The eyes of the guards were nervous and questioning as Fiana led her traumatized apprentice through the gates. Fiana returned their looks, and the guards turned their heads to avoid meeting her gaze. She was already worried about what the empress was going to say, she didn't need these nobodies judging her.

Putting on a chipper voice, Fiana turned to her apprentice, "So... it's been a while since you've said anything. Any thoughts on that last mission?"

Come on kid, give me anything.

The teenager at her side remained silent, eyes wide but staring at nothing. Fiana frowned, she'd need a different approach.

"You get used to killing, you know. It's not always going to be as bad as today was. It only happened because we got caught a little off guard. Just be a little sharper and nothing like this needs to happen again, right? Why, give you a few years and you'll be able a killing machine like me."

The girl's eyes widened in terror and seemed like they were going to be staying that way for a while.

Fiana sighed, today wasn't going at all like she'd planned.

Handling the bandits was bad, Fiana had counted on it being bad. Get her ward to see the grit it took to hold her position, make her see she wasn't cut out for it and make her ask the empress to transfer her without making Fiana look bad.

It had started well, Fiana tore through the guards set outside the camp, then started blasting anyone she saw, while Nelda hung near the back of the camp.

One of the bandits had snuck up on the girl while Fiana was distracted. They'd attacked Nelda, and in terror the girl had struck out with her magic.

The bandit exploded.

Fi had quickly dispatched the rest of the bandits and cleaned Nelda up, but the girl hadn't responded to her prompting, only staring ahead in silence as she was now. Poor thing was probably getting flashbacks, and Fi didn't know what to do about it.

It wasn't fair, she shouldn't have to be dealing with this. She was one of the three Marshals of the empire, a step below in power to the empress herself. Why did she have to deal with this whelp?

Even if they did show great magic potential, it would be better to foster it under someone else. Someone more nurturing. So not her. And not Jaina either.

Fi had so much more freedom before Nelda, she'd felt like she could go anywhere do anything, or excuse herself to loaf around the palace. Mostly that if she was being honest. Now her days were occupied with taking care of a child she barely even- Fiana stumbled as her legs hit something.

"Oh, sorry dear." She helped the girl to her feet, wiping away dust, briefly looking for scratches and running a hand through their short hair for any debris. The girl had to look presentable for the empress.

One time, Fi had brought her ward back to the empress with a broken arm and leg, after they had a harsh fall during a fight. Mahara had said nothing until Nelda was out of the room, and in the care of surgeons and healers.

Fi had tried to explain what happened in as honest words as she could get away with, Mahara stopped her. Fiana still remembered the fury in her eyes, the venom in her words, and the broiling dark flames as Mahara assured her this wouldn't ever happen again.

Fiana worried how Mahara would react this time. Would she count a potentially broken mind as worse or better than a broken limb? The thought turned in Fiana's mind as she walked to the throne room Nelda at her side.

They turned a corner, and saw a white hared woman standing in their path. Gods dammit, Fiana thought.

"Ah." Jaina said, "If it isn't my two-favorite people."

"Favorite? We're not friends." Fi said.

"Well, I didn't say what makes you my favorite, but since you brought it up." She pointed a slender finger at Fiana, "Favorite to mess with." Pointed at Nelda. "Favorite sorceress to talk to."

Fi thought she saw a flicker of a smile on Nelda's frowning lips. Oh, fuck that.

"What are you doing here? This hallway is meant to be empty, don't you have more important things to be doing?"

Jaina put on a mocking pout. "Don't be so rude. I heard you two had returned and I wanted to talk with Nelda. She always come back from your missions disheveled. Are you taking proper care of her?"

Fi avoided the obvious, and slightly true, bait. "How could you have heard we go back, it's been about five minutes. There's no way you learned we'd returned and came to find us this quickly."

Jaina smiled, a smug condescending smile that Fi had seen too much of in her life. "Come now, I'm a Marshal like you. I have ways of getting information. There you go underestimating me again."

Fiana stroked her chin, thinking. "This is the only way to throne room. Did you find out we'd left, and then wait here for hours for us to return?"

"...So how are you Nelda?"

Nelda was in no state to talk to anyone.

"Um, fine." Nelda said, the traitor.

"Aw, that's great to hear. It makes my day so much better to know you're okay." She put her hand on Nelda's shoulder. Nelda blushed and looked away, but Fiana still caught her ward's smile.

Damned Jaina, taking advantage of Nelda's need for constant praise and affection. The bitch.

Jaina ran a hand through the ward's hair, plucking a twig out and giving it a quizzical look and then an accusatory glare at Fiana.

