Thank you! I can understand why most people write Reboot Academy AUs - after all, the first movie is basically a canon one - but I wanted to try something different. And I have to say it was really damn fun to write Kirk as the "stack of books with legs" cadet he's stated to have been in TOS. I only wish I could have thought of some way to include McCoy.

What about t'hy'la bond? Was it so archaic that Spock was unaware of it too?

I assume he thought it was something that went out of fashion once Surak and logic took over. My impression of Spock is that he wants so desperately to be seen as a "good Vulcan" that he sometimes assumes things about Vulcan culture that aren't actually true.