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J ulep finished her poison presentation and sat down at the back of the class.

She'd stuck to common poisons, including spoiled food and foraged herbs and mushrooms, including instructions on how to forage safely.

She brought books with illustrations. The kids had lots of questions and she felt it went well.

Zac looked satisfied and Gal was smug. Clearly she had scored social bonus points.

Julep got a figurative gold star for the day. Honorary aunt, objective achieved. She gave herself mental points for family morale and sat back to listen to the next speaker.

General Yal surveyed the class. “Raise your hand if you plan to be a warrior.”

Hands shot up. All the boys save Tashi, who was in a wheelchair, shot up. Technically, there was nothing stopping Tashi from being a battle mage, but that was another subject.

“I can't wait to go to war! It'll be glorious,” a boy of about fourteen burst out. No doubt he was trying to impress the general. That was to be expected of a boy his age.

“Hm. Glorious, is it? And you will be the most famous general of all, I suppose.” He sounded amused.

“Yes, sir!” The student said defiantly.

“Very well! I have some math for you, then. Pencils ready.” He started writing on the chalkboard.

“Congratulations, warriors! You just conquered a city of 10,000.” He waited for the excited murmurs to die down. “What will you do with the children?”

It was suddenly quiet. No one said anything.

“Let's say a quarter of the population are children. It's been a good year, and they're breeding like rabbits.” The sound of his chalk on the board was loud in the quiet room.

“5% of that is children 5 years old and younger. What is 5% of 10,000?”

A child raised his hand and said timidly, “500.”

“Excellent! You have 500 children under the age of five. They can't take care of themselves. The parents are dead. What will you do with them?”

He wrote down choices on the board in bold script. “One: have your highly trained soldiers babysit. Will that work?” He pointed to a student.

The teenager cleared his throat. “Rations are calculated very carefully. If the city has been under siege, they won't have much food. That's a problem. You might not be able to resupply if you have traveled far from your base. There might not be enough food for everyone.

“Also, if you don't want the soldiers to babysit, then you would have to keep some of the women for slaves.”

“Do goblins keep slaves?” the general asked mildly.

He pointed to another student who answered grimly, “No, sir.” The class was beginning to see where this was going. No one was smiling.

“Can you abandon the city and leave them to survive on their own?” Yal pointed to another student who had wanted to be a warrior.

“No, sir,” the boy said unhappily.

“Why not?” Yal was relentless.

“It would be tactically irresponsible and unnecessarily cruel,” the boy said slowly.

Yal nodded. “So the children can't take care of themselves if their parents are dead. They will not be sold into slavery. There's no food for them. What is the merciful thing to do with them?”

The room was dead silent. The general looked at the pretend general, who had gone pale. “You will kill those children. Kill the babies. In fact, some of them will have died in the battle already, and some of the pregnant women will have already been killed by you.”

The boy stared at his desk. He looked haunted.

“War isn’t glorious. It’s bloody and dark. Sometimes it’s necessary, but it's never undertaken lightly.”

He tapped the board. “Always know the cost.” He nodded to the teacher, and walked away.

??

Ashi peeked into the room. She had preferred to stay outside and observe. She was worried about Julep's pallor. The woman looked like she wanted to throw up.

Ashi sent a servant to fetch some brandy for the poor woman. She looked like she could use the fortification.

Gal noticed and sat down by her honorary aunt. She patted her hand soothingly and murmured something.

Julep looked at her, shell shocked.

Gal said something else. She seemed to have the situation in hand.

The servant delivered the drink and an invitation to enjoy the parlor. Julep took a swig and then stood up. Gal and Zac walked with her to the door, a protective escort.

Ashi would have spoken to her, but her husband exited first and caught her attention.

“Harsh," Ashi softly reproached her husband as they walked away from the class. She intended to join her guests in the parlor shortly.

He gave her a dark look. “These children are our future. They'll one day be in charge, and they need to know the cost of their decisions. Coddling them now will make them stupid.”

She said slowly, “But if war is so terrible, why is it such a part of Goblin culture?”

He was quiet for a long moment as he considered his words.

“Your former king and queen were murderous thieves who threw babies in the river.

Wealth was concentrated in their hands until the poor had almost nothing.

If you'd escaped from their palace and tried to live among the poor, you'd have barely scraped by and possibly died. There was nowhere for you to go.”

She silently acknowledged his point.

“Our coming was well known. Smart people fled the city. The stupid stayed and were wiped out.

“And what is the city like now? Religion is tolerated, anyone can engage in commerce. Laws are equally enforced, many who left have returned. That didn’t come without cost.”

She didn't say anything.

“We rebuild the cities. We educate and teach people how to make money and be successful, to be better farmers, and we share the skills of metalworking and machining.

Instead of hogging it for ourselves, we realize that the more people who are successful, the more successful our society is and the more we can achieve.

“Not everyone has the mentality to succeed, but they will have the tools.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “While that’s true, you make it sound like goblins are some kind of savior.”

“No. But our self-interest has been beneficial. We’re still monsters. We never lie about that.”

She sighed. “There’s no winning this argument.” He was a goblin general. She knew from the moment she met him that there would be no changing him. He was a weapon, forged to crush cities and lead armies.

And yet, as ruthless as he was, he treated her and the children like gold. She couldn't have asked for a kinder, more considerate husband. Considering the fate her Queen had thought she was sending Ashi to, this was paradise, and she was grateful.

“True. Enough of this.” He curled his arm around her and smiled. “Speaking of self-interest, I think it's time we started on another child. Our son could use some competition on the training field, or you can produce another lovely daughter. Either way will be a win.”

“Do you think I'll cooperate with the scheme?” she asked, bemused. The man could go cold to hot in a blink.

Well, she had been thinking of another child. Her youngest was so big already...

He chuckled and leaned in for a kiss. “I think you could be persuaded...”