Page 54 of The Mentor
“Maybe, but Khan and Boulder discussed it before you even came to the Northlands, and Khan was adamant that he wanted either Magni or Finn to protect you.”
“Why?”
“Because Khan doesn’t trust many people and he doesn’t know Archer as well as he knows them. Magni, Finn, Boulder, and Khan have been closely knit since they were teens.”
“Does that mean he would pick Finn then?”
“Probably.” Christina smiled. “It would make sense to have a doctor on hand at the school, wouldn’t it? I mean after what happened to William.”
I played with a strand of my hair and thought out loud: “True, but then why didn’t Khan pick Finn to begin with?”
Christina took her time before she answered. “That’s a good question, but my best guess would be that Khan chose Magni because he worried about his brother.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Remember I told you how destructive Magni became after Laura left?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, watching over you was a good distraction and since Magni is doing a lot better, I would have to say it was a good move on Khan’s part.”
“Huh.” I took in her words and had to agree that Magni seemed to have calmed down a lot. I’d even seen him close to smiling a few times.
“You know what, just make sure Boulder tells Khan that I don’t want Archer, okay? I already have too many battles on my list.”
“What battles?” Christina asked.
“My biggest one is to get the Nboys to accept Tommy and Nieall,” I said with a sigh and picked up the salty cookie again without thinking. “I feel sorry for them because I see how much they want to be part of the boys’ group, but no matter how hard they try, the Nboys treat them as outsiders.”
“Then what are you going to do about it?” Christina asked.
Brushing off some cookie crumbs from my pants, I said: “I’m not sure, but I keep having this crazy idea that if the Nboys could see the Motherlands for themselves, they would be impressed. They seem to think that they are somehow superior to the children from the Motherlands, but if we showed them how amazing the Motherlands really are, maybe they would get a new sense of respect.”
Christina’s face lit up with excitement. “I just had a brilliant idea! You know what we should do?”
“What?”
“We should get the Council’s permission and take all the children on a field trip to the Motherlands.”
“That would be amazing,” I said dreamily.
“I’ll talk to Pearl and Isobel about it.” Christina had the same determined expression on her face that I had seen when she first planned to go to the Northlands. “But just for the fun of it, let’s say they agree – what would you show the boys?”
“Well, I know sports is a big thing for them, so I was hoping we could find a big sports event or a dance performance.”
“I doubt ballet or figure skating is going to impress them,” Christina pointed out. “But maybe a concert will. I don’t think these boys have been exposed to much culture.” She raised her hand as if a sudden idea had just struck her. “Oh, and you know what else would be areallygood idea?”
I shook my head while smiling at her because there was nothing better than brainstorming ideas with my best friend. Especially when only a few months ago, I’d seen Christina depressed and sad. Now she was literally bursting with life.
“If we take them down to the south where it’s warm and nice, they can spend some time on the beach. I’ll bet none of the Nboys have ever tried swimming in a warm ocean.”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little bit too ambitious now?” I asked. “I was thinking about a quick field trip to cross the border, but taking them to the southern part would require days.”
“Even better.” Christina let her fingers arrange her brown hair in a ponytail that fell the minute she moved her hands. “We would have enough adults to take care of the kids and it would give us a chance to show some of the men where we come from too. Maybe a week by the ocean would make them see the benefits to a union with the Motherlands.” She winked.
“Honestly, at this point I would just be happy to have a field trip off the island. I love it here, but I haven’t seen anything of the Northlands except this island and Khan’s mansion.
“Magni still doesn’t want to take you anywhere?”
