despite the baa'er girl, who turned out to be rather feisty but not as bitter as the majority of baa'er that Salt had encountered at Tonsor. After that first incident, it was clear that Nivus had pulled Luserna aside for a talking-to, and it must have done something, because she no longer objected to everything the baa'er girl said, only ignored it. And eventually she must have softened up or gotten bored of even that treatment, because she began acknowledging Boula relatively openly, especially when it was learned that she was quite good at biologic, something that eluded all of the other five.

She was actually good at all of her courses, and Salt appreciated this greatly, because he himself struggled through most of his, not because he was an idiot — how could he be, with the license he had? — but because he kept missing his classes. The other five regarded him as something of a daydreamer, which caught him off guard because he felt himself quite attentive.

"Well, you are attentive," Boula told him when he began to alternately thank her and apologize profusely for helping him again with his homework. She tugged her bag from beneath her bed and began to rummage around in it. He heard her hooves scuffle against the papers and cardboard notebook covers inside, trying to get a good grip on it. Once she managed to tug it out, it came out with a variety of other things: candy wrappers, writing utensils, a compact mirror...it was strange to see the wrappers in particular because he never would have thought Boula the type to keep trash in her bag, much less the type to eat candy in that much volume —

"See," she said, with triumph and annoyance. "There you go again."

"What?"

"That's it exactly. You're too attentive. You focus so much on what's going on that you can't keep track of things. Like when class is. Or what people are talking about." She sat back and looked at him, nibbling her lip. "I wonder if you should try getting a gnome on you."

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