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Getting on with his life turned out to be much harder than Telatl had anticipated. He was there, bright and early, with the rest of the crew, ready to drill. Arisun and Ortol didn't ask why or how he was there, just nodded and accepted it without question, understanding their friend more than anyone else without a single word exchanged.
Surindi and his group arrived a little later than Telatl. "Look! It's a cripple playing hero!" Surindi sneered. His friends laughed and cast disdainful glances Telatl's way. "Go home, cripple!" one of them jeered. "Ground crew is a job for real men."
"Then what are you doing here?" Telatl shot back. "Can you work all the buttons on your flame thrower, Surindi? Wouldn't want you to tire yourself out thinking too hard about it."
"Oh, I can use a flamethrower," Surindi said as nonchalantly as possible. "I am a bit worried about you though, they're quite heavy you know. If you need to sit down for a few minutes in the middle, we'll understand."
"They can't be all that heavy if you can lift them," Telatl replied evenly.
Surindi shrugged. "That doesn't matter nearly as much as standing your ground. At least you'll be forced to, you won't be able to show us what boys do on ground crew, seeing as you can't move faster than an old woman."
Without conciously knowing he was doing it, Telatl launched himself, crutches and all, at Surindi, who gave a yelp but went down under a blow from Telatl's leading crutch. He, however, was much better off than Telatl, who came down hard on his right leg. Surindi's mouth curled into a sneer at the look of pain on his enemy's face and Telatl, ignoring the pains in his leg, lept on him and punched punched him until Sovek bellowed for him to stop and then wrestled him away from a bloody Surindi.
"What was that about not moving any faster than an old woman?" Telatl snarled as he was pulled away. Surindi managed to grimace and glare at the same time.
"Telatl, I won't have you making trouble on my crew," Sovek told him sternly. "If this is how you are going to act on a regular basis, I cannot allow you to be on the crew. All members of a ground crew must work together smoothly, understood?" He flung a look Surindi's way for emphasis.
"Yes sir," Telatl replied, voice quivering as he tried not to explode. He'd already beat up a fellow ground crew member, he didn't need to add a temper tantrum to his first day on the crew.
"If there are to be no more childish displays," Sovek continued, raising his voice to address the entire crew, "we will get on with our drills for this morning."
Telatl launched all of his energies into the drills and tried to send his mind with them. But he kept returning to Surindi, wishing he had done more than just given him a bloody nose and a few bruises. Because of Surindi, he'd be a cripple. Why should he be the only one to suffer?
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