“You alright?” Drew was the first one to approach him after lunch, but he wasn’t the only one looking in Theo’s direction. He flushed at the attention, as they lined up outside the classroom. It was next to the sandy arena that Physical Combat was held in.
“Yeah, The Dancing Wind gave me a once over. I should be okay.” Theo said.
“What happened?” Rowena asked. The general aura of concern had finally tilted from embarrassing to comforting, and Theo contemplated how much he should explain about the situation. He eventually decided to be truthful with his injuries (and completely deceitful and omit what it meant for his internal magic).
“I tried to reach the third step of two internal magic at the same time this morning.” Theo admitted. Drew looked at him with concern, and Jade audibly gasped (which would have drawn attention to her eavesdropping, if the entire class wasn’t already listening in). “Nothing really happened at the time, but I felt more tired than I should have been in Motion, and when I tried to use Striding Wind and Endless Song for my muscles and to catch my breath…well, y’know.”
Theo shrugged, trying to act nonchalantly about something that definitely required a level of chalant.
“Theo.” The entire class was temporarily transformed into cats, jumping about a foot each with hackles raised. It was a soft voice that called his name out, a midnight whisper while half asleep in bed. Their teacher was here.
“Good afternoon, The Wandering Song.” Theo greeted, relatively unfazed (or at least, trying to believe that until it came to be).
“The Dancing Wind mentioned your…incident.” She said. He tried to hide his wince, as Tiffany tilted her head to an angle more suited to an owl. “Will you be able to participate today?”
Frankly, the only discomfort left in Theo’s body was mental. He nodded. Tiffany continued to stare at him for a few more seconds, before simply walking away and into the room.
Theo and his classmates all looked at each other, and entered the room.
It reminded Theo of the obstacle course rooms in the College of War. Nothing quite as elaborate, but there was a lot of equipment as well as a running track that had been packed down hard. The room itself was quite long, and Theo guessed it would take him ten minutes to walk around the track at a normal speed.
It was more of an internal courtyard, really. Especially with a slight roof over the edge of the room, but the vast majoring of it was uncovered to let the sun through and-
“Run as fast as you can, as long as you can.” Tiffany’s voice cleaved through his thoughts, and Theo looked over to see her standing by a line in the track. “I’ll count how many laps you manage.”
They all headed over, and Theo shook off the feeling of Tiffany watching him closely while also watching everyone.
“Anything about internal magic?” Drew asked. Tiffany’s head snapped in his direction, eyes locking onto his. He started to sweat, river systems forming in the crevices of his brow, flowing down to get caught in his beard.
“Run as fast as you can, as long as you can.” Tiffany simply repeated, offering no more explanation. Nobody else asked for further clarification, as everyone formed a vague constellation of bodies where she stood.
Tiffany nodded. “Begin.” And with that, she vanished.
There was some (understandable) hesitation. Finn committed to walking in one direction, slowly transitioning into a run. With a shrug, Jade joined in, and soon everyone was jogging in a pack.
Finn stuck to his pace as the group dissipated, some truly out of shape individuals (including Horace) already starting to flag. Drew and Jade started to move considerably ahead, while Rowena, Everett, and Edgar had formed a small trio, and as soon as one started to pull ahead, the others would follow.
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Theo, meanwhile, was testing out how he felt. Of course, Sparrow’s healing had made him feel full performance, but he was wary after what had happened during Motion. So, he gradually increased his speed, slowly accelerating past Finn, then Rowena and Everett and Edgar, and finally Drew and Jade.
Theo felt the air press against his skin, as his limbs started to drag and his feet started to bite into the dirt. Nevertheless, it was freeing, even as he fought against the pace of the world.
He kept accelerating, until he was passing by Horace, then Finn, and lapped everyone, gifting them all a breeze as he rushed past. Theo started using Striding Wind just to leave less of a mark on the ground.
He lapped them again and again, a dog drinking water. He got into the rhythm, felt the curve of the track tug against his momentum, as the world narrowed to his feet, his breathing, and constantly weaving through everyone else as to not flatten them.
On a whim, he activated the third step of Meditation. Nothing much happened, except the focus was sharper by a single swipe of a whetstone. Then, he tried Self Awareness. The world expanded out from his focus while still maintaining it, and the detail was beautifully intricate instead of distracting. He saw the swing of Rowena’s long hair, kept in a braid as it moved side to side with each step. He saw the bounce in each footstep (and in Horace’s midsection).
