Health is important. "Grandpa, are there any restrooms around?" a youngster, who doubted this ultimate truth for 2 minutes, asked the taxi driver.

"There are. We have one nearby."

"Okay." He sat waiting. He needed to relieve himself soon. He somehow didn't think of going to the bathroom at the airport. His flight had been long enough and this journey would be more than an hour.

He leaned back and played on his phone.

The vehicle came to a stop soon, thankfully. "See the small shed? There should be one in it." The driver pointed to the side.

"Alright." He quickly got off and almost ran in the direction when he caught sight of the shed. There better be a toilet in there. What did the old man mean there should be one?

Thankfully for him there was a toilet. It wasn't very dirty but it wasn't tidy either. He quickly did his work and came out. Beside the shed there were some overgrown bushes. He suddenly sensed a certain disturbance from them. He became alert.

Before the enemy takes action, you should! he remembered. He belonged to the Permanent Armed Force (PAF) of the world's largest official organisation at the moment. His permit card to this country only had two details. His name, Advay, and below it, what he belonged to, 'PAF, The Wise.'

In the new place, he was more vigilant. He placed his hand on his back, feeling the gun that hid there. He slid his boot into the bushes and swiped them out of his view and took a defence stance. Fighting was a major part of his life. Until now.

He saw a boy buttoning his pants. The hem of his shirt was caught between his chest and chin. Horrified, the boy stared at him. He pulled his shirt down quickly and fled from there.

Advay was stupefied. Did he just waste his aggressiveness on a peeing boy!

"I'm sorry!" He shouted at the lean boy that was swiftly moving away. But the boy did not acknowledge his apology. He ran even faster in an escape and disappeared around a corner after a huge pile of dump. He thought and sighed, so be it.

The world was huge and the boy was too young to attend the university. They wouldn't meet again anyway. So it was useless to waste his conscience on the matter.

•••

When they reached, he paid the driver and pulled out his bag.

This was the University of Paraga. Once he graduated, he'd be back at the PRT base and join the Governance and Intelligence (G&I) unit, on his way to be the leader of the Wise in a few years.

The security guard asked for his name and purpose, wrote it in the register and let him in.

He stepped inside the campus and he could not see any buildings.

"Follow the maps and directions."

He looked at the board and took a picture and followed the campus map.

Warm air blew onto his face. The place was filled with the smell of forest and freshness. Huge trees lined either side of the road. He snapped another photo. A shining and unending asphalt in the middle of green, through which the late afternoon sun peered. He loved it so much he set it as the wallpaper.

After a 20 minute walk, he found his college. He was there for the Administration and Diplomacy course.

An elegantly dressed lady was waiting for Advay. She looked at him and then looked into some papers in her hands. She looked young but as he walked forward he realised she was older.

"Hi, I'm Nyra," she said politely.

"Hi. Advay."

She nodded and led him to the head's office.

"Good morning. How are you doing today?"

"Good morning, sir."

"So, Advay, for two and half years from now, you are a student here. Do make sure not to get involved with the government. Report to us where you go."

"Okay, I will."

"This country does not allow free flow in and out. We are a prestigious university so we hold certain power and that's how you and the foreigners are here. Although the new party believes in liberalism, the government might have some attention on you."

"Okay sir."

The organisation, the Wise, was not widely known to the public, because their leaders decided to keep it that way.

Paraga has always been a bit of a problematic country. Burning the last couple of years, it had a lot of political instability. He was told these things when he decided on the university. The government gave permits to everyone applying to the institution though, only because it was a major source of their revenue. But he wondered if this country was really as bad as they made it seem.

But this time, he was not here on a mission. It was pretty much a holiday in his opinion. No training, no drills, no need to awake at dawn, and most importantly, no risky missions that always drained his brain. Indeed, he didn't know the struggles of college students.

After he came out of the office, Nyra gave him his identity card and said, "Go to the dormitory and check for your roll number. Lists will be with the security. All rooms have four people, but you'll adjust soon."

