Daylight
Time passed no matter how the students and the recruits tried not to keep track of it. A complicated smile, the anxious rebuke from a professor, the parties that lasted long enough to coincide with the lessons, and the general carelessness toward the already slight decorum hinted at the arrival of the daylight.
Even the most serious recruits started to fall prey to their anxiety and resort to the Niqols' habits to handle it. Khan once even saw Brandon and Kelly kissing during his usual march toward the mountains.
The Niqols had a planet to defend, but the eight recruits simply happened to be there. Some humans had developed affection toward Nitis and established meaningful relationships, but that wasn't their home. The Niqols were only a mission, but the Global Army had left them in the frontlines anyway.