"Good morning Titanyana." Donovan greeted the groggy Nekh with a small smile on his face and a cup of tea in his hand. "Did you get good sleep?"

"Mhm."

"I have some good news for you."

"Hm?" Her ears perked up as she sat down. Gretts had prepared her a breakfast sandwich of sorts.

"This morning I was informed that the Holifanians have issued an official declaration of support. Evacuation efforts are going to start soon." Don took a sip before continuing. "Once they confirm that the route is suitable and the nations involved will accept a steady stream of ships through their territory, they will send the first wave of ships."

She froze, understandably so, at the mention of such a development. A week had passed since Diana and the Montaug met, and no news had reached her ears since then. That wasn't out of the ordinary though, Titanyana was expecting to have to wait months before they came to a decision, that being the length of time it would probably take for a ship to reach the Theocracy from the Sanctum.

On second thought, a nation as powerful and influential as the theocracy would probably have some direct nodal connection to the Great Csillacra somewhere.

"I'm afraid that they won't be able to evacuate as many people as we would like, however some is infinitely better than none. Is there any sort of code or message that they need to know in order to get your people to cooperate?"

Titanyana's tail was swaying, her legs shaking in relief. "Only my name! Just my name should be enough for them to understand! Strapper!" She had completely forgotten about her sandwich, which had disassembled itself when she shot up from her seat.

"Calm yourself. There isn't a need to be urgent, at least not for the moment." Don felt her excitement and desperation, but he wanted subordinates who could remain calm. It was something he had been conditioning them for since day one, though he had to admit he was a little lax with Titanyana given their relationship. "As I said, there is still a month or two until they start in earnest."

Titanyana took notice of the cook who had poked his head out of the door to investigate the source of the noise. Blushing, she slowly sat back down and attempted to put her sandwich back together.

"Well, either way, I have something of a request for you." Donovan had finished his cup of tea, yet when he picked his cup back up he noticed it was full again. At least one of the maidservants working here was incredibly good at doing their job silently. "I was putting it off because it just didn't feel right to ask, but I figured that it was never going to. Titanyana, would you be willing to give me a few of those split crystals?"

One ear perked up, the one on the same side as her raised eyebrow. Simultaneously, she moved a hand to the top of her sternum.

"When I brought you to the Great Csillacra, it was suggested to me that I utilize a few of the split crystals from your winnings to accelerate the development of my core. You will probably also have a use for them considering that your own core was tampered with, but you are probably going to have opportunities to gain more in the future."

Titanyana thought for a few seconds. As far as she had been able to tell, her capacity and output had not diminished, and the barriers to further progress had been lifted as well. Speaking generally, now was the perfect time to use them to strengthen herself. The highly concentrated yet pure split held in just one of those crystals was probably equivalent to two or three years of strengthening back home. If she used all of the crystals she had earned she could double her current capacity. The question she faced was whether or not that was the best use of resources.

Sure an increase in capacity would be nice, but her combat style banked on finishing engagements in as short a time as possible. If she couldn't increase her output to match her capacity, her combat efficacy wouldn't really increase. She could last longer, but any opponents who forced her to that point were unlikely to have an issue lasting a few seconds longer. That said, she had to consider her performance in squad fights as well. Squad fights presented a combat environment where she might have to fight ten people at a time in the unlikely scenario that the other four fell. With that in mind, the most optimal choice was obvious to her.

"How many do you want?"

The best way to guarantee victory was to increase Donovan's combat efficacy. Right now there was little doubt that he was the weakest link, and the only way she was going to be able to defeat a multitude of stronger opponents was if her companions could provide her the opportunity to dispatch them one by one. If he could be pushed to a level where he could dispatch weaker opponents, her burden would drop even further.

"Let's see . . . remind me of how many you received again?"

"I was awarded five crystals for placing on the second rung, six for being defeated in round six, and thirty one that were appropriated from Nemo's award so," she took a moment to do the addition in her head, "42?"

"Hm." Donovan didn't like that number. It was divisible by a few numbers, its whole number factors being 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, and 21, however none of them felt 'good'. He very much like to partition stuff into groups of five and ten, whether that was X groups of five or ten, or five or ten groups of X. Aside from the obvious ease of calculation associated with those values, there were some nice benefits to five and ten when working in the field.

Five of anything was simultaneously small enough to be easy to coordinate while also being big enough to grant a significant advantage against anything smaller. A 20% disparity in force (measured by the superior force) was usually enough to decide a battle all else being equal. In a dogfight, five could be split into a group of 3 and a group of 2, either of which could be dedicated to covering the other group's rear while they focused on attacking.

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Simply put, ten was two groups of five, however the number of effective groupings tripled. A group of 7 and a group of 3 was ideal for a strike group, the first seven unleashing their ordinance on targets while the group of three cleaned up any targets that needed that extra bit of punishment. For capital ships, two groups of three could be organized to focus on secondary targets while a larger group of four that included the flagship could focus on the primary target.

"How about six?" It was the closest number to one of his desired denominations. "That should leave you with more than enough to last until your next tournament, no?"

"Eleven." Titanyana rejected his request without hesitation, instead replacing it with a higher offer of her own. "I will give you the crystals I earned this time around. What I have received as compensation is more than enough."

This wasn't just some expression of generosity, nor was it borne of a desire to pay Donovan back for what he had done for her. Those were, of course, factors in her reasoning, but the primary reason was what she had calculated. One of those crystals looked to be about two or three years worth of split. Donovan was twenty to twenty five years behind the curve at best. In order to bring him up to something approaching the standard of his peers, ten would be needed under the worst case scenario.