Just four people? This is indeed a vacation, he thought.

"Alright then, you can go now."

"Is the canteen near that junction the only one?"

"There are four. There's one in front of the dorms."

"Ah, thanks." He smiled slightly and pursed his lips feeling embarrassed.

•••

5 months passed and it was the end of the first semester. Advay was humbled by his just average performance. Back in the PRT, he was among the top 10 of their regiment.

It was the final night before vacation and he was in the canteen, eating an extra portion. Two of his roommates, Chet and Mridul, were kind enough to accompany him.

Chet separated every ring of an onion slice out of boredom. "When are you leaving?" He also finished his first semester.

"At 10."

"What about you?" Mridul asked. He was two years senior to them.

Chet took a deep breath. "I already booked my ticket. I am going tomorrow."

"At least help me with 5 problems, okay?"

"No."

"He's a senior. Respect him a little," Advay said. Both of them were from the mathematics college. Mridul was a hardworking guy, who made it into the university with a bare minimum qualification. Chet on the other hand, was awarded a free admission when he won an olympiad.

"He keeps asking even the same kind we'd already solved!"

"I... I don't see how they are the same."

Advay could understand Mridul very well, in fact. Afterall, he got into the university without tasting the general competition. All his roommates believed he came in through the backdoor. In effect, it was true. He struggled a lot with his course for just the average grades.

He should have chosen a less prestigious university from the list his Chief gave him. All members of G&I were all alumni of renowned institutions, after all.

"I'll solve as many as I can tonight. But I am sleeping at 10."

"Great, I'll be back soon. You guys go back first." Mridul stood up and left to borrow notes.

"He does not even take notes in the class... How will he understand?"

"I'm done," Advay said. He also took poor notes. He did not know what should be written and what should be left out.

"Finally."

"It's really getting old." He had known his voracious appetite for 5 months and still commented every time.

On their way back Chet said, "My dad is retiring this week."

"You said he fought in the war, right?"

"Yeah. At that time I cried a lot... But now I'm really proud of him. I wanted to join our army but he didn't let me."

"Haha, you don't look like you're cut out for that anyway."

They entered their room.

"I guess... but the look they have when speaking of war and victory.. It's something." Chet was finally coming out of his shell that day.

"Nothing but some lapse of reality." Advay looked down and chuckled.

Chet was about to refute when Tav, another senior, interrupted them.

He paused reading and said, "Huh, you guys are always itching for a fight, aren't you?" And that was the moment Advay realised the calm Tav had a sharp tongue.

Chet was angry.

Three years later, people were still hung up on the War. Both Tav and Mridul were from Vihadyo, the smallest country and the most destroyed one. There was an age—old enmity between Vihadyo and Idadyo. Chet was from Idadyo.

Over the last semester, Tav completely ignored Chet. He barely spoke to Advay, every time telling him how talkative he was.

"Why? Everyone was itching the same. What better are you?" Advay spoke before he thought.

"Oh how can I forget! Wasn't your country the safest throughout? Simply financing destruction everywhere else! You are the real murderers!" Tav sported a very sarcastic smirk.

"You were the ones that first destroyed our Navy." The low yet steady voice was Chet's.

"No one did anything wrong, alright? Things have happened. If you want to blame, blame your governments. It's too funny to fight over the farce that ended."

"Acting all matured! Do you blame your country?"

"I said, governments."

"Whatever! Do you?"

"Of course!" Advay did place part of the blame on the people as well. If only they had not given in to their emotions and fought blindly following their rulers. But then again, weren't their lives limited enough that they had to join the war?

"Well said. You should have lost a family member! Then you'd know."

"He might have lost actually," Chet said.

"I did not. Whom have you lost?"

"My dad. Mridul lost both his parents, and his sister."

There was a long silence.

The three had a tacit understanding that they needed to let their emotions cool down. Tav removed his glasses and closed his eyes.

