"She doesn't play the Mind Game."

"She doesn't play any game. She spends her free time studying."

"Those games are our insight into the children's minds. We need her to play."

"Order her to play. Tell her it's required."

"If we make it required, they'll know we're watching them. The choices they make in the game won't be truthful. No, we need one of her peers to convince her to play."

"Call in Ender, she listens to him."

"No, we can't compromise his training. Call in someone else, someone we can trust..."

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Alai was pulled out of Strategies in History by a message that appeared on both his and the teacher's desk.

"Alai, you may go. Blue-Green-Blue." The teacher told him.

Alai nodded and stood, walking from his seat in the front of the room to the door, the eyes of his class on him. No one had ever been pulled from class like this before, at least not anyone in his launch group. Once in the hallway, he touched the three colored dots. A light strip on the wall lit up, and he followed it to the teachers' quarters, and then to the office of Colonel Graff.

Alai touched the palm scanner at the side of the door, causing a metallic voice to speak, "State your name and purpose."

"Alai, here on orders."

The door slid open, but he stayed still until he saw Graff sitting at his desk, who waved him in.

"Alai, have a seat." Graff said, motioning to the chair that sat on the other side of his desk. Alai obeyed, sitting with his back rigid. What could he have done wrong that he was getting iced before he was even moved into an army. Graff must of saw this worry on his face, because he let out a low chuckle, "You can relax, you're not in trouble. Have you played the Fantasy Game?"

"Yes, sir." Alai replied, releasing a breath he had been holding since walking in the door. Of course he had played the game. Everyone has.

"How well to you know Vlara Pall?"

He thought for a moment. The name seemed familiar... He remembered the girl in his launch group, the one who doesn't talk.

"Not at all, sir. She keeps to herself. Hardly talks to anyone except for that- I mean, Ender Wiggin. She seems smart if you ask me."

"I have an assignment for you," Graff began, "But you may not speak of this to anyone other than myself and any other high-ranking officer stationed at this school. Do you understand?"

Alai raised an eyebrow at him, "Me, sir?"

Graff leaned forward in his chair so his large arms were resting on the desk. "You have the ability to talk people into doing things that they may not want to do at first. You have the ability to be a great leader and peacemaker. Now I need you to put those skills to work.

Convince Vlara to play the game. You may use any method you deem necessary, just as long as she doesn't work out what you're trying to do. You don't have to befriend her, just get her to play the Fantasy Game. Can you do that?"

Alai cleared his throat and nodded. He began to understand, then, what battle school truly was. The adults messing with the children, molding them into soldiers or commanders or whatever they needed. He could only imagine what the Fantasy Game was, then, if it was so important to them that everyone plays it. He knew it analyzed them, and programmed itself as they played, each game unique to each student. But they all got to the same place. The Giants Drink. He began to speculate that the game was a sort of tool the teachers used to get inside the heads of the young soldiers-in-training.

But at the same time, it didn't matter. They wanted to play games with the little children? Fine, let them play. There was a war coming, or already going on, he wasn't sure. They didn't matter, in the end. There was something much bigger than any of them. So Alai would play along because he understood.

"Is that all, sir?" He asked.

"Yes, that is all. You may return to class." Alai nodded and stood, walking from the room with an air of confidence and maturity. He walked from the teachers' quarters, down the same corridors he had come from, and back to the classroom, which he entered calmly, ignoring the eyes of his peers.

Let them speculate where I was, he thought, I won't tell them. Soon enough, everyone returned to their work. But he did not.  Instead, he watched Vlara, who hadn't turned to look at him at all. She was focused on something she considered to be very important, though Alai was sure that it wasn't the school work.

After class, they had an hour of free time, which most of the children used either in the game room or in the teacher's classrooms, getting answers to questions they had been too afraid to ask in class at risk of looking stupid.  But Vlara returned to the barracks as she did everyday. Alai knew this and followed her, casually walking in behind her and breezing by to his bunk, where he picked up his desk and laid down.

She seemed surprised but if she was annoyed that her almost ceremonial alone time was compromised, she didn't show it. She climbed up to her own bunk and logged on to her desk.

After a few minutes of relative silence, Alai let out a frustrated sigh. He was simply staring at the blank screen, but he knew Vlara wouldn't know that. A few minutes more, he did it again, this time throwing the desk down on the bed.

"Have you played this game? They one the desks keep inviting us to play?" He asked.

Vlara looked up in surprise, "No, I haven't seen the point. It's a stupid game." She replied.

Of course... She was that hard working, always serious type.

"I don't see why you're here, then." Alai said casually, standing up from his bunk and walking over to her's.

"What do you mean?" Vlara asked, eyeing him wearily.

"This whole place is a game. I've heard the older kids talking. The battles, the arcade... All games. If you have no interest in games then there's no reason for you to be here." Alai explained. "My name is Alai."

"Vlara." She greeted, holding her hand out for him to shake, which he did. She moved over on her bunk, and Alai climbed up to sit next to her.

"You keep to yourself. You don't climb for power like everyone else. Why?" He asked.

Vlara laughed slightly, "Power means nothing in war. I will not fight for command if I know there is someone better than me. Ender... you... You both can win the war better than I can. This is what all of this is about. The war. We cannot forget that," She said. "But if winning means playing these games, then I will. And I will win them."