Ender's Shadow

Nikolai laughed. " You got a chance, the way you learn.”
      "Wiggin's snot ain't honey," said Bean.
      "What does that mean?”
      "He human like anybody. I find out, I tell you, OK?”
      Bean wondered why Nikolai already despaired about his own chances of being one of the best. Could it be that the teachers' negative evaluation was right after all? Or had they unconsciously let him see their disdain for him, and he believed them?
      From the boys Nikolai had pointed out -- the brags and suckups, which wasn't an inaccurate evaluation as far as it went -- Bean learned what he wanted to know. The names of Wiggin's closest friends.
      Shen. Alai. Petra -- her again! But Shen the longest.
      Bean found him in the library during study time. The only reason to go there was for the vids -- all the books could be read from the desks. Shen wasn't watching vids, though. He had his desk with him, and he was playing the fantasy game.
      Bean sat down beside him to watch. A lion-headed man in chain mail stood before a giant, who seemed to be offering him a choice of drinks -- the sound was shaped so that Bean couldn't hear it from beside the desk, though Shen seemed to be responding; he typed in a few words. His lion-man figure drank one of the substances and promptly died.
      Shen muttered something and shoved the desk away.
      "That the Giant's Drink?" said Bean. "I heard about that.”
      "You've never played it?" said Shen. "You can't win it. I thought .”
      "I heard. Didn't sound fun.”
      " Sound fun? You haven't tried it? It's not like it's hard to find.”
      Bean shrugged, trying to fake the mannerisms he'd seen other boys use. Shen looked amused. Because Bean did the cool-guy shrug wrong? Or because it looked cute to have somebody so small do it?
      "Come on, you don't play the fantasy game?”
      "What you said," Bean prompted him. "You thought nobody ever won it.”
      "I saw a guy in a place I'd never seen. I asked him where it was, and he said, 'Other side of the Giant's Drink.'“
      "He tell you how to get there?”
      "I didn't ask.”
      "Why not?”
      Shen grinned, looked away.
      "It be Wiggin, neh?" asked Bean.
      The grin faded. "I didn't say that.”
      "I know you're his friend, that's why I came here.”
      "What is this? You spying on him? You from Bonzo?”
      This was not going well. Bean hadn't realized how protective Wiggin's friends might be. "I'm from me. Look, nothing bad, OK? I just -- look, I just want to know about -- you know him from the start, right? They say you been his friend from launchy days.”
      "So what?”
      "Look, he got friends, right? Like you. Even though he always does better in class, always the best on everything, right? But they don't hate him.”
      "Plenty bichao hate him.”
      "I got to make some friends, man." Bean knew that he shouldn't try to sound pitiful. Instead, he should sound like a pitiful kid who was trying really hard not to sound pitiful. So he ended his maudlin little plea with a laugh. As if he was trying to make it sound like a joke.
      "You're pretty short," said Shen.
      "Not on the planet I'm from," said Bean.
      For the first time, Shen let a genuine smile come to his face. "The planet of the pygmies.”
      "Them boys too big for me.”
      "Look, I know what you're saying," said Shen. "I had this funny walk. Some of the kids were ragging me. Ender stopped them.”
      "How?”
      "Ragged them more.”
      "I never heard he got a mouth.”
      "No, he didn't say nada. Did it on the desk. Sent a message from God.”
      Oh, yeah. Bean had heard about that. "He did that for you?”
      "They were making fun of my butt. I had a big butt. Before workouts, you know? Back then. So he make fun of them for looking at my butt. But he signs it God.”
      "So they didn't know it was him.”
      "Oh, they knew. Right away. But he didn't say anything. Out loud.”
      "That's how you got to be friends? He the protector of the little guys?" Like Achilles ...
      " Little guys?" said Shen. "He was the smallest in our launch group. Not like you, but way small. Younger, see.”
      "He was youngest, but he became your protector?”
      "No. Not like that. No, he kept it from going on, that's all. He went to the group -- it was Bernard, he was getting together the biggest guys, the tough guys --”
      "The bullies.”
      "Yeah, I guess. Only Ender, he goes to Bernard's number one, his best friend. Alai. He gets Alai to be