Dear Diary,

Remind me to be very careful about how much I piss Saffron off.

I mean, I don't generally want her actually pissed at me, and hopefully I'm not enough of an asshole to get her that pissed without noticing, but still.

So today started pretty well. Only the one boring nightmare last night, and other than my left elbow trying to immolate itself in protest of being attached to me, I got a decent night's sleep. I even woke up early, only to find Saffron already awake and lying on top of me, she'd have been staring at my face except her eyes were closed.

"How long have you been up?" I asked.

At first she just smiled at me, then she said, "Since the maids made their first laundry pass."

"Oh, shit!" I rolled her off of me and pushed the light about halfway up, scrambling for a clean uniform.

Saffron burst out laughing. "Leave it to you to not even know Marie normally comes to your room on the second pass."

I paused with one leg halfway into a pair of entirely-too-small pants. "So we're not late for breakfast?"

She stretched enough that I heard things popping as she arched backwards, bracing herself up by her feet and shoulders. "Not even close. We've got about an hour before the Dining Hall opens up." She finished stretching, rolled over to lie on her side, propping her head up with one arm, and said, "That's a novel way to try to get into my pants, Goof."

I leapt for the bed without bothering to pull my leg out of Saffron's pants. Shenanigans ensued.

I made a mental note as we got dressed that I ought to apologize to Marie for making her fix Saffron's pants. I mean, unlike the previous uniforms I'd ruined, I claim total responsibility for this one.

Breakfast had returned almost to normal. We got endless spicy eggs, one tray of spicy scrapple, and quite a few trays of sausage, not to mention the ubiquitous bread. No bacon, even though I'm sure I smelled some over in the direction of the Barbie Brigade table.

When we got to the Practice Yard, Saffron walked straight up to duBois and spoke with him quietly for a few moments. I figured if she needed me to know she'd tell me, so I just stared at her ass until duBois nodded to her, then went back to eyes front. What with her being right in front of me, I had a decent view with eyes front anyhow. Once the boots stopped tromping as everyone got into formation, duBois said, "Cadet Aetos has made a request regarding sparring today. Cadet Aetos?"

Saffron stepped out of formation, marched to the front row, continued until she stood in front of Lancaster, then backhanded him. She didn't put her hips into it or anything, just a sudden swift slap. Before he could get a word out past his shock at being slapped, Saffron said, "Cadet Laurence Lancaster, you have insulted me grievously, and I demand satisfaction here and now. Apologize or face me in combat."

Lancaster sneered at her. "You've made your last mistake, little Bag bitch. I choose live steel."

I surprised myself when I felt a growl reverberating through my chest. Mostly because apparently Lancaster heard it too, and glanced over his shoulder with a look of pure terror. I almost missed DuBois lifting one hand to his face before saying, "First blood or submission. We don't need Diaz losing another arm."

Saffron nodded, and Lancaster did a moment later. Saffron looked at me and said, "Cadet Diaz, will you be my second?" I nodded and stepped over beside her. Lancaster picked Rider as his second, then the rest of the Cadets spread out to the edges of the notional center 'ring'.

After we'd moved to our side of the ring, I leaned in and quietly said, "So what do I do as your second?"

"You bring me my weapon, keep an eye out for cheating, which in this case pretty much devolves to deliberate kill shots and hitting me after if I surrender." Right about then I noticed Rider jogging toward the exit nearest the Men's Dormitory. We hadn't gotten around to fixing that Filtration Ward yet; at a guess she'd gone to fetch Lancaster his sword. Because of course the little shit had one.

"I couldn't help but notice the complete lack of swords in your room."

"Just bring me one of the practice ones."

I nodded and jogged off to collect one of the Shittiest Blades Ever from the shed where I'd found them back on my first day exploring the Yard. I grabbed the biggest and the smallest of the lot, not sure which she'd want. When I offered them to her, she shot me a crooked grin and said, "Leave it to you to go overboard in every direction possible." As Rider came back in through the doors carrying a fancy sheath with a fancy sword hilt and I assumed, a fancy sword inside, Saffron hefted the smaller blade out of my hands. After seeing Rider step back to the edge of the ring, I did as well.

DuBois nodded once Saffron and Lancaster were armed and in their spots. "Are you certain you cannot resolve this peaceably?"

"Certainly. All he need do is apologize."

Lancaster sneered, although it paled a little when I started glaring at him. "I'm not apologizing to some jumped up little Bag bitch."

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DuBois just shook his head at that and said, "Remember your rules of engagement; no deliberate kill shots, no hitting someone after a submission. Do you both understand those rules?"

"Sir, yes sir!" both of them shouted.

"Begin."

Lancaster is a huge douchecanoe, but apparently he'd paid attention to his tutors when they taught him the use of a sword. The moment duBois said 'begin', he leapt into action, lunging forward with his sheath, bringing his sword around in a wide slash. Saffron, holding the small sword in her right hand, used that to parry the sword slash. She leaned out of the way of the sheath, grabbed it right next to his hand, and yanked him forward. I heard the crack when her forehead met his face. She managed to get his sheath away from him as he stumbled backward, then flung it over to me. I managed to grab it out of the air with my left hand, despite my fingers' insistence that they'd all fucked off for Miami on an AM non-stop flight.

Despite getting his face hammered in a way that really should have drawn some blood, either from his nose or from a split lip, Lancaster came at her again. No sneer this time; he held his lips tightly shut as he chased her around the ring, getting closer with each lunge. As Saffron passed in front of me, she quietly said, "No."

