Ashara woke up sore in places she didn't know could be sore.
Her arms, sure. Her legs, obviously. But her ribs? The bottoms of her feet? The weird spot between her shoulder blades? Rain's reinforcement drills had done something evil to her entire body and she was going to have words with that woman about it.
[Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.]
She dragged herself to breakfast.
Mira was already there, bright-eyed and annoyingly energetic, legs tucked under her on the bench. Darya sat across from her, a cup of tea between her hands.
"You look like shit," Mira said.
"Thanks."
"Teacher's pet privileges don't come with a healing factor, huh?"
"I will throw this bread at your face."
Darya slid a second cup across the table.
"Herbal tea. It helps with muscle soreness."
Ashara took it and sipped. It was warm and tasted like mint and something floral.
"I didn't know an angel joined the academy."
"Thank you, sweetie."
---
Haytham Wells taught Magic Theory the way a man tells a story he's told a hundred times and still finds amusing.
He walked the front of the room with his hands in his pockets, staff leaned against the wall behind him, and he talked about magic like it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
"Five schools," he said, holding up his hand and counting them off on his fingers. "Elemental. Divine. Enchantment. Arcane. Summoning. Every spell you'll ever learn, every technique you'll ever see, fits into one of these five boxes." He paused. "Some of you will specialize. Some of you won't use magic at all and will rely on martial arts techniques instead. Either way, you need to understand all five, because someday something from one of these schools is going to try to kill you, and ignorance is not a survival strategy."
He went through each one.
Elemental was the flashiest. Fire, ice, lightning. The stuff one would typically see in arena fights. Divine was healing and protection, rare and valued. Enchantment was utility, buffing weapons, laying wards. Arcane was the weird one, space manipulation, illusions, things that bent the rules, so to speak. Summoning was exactly what it sounded like.
Ashara took notes. She wasn't too sure she wanted to be a mage, despite having the mana pool for it, but regardless, Haytham was right. If a mage tried to fry her with lightning someday, she'd rather know what she was looking at.
Her eyes drifted across the room. Three rows ahead, one seat to the left.
Daniela was writing. Her ponytail hung over one shoulder. She had her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her forearms were toned, lean muscle visible under the skin. Her pen moved in small, precise strokes.
[... Even the way she takes notes is hot. That's not fair.]
Daniela glanced back.
Their eyes met.
Ashara didn't look away fast enough. Daniela held the look for maybe a full second, then turned back to her notes.
[... Shit. She caught me.]
Ashara stared down at her own notebook for the rest of class, ears burning.
After class, students filed out into the hallway. Ashara spotted Daniela's ponytail ahead in the crowd and thought about catching up. Saying something. Introducing herself, finally.
She took a step forward, but a male student got there first, falling into step beside Daniela and saying something Ashara couldn't hear. Daniela gave him a short reply without breaking stride. The guy tried again. Daniela didn't even look at him.
Ashara stopped walking.
[... Next time.]
---
Kael Riversong's Weapons Mastery class was held in a wide training hall lined with weapon racks.
Swords, daggers, spears, quarterstaffs, axes, bows, things Ashara didn't even have names for. Kael stood in the center of it all with his fox ears perked up and a grin on his face.
"Here's my philosophy," he said. "If you can hold it, you can kill with it. But you'll kill a lot better if you find the weapon that fits you." He spread his arms. "So today, for our first day of class, you try everything. Grab something, swing it around, see what feels right. I'll be watching. Come to me if you have any questions."
Ashara started with a quarterstaff.
Nope, too long, too awkward. She kept over-extending and nearly clipped Mira in the head.
"Watch it!" Mira ducked, laughing.
"Sorry!"
She tried daggers next. Better, but the range felt wrong as well.
Then a sword. Too heavy in her wrist. She could swing it fine but, the stories always said a sword should feel like "an extension of one's self" and she sure as hell didn't feel that way.
A spear. Worse. The footwork Kael then tried to make her do made no sense to her body. Too square, too stiff.
She cycled through four more weapons in the next hour. None of them clicked. Every single one felt like she was borrowing someone else's limbs.
[What the hell is wrong with me?]
Across the room, Sable was moving through sword forms with the kind of precision that made it look like the blade was part of her arm. Jesse was putting arrows into a target with terrifying accuracy. Even Mira looked natural with her daggers, spinning them between her fingers and doing tricks.
Ashara set down the hand axe she'd been fumbling with and stared at the rack.
