Kate walked to her next class as if she had been in the school before, when actually she was simply just following all the other Dhampirs that she'd seen in the first class of the night.

The following class covered the essentials of being a bodyguard and was required for all Seniors, it was the third in a series that had started junior year which meant that the Dhampir was behind in the class too, however her good mood refused to let her think lowly of herself and hoped protecting Lissa in the real world had given her some insight.

The instructor was Stan Alto, whom the Dhampir referred to simply as Stan behind his back and Guardian Alto in formal settings, he appeared to be a little older than Dimitri, but not nearly as tall, and he always looked particularly pissed off that night, that look intensified when he walked into the classroom and found Kate sitting there.

His eyes widened in mock surprise as he circled the room and went to stand beside his book filled desk, something that he was clearly not happy, "What's this? No one told me we had a guest speaker here today. A newcomer what a privilege! What's your name?" he started, a thin brow cocking upwards, his accent surprisingly British and his eyes a deep blue that looked like the sky during the day.

"Katherine Alistair." Kate replied, her voice strong, unyielding, and her eyes meeting his in a clash for dominance, it was a fight that Kate had to give up instantly as she knew that teacher with egos could make her life a living hell.

"How very generous of you to take time out of your busy schedule and share your knowledge with us." he continued the second Kate finished saying her name, it wasn't that he didn't know it, no, every teacher and student knew it by second period.

Kate looked at him with a neutral expression, she was used to the teachers relentlessness, the favouring of students and the picking of the weaker ones. She knew it like the back of her hand, having frequently been on both ends.

Just as the brunette expected the man's sneer faltered and a glare took it's place, clearly displeased that he was getting no emotion from the girl, flaring his nose the old teacher gestured for Katherine to stand up as he said "Well, come on, come on. Don't sit there! Come up to the front so you can help me lecture the class."

His words were cold and filled with taunt and since Kate wasn't up to be bothered with fighting with a teacher and get on his bad side straight on the first day, along with not wanting to be kicked out and leave Lissa alone.

Despite the feeling of annoyance at being talked to as if she were a petulant child, Kate got up, her feet carrying her to the front of the class as she mentally cursed herself for accepting to be put in this situation, until she stood in front of the professor's desk, leaning against it with her arms crossed over her chest.

A thick silence enveloped the room, according to Mason's memories, Stan was a scary instructor, and most of the class was too awed to laugh at Kate disgrace quite yet, or so they thought, the glare that adorned the teacher's face strengthened ten fold.

Kate gave the old man a bold look and tossed her damp hair over her shoulders, bluntly ignoring the few sympathetic smiles from her new classmates.

Her dark green eyes caught sight of the whole class, and she took notice that there was a larger audience than what she had expected, but then again she should have checked to see if there was anyone she would feel comfortable sitting next to.

Mason who had entered after her had taken the seat next to her, which she had no issue with, but  her eyes continued to scan the room in it's integrity watching as few guardians, including Dimitri, lingered in the back of the room.

From what she'd heard outside the Academy, Guardians focused on one-on-one protection, while inside Guardians had a lot more people to protect and they had to train the novices, so rather than following any one person around, they worked shifts guarding the school as a whole and monitoring classes.

"So, Alastair," said Stan cheerfully, strolling back up to the front stopping next to Kate. "Enlighten us about your protective techniques." he continued, in the same tone, his eyes glistening with hopeful amusement.

"My techniques?" Kate echoed.

"Of course. Because you must have had some sort of plan the rest of us can't understand when you took an underage Moroi Royal under your wing and exposed her to constant Strigoi threats." the teacher retorted.

The human sighed, it was the Kirova lecture all over again, except with more witnesses, "We never ran into any Strigoi," she lied through her teeth, not that anyone noticed, she had perfected her way of lying after the death of her family and when Lissa's secret came into light she had no problem in coming up with a swift and efficient lie.

Nobody except Dimitri, who despite his Guardian mask, looked surprised that Kate was not bragging about her kills like any other teenager would. There were times in which Dimitri was sure that he'd figured Kate out, but then events like these happened and any thoughts and opinions he'd formed about Kate went out the window.