I gave up on my half formed plan involving Lancaster's sheath and his kneecaps. With every lunge, Lancaster got a little closer to scoring a hit on her. He directed most of them straight at her face, leaving her little option but to get out of the way. Credit where it's due, he never repeated that over the top initial lunge, staying far enough from her that she couldn't reach him with her left hand. As they started their second lap around the ring, Saffron moved her retreat a little closer to the ring center, and he switched to a two-handed grip. She parried or ducked under slash after slash, each one getting closer to hitting her. Her few counterattacks lacked the reach to really threaten him, and he'd managed to tear up her jacket sleeves in retaliation when she did. I couldn't be sure, but I thought I saw one of them darkening. I wasn't about to say anything though, I just glared death at Lancaster instead.

As they passed through the center of the ring, Lancaster got Saffron to react to a feint, and she barely got her blade back between her and Lancaster in time to stop a slash that otherwise would have gone right through her torso. Even though her sword stopped it from cutting too deep, he'd still managed to cut completely through her jacket, leaving two gaping holes. She stumbled backward, and Lancaster followed up with some kind of twisting lunge that threw her sword out of her hand. He lined up a lunge, and I tensed, half expecting another Infirmary sprint. Saffron shook her head, trying to clear it maybe, and Lancaster lunged.

He stumbled about halfway to her, his lunge veering off to one side while she rolled the other way.

She rolled to her feet as he recovered from his stumble, then started dancing away from him with both of her hands behind her like she'd done against me. I stopped glaring at Larry long enough to catch a glimpse of her hands, but she wasn't making a Stabilize cat's cradle with them. Instead, her left hand clenched over her right, which she'd squeezed into a fist. As Lancaster followed her, stumbling every step or two, she called out, "What's the matter, Larry? Getting tired already?"

He charged at her, and she stepped aside, then ducked under his slash as he stumbled past her. "Prostitutes must love you, Larry. Full night's pay for sixty seconds of work." He stopped for a moment, catching his breath, sucking at his teeth, then screaming, "BITCH!" before charging at her. I saw the blood between his teeth when he did. I figured either duBois hadn't noticed, or 'first blood' only counted if it left Lancaster's mouth. Larry tripped twice while charging, and Saffron just skipped backwards out of the way again.

"Poor Larry, didn't your tutors teach you that brushing your teeth on the regular will stop bleeding gums?" I had to admit, while Saffron's taunts seemed a little weak with all the thinking they required, they hit home with Larry just fine. He roared again, charged her, tripped, and faceplanted right in front of her. She leapt over his sword, twisting and landing with her knees square in the middle of Larry's back. He tried to push himself up, but only managed to lift himself high enough to smash his nose thoroughly when he faceplanted. He pushed himself up again, screaming imprecations at Saffron, even swearing about me for some reason. I chose the path of maturity and didn't reply. Okay, I was laughing too hard to reply, but I managed to hold enough of it in that I didn't drop Saffron's backup or his sheath.

The third time Larry tried to push himself up out of the puddle of spit and blood beneath his face, Saffron turned to duBois and said, "I'm pretty sure that's first blood right there, Marshall. Do you concur?"

"Looks that way to me. You've lost, Lancaster." Right about then Larry collapsed face first into his own personal blood puddle. Saffron hopped to her feet, walked over to duBois and whispered something to him. Whatever she'd said, he straight up started laughing his ass off, barely managing to say, "Lancaster, just lie there for a few minutes. Trust me, the only way you're getting up is if you crawl like a worm, and we both know you're not going to do that." He turned to Rider and said, "Give him a sixty count, then help him to the Infirmary."

Saffron skipped over to me, and I bent down to give her a quick victory kiss. Almost chaste, since she still had her hands behind her back and my hands were full of sheath and ugly hunk of metal.

Almost chaste. Tongues were involved, and I'm not sure, but I think penetration of any kind might be against the rules for that.

When our liplock ended, I called out to Rider, who'd just started walking towards the prone Lancaster, "Rider, heads up!" I tossed her Lancaster's sheath just as Saffron winced a little and called out, "Marshall, I need to visit the Infirmary."

He looked at her, nodded, and said, "Diaz, escort her down. Please do keep the delays to a minimum?"

The class laughed at that, Saffron and I included. When we got out of the Yard, she finally let go of her hand, pulling it around to her front and pressing it against her jacket.

"You know bloodstains are a bitch to get out, right?"

She looked up at me, "You saw that?"

I shrugged. "I guessed. I'm guessing duBois allowed it since Lancaster managed to hide you splitting his lip." I shook my head, "I didn't think Lancaster's Endurance was that bad, to have him stumbling around after what, sixty seconds?"

She smiled up at me as we walked, "Oh, I wouldn't blame it on that."

I just kind of cocked my head at her, the question clear on my face. She chuckled and said, "Watching you do all that weird Shaping got me thinking about how hands aren't needed to Shape Mana so much as exerting your will on your Mana as it leaves you. Filtration Ward is a much handier Spell than I'd previously realized."

"How many?"

"I lost count. Skills really do make Spells more Mana efficient. The big ones at ankle level set to trip him up still took it out of me, big time. I'm kinda woozy at any rate." With that, she slumped over. Fortunately, toward me, so I scooped her up and carried her the rest of the way to the Infirmary.

What can I say except 'My chick bad, badder than yours'?