Gingerly lowering herself into the hot water Emokha sighed in appreciation. “Ahhh. This is wonderful.”

“Isn’t it? Sometimes I think if it wasn’t for the hot spring I would quit the academy.” Liuka laughed.

That made Emokha cock her head. “Is something wrong my friend? You seem a bit perturbed. Distrakhted.”

“Well…no, everything is…” she sighed. “Not everyone is as nice as you Emokha.”

That prompted a laugh. “Please. I will admit to a certain khourtesy and civility, but I am hardly khind.”

“You are though” Liuka earnestly insisted. “You work hard and you’re talented but you don’t lord it over others. Or gossip behind their back. Or stab them in the back. Not being nasty to people can be a kindness.” She smiled briefly. “And you’re certainly nice to me.”

“I enjoy being nice to nice people, and you certainly qhualify. Returning to the earlier point though, is something wrong? Has someone been gossiping about you?”

“Oh, you have no idea.” Liuka laughed again. “This whole facility is the house of gossip. Some people do nothing but gossip. Others seem to live for schemes. It’s nothing new.”

“I had but an inkhling. Is it truly that bad?”

“Most sojourners are reborn thinking they are the hero of this world. Then they’re raised by noble parents who believe they are a symbol of the divine right of nobility and treat them accordingly. Combine that with all the politics of the kingdom and the high-school atmosphere…” her laugh wavered a bit. “…I think you get the picture.”

“Ah.” Emokha reflected for a bit. “I had ascertained pieces of the puzzle, but I admit I had not put it all together. That certainly sounds…less than optimal.” Lying back and stretching luxuriously she closed her eyes. “Fortunately I have a good friend who has not been tempted into scheming.”

“Well…” yet another laugh, this one more genuine. “…I have really good parents you know. I asked the goddesses representative to place me with parents who would legitimately care for me, and she delivered. They love me for me, not my ability. Which is good.” She trailed off slightly.

“Having met your parents I khonkhur. They are lovely people, and they raised a lovely daughter. But she is troubled by something I thinkh. What is it?”

Liuka sighed. “I really don’t want to tell you, but I suppose I’m going to have to sooner or later. I’m in danger of being kicked out.”

“Exhpelled? But why? Your grades for all written khlasses are solid, you workh hard and you have a good attitude. Admittedly your khombat and ability skhores are lower but I would thinkh they would suffice for a support role.”

Flushing more than the heat would cause Liuka ducked her head under the water for a moment. When she emerged she let out a long breath. “Thank you for saying that. Whether or not it’s true doesn’t really matter though. The thing is…how do I say this? Who you are and who you know matters just as much as how you do here.”

“I do not follow.”

“My parents are landgraves, only one step above unlanded knights. Wonderful people, but with no pull or connections. I need a higher score to stay enrolled than someone with higher rank would. And since my ability isn’t very good I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I can’t make it as a freelancer because I can’t get any kills. No party will let me join and give me a portion of kills because my ability isn’t powerful enough, but without kills my ability won’t grow. That basically ruins any chance of helping out my parents. If I’m a sandy we can’t negotiate a decent marriage. I’ll be stuck in the military for the rest of my life. I’m not excited about it.”

“That is certainly less than optimal. Why would you hesitate to diskhuss this with me? As your friend I would likhe to help if I khan, or at least offer khomfort if I khannot.”

Liuka sank deeper into the water. “That’s why” she said quietly. “You’re really cool, and I knew you’d want to help. But you have your own stuff going on, and it’s not fair for me to bother you with this.” She sniffed. “Besides, I wanted to ask if I could join your team for the winter competition, but I don’t want you to think I became friends with you so I could boost my chances. The competition score contributes a lot to our grade, and your team will probably do well. It feels like I would be taking advantage of you, especially because no other team is interested in me.”

“You are in. Problem solved. On to the nexht one. What precisely are the issues with your ability?”

“What?” Liuka was flabbergasted. “No, you shouldn’t let me join. I mean, it’s so nice of you, but I’ll drag you down. Besides if I’m on your team you’ll have a harder time recruiting actually useful members.” She looked down. “I’m not all that well-liked.”

“Why are you still diskhussing this matter? It is settled and I have moved on. Now, as a member of my team I want you to exhplain the diffikhulties you are having with your ability.”

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“No. I mean, I appreciate it, but…”

“Settled. Moving on. Answer the qhuestion.”

Reddening further Liuka sank even deeper into the water. Eventually she emerged. “Okay. Thank you. Really, thank you. I swear, if I can, I’ll try to repay you someday.”

“Friends akkhrue no debts.”

“Either way.” She took a deep breath, a bit of her habitual cheer returning. “Confession time! The reason my ability sucks is because I suck. In the old world I struggled. On the surface I had everything together, but I was kind of falling apart. Letting things slide, drinking a bit too much on the weekends, you get the idea.”

“When I died I didn’t take it very well. You know the open bar at the divine bazaar?” At Emokha’s nod she continued. “Well everyone says the alcohol there would give you a buzz but you couldn’t actually get drunk. Turns out they just didn’t work at it hard enough. I don’t know how long I sat there, but I got wasted out of my mind. Lost all my inhibitions.”