Kael walked past her. He glanced at the weapons she'd tried, then at her empty hands, then at her face. His fox ears twitched.
He didn't say anything. Just moved on.
[... Great.]
---
Celeste's Advanced Combat class was in the arena.
The actual arena. The big one. Fifty students standing on sand that would one day see blood.
Celeste walked to the center, small and unhurried, and looked up at the class.
"Rain taught you the basics yesterday. Reinforcement, stance, fundamentals." She rolled her shoulders. "My job is to make sure you can actually use them. So today, we spar."
Murmurs rippled through the group. Celeste waited for them to die.
"Who wants to go first?"
Silence. Then Vik Carroway stepped forward, cracking his knuckles.
"I'll go." He looked down at Celeste. Way down. He had over a foot on her. "Unless you don't want to pick someone my size?"
A few people laughed. Celeste didn't. She just kept smiling.
"You'll do."
They squared up.
Vik drew his practice sword, a heavy wooden weapon that matched his build. Celeste stood opposite him with her hands at her sides.
No weapon. No stance.
"Whenever you're ready," Celeste said, with a little smile.
Vik lunged immediately.
He was fast for his size, closing the gap in two big steps, the practice sword coming down in a hard diagonal slash.
Celeste sidestepped it.
Not jumped, not dodged, just shifted her weight a few inches to the left and let the blade pass by her ribs.
Vik's eyes widened. Ashara's eyes widened. Just about everyone gasped.
He swung again, horizontally this time, and Celeste ducked under it, stepped into his guard, and hit him in the solar plexus with her palm. Not even with a fist, with her palm.
Vik folded. His feet left the ground. He flew back five feet and hit the sand on his ass, the practice sword clattering out of his grip.
The arena went dead quiet.
Celeste lowered her hand.
"Anyone else?"
[... Holy shit. That's the woman from the bridge?]
Vik stared up at her from the floor, in pure disbelief.
Celeste smiled again.
"Everyone, what you just saw is the result of years of time spent refining my skills. Do not be fooled by your eyes; there are people my size who can bring down the nastiest monsters you've ever seen with little effort."
She walked over to Vik, extending a hand to help him up. He looked down at it and then back up at her before taking it.
"And," she continued, "with enough time and training, you too will reach that point. Promise."
---
That evening, Rain had her running reinforcement drills again.
Same training yard, different hour. The sun was low and the air was cool and Ashara was trying very hard not to dump her entire mana pool into her right arm like she had yesterday.
"Slower," Rain said from behind her. "Think of it like pouring water. Not dumping a bucket."
Ashara gritted her teeth. She pushed mana into her forearm, slow, measured. It flickered. Held. Flickered again.
"Good. Now hold it."
Five seconds. Ten. Fifteen.
Her arm was shaking. Sweat ran down her temple.
"Hold."
Eighteen. Nineteen. Twenty.
The reinforcement sputtered out and Ashara exhaled hard, her arm dropping to her side.
"Twenty seconds," Rain said. "Better."
"Better than what? Yesterday I couldn't hold it for three."
"Exactly. Better." Rain looked at her. The faintest hint of approval. "Same time tomorrow."
Ashara grinned.
"You're warming up to me."
"I'm not."
"Yes you are. I can tell."
"Go shower." Rain turned to leave, then stopped. "Oh. Celeste wants to see you. Her training room is at the end of the east hall."
Ashara blinked.
"Celeste wants to see me? Why?"
Rain shrugged.
"Ask her... And don't make it weird."
[What?]
---
Celeste's training room was small compared to the main halls. Padded floors, no weapons on the walls. Just open space.
Celeste was sitting cross-legged in the center of the room. She looked up when Ashara appeared in the doorway and gestured for her to come in.
"Hey."
"Hey." Ashara stepped inside. "So, uh. Before anything else, I just want to say, I had no idea you were a teacher here. On the bridge, I mean. I would not have rambled about my insecurities to an A-rank adventurer if I'd known."
Celeste laughed.
"That's exactly why I didn't tell you. It was refreshing to hear someone be so candid with me. I have not had such an experience in a while."
"Really?"
"Indeed... Sit down, Ashara."
Ashara sat across from her on the padded floor.
"I spoke with Kael after his class today," Celeste said. "He mentioned you struggled with every weapon he put in your hands."
Ashara's stomach sank.
"Yeah. I couldn't get any of them to feel right. I don't know what's wrong with me."
"It's far too early to make that your conclusion." Celeste leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "Tell me, did it occur to you that maybe you shouldn't use a weapon at all?"