The group stepped out of the mess hall and into the afternoon light, making their way through the winding paths toward the Magic Tower.
Ragnora took the lead, her massive frame cutting a path that others naturally fell in behind.
Isabelle walked at her side, practically bouncing with every step.
"—and the way you redirected that charging Salamnaca by simply turning your shoulder at the last possible moment! I read about that in Legends of the Crimson Commander, volume three, but the book said you used a sidestep, not a shoulder turn!"
"Which was it really, Commander? The sidestep or the shoulder?"
Ragnora blinked. "The shoulder. The book was wrong."
"The shoulder!" Isabelle clutched her hands to her chest as though she'd just been given a sacred revelation. "I knew it! I told my friends it had to be the shoulder—a sidestep wouldn't have generated enough torque to redirect a charging Salamnaca—but they said I was being obsessive."
"Well, who's obsessive now, Marta?!"