Blinking, Emokha gestured for her to continue. “More or less I can remember the result. Unfortunately. I ran whooping through the bazaar, declaring that I was going to have the best life. Went from stall to stall looking for someone who would meet my demands. I finally wound up talking to the rep from Meina, the goddess of art. She doesn’t get many sojourners so she was willing to hear me out. My first choice was to have parents who would truly love me, and she nailed that. I have no regrets on that front, despite the fact that I’m on the lowest level of the nobility.”

Rubbing her head she squirmed in place a bit. “I guess the only way to say it is to say it. The name of my ability is ‘Bubblequeen.’ I can create and control bubbles.”

“I…see.” Emokha looked the ceiling for a minute, her mandibles twitching. “How does that allow you to block attackhs or play ringball?”

“Thank you.” Liuka covered her eyes. “Thank you. I really appreciate it.” Her fingers began massaging her brow and temples. “I’ve been playing with the ability since I was a child, so I’m really good at using what little power I have. I can change color and such at will, but I wanted to be able to play with my bubbles like a ball. Since I can create and manipulate them I figured out I can use the ability to directly hold them together. It’s not much, but for a second or so I can increase their durability. A lot. Then they pop.”

Leaning back she rested her head and looked at the ceiling. “I had a boyfriend obsessed with tanks. In the old world of course. He was always going on about them. I remembered him saying something about the angles in the armor of some tanks deflecting shots rather than blocking them. I learned to distort my bubbles while reinforcing them so I can do the same thing. That’s what lets me block powerful attacks or guide the ringball.”

“But that’s pretty much all I have. I basically can create temporary forcefields, and nothing else. I have no attacks, no utility, no buffs. Just line of sight, case by case defenses. It’s not useless, but it’s not going to get me a spot on a team either. And I don’t think I can increase durability or output much more without leveling.” She closed her eyes. “Catch 22.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps not. You say you khan change the kholor of the bubbles? Khan you change how reflective or shiny they are?”

“Oh of course. I can make them very pretty. Children love it.”

“How many bubbles can you khreate and khontrol at once?”

“It depends. The farther they are from me the harder it gets. Close up though…a lot. I’ve never tried to actually count. They don’t last all that long if I don’t reinforce them, and I can’t reinforce that many at once. A dozen or so. Creating new bubbles takes almost no mana though, so I could keep an awful lot up at once if I wanted to. Moving them takes about the same, but they can’t go very fast unless I reinforce them.”

“That opens up some very interesting possibilities.” The water stirred as Emokha reached out of the pool. “Here, stay in the water but put this on.” She handed her a towel.

Frowning Liuka complied. “Okaaaaaay.”

“We will khonsult the rest of the team on this matter.” She raised her voice slightly. “Would you khindly khome in here a moment Ori?”

The door cracked and Oresus entered, determinedly looking at the ceiling. “W-what d-do you need?”

“They have exhcellent hearing” Emokha said in an aside to Liuka. “You heard?” At his nod she went on. “Khan you offer any advice?”

Still addressing his remarks to the ceiling Oresus took on a business-like tone. “Y-you said you can control colors. Can you change other things about the b-bubbles?”

“I…I don’t know. Besides color, durability and shape what else is there?”

“They are a b-bit slippery, and c-can be sticky sometimes. Do your b-bubbles leave s-stuff behind when they pop?”

Eyes widening Liuka nodded. After a moment she stifled a giggle and articulated the thought. “Yes. That’s a good idea!”

“When you have an opportunity Ori you should workh with Liukha, give her the benefits of your exhperience.” She turned to Liuka. “Ori is not a sojourner but likhe you his ability involves khreation. He should be able to help. Anything else Ori?”

He shook his head, carefully feeling his way out of the room without ever looking down. Emokha’s mandibles shook for a moment. “Two possible ways forward. Nothing offensive yet though, and for the truly offensive we always know where to turn.” She raised her voice slightly. “Zekhow, khould you enter for a moment?”

Sauntering in Gloe laid down and stuck his hand in the water. “Hey, this is really nice. No wonder ya’ll spend so much time in here.”

“Indeed. Do you have any malignant khoncepts that you khould share with Liukha?”

“Always. Do you want general ideas or just those that relate to her ability?”

“Best behavior Zekhow.”

“Fine, fine. Okay, idea number one: you could use bubbles to spell out nastygrams. Wounds heal, serious psychological damage is forever.” At Emokha’s warning look he quickly moved on. “Idea number two…or actually, a question. What are your bubbles made of?”

“Um…they’re just bubbles. I don’t make them out of anything. Magic I guess.”

“Make one please. Right here.” He held out his left hand, palm up. Liuka lifted a hand and a bubble appeared. Gloe stared at it intently until the moment it popped, then licked the residue. “Soap bubble” he announced. “Now make another one, but this time make it a beer bubble.”

“A beer bubble?” Liuka said incredulously.

“Hey beer can bubble, and you are the bubblequeen. Give it a try.” She shrugged and closed her eyes in concentration. After several minutes of nothing happening a tiny bubble appeared above his palm. It was golden. Gloe sniffed it carefully, then licked the residue when it burst. “Success.”

“Well…I mean…that’s interesting, but I’m not sure how that helps me.”

“Oh, that was just a proof of concept. Now we can safely assume that you can learn to utilize various materials. Just a matter of finding something truly vile that bubbles.”

His anticipatory smirk made Liuka recoil slightly. Emokha patted her shoulders compassionately. “Welkhome to the team.”