"Obviously," Stan crooned with a snicker. "I already figured that out, seeing as how you're still alive."

Kate looked at him with a cocked brow that sent a shudder down everyone's spine, those who had had first period with the brunette felt scared for their teacher while the other's were only feeling the the fear that the others were, shifting his feet, Stan started pacing in front of the class.

"So what'd you do? How'd you make sure she stayed safe? Did you avoid going out at night?" he inquired.

"Every night expect out two nights, the night of her crash and the night I became an orphan, both to go to the church, that was 5 blocks down to the left then 2 blocks right from that intersection."she replied without missing a beat, her expression returning to one that represented neutrality, a Guardian mask.

Everyone looked shocked at her brutal honesty in relation to her past, especially one as painful as hers, Stan blinked thrice before inquiring again "Well then, I suppose you slept during the day and stayed on guard at night."

"We had classes all day in High School, from 8 to 3:40 pm then we either went to the library, three times, or the private gym, one time a week next door to our High School, until 6 pm, or we went shopping, if the food was low, and if we weren't in either we were home studying, doors locked, windows closed, that is if the sun was already gone. As for sleep I'm a light sleeper, I also pull all nighters to study, I barricaded the door with the living room filled bookcase and set the alarm when I'm not studying." Kate recounted as if she was listing off the groceries she needed.

With each word that spewed from her lips she seemed to be getting more and more respect from her peers, students and guardians alike. The Promised Guardians looking quite shocked with the schedule that Kate had created for her and the runaway Moroi.

"Did you use Carnegie's Quadrant Surveillance Method or the Rotational Survey when going out?" Stan inquired, his tone almost desperate to find a flaw in the girl's protecting antics. Kate stared out at the door at the back of the room in silence not giving an answer, a breath of relief escaped Stan's lips while sighs of disappointment escaped the students.

"I have no idea what those are, and you know that I don't know them." Kate started, dragging her eyes from the door and locking them on the teacher, with burning intensity that it almost served as a forboding for what she was about to do.

"But let me ask you, Professor." She drawled, "I counted 7 doors to the courtyard, 3 to classrooms and a staircase that leads to the floors above, and at least 5 windows facing the courtyard, on the way to class."

"Now I hear that my Moroi is having classes two floors up." She smirked, showing how she knew exactly where Lissa was despite not having seen her since they arrived at the Academy, "Let's imagine we were attacked by Strigoi right now, I know scary proposition." the smirk on Kate's lips widened, even though the top part of her face remained eerily still.

"There are 6 promised Guardians and about 25 to 30 unpromised Guardians in this class, and I have to assume that that the Morois have at least 10 to 15 Guardians 5 out the door and the rest inside the classroom." Slowly Kate walked around the table, placing her hands flat on the hardwood surface as she leaned forward slightly, a position that symbolized power, and unfortunately in this case, was very attractive to the students watching her.

"We are the front line, most of us will want to go to their best friends and Moroi charges, I know I would go to Lissa but that's thinking irrationally." She paused, moving her eyes to look at everyone, her forest green eyes dragging across every single person in the room including the Guardians that were assisting the lesson.

"So presuming that there are 36 Guardians in total in this room, it would be logical to send 10 of us upstairs, and divide them between the next to floors and sent at least 1 to warn the rest of the students. That is if they hadn't found out yet, that would leave 25 trained Dhampirs as the front line." Kate's eyes were locked on Dimitri's figure as she spoke, the smirk now gone from her face, replaced by a look of duty.

"If we were to begin falling, which way is the best way to evacuate the Moroi?" Kate questioned, only not to give anyone time to answer as she continued "The answer is the windows. First move all Morois to the second floor above us, the earth benders would have to manipulate vines to grow from the ground to meet them, then presuming that there are 15 Guardians in both floors and only one classroom is in use that would make 30 Guardians, then plus the 10 we sent as reinforcements, makes 40, which means a group of 20 Guardians would climb the vines down first." She stopped, but only to catch her breath.

"10 of those would help the Moroi down the vines while the other 10 keep the Strigoi away, the other 20 stay in the building will protect and allow the Moroi to escape, allowing them try their luck climbing down the vines after the last Moroi." Kate finished and pulled her eyes from the Dimitri's dark eyes and moved them to the instructor's.

