The academy bathhouse had a sign nailed to the door.
It was a big, wooden sign, hand-painted, with bold red letters that read:
"UNISEX FACILITIES. IN THE FIELD, YOU WILL TRAIN TOGETHER, BLEED TOGETHER, AND BATHE TOGETHER. GET USED TO IT."
Underneath, in smaller text:
"Any legitimate complaints can be directed to Headmaster Brannick's office during business hours."
Ashara pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The bathhouse was empty. Steam rose from the stone basins, filling the room with a thick, warm fog that clung to her skin. The whole place was open, no stalls, no dividers, just rows of low basins and a long communal trough fed by a pipe in the wall. Water poured in a steady stream.
She stripped down, dropped her bloody clothes in a pile on the bench, and lowered herself into the nearest basin.
The hot water hit her wounds and she hissed through her teeth.
[Fuck, fuck, fuck—]
The cut across her stomach stung. The bite on her forearm throbbed. The dozen little claw marks on her hands and arms all lit up at once, like someone had run a match across each one individually. She gripped the edge of the basin, teeth clenched, and waited for the pain to dull.
It did, after a minute. The heat seeped into her muscles and her body started to unclench, bit by bit. They'd offered to heal her wounds, like, with magic, but Ashara declined. She wanted to feel it. This was what fighting felt like.
She leaned back against the stone and stared at the ceiling.
[I killed a goblin today.]
The thought sat there, heavy on her skull.
She could still feel it. The weight of the goblin on top of her, the rotten breath, the jagged teeth sinking into her arm. The way her fist had connected with its skull, over and over, each hit wetter than the last, until there was nothing left but pulp and bone.
She looked down at her knuckles. Bruised and swollen. The skin across two of her knuckles had split open. She flexed her fingers under the water.
[Everyone else made it look easy. Vik cut his in half. Mira was done in seconds. Jesse froze, but he still put an arrow through its skull clean on the second try.]
She'd been on the ground, screaming, covered in blood, beating a skull into mush with her bare hands.
[Celeste said "good job." Rain said I needed it.]
She closed her eyes.
[Did I need that?]
The door to the bathhouse banged open.
"There she is!"
Ashara opened one eye. Mira was standing in the doorway, already half-undressed, her black wolf ears perked forward and her tail going back and forth behind her. She had a towel thrown over one shoulder and a grin on her face.
"Hey."
"Hey yourself." Mira pulled her top off, kicked her boots into the corner, and dropped her shorts. She padded over to the basin next to Ashara's and slid in with a satisfied groan. "Oh, that's nice. My legs are killing me."
"You were out there for like two minutes."
"Two very stressful minutes." Mira sank down until the water was up to her chin. Her ears flattened sideways, relaxed. "Besides, I had to watch you go full caveman on that goblin. That was intense."
"..."
Ashara didn't answer right away.
Mira glanced over at her. Her golden eyes studied Ashara's face for a second, and the grin softened.
"First kill?"
"Yeah."
"Figured." Mira shifted in her basin, turning to face her. "You had the look."
"What look?"
"The one where you're trying to figure out how to feel about it." Mira rested her arms on the edge of the basin. "It's weird, right? The first time. You know it's a monster, you know it's kill or be killed, but your brain still goes 'hey, you just ended something alive' and doesn't shut up about it for a while."
Ashara looked at her.
"You sound like you know."
"Kez and I had to fight our way out of Ironhold," Mira said. She said it flat, no drama, no weight. Just a fact. "Wasn't monsters, though."
"..."
"Anyhow." Mira stretched her arms over her head. "Point is, you did it. You're here. You're alive. The goblin isn't. That's all that matters."
"I looked like an idiot out there."
"You looked like someone who'd never killed before and still figured it out." Mira flicked water at her. "Don't be so hard on yourself, babe. Vik's been swinging a sword since he could walk. You've been dancing."
That pulled a small laugh out of Ashara. She leaned her head back against the stone and stared at the steam curling toward the ceiling.
"I came here because of a monster raid," she said.
Mira's ears perked up.
"Back home, with the troupe. Direwolves hit the village we were camped near. One of them went for Lysa, she's like my little sister, and I, I just threw myself in front of it. No weapon, no training, no plan. A guard saved us both."
Mira was quiet. Listening.
"It tore my arm open." Ashara held up her left arm, the one with the old scar running from her elbow to her wrist. "I couldn't do anything. Couldn't protect her, couldn't protect anyone. I just stood there and bled."
"So you came here."
"So I came here." Ashara dropped her arm back into the water. "Rain gave me a token. Told me I had talent. I turned her down, because I was happy. I had everything I wanted. Then the raid happened, and I realized that what I wanted didn't matter if I couldn't keep the people I loved alive."
Mira stared at her.
"That's... shit." Mira's tail had gone still in the water behind her. "You left your whole family to come here."
"They pooled their savings to send me." Ashara's throat tightened. "Delara, she's, she runs the troupe. She's basically my mom. She packed my bag, handed me the money, and told me to come back strong."
