Levitt's coming of age duel was over in a flash. He was disarmed, and knocked back so hard against the stadium wall that he lost consciousness.

A few hours later, he awoke in his bed, alone.

Nothing grand about it.

So that's all that was, he thought blearily.

Diurn looked down upon him with an expression of distaste.

" You're lucky that Lyena is out on the front," he said. " He would've killed you."

He got up and left.

Levitt's first engagement in the war ended with his fleet being forced to pull back. The engine on the flagship was damaged, and the repairs put him out of active combat for six months. During this time, he realized that he lacked a strong leadership quality. He had simply been given what he had been given because he was Lyewa, not because of any actual merit. Even his withdrawal was simply because he was Lyewa- his presence on the battlefield was yet another luxury, an ostentatious show of Sturm's power. It didn't matter whether he won or lost. He had been withdrawn because he was more valuable than the common soldiers, despite the fact that they were essential to winning and he was nothing but an ornament.

He began to read imperial political theory earnestly, for perhaps the first time in his life. He found it lacking.

Everything simply extolled the virtues of Arjun, and depicted strong leadership as an innate trait. It was inborne, not earned.

Of course, it was a trait that was supposed to be natural to him as Lyewa. Yet it was not.

This made the whole thing fall apart for him.

He visited Redlin in Gresatt, and talked him into smuggling in books on DASS politics.

" Lyena will totally kill us if he finds this out," Redlin said nonchalantly, typing away.

Levitt had always been under the impression that this older brother was supposed to be a carefree slacker who wasted the citizens' tax money, but in actuality, he looked haggard and his office was small, pushed to the side of Gresatt's imperial estate.

" Is it really so bad if someone reads The Ocean Manual?" Levitt asked him, peering over his shoulder at the holoscreen. " If the Records of War are so much better, shouldn't we all be reading Ocean to laugh at its incompetence?"

" It doesn't matter if it's bad or good," Redlin said. " Lyena banned it because he's a zealot."

Levitt had never met the Lyena, and it was the first time he had ever heard someone refer to him in such a way. Granted, he was only spoken of in hushed tones within the palace walls, but... being spoken poorly of within the palace was most often a good sign, truthfully.

" Lyena's a zealot?" Levitt asked. " In what way?"

" Exactly the way it sounds," Redlin said with a shrug. " He's obsessed with Arjun's Cascur. If he could wipe out all other life in the galaxy, he probably would. He's out of his mind."

Hm. That did seem bad. Being at war with the DASS to maintain their independence was one thing, but actively trying to wipe out everything but Starka? Even if it was possible, which Levitt doubted, it was morally wrong.

" Why's that?" Levitt pressed. Redlin simply shrugged.

" Who knows why he's that way," he said. " It's better to stay away from him entirely."

In the end, Levitt only met Lyena once.

He had stopped to resupply his ships on Hirdhe, and so came by Levitt's estate there.

He was eerie looking; tall, all white, like a corpse. When he came to greet Levitt, he had a serene smile plastered on his face that reeked of ill intentions.

" So Lorn has finally moved you closer to the frontline," he said. Levitt could feel his eyes raking over the office- it was uncomfortable.

" Yes," Levitt said. " I may be terrible with battle strategy, but I've been working to improve our supply chain. Since Hirdhe is at a vital point for transporting weaponry, I was assigned to reform the inefficient logistics office here."

" Hm. I've heard that you're quite clever," Ifrit said, studying the bookcase. Levitt's stomach clenched, but he tried not to outwardly show any misgiving. " I wonder where you got it from."

" We've both received the same education, so your guess is as good as mine," Levitt said to him.

Ifrit laughed.

" Oh yes, so we have," he said.

He left shortly after.

It was only later that Levitt learned The Ocean Manual had been taught in the Imperial curriculum until Lyena came of age.

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