Stan was staring at her with wide eyes, everyone was, but she was staring at Stan, horror was cloaking his features and Kate knew why, her description was awfully detailed, too detailed, too filled with actual possibility. But she had learnt the hard way to expect the worse even if it didn't happen.

"Besides Strigoi aren't lurking around every corner out there, it's safer than you guys make it sound, well, at least during the day." she shrugged at the end, standing up straighter, which instantly broke the trance that she'd placed people under with her description

The words that escaped Stan's lips were barely heard by anyone with how breathless they were "Safer? Safer? We are at war with the Strigoi!"

He then looked Kate up and down before clearing his throat and saying in a louder tone "One of them could walk right up to you and snap your pretty little neck before you even noticed him, and he'd barely break a sweat doing it. You might have more speed and strength than a Moroi or a human, but you are nothing, nothing, compared to a Strigoi. They are deadly, and they are powerful. And do you know what makes them more powerful?"

Only trained Guardians notice the flutter on Kate's jaw as she clenched it for a brief second, showing how annoyed she was getting with Stan's backhanded insults.

"Any blood but Moroi blood especially." the newest Dhampir replied, not bothering to correct the teacher about her supposed lack of awareness, the teacher nodded in satisfaction and took a few steps back.

"Yes. It does. It makes them stronger and harder to destroy. They'll kill and drink from a human or Dhampir, but they want Moroi blood more than anything else. They seek it. They've turned to the dark side to gain immortality, and they want to do whatever they can to keep that immortality." Stan lectured, moving around his table to stand beside Kate.

"Desperate Strigoi have attacked Moroi in public. Groups of Strigoi have raided Academies exactly like this one. There are Strigoi who have lived for thousands of years and fed off generations of Moroi. They're almost impossible to kill. And that is why Moroi numbers are dropping. They aren't strong enough to protect themselves, even with Guardians to protect them. Some Moroi don't even see the point of running anymore and are simply turning Strigoi by choice." his eyes narrowed on her still figure, watching her as she watched him, predator watching predator.

Stan would absolutely lie about it if anyone asked, but he actually saw potential in Kate, the way she carried herself, the way she mentioned the worst case scenario, the way she described her life before being brought to the Academy, it showed a resilience, a need to survive, a need to actually live rather than just do as she is told, because she is told. 

It was something that reminded him of another Guardian.

"And as the Moroi disappear so do the Dhampirs." Kate finished with a nod, she knew this, Mason's memories had helped to some extent, but she remembered Lissa's stories, she remembered the tales that her mother used to tell her when she was still alive.

"Well," he said, licking sprayed spit off his lips. "It looks like you aren't completely useless after all. Now we'll have to see if you can learn enough to pass this class and qualify for your field experience next semester."

"I do hope that you don't wait sitting down Professor." Kate countered tauntingly, before returning to her seat, almost relaxing into it once she sat down. But the was everyone instantly averted their eyes as she climbed her way back up, showed that she was glaring at them as she did so. 

Class didn't seem to end quickly enough after Kate's almost premonition like words, everyone looking around almost in a paranoid way, as if they were actually considering in believing Kate's words, not that anyone could fault them, Kate had been steady in her words, calm, and it had put the fear of God that the events became reality.

"So is the field experience the Professor was talking about, the same one you mentioned as we left the gym?" the brunette inquired, looking at the 5'11" tall red haired, who was taller than to her due to her height being at 5'4" .

Mason nodded, looking over his shoulder at his desk to make sure that he didn't forget anything, "Yeah, it's the senior-year field experience is the best part of a Novice's education." He started.

"We have no classes for half a semester and instead, we are each be assigned a Moroi student to guard and follow around. The promised Guardians would monitor us and test us with staged attacks and other threats. How a Novice passes that field experience is almost as important as all the rest of their grades combined. It can influence which Moroi they get assigned to after graduation." Mason explained, making the brunette hum and reply.

Kate had no problems academically, and while she felt like she could be ready by the time the field experience came around, a part of her wondered if she and Lissa would still be at the Academy, or if Kate had to break Lissa out of the Academy for her own mental sanity.