I wake up from my midday nap atop a patch of soft green grass surrounded by shade-giving trees. Something about the combination of tree cover and the way the ground dips right here reduces the nearby rumble of machinery and roar of the ocean to a barely audible soothing white noise. I stand up, brushing off my clothes, and those sounds come back in full. I glimpse the ocean through the trees and the sight of it dispels the st bit of post-waking haze, reminding me where I am. I can’t help but smile. I love this pce and at times it feels unreal how fortunate I am to be here.

  I walk out of my little grove of trees that hides the maintenance shed and pass by the pools on my way to the main building. Once upon a time, this pce was a resort for wealthy tourists. These days it is a combination of school, community center, and boarding house. I live here with my brother’s family as part of the faculty. The children far outnumber the adults around here. Many of them no longer have parents.

  Inside, I happen upon the oldest of my young nieces morosely lingering in one of the former conference halls. By the decorations, it seems that some event for the students has just wrapped up, but for whatever reason she’s the only one still here. I ask her what’s wrong and she tells me that she just lost yet another duel (a popur pastime amongst the children here). I suggest that next time she could try calling upon darker, more taboo powers in order to win. Once again she ughs it off as yet another one of my eccentric jokes, but I can tell that this time a part of her is considering it.

  I wonder how much longer I can get away with these little nudges before her parents say something to me about it. Then again, it’s not like I’ve ever denied any of the rumors about what I can do or my willingness to teach others.

  After cheering her up, I walk with her to go find her sisters together. We find her stepmother – my sister-in-w – first, coming around a corner and muttering something in an irate tone utterly at odds with her reputation as a favorite teacher of the students here and her brightly colored skirt and blouse. She has apparently just come out of a particurly stressful administration meeting that has her worked up enough that the usual hug of greeting between us is forgone. Whatever the issue with administration is, I tell her I’m confident she’ll work it out. She always does.

  My brother arrives shortly behind her – clean-cut, casual, and good natured as ever – and the mood lightens. He has that effect on people. Few would ever guess by looking at him that he was once a pirate. We were all here as tourists from the mainnd when this little isnd nation seceded from the nation that colonized it long ago. If not for his going pirate in service of the independence faction (an act some would call a betrayal of his homend), we probably all would have been deported long ago.

  I like to think these days we’ve become an accepted part of the community here, despite obviously having come from the people that were once the enemy.