Learning to Dance

Up figured Taz just needed time to adjust to her new life
at the Academy. He did try to talk to her whenever he’d see
her at mess hall or on the quad, but she was unresponsive to
the point of blatantly ignoring him. Unused to dealing with
the misdirected anger of a fifteen-year-old girl, he
eventually stopped trying to get her to acknowledge his
existence, though reluctantly. Maybe he shouldn’t, but he
missed having her around.
The Academy instructors were impressed with Taz, and
Up couldn’t help but feel a rush of pride anytime he
overheard them discussing her progress. She could beat
anyone in her class in the ring and was keeping up fine in
the athletics tests. He didn’t get a chance to see it for
himself until the day he was asked to teach a few classes for
an instructor who’d had a little too much to drink the night
before. The second class of the day was Taz’s.
Up surveyed the group of freshman cadets before him.
Most looked uneasy, tugging at their uniforms and casting
nervous glances at each other. Perhaps his reputation
preceded him. Taz stared straight ahead, not looking at him
or anyone else.
“All right, cadets,” he barked. “Let’s see what you’ve
got.”
He started them off the way he always did: pushups,
laps, and no mercy. The first one broke after twenty
minutes, and that seemed to stiffen the others’ resolve, as it
often did. He stole a glance at Taz, who was halfway
through her third set of pushups. Her arms were shaking,
nearly imperceptibly. Her pace didn’t falter.
When the cadets were shining with sweat and breathing
heavily, he set them to sparring. He could see who had
experience prior to coming the Academy, and who didn’t.
Most still had a long way to go. When Taz had put her third
opponent on the floor, Up sighed. There was no one here to