“You can try to keep the apprentice out of trouble, but you can’t keep the trouble out of the apprentice.”

― Ian Gregoire, The Apprentice in the Master's Shadow

The rain streamed along the glowing shield distorting the outside into wavering shadows. Mireille stood beside Alyssa and looked anxiously at the mage healing her. The student that had hit Alyssa sat beside Otto rubbing his chin in a daze while he looked in confusion at the small girl that had felled him.

All in all, he had been lucky as Cyrus forced his way inside the bubble and settled on Alyssa’s shoulder, stinger raised.

Magister Illimen looked at the two students then at Calvin and Jamila. “How lucky that two accomplished healers were nearby, what startling coincidence.” The last word was drawn out. “And? How are they?”

Calvin looked at Jamila who pressed her lips into a firm line, sighed then answered first. “Alyssa had blunt trauma and cuts to the side of her torso and the bone of her lower leg was cracked. I have fixed most issues, she should nevertheless get a good night's sleep. Blood loss should not be too severe.”

Jamila stood and addressed the Magister formally, “The student, Otto I think is his name, was severely harmed and is still not stable. He has superficial wounds but also tissue degradation by void exposure. I don’t know as to his mental state, he is still unconscious. I must protest the use of lethal force in a duel.”

“And what kind of force should a void mage use in a duel? Her fists? When magic was the method of choice? When she was the one called out by him?” Calvin drew his brows together and looked at her sternly.

“The elemental did not intervene, it deemed the damage to be not life-threatening.” Illimen slowly and deliberately interjected. “What concerns me more and is the reason for my being here. What caused the shielding poles to nearly overload? They react to threats and the intensity of the shield is reflected by that.”

“I think some skill of Alyssa’s triggered that. The oval I saw briefly when coming over was probably a dimensional manipulation. That might explain it as the plane of void is absolutely hostile to all living beings.”

“And another strike against her. What was she thinking? Did she even learn that in our academy or was it more hedge-wizardry? Half trained but fully dangerous. That is the reason I advocate against students from the lower classes. They have this crippling lack of knowledge that lets them do such things without understanding the risks!” Jamila argued.

“And noble scions never had that problem?” Calvin's voice was dangerously reasonable and soft.

“With them, it is a lack of judgment, with those who did not have the knowledge to begin with, it is not even possible for them to form a correct opinion. That is something altogether different!”

Illimen looked at both of them. “The code duello Carvenbright.”

Both sighed.

“Yes, I know that it is unpopular but the last ruling is not from that long ago. If there are no restrictions placed on the contestants every method within the allowed means is to be accepted. That means Alyssa did nothing wrong. Otto should not be wounded so severely if he had simply stopped and conceded.”

“The duel was until incapacitation, Magister.” Alberich moved into the shield.

“How moronic.” Magister Illimen shook his head.

“It was his wish. Otto was the one calling her out and as such the conditions for a win were his to decide.”

Calvin looked at Jamila. “We should transfer Otto to the infirmary.”

“That would be best.” Jamila nodded.

The magister looked at Otto and spoke a short spell. Light shone from his pupils then winked out. He nodded. “I concur. Alberich, would you and the young lady over here,” he motioned towards Mireille who was crouching beside Alyssa and stroking her head,”bring Alyssa to her dorm room?”

Mireille looked up, “Of course!”

Alberich nodded.

Jamila gestured for the tall student Mireille had knocked out to carry Otto. With a groan, he and another of his friends took hold of the arms and legs of the prone student and began to carry him as directed. As they made a production out of it she pocketed a small flask gleaming with a blue glimmer.

Alyssa was still unsteady and everything hurt. Mireille was half supporting, half carrying her. Maximilian and Alea approached and breached the shield, with the rain soaking their clothes Alea in particular looked as if she were a ghost.

“Alyssa!” Alea hurried over and looked up at her bruised face. Even though Calvin had helped her quite a bit he did not care to remove the last traces of the beating she had endured. The smaller girl lifted her hand and hesitated. “Does it still hurt?”

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“A bit.” Alyssa winced as she spoke and tore at her freshly healed lip.

“That was something,” Alberich commented. “You might overshadow Ludwig...you probably already did.”

“You mean in notoriety?” Maximilian asked wryly.

Calvin and Illimen were quietly talking at the back of the shielded area and Jamila, after a long look in their direction followed after Otto.

The rain did not let up before they got to the dorm and all of them were completely soaked to their underwear. Alberich and Maximilian took their leave.

Mireille filled the tub and then proceeded to get Alyssa into it. Hissing with pain as fresh bruises came into contact with hot water she eased herself into the tub. Alea was toweling her hair, trying to get it to dry.

“Do you mind?” Mireille was shivering after being doused with rainwater and looked enviously at the steaming bathing tub.

“No…?” Alyssa was just acclimatizing to the heat as with a splash Mireille jumped into the water.

“Aaaah. Thank goodness. Warm again.”

Alea looked a bit forlorn.

“That will be a tight fit?” Alyssa looked conflicted.

“Come in!” Mireille gestured.

