Chapter 8: The New Normal

“I guess we had better start planning on going back to school,” Olaf said as he, Alice, Ruth, and Alec sat down in his office later that afternoon.

“We need to get to know your habits and expectations, My Lord,” Alec said. “From what I understand, you live in the school dormitory, so you mostly stay inside the school building?”

“The dormitory and the school are two separate buildings on the same piece of land.” Olaf said. “As a senior I should have more freedom to come and go as I please, but I don’t intend to do anything that would make life difficult for your people or for Alice.”

“The first thing your people will have to get used to is Lord Olaf’s exercise habits,” Alice said. “For starters, he likes to run or swim at daybreak, every single day.”

“We are trained soldiers; we are supposed to be fit,” Alec said with a smirk. “I will make it a rule that your entire security group accompanies you every morning.”

“Where could we go for a run around here?” Olaf asked. “I used the basement gym this morning, but I prefer to run normally, even on a circular track if that is what is available.”

“The base where we train is just north of here, against the beach,” Alec said. “It would be easiest to use the shuttle to drop down into the base, run next to the beach, and then hop back up here.”

“Let’s try tomorrow morning,” Olaf said. “I also want to go visit my stepmom on the island, and get Aster back. We need to figure out how to do such things, move around the city and beach, and to the island and back while being incognito. The hovercraft will be a bit obvious on the island.”

“I don’t trust those fishing boats, My Lord,” Alec said. “If need be, we can drop you and a small team on the island at dawn and fetch you again at dusk.”

The next morning as Olaf and two sleepy girls came outside at dawn, they encountered one of the hovercraft with its doors open and all of Olaf’s militia guards lined up. Alec was already there and followed Olaf onto the hovercraft, with the marines all following them. The hovercraft had barely lifted before it felt as if their stomachs were in their throats as the craft dropped from the bluff to the marine base at the base of the plateau, at sea level.

When he got out of the hovercraft, Olaf found himself right next to a sandy beach with tropical trees and buildings all along the length of the beach towards the north. There was even a concrete path, wide enough for an entire platoon to run in formation along it next to the beach. There were a few militia squads on a grass field nearby, doing calisthenics, while others were jogging in formation. The beach front path was not in use, so Olaf walked onto the sand and started doing stretches. The militia men and the two girls were quick to follow, except Alec took charge of the militia team in doing stretches, so Olaf and the girls followed them.

The stretching became low-impact calisthenics, after which they set off along the concrete path to the north. At first the militia followed Alec, with Olaf and the two girls follow them, but then Olaf veered off the path and onto the sand. The first half of the sand was level and consisted of loose dry sand but the part closest to the water was at a slight angle and damp, making it better to run on.