"Alright, alright, alright! I get it!" I whine as I finish picking myself up off the ground. Bending over to dust my knees off with brushes that quickly become more like slaps. I only got lost, it's not that funny. My visor hides my pout.

"Sorry, sorry!" Seigunfrei finishes laughing while Baltanthan slowly trudges towards me.

"You can be jester now." Baltanthan grumbles with a mixture of sore pride and body.

"Actually, given a few things, I want to see you two go at it first." Seigunfrei goes before he leaps up onto the stalls he just had me jump down from. It's not my fault the doors to the arena are so confusing...

"In what way am I supposed to be able to fight her after being married to the floor because of you!?" Baltanthan whines with a roar of rumbling frustration. Slightly stepping away, I look at my friend as he slowly beats himself up into the right mood.

"Hold on, I still need to make sure I know how to use this thing!" I call out, my hand grasping the slotted source of power.

"Ride a bicycle more!" Seigunfrei calls with a hand cupping his mouth, his feet up on the edge of the walls.

"Huh?" I go, my other friend sluggishly glowing into view.

"Let's get this other with..." Baltanthan mumbles, his staff falling to the ground so he can rub his eyes. Lazily, he fires off a spell similar to what nearly destroyed his food earlier. Skittering backwards, the power of the talisman activates. My God's divine power stops Baltanthan's attack with half a hollow sphere.

Right, I think I'm recalling how to do this, yeah, I got this.

I move the half-sphere overhead and stretch it out into a dome, a smile coming to my face as Baltanthan continues to attack. His spells continue to break upon its invincible shell without so much as inducing a tremor and I look towards Seigunfrei. He picks himself up and seems to frown in thought, hands together with locked fingers. Gone.

"Wait... How did he...?" I mutter, failing to recall if magic can even make someone invisible. Let alone affect me with its illusion from within the safety of my talisman's magic. Shifting my feet about, I look around for the source of a strange new sound. Moving my feet some more, I can't help but feel like something is happening below...

I look down.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" I scream in surprise, the sound of metal grinding against razor winds suddenly in my ears. My back is up against the very shield that's been protecting me.

"TURN THE SHIELD OFF!" Seigunfrei roars in demand and instantly I listen, my body soaring through the air. Slamming into the ground with drum-like bangs, I rattle to a stop. Quivering as if I am about to cry, I tremble to my feet.

"I..." I struggle to let out, the fright of that whole moment getting to me a lot more than I thought it would. Pulling up my visor, I try to dry my eyes off with whatever I can.

"You alright?" Seigunfrei asks on the walk to me.

"I'm fine... I just..." I answer, struggling to put into words the shock I felt seeing him suddenly come up at me like that. I can even see the hole he made when he exploded out of the ground. The scrapes can be felt in the plates covering my gut.

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"You just happened to grow complacent behind your dome." Seigunfrei points out sternly with the shake of his head.

"IF I KNEW YOU'D GET INVOLVED I WOULD HAVE DONE MORE!" I scream, angered by how smart he's trying to make himself out to be. Seething with clenched fists, I growl myself into action. Throwing a fist back, I miss my punch and spin around to smash him with my tail. He catches it by the tip with his leg, his magic suddenly wrapping my tail around it.

My feet start sliding...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" I scream, whirling into the air and smashing against the wall.

Whimpering on the ground, I curl up in myself.

"IF YOU'RE JUST GOING TO BE LIKE THAT THEN I'LL GO!" I cry, getting up and getting ready to leave. A hand soon on my arm while I try to tough out the developing bruises that have still managed to get through.

"LIADANANN!" Baltanthan snaps and I stop, wiping my eyes down some more.

"Don't even try to-"

"Stop crying and get to paying attention. Fights are not easy, you learn the hard way. The painful way." Baltanthan tells me, his own body reminding us both of the scrapes he's picked up so far in this practice.

"Fine..." I sulk, coming back to the pair with my guard up in case either of them tries anything.

Seigunfrei puts his hands on his hips with a sigh, "Alright, you two, pay attention closely. If the pair of you want to be out there with Nin on some guild job or something notably more private, then you need to be ready. Nin didn't just learn how to fight out of nowhere. He had me when I still considered him to be no better than other Osibindah. He had this whole place sneering down on him."

"We know..." Baltanthan groans, a speck of passive-aggressive magic flinging out at the slick-haired man. Seigunfrei tuts his disapproval but lets the magic hit him regardless, not so much as a wince coming from him.

"Liadanann, you and I have firsthand experience with Nin these past few years. Every night, nearly every day, barely a moment was spent doing something other than fighting or training." he reminds me and I nod slowly, my mind filling up with other kinds of unsavoury thoughts. Nodding some more with a sniff, I make sure my eyes are dried properly and close my visor.

"Ok, I-I'm ready." I say, applying the magic of the talisman to create some dull-edged blades. Nin doesn't have time to be babysitting me, I need to be able to pull my weight and not lead to him being injured. I won't ever be as good as he is, but at the very least I can try to get somewhere with getting better. I need to practice, much like he has.

Seigunfrei's strong hand taps his chest and rises to his brow, the palm-side coming down before us, "You have my word, I won't pull that stunt I just did with you. More so, so I don't get dirt in my hair."

"Oh, shut up..." Baltanthan sneers at his attempt to remind us that this isn't us being nasty towards each other. We're here to learn and Seingunfrei is taking the time to teach us essential skills. Miserable as it has already amounted to be, I am thankful he's willing to teach me. This is not something I really want to learn like Nin has.

"How did you even know it was a dome...?" I ask quietly once Baltanthan is away.

"I rewatch the Inter-House Talent Display I did with Nin and Rose quite a lot. That was the first time he put me on my feet, he did it that day and it's stuck with me. And, well, curiosity made me look at the rest of you and you did the same thing there. Hide under a dome that is." he explains and I nod slowly, recalling how scared I was back then. I thought I was safe under my shield and a spell dug right under, let alone that woman who nearly killed Nin.

"I see..." I mutter, walking off. Stopping when a hand suddenly grabs my shoulder. Still on edge, I turn and thrust my fist forward.

He catches it without a blink, "Don't let the stress get to you, you're here to learn. We all start somewhere, remember this well: It always gets easier after some time having at it."

"I know that..." I mumble, shaking my fist when he lets go of it. That's quite the grip...

He leaps back up onto the top of the wall, "Alright, you two, go at it again, remember to keep moving. Don't grow complacent behind spells and make sure to keep it in mind that you're friends practising, you're not trying to kill each other."

"Ok, uhm, I'm not going to use any shields, Baltanthan." I tell him with full honesty.

"No, use your shields, we're not in a sports match with rules." Baltanthan barks and I nod at his request. Awkwardly, I square up in my armour and try to bear in mind why I am doing this. I'm doing it so I can be with Nin, so I can try and be more involved with his life. So I can maybe mean more to him than Larishazza did...

"I'm ready." I say and the first spell from Baltanthan comes into being.