Interestingly enough the runes that had been visible on Alea’s chest after the assassination were nowhere to be seen.

Alea put Cecily on a shelf holding different soaps and then carefully entered the water too.

Alyssa looked at her hands, the left one white, perfect, lifeless. The right- ruddy in the warmth of the water, slightly wrinkled, a nick on her palm. She felt the tension slowly leave her and she nearly fainted. Mireille laid her head on her shoulder, “It looked bad from outside. Real bad. The blood, the hate. Most have never seen something like that. It was more like the fight with the bandits than what I thought a duel would be like.”

Alea took the soap and began to apply it liberally, first on herself then Alyssa.

Mireille continued after a pause, “The darkness, there were faces in it. I think I saw, how did you call him? Grossar was it? Who died to Vanessa’s claws, as she was saving us when she rescued us from Christina. The tentacles and the teeth. If there is anyone left who wants to challenge you I don’t know what they are smoking but there will be many who will detest you, fear you.”

“That might be the whole reason for this fight.” Alea calmly said as she began scrubbing the dirt from Alyssa with a sponge.

“I would like to remain here and learn. There is so much Vanessa can teach but also a lot that she does not know or care enough about to teach. The basics, the language.” Alyssa spoke somewhat thickly before she shrugged and began to sing the waters of life.

Asandria was a quiet shadow, this time she did not sing along. ‘That was reckless and unnecessary. If you had but waited a second I would have given you the means to defeat him. It was completely idiotic to use untried magic of this caliber and without bolstering your soul and flesh.’ Her words were cutting. ‘I will think about what to teach you in the future if you can’t make rational decisions. I will see what there is to teach about fire.’

Alyssa flinched. “I know. But I could not let him win. Let him be right.” She drew a deep breath. “Please don’t be mad. I didn’t want to let all of you down but in the end, it was for me, I simply could not accept me being worse than him.”

Asandria lowered her head and looked her directly in the eyes. ‘It would not be so bad if you had lost, but now,’ she gestured towards her left arm, ‘you have accumulated enough deep stone and soul-damage that I would recommend you refrain from using the higher void magics at all. Perhaps a bolt or a shadestep is tolerable but you should try to learn some elemental magic, if you don’t I don’t see you surviving until the end of your time in the academy.’

Mireille softly said, “Asandria is scolding you, isn’t she?”

“Yes.”

“Alea and I should do it too, but I simply can’t bring myself to do it. Am I a bad friend because of that? I did not have many of those so I might not be in practice.” Mireille joked smiling feebly.

Alea shook her head. “What’s done is done. No use in fighting over it. It should be clear that you should learn to control yourself better and branch out into more ‘accepted’ and possibly safer areas of elemental magic. Don’t you have that water class with Vivienne? Perhaps you could ask Max if he knows someone to tutor you in basic fire magic? Did you not have that introductory letter for a fire teacher?”

Mireille hugged the despondent-looking Alyssa. “But after all is said, you won. I think that you stood your ground and were very cool. Don’t kill yourself to win but winning is nothing you should be ashamed about.”

Asandria shrugged at that. ‘I like to be on the winning side as much as the next person. But think long-term. Failing at first to go on and succeed in the end is better than succeeding once to fail when it counts.’

Alea sighed. “I don’t know what could be the motive behind all that.” She counted on her fingers. “There could simply be the wish to have you expelled. There will be complaints and such. Then they might have hoped to injure you severely enough that you gave up on your own. Perhaps they only wanted to push you down so that they then could swoop in to provide ‘help’ putting you in their debt. Perhaps it was as much about Otto as it was about you. Holding him up as a paragon of school virtues and a leader-figure might be attractive to some people. And maybe they only wanted to see what you would, and could, do. It did not cost them much after all whoever they are. And, even if it is improbable, it could be Otto working alone and being stupid.”

Mireille looked at Alea with raised eyebrows. “That is a bit devious? How come you can think of all that?”

“I am after all a noble and there were teachers for those sorts of things.” Alea looked uncomfortable. “My teacher was a former maid from the palace, she died a year ago. She was already very old.”

“Maids are fearsome.” Mireille mock-shuddered.

“Don’t make light of the palace servants. From the stories I heard it is pretty cutthroat out there.”

Alyssa raised her head and her eyes were rimmed with red. “I am so glad to have you all. Thank you. And sorry.” The last was meant for Asandria mostly who huffed but nodded.

‘I simply hate the idea of someone with your potential, and someone I am bound to at that, squandering their opportunities for fleeting gain. But I accept your apology. It is not as if I never did something similar in my past.’ She turned and floated out of the bathroom.

Cyrus had used the time productively and eaten a whole leg of ham. He was not the small wyvernling he had been in the beginning, from the size of a smallish housecat he now was more like a medium-sized dog. Mostly due to his wings which made it still possible to sit on Alyssa’s shoulder but it began to hurt if done for longer stretches of time.

After the bath, they gathered in their room eating dinner in silence. Alyssa yawned continuously and nearly fell into her soup once.

And then they went to sleep.