In this scene from Hacking Planet Fun, Academy Headmaster Kam Zavala is arriving at school for the first day of the new year. Those who have read Surrender Love and Forever Love will recognize the nod to Luc and Izzorah.

Excerpt

Guild District, Thieves' Guild Academy
Thomas Gabriel Student Services Center

Kam entered the new school facility and performed a quick walk-through on all six floors. Every random door he opened revealed a setup for a specific skill. All students got the same basic education that imperial schools taught, but without the repetition needed for less advanced students. The Academy only accepted students with an aptitude for learning.

Those with language, physical dexterity, or memory skills got even more advanced training. The new building had none of the cramped quarters of the previous facility. Everything here provided openness and calm. Among the rooms full of terminals, banks of locks and switches, there were also art rooms, music rooms, and areas for acting lessons. All great skills for thieves and it relaxed the students. Any who showed promise with art, music, or acting could be trained to counterfeit far more than paintings and sculptures, as well as to convince, influence, and persuade.

He entered the auditorium-sized room where his favorite class was taught, and sat in the uppermost row. Each seat provided a viewscreen linked to the students' own records. Black-robed professors taught law, ethics, the ins and outs of contracts, forgery, research aspects ... anything pertaining to legality for thieves.

When Kam returned to the ground floor, he inhaled the clean smell of the place.

The entire facility had been cleaned, top to bottom with organic, non-scented cleansers. It shouldn't offend the noses of the few Kin staff or students. Some HalfKin had noses as sensitive as a full Kin, and, like them, could literally smell emotions. Bottom line, the school smelled as good as it looked. It had taken a long time for him to equate clean with no smell at all, but after dealing with Kin and HalfKin students, he finally got it.

Luc Saint-Cyr, whose patronage had funded fully seventy-five percent of the school, had dedicated the site last week. The Thomas Gabriel Student Services Center had been named for Saint-Cyr's late friend, a man who had given his life protecting Saint-Cyr's home.

The generous donation was the maximum allowed by law and tax deductible, and it had spawned similar donations from other investors. Thanks to him, the Academy had new facilities and had built them debt free.

The man's current domestic situation involved a much younger Kin male whom Kam assumed would be little more than a trophy. That was, until Kam met him and discovered a supremely likeable, intelligent person who obviously adored his spouse. Saint-Cyr reciprocated. They each basked in the relationship. It had been fun to watch the respect and admiration each held for the other.

How Kam would love a relationship like that.

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