The third lecture comes to a close....

After that, Sara and Autumn (and the explorer that they'd saved and compensated) made their way back to Kokkinport, down a lieutenant and still with no idea where their lead cartographer was. But it was this expedition, and the loss of Naomi Willow, which saw Sara Purcrux decide that no human should ever venture out into these dangerous lands as she had -- unprepared. This decision would lead to the creation and training of the first Warriors, and this encounter (among others) would lead to many of the things still employed by modern Warriors. Like having partners! Even though it didn't work out that well for Naomi.

Sara Purcrux and Autumn Kumar would venture out together to search for Jim many times more -- each time making new, important discoveries and improving their own methods. But this particular story has reached its end.

The audience, about a third of full-size, claps politely as the speaker comes to the end of the story. That was so cool! Captain Purcrux survived a second monster encounter, and now you know what happened to make Warriors a thing. You knew she was the maker, but you had no idea it was like this -- you'd always figured it was a boring meeting in a room, like most decisions.

Lexi stretches loudly next to you, then smacks her lips. "Damn."

"What?"

"Not tired now. You shouldn't've let me sleep earlier, dude." She fishes her hand into Cameron's bag of snacks which sits on your lap, takes a pinch, and throws her head back to sprinkle the last remaining crumbs into her mouth. "Alright, I'm gonna go {if LexiWin == True}stash that chestplate somewhere new.{else}practice the xylophone.{endif} See you dudes later." With that, she stands, dusts herself off, and makes you and Cameron both tuck your legs back as she shimmies past your seats and out of the theatre.

{if LexiWin == True}"What's she talking about?" Cameron asks you. You shrug.

{else}"What'd you think?" You ask Cameron, jumping in your seat excitedly. He responds by fishing his hand into his bag of snacks which sits on your lap, and his shoulders sag a little when he finds that it's been emptied of the crumbs.

"Aw, man."{endif}

As the two of you sit and chat a while longer, the theatre slowly emptying itself, you see Miranda at the front again. You watch her for a little bit as she closes up her notebooks and packs them away all neatly with her pens in her bag. Throwing it over her shoulder, she stands, and shuffles her way out of the room through the exiting crowd.

Miranda's the only one of your classmates that you haven't really gotten to know at all yet. There's a big difference between being alone and being lonely, and for these lectures she looked pretty happy being in her own world and taking notes, but still! You'd like to get to know her a bit better sometime in the next few days, you think as you and Cameron finally stand up to leave the theatre and head into the Courtyard.