The rain had stopped and the sky was bright, the entire academy washed clean. Refreshed, in a sense.

This was not reflected in Nala's party. Mist reluctantly returned to her apartment, waving from her window until the others were out of sight, and even then she remained, staring out, although what she was looking for wasn't apparent. Amanda dawdled behind on the way to the cottage she shared with Praetorian, far enough back that her vision became clouded and her tongue grew thick—not that she was saying anything to him, nor he to her. Of Sly there was no sign, not even a message, not to anyone.

Through all of this Nala remained impassive, bidding a terse farewell to the others then walking away without a glance back. Soon enough she and Tzugakk were in the sprawl, walking through the narrow streets, the scent of roasting meat and bitter smoke filling the air, the cloaked and secret figures around familiar, if not yet comfortable. They reached their apartment building without incident, and it was on the street outside that Tzugakk finally spoke:

"Mist's question remains."

Nala didn't reply, left it up to Tzugakk to press her:

"What do we do now?"

Nala remained silent, her back to Tzugakk, head bowed, face hidden.

"Nala, they are your party—no, we are a party together. For better or worse united, with you our leader. Did you choose? Yes, perhaps! You acted, you brought us together, the reason does not matter—"

"I have something for you."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Tzugakk stared at Nala's back. She half-turned, not quite looking at him, and held out something small and soft; a bracelet made of tightly braided brown hair.

Hesitantly Tzugakk reached out to take it, cradling the simple thing in his big knobbly hands. For a time he did nothing more than stare, then he reached into a pouch, retrieved his safehold shard, and with the utmost care slotted it into the bracelet.

"Thank you," he said. "I've never ... thank you."

Nala held up her plain steel necklace, the one Tzugakk had given to her.

"Balance," she said, before letting it drop against her breast. "What did I say to you, when we first met?"

"'Go away'."

"Because I wanted to be alone. Because I have always been alone. Because no one ever cared what happened to me."

Two hooded figures hurried past, sparing Nala and Tzugakk not a glance. Tzugakk was looking down at his feet. Nala was looking up at the building they called home, her eyes fixed upon the door to their shared room, upon the faintly glowing symbol that marked it as theirs.

"I have never chosen to fight," she said. "Never in my life. Choose to run, choose to hide, choose to bargain. Never choose to fight. But when there is no choice, when you cannot run or hide or bargain, you hold nothing back. You use whatever you have. You do whatever it takes. You fight to win. You fight to survive."

Nala turned, then, to fix her eyes upon Tzugakk, as he in turn looked at her.

"We cannot run," she said. "We cannot hide. We cannot bargain. What happened today means that we cannot buy equipment or cancel your demerits. What does this change?"

"Nothing."

Nala nodded, narrow grey eyes upon Tzugakk's odd little face.

"You are my friend," she said. "My first, my only. For you, I will fight."

Tzugakk looked down at his big knobbly hands, at his flat awkward feet. "When will you tell the others?"

"Tomorrow. When we meet. Then I will tell them that we are going to fight in the Bright Battle Tournament, that we will hold nothing back, that we will use whatever we have, and that we will do whatever it takes to win."

Nala took in a breath and let it out slowly.

"And in winning, we will survive."