checked.
Despite the shifters’ instinctive resentment, however, she still believed they would eventually come around to the idea of her candidacy—if only so they could be there to gloat when she failed. Not that she had any intention of failing. And so far, she hadn’t done anything except check into the legalities involved, and find out everything she could about the trials themselves so she’d know how to prepare. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.
The initial step was straightforward, nothing more than formally registering to participate in the trials. Sign-ups were held one day each year, and that day was today, with the first part of the trial taking place in five days. That would be a straightforward written exam to test the candidate’s knowledge of the Green’s life forms—not only the animals, but the plants. The candidate had to show near-perfect knowledge of each animal’s characteristics and behavior, and in most cases how best to kill it, since almost everything out there would be trying to kill you first. For plants, it was identification, along with knowledge of any beneficial use, and a basic understanding of what was safe and what wasn’t. The latter being a much longer list.
Her training had begun as soon as she’d been released from the hospital. Slowly at first, as her leg healed, but she’d been in excellent physical condition already and it wasn’t long before she was training as hard as ever. It wasn’t the physical demands of the trials that worried her, though. It was the enormous amount of new data she’d had to absorb in order to be ready for whatever she’d face out there, and for the written exam, too. Even for someone accustomed to dealing with the vast amounts of information that came into the fleet’s science center almost daily, it was a lot to learn in a short amount of time.
And today was the day, the first step, and she was ready. She was also tired of waiting, which was why, instead of rushing home to shower this morning, she was going to swing by the Guild Hall and sign up first thing. If she missed today’s registration, it would be another year before she could try again, and it had occurred to her that some of the shifters might try to stop her from putting her name on the list. She didn’t expect anyone to ambush her on the pathway or anything physical. However, she wouldn’t put it past them to make her jump through some bureaucratic hoops in hopes of delaying her registration until it was too late. She figured by getting there at the crack of dawn, she’d at least have all day to play their little games.
She straightened, stepped off the street, and started down the narrow dirt path that would take her to
The shifters around her hadn’t said a word, for the most part, though their silence spoke volumes. She didn’t understand why they were so opposed to her candidacy. It seemed a simple matter to her. If she could survive the trials, then she was an asset to the community. And if she failed, then she was the only one hurt by it.
Of course, she wasn’t completely naive. The shifters would have resented anyone trying to encroach on their sacred turf. Though it seemed unlikely she’d be starting a trend or anything. Norms weren’t exactly breaking down the door to get into the Guild. In fact, in the nearly five hundred years that humans had lived on Harp, there hadn’t been a single non-shifter who’d even attempted the trials, much less one who succeeded. She’d checked.
Despite the shifters’ instinctive resentment, however, she still believed they would eventually come around to the idea of her candidacy—if only so they could be there to gloat when she failed. Not that she had any intention of failing. And so far, she hadn’t done anything except check into the legalities involved, and find out everything she could about the trials themselves so she’d know how to prepare. Unfortunately, that was easier said than done.
The initial step was straightforward, nothing more than formally registering to participate in the trials. Sign-ups were held one day each year, and that day was today, with the first part of the trial taking place in five days. That would be a straightforward written exam to test the candidate’s knowledge of the Green’s life forms—not only the animals, but the plants. The candidate had to show near-perfect knowledge of each animal’s characteristics and behavior, and in most cases how best to kill it, since almost everything out there would be trying to kill you first. For plants, it was identification, along with knowledge of any beneficial use, and a basic understanding of what was safe and what wasn’t. The latter being a much longer list.
Her training had begun as soon as she’d been released from the hospital. Slowly at first, as her leg healed, but she’d been in excellent physical condition already and it wasn’t long before she was training as hard as ever. It wasn’t the physical demands of the trials that worried her, though. It was the enormous amount of new data she’d had to absorb in order to be ready for whatever she’d face out there, and for the written exam, too. Even for someone accustomed to dealing with the vast amounts of information that came into the fleet’s science center almost daily, it was a lot to learn in a short amount of time.
And today was the day, the first step, and she was ready. She was also tired of waiting, which was why, instead of rushing home to shower this morning, she was going to swing by the Guild Hall and sign up first thing. If she missed today’s registration, it would be another year before she could try again, and it had occurred to her that some of the shifters might try to stop her from putting her name on the list. She didn’t expect anyone to ambush her on the pathway or anything physical. However, she wouldn’t put it past them to make her jump through some bureaucratic hoops in hopes of delaying her registration until it was too late. She figured by getting there at the crack of dawn, she’d at least have all day to play their little games.
She straightened, stepped off the street, and started down the narrow dirt path that would take her to
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