He saw Tiffany suddenly appear next to him, scaring the shit out of him. Theo yelped, momentum lost and focus broken as he kicked out and left the track, skidding to a stop. She had no trouble following. Out the corner of his eye, Theo noticed others reacting slowly to the commotion
“Yes?” Theo asked.
“One more lap, top speed, while singing. Then come find me.” Tiffany instructed, before once again disappearing.
It took Theo a moment to understand what had just happened, and to shift back into a running mode. Okay, top speed. One lap. While singing.
He let go of Self Awareness, and started pumping some seriously compressed mana into Endless Song and Striding Wind.
He sang a note, maintaining it as it turned more into a warbled scream punctuated with a stutter each time his feet met the ground. Which, wasn’t often, as he nearly flew across the track, each step sending him careening forward, leaping bounds over the heads of everyone else (which prevented him from flattening anyone in his path).
It took less than a minute for the lap to be finished, and when he reached the starting line, he noticed that everyone else had stopped to stare at him, mouths open. Theo wasn’t sure if it was the sing-screaming that caught their attention, or the maintained speed.
It shouldn’t have been that surprising if they remembered his bout with Drew in Physical Combat, Theo mused.
“Keep running!” Tiffany’s voice floated over from nowhere in particular, and everyone else was startled out of their confused reverie and resumed their pace, some much slower than they had been.
Theo took a moment to appreciate the sight of everyone still struggling, before remembering what he had to do now. Looking around, he couldn’t see any signs of where Tiffany went. It was as if she truly just disappeared.
After a few more minutes of looking carefully at every inch of the room (and trying to ignore the sounds of people panting and running/shuffling), Theo decided to activate Owl’s Eyes and Meditation. His vision expanded (literally, not a metaphorical expansion of one’s understanding and scope of the world). Nothing was out of the ordinary, and as he scanned, he saw an odd tile through the glare, sitting on the opposite side of the roof.
As he looked up, he realised it wasn’t a tile, just a foot. Tiffany was sitting on the roof, waving to him (without actually looking at him). He leapt up, landing next to her. She stopped waving as he sat down, still focused on everyone still running (or doing their best, exhausted impression of running while cramped).
“How are you feeling?” Tiffany asked. Taking a moment to take stock of the situation, Theo circulated mana around his system, pushed some compressed mana through his body, and generally felt around to see if anything was out of place or feeling off.
To his relief, none of it did.
“Everything seems to be okay.” He said. Tiffany nodded as she inclined her head, looking closely at Theo’s classmates, still stuck running. Or at least, most of them were. Some, like Horace, were standing still, trying to catch their breath.
“Keep going, until you collapse!” Tiffany started to throw her voice, and it seemed to carry even as it remained as soft as a fur coat. She coughed, returning the conversation (but not her full attention) back to Theo. “That’s good to hear.”
“Why, did, Theo, get, to stop?” Horace slowly wheezed, barely walking with shaking, wobbly steps. It was barely audible over the sounds of feet thudding into dirt.
“Would you like this class to continue into tomorrow?” Tiffany asked rhetorically. Horace didn’t respond. She coughed.
“Sometimes, we think Sparrow chooses apprentices just to mess with as many of us as possible.” Tiffany mentioned, offhand, exhaling loudly through her nose. Theo froze.
“Edgar, you’re done! Horace, keep going!” Tiffany started to throw her voice, and it seemed to carry even as it remained as soft as a fur coat. She shouted out instructions to those that looked like they were flagging, giving some permission to fall to the ground and skid for a moment, others “motivation” and a push to continue.
Horace groaned, while Edgar didn’t stop, even as he almost stumbled to the ground. Edgar shook his head, and when his legs gave out, he started to use his arms to crawl. Tiffany sighed like the owner of an enthusiastic-but-dumb dog, as she disappeared from beside Theo and appeared next to Edgar’s still-struggling body, and pulled it off the track. He finally gave up, arms and legs relaxing.
Gradually, the class thinned, as one by one they were given permission to rest. Soon, the sound of rainfall footsteps gave way to a chorus of heavy breathing from backs flat against dirt. Tiffany motioned for Theo to come down and join the rest of them, sheepish as he compared their ragged state to his. The resentful glares sent his way didn’t help either.
“In a diplomatic mission gone wrong, your ability to move and escape will save your life more than anything else. In a survival situation, your ability to move and find food and shelter will save your life more than anything else. In a life or death situation, your ability to move and run will save your life more than anything else.” Tiffany repeated, growing louder as she went.
“Enjoy your weekend.” And with that, Tiffany once again disappeared, leaving Theo among the pile of sweaty, panting bodies he called his classmates.