Chapter Fifteen

After Kale cleaned up he laid down on the soft mattress of his new bed. It was the softest mattress he had ever had the pleasure of laying in, putting him almost immediately to sleep. Kale fought the tiredness creeping in but lost the battle and didn't awake until it was almost time for dinner in the great hall.

The ancient double doors stood open and there were masters and disciples filing in to take their meals. The great hall had three tiers with long tables on each tier. The highest tier was reserved for masters. Their table looked to sit at least eighty Palentar. The second tier looked to be made up of the regular Palentar, not yet masters but out of their training phase. These Palentar were likely the bulk of the people acting as mediators and taking on missions to support the Galactic Federation. They all sat at a long table that looked to sit at least two hundred.

The last tier, or the tier at ground level, was reserved for the disciples in their various stages of training. There didn't seem to be a ranking system between the disciples. You trained until you were ready to be sworn in to the order. Kale didn't know this of course, but he would find out soon enough. There were two long tables and these held the bulk of the seating with room enough for five hundred disciples at any given time.

The tables were a solid plank of some sort of golden hardwood, complete with matching benches of the same length. On top of the tables were plates already piled high with food. Kale couldn't believe his eyes. There was enough food on these tables to feed the village he came from for two weeks if they rationed!

With his mouth watering at the various scents of meat, vegetables and fruit, he hurriedly took a seat next to a petite girl that looked a little bit younger than him. With long blonde hair in a single braid that ran down her back and eyes the same color of the lush green farmland below the temple, she had to be one of the most beautiful girls Kale had ever laid his eyes on. Her disciple uniform didn't do a great job of hiding her luscious curves, and when she looked at Kale, his hunger completely disappeared and was replaced by a primal urge he didn't even know was there. He snapped out of it and after taking his seat next to her, quickly asked if the seat was taken.

"My name is Mira" she replied. "You are welcome to sit, I don't know many people here and as you are new here, I doubt you know anyone except your assigned guide."

"My guide won't have anything to do with me" Kale said back to her. "She didn't approve of my origins and left me after showing me to my room, but that's ok, I think I have an idea of what I need to do. it's Kale by the way, nice to meet you Mira."

Kale extended a hand but Mira just looked at it and continued talking. "I would advise you not to talk about origins anymore if you expect to have any sort of relationships here. I'm sorry Kale, but I would ask for you to sit somewhere else for your next meal, I do not want my image tarnished anymore than it already is for consorting with the commoner class. Power is everything, and until you have it, you will be nothing."

With a sigh, Kale turned his head and dug into his food. He knew this place was too good to be true, but he would prove to all these people that a "commoner" could surpass even the most influential nobles with hard work. He set his mind to the task and focused on eating his fill.

It was still the best food he'd had in his life and he wasn't going to waste a crumb knowing it was a sin to throw this food away when so many people would kill for just a tiny scrap of what he had on his plate. He glanced down the table and noticed several disciples picking at their plates, but making no effort to eat any substantial portion. "So wasteful" thought Kale as he continued eating.

Kale kept his head down wondering how long he would have to tolerate these pretentious people he sat down beside when Master Wen suddenly stood up and projected his voice where the whole room could hear.

"I've got an announcement to make. As you know, we have a new disciple in our ranks. Please everyone, welcome Kale! I could sense his latent power from outside the planet before we made planetfall. I expect this disciple to do great things here. Please do your best to make him feel welcome as he adjusts to his new life here. Kale, if you don't mind standing and telling everyone about yourself."

Kale suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach and stood up with a nervous smile.

"Hello everyone, my name is Kale, and I'm from a world not recognized by the federation. It doesn't have an official name so I will spare you the specifics. I left my brother and old life behind to make a difference in the galaxy. I'm looking forward to working with everyone and doing great things."

Kale sat down quickly and noticed some of the other disciples giving him not so friendly looks. Several others were snickering, trying to hide their mirth behind a hand in front of their face.

"Thank you Kale" said Master Wen as looked at everyone in the room. "Please enjoy the rest of your meals and meet here at 0600 for breakfast before we go out to our duties." he sat down after that and the commotion died down as everyone finished their plates.

Finishing his plate, Kale quickly stood up and made his way through the double doors and back to his room hoping that the other disciples would forget all about him in the coming days.