Add one more in for good measure and he was at parity.

At least she hoped he would be at parity. Titanyana was beginning to get the feeling that she wasn't a good standard to judge others around. For one, her planet wasn't exactly the richest in terms of split concentration, however she had managed to reach the level where she could compete with those talented individuals who were not restrained by such a poor environment.

"Are you sure?" Donovan put his tea down, he was finished with it. "That's almost double what I-"

"You need it more than I do." Titanyana would not budge on this matter, not one bit. "I'll give Diana eleven as well."

That would leave Titanyana with twenty crystals. It may have been less than half of her total, but it was nine more than what she felt she had earned. This way she could feel content with the knowledge that both of her benefactors had been taken care of. Besides, forty years of split from home was more than she needed.

Donovan tapped his fingers on the table a few times as Titanyana stuffed the sandwich in her mouth. Of all things, she was choosing to be defiant about this?

"Fine. Eleven crystals it is. I trust you will be able to teach us how to use them?"

Titanyana's ears flattened. She only knew how to 'read' a split crystal. She didn't know how to absorb the split it was made of. Her people were just too poor to afford something like that. Embarrassed, she continued to silently munch on her absolutely phenomenal sandwich. Donovan knew she didn't know. She knew Donovan knew she didn't know. He had gotten good at reading her body language, not that it was hard, but she felt betrayed by her ears for shaming her like this.

". . . we'll talk to Sanna when the time comes. He seems like he would understand that type of thing."

- - - - -

For the second time in as many weeks, Trebar found himself visiting the Terrans' abode. For the second time in as many trips, he found himself trying to keep his gaggle of idiots from making a mess of the surroundings.

"Booooosssssss, how much fartheeeeeeeer????"

"I wanna go to beeeeeeedddddd!!!!"

"Tabo, Yabo, I expect you to be on your best behavior." He had little idea how these two, masters in pair battles, could be so immature. "Remember, these two are more than just some strangers you won't ever meet again once you graduate."

""Fiiiiiiiiine.""

"I'm sure they'll let you crash in one of their empty rooms once you introduce yourselves." Zhoie did her best to help Trebar with the twins. "You'll probably miss out on something sweet though."

"Something sweet?"

"A treat?"

Cholst, of all people, was the one to respond. "Nah. Zulf's going to fight Lord Strauss."

The twins abandoned their sluggish mannerisms in an instant, eyes glued to Zulf's figure from behind.

"Ohohoho? 'Lord' Strauss?" A younger man, two swords crossed in their sheaths behind his hips, poked some fun at his senior. "This the same guy who straightened out that scatterbrain of yours?"

"Zhoie is the scatterbrain, Anbel, not Cholst." A quieter woman played off of Anbel's teasing.

Anbel playfully tapped a fist on his forehead. "Ah, how could I forget!? Thank you for the reminder, Stokkie, you are looking pleasant as always."

"Touch me at your own peril."

"Aiya!" Anbel jumped back as a dagger passed by his ribcage. "Come now, don't you know it's rude to swing knives around like that?"

"Stokkie, Anbel, stop that. It is unbecoming of your status." Kerefel placed himself between the bickering freshmen, exchanging a knowing glance with Trebar, who nodded in thanks.

". . . what was her title again?" Zulf couldn't bear the brief period of silence. "I was there, but I still don't remember."

"Tempest." Nemo answered his question from the rear of the group, not elaborating further.

"Tempest?" "Why that?" The twins were back on their curious streak.

"From what I remember, it was because she is fast and violent, like a storm." Stokkie, eyes still locked straight ahead of her, just wanted them to shut up. "I want to fight her."

"She won't be able to fight for a while." Trebar spared a pitiful look backwards at the black-clad figure, limping along behind them. "Even if she felt fit to fight, I cannot imagine Donovan would let her so soon after being poisoned."

"Shame, I sort of wanted to fight her."

"You would lose." Kerefel of all people responded to Stokkie. "She is faster, stronger, and more experienced than you."

"Is that really the case?"

"Trust me Stokks, as a fellow female. She would kill you in the first exchange." Zhoie didn't bring her spears along today. Fighting Titanyana would be fun, but she wasn't going to encourage her to damage her body further.

"I doubt that." Stokkie had her pride. "I am the fourth fastest in our squad."

"You would lose." "You don't stand a chance." "Instant defeat."

Trebar, Cholst, and Nemo all responded to her boast at the same time. Each of them had their chance to fight her, even if Trebar didn't fight her in a duel, and they knew Stokkie's combat ability better than almost anybody else. Given that 100% of the people she viewed as stronger than her (in a straight duel) didn't even hesitate to say she would lose, she had no choice but to bitterly accept that to be the case.

"Oh Stokkie, you'll always have-" The dagger once again left it's sheath. "-fine."

Trebar looked at his juniors with a degree of annoyance. This sort of thing happened all, the, time. It was honestly quite infuriating. "Don't take that to mean we think you can't fight, Stokkie. It is simply a matter of combat prowess. If you two fought on even ground, no, even if you fought with a major advantage, Lady Strapper would find a way to kill you in short order. That is just the type of fighter she is."

Trebar noticed her characteristically neutral expression turn into a slight frown.

"In any case, we have arrived. I feel the need to remind you all that your best behavior is a requirement, not an expectation."