"I still hope we don't have to fight," Chet broke the silence, but the other two ignored him.

Advay did not want to speak anymore. While he said he had not a family member, he had lost a great friend.

"Did you hear of the Wise? At least we are not some kids they'd sacrificed for wars." What was he saying? He was still influenced by bad memories.

Tav looked at him. "That existed then?"

"It has existed since the first war ended, for three decades now." At that time, it had exhausted every last of its forces and somehow managed to defeat the offensive front.

"You don't look like someone knowledgeable. Are you making things up?"

Advay smiled, pressing his lips together, at his sarcasm and said, "Well, I could be wrong."

Tav had not really known each of them on a personal level yet because he had no time for it. He did not care either.

"Mridul and I are from Vihadyo." Their conversation once again became awkward. They knew this, but saying it at this time made the difference. After all, that was the most destroyed country. No one bore guilt for its destruction, but everyone felt sorry for it.

Just as he said that, Mridul came in holding a few notebooks.

"He knows! You're finally introducing yourself? So late!" Mridul laughed. He thought something fun was going on.

After a few more seconds, He noticed the awkwardness hovering in the air.

"What did you say, Tav?"

Ignoring him, Tav turned to Advay, "My ear is still in pain. You know why your grades are so low? You should save energy to study instead of talking on and on."

Advay turned to Mridul. Did stupid people like them deserve to be called out so much?

"What are you looking at? He's also like you. Don't your mouths hurt?" Tav waited for their answers.

Tav sighed and put on his glasses and searched for the line he was reading. Mridul laughed and shook his head. Tav was always like that. He walked and put the books on Chet's desk.

•••

Next morning at 10 Advay boarded his flight to the organisation's base.

The organisation was established on an island rented from the confederation of Haimi. 37 years ago, amidst the first total war, only Haimi received the idea well. The other four confederations, as the world had been organised in the last 3 decades, opposed this idea and refused to recognise the organisation. They did not allow Haimi to officially recognise it either.

Gradually it grew in number and strength. Now, the organisation had much more authority, but they were still functioning in the dark, reluctant to change the status quo. This allowed them to grow their military strength, as much as they wanted to, independently and away from the public eye. They actively hid themselves and maintained relations only with the heads and the top secretariats.

When Advay got off the plane, he scanned his authentication token at the exit terminal and carefully put it in the deepest pocket of his bag.

Once inside the base one can parade the entire area like they own it. There will no longer be any restrictions. One would not even feel the need to keep their token safe. If one did lose it, they would just ask for another. In fact, he was currently using his 11th token. His birthday fell on the 11th of November, so he did not want to use a twelfth one.

He came to report to the Chief of their regiment on how he was doing with college. He must speak as little as possible and just say that everything was fine. He had 4 more semesters to improve his grades. He took a deep breath and thought, somehow, somehow I'll make it cross 4.5.

There was a man waving at him in the front. He walked further and recognized him. "Senior!" It was his senior, Jay.

"Are you okay? You look sick." At that moment he considered using a concealer until he graduates.

"I had a fever." He'd never admit to not being smart enough at studying. He was one of the top strategists!

"How are you now?" Jay was concerned.

"I'll go home and sleep. Then I'll be fine."

"Fever aside. Why do you look so sleep deprived?"

"I slept well on the plane... I should go to the Chief. Bye!" He picked up his pace.

Jay chuckled to Advay's embarrassment. He seemed to know the reason. Advay pursed his lips and continued walking.

In the Chief's office, he swallowed the urge to complain and kept the conversation short and formal. The chief seemed to notice it though.

"Don't worry. You'll do better."

That's what he hoped too.

He spent a while catching up with friends and soon it was time for his flight home.

He checked his pocket for the authorization token; it was safe. He had to guard it carefully until he came back again. He heard it would be a great headache if he lost it outside the base. The 10 he had lost were recycled within the base.

•••