"..."
They sat in silence for a moment, the steam rising between them, the water lapping against the stone.
Then Mira reached across the gap between their basins and punched Ashara in the shoulder. Lightly.
"For what it's worth, I think you're gonna make it."
Ashara looked at her.
"I mean it." Mira's golden eyes were steady. "You beat a goblin to death with your fists today. That's not nothing. That's a start."
"A very ugly start."
"The best kind." Mira grinned. "All the cool origin stories are ugly."
Ashara shook her head, but she was smiling now.
They soaked for a few more minutes, talking about nothing. Mira complained about the food in the dining hall. Ashara told her about Brenna's cooking at the Broken Axe. Mira said she needed to visit. Ashara said she'd take her sometime.
When Ashara stood up to get out of the basin, Mira's towel snapped across her ass with a sharp crack.
"OW—"
"Sorry, couldn't resist," Mira said, grinning. "You've got a great ass, you know that?"
"I'm aware." Ashara rubbed the spot, shooting her a look. "You could just say it like a normal person."
"Where's the fun in—"
Mira stopped talking.
Her eyes had dropped. Specifically, they'd dropped below Ashara's waist, and they'd locked on, and her mouth was hanging open a little.
"..."
Ashara looked down at herself, then back up at Mira.
[There it is.]
"You good?" Ashara asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Mira's ears were standing straight up. Her tail had gone rigid.
"That's..." Mira started. "That's, uh. Huge."
"Pfft." Ashara grabbed her towel off the bench and wrapped it around her waist, taking her time about it. "What can I say? I'm blessed."
Mira blinked twice and shook her head like she was resetting her brain.
Ashara winked at her and headed for the bench where she'd left her clean clothes.
She was smiling.
The goblin, the blood, one or two bone fragments in her hair, it was all still there, sitting in the back of her head. But for the first time since the Greenveil, the weight in her chest had loosened up a little.
[I'm gonna be fine.]
---
The courtyard was warm in the afternoon sun.
Rain stood at the front of the group, arms folded, her greatsword propped against the wall behind her. The students were arranged in a loose semicircle, most of them still in their field gear, a few sporting bandages and bruises from their own encounters. Ashara stood near the back with Mira.
... After some more aching, she actually did cave and ask for some healing.
"Alright," Rain said. "You all survived your first real combat encounter. Some of you looked good. Some of you looked like shit." Her eyes swept the group. "Either way, you're all still breathing. So, congratulations."
Silence.
"The rest of this week is yours. No classes, no drills, no lectures."
A murmur went through the group. Ashara saw Jesse's eyebrows climb.
"But," Rain continued, and the murmur died, "you have homework."
[Oh, come on.]
"Each of you is going to go to the Adventurer's Guild in the city and take on an F-rank mission. Real mission, real contract, real money, real consequences. You'll work in teams of four."
Rain reached behind her and pulled out a clay jar, roughly the size of a melon. She held it up.
"Inside this jar are colored stones. You pick one, find the people with the same color, that's your team. No trades, no swaps, no complaining." She set the jar down on the stone bench beside her. "Come up one at a time."
Students started shuffling forward. Vik went first, pulling out a red stone. Jesse got yellow. Darya got blue.
Ashara stepped up, reached into the jar, and pulled out a green stone. She held it up and glanced back at Mira.
Mira was next in line. She reached her hand into the jar, rummaged around for a second, her golden eyes flicking down to track what she was doing, and pulled out a stone.
Green.
[... Did she just—]
Mira walked back to Ashara, holding up her green stone with a grin that was way too satisfied.
"What a coincidence," Mira said.
"You cheated!" Ashara whisper-yelled.
Mira shrugged.
"Prove it."
The line kept moving. Jesse walked over to them, yellow stone in his hand, and then stopped. Looked at his stone. Looked at theirs.
"I got yellow."
"We got green," Ashara said.
"Damn." He wandered off to find his team.
Two more students picked. Neither green. Then a third. Not green either.
Then Daniela Stormveil stepped up to the jar.
Ashara watched her. She couldn't help it. Daniela moved with her back straight, her dark ponytail neat over one shoulder, her jaw set, and those amazing, swinging hips. She reached into the jar without hesitation, pulled out a stone, and looked at it.
Green.
Daniela scanned the courtyard. Her dark brown eyes found Ashara and Mira standing together, both holding up their green stones.
Her expression didn't change. She walked over, stopped at a comfortable distance, and gave a polite nod.
"It appears we're teammates."
"Looks like it," Ashara said.
[Oh god. Oh god, she's standing right there.]
"We need a fourth," Daniela said.
As if on cue, Jesse appeared at Ashara's elbow, holding a green stone now instead of his yellow one.
"Hey. Traded with the fairies. Hope that's cool."
Rain, across the courtyard, hadn't noticed. Or didn't care.
Ashara looked at her team. Mira, Jesse, and Daniela.
[This is going to be interesting.]