7. Salamander

Adult overseers debate Ender’s brutal victory in the mind game and decide to move him. At dinner, Alai deduces Ender’s messaging hack, but Ender discovers a transfer slip: he is reassigned immediately to Salamander Army under Bonzo Madrid. Ender shares an emotional farewell with Alai, who blesses him with “Salaam.”

Shaken, Ender returns to the mind game, outwits child-wolves at a playground by dissolving them in a brook, descends a jewel cavern, and opens a door marked “The End of the World,” glimpsing a vast kingdom before being recalled by orders.

Reporting to Salamander, Ender meets Petra Arkanian, the lone girl and sharpshooter, who jokes rebelliously. Bonzo publicly demeans Ender, forbids him from maneuvers, and slaps Petra. Petra later offers secret morning training. Ender studies Salamander’s rigid formations during drills and begins nightly free play practice with Launchies, negotiating with Bonzo to keep free play independent.

In Salamander’s first battle against Condor, Ender obeys orders, presents his legs as a shield, and is marked “damaged but active,” realizing he could have saved the game but didn’t. He tops the efficiency list despite not firing. After two Salamander victories, Ender turns seven. Against Leopard, whose agile tactics unsettle Bonzo, Ender covertly freezes Leopard’s gate team, forcing a draw in defiance of orders.

Bonzo, humiliated, arranges Ender’s trade to Rat Army and assaults him publicly, undermining his own authority. Ender ends morning sessions with Petra to avoid worsening tensions and registers for an Earth-gravity personal combat course, determined not to be vulnerable again.