That wasn't there before, she had checked! Fiana felt hate burning inside her.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Ever since Nelda was assigned to her, Jaina had used the girl to needle at Fiana. Praising the girl while giving back handed compliments to Fi, undermining her attempts to discipline her ward, implying she was unfit to be the girl's mentor and subtly implying that herself would make the better mentor. Fi couldn't even tell if Jaina actually liked Nelda or if she was just doing it to mess with her.

It hardly mattered now, Nelda was blushing, which meant Jaina's charm was working. Fiana admitted that she wasn't the most qualified person to look after Nelda, she could even admit that Jaina could have been the better option. But if Jaina got what she wanted Fi would look bad. So, fuck doing the responsible thing.

Fi grabbed Nelda's other shoulder, prying Jaina's arm off as she pulled her ward to her chest. A single lock of her golden hair covered Nelda's face.

"If you're that impressed wait until you hear what she did today. Nelda and I were out fighting bandits, killing the bastards where they stood. Well, one of the nasty rats decided to try and get the jump on Nelda, and do you know what she did?" Nelda wrapped her arms around Fi, who watched Jaina's eyes narrow in concern. "She popped them like a pimple with her magic, most impressive thing I'd seen in..." years was too extravagant, the last few months had been hectic, even this week Fi herself had used her magic to blast a path for a new river to flow through to help agriculture. Days sounded lame. "...Nelda's career as my ward."

Now that she had finished talking, Fiana noticed how tight Nelda's grip was, making it hard to breathe. She risked a glance down, the glossy look had returned to Nelda's eyes. Dammit.

"That must have been traumatic for her. And you just let it happen?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You said the bandit snuck up behind Nelda. How did they manage that? Weren't you watching over your ward, is it not your job to protect them and make sure they come back from your little excursions in one piece?"

"She's fine, I know what she can handle."

Jaina laughed. "I doubt that." Jaina meant that to be an insult against her, Fi knew. But Fi knew how to use those back handed compliments.

"I know you like to think of Nelda as this dainty little girl with nary a thought in her head-"

"Nary?"

"But she's more than that. She's brave." When she can be. "Smart." When she's not painfully dense. "And she has the most potential out of any one in this whole damned empire."... "She's more than you think she is, can handle more stress than you would ever expect out of someone in her situation, and the fact that you can't see that says more about you then you're attempting to say about her."

Fiana raised her voice to really sell the words at the end. Hammer them in.

She felt Nelda's hand slip off her waist but was too focused on Jaina and her reaction to look at the girl. Jaina raised herself to her full height, looking down Fi from her extra inch of height, cold eyes staring.

Fiana smiled back. Jaina couldn't argue without back pedaling on her earlier points, which wouldn't matter to Nelda but would matter to Fi and Jaina. No matter how she responded she looked bad. Fi could tell she was dying to respond.

I dare you, a smug voice in Fiana's mind said.

"That's bullshit."

"Don't like being called out for your behavior, then stop insulting my-"

"It's bullshit because you claim to be able to see all this stuff about Nelda but can't see she's upset right now."

Fiana looked down to see Nelda with tears in her eyes. Smug voice why have you left me in my time of need?

"I think its best if I leave. Mahara will be wanting to see you. Try not to mess this up like you do everything else. Until next time." Jaina gave a weak wave of her hand and walked away, smiling at Nelda as she passed, it withered as she left.

"Yeah, next time you orchestrate to meet us instead of talking to us normally, you stalker bitch." Jaina didn't respond. Fiana felt her cheeks turn red in embarrassment. She dropped to her knees and placed a hand on Nelda's shoulder, using the other to wipe away the tears of the sobbing girl.

"It's okay, it's okay. She's gone, just calm down and we'll talk about this okay." Fi tried to put on a comforting smile but she had no idea how it looked to the crying teen.

The sound of clanking heralded one of the guards coming from the direction of the throne room. She threw an exasperated look their way, and they backed up a little. The guard cleared their throat. "The empress has heard of your return and would like to see you now." Unlike Jaina, Fi had no doubt Mahara knew when they'd returned in such a short span of time.

"Um, is the lass okay?" The guard asked.

Fiana rose to her full height, she would not be questioned by a fucking guard today of all days. Fear broke into the man's gaze.

Nelda's hand shot up to grab her own. "I'm fine. I am. Please, can we go see the empress." The tone was too even for Fi to take anything from it.

With a dark feeling in the pit of her gut, Fiana allowed the guard to escort them through the wide double doors of the throne room, into the wide marble room within, and into the presence of the most powerful mage in the empire.

Empress Mahara. They sat atop a throne on a raised dais at the back of the room, seeming unnaturally still even as her attendants talked with her. They had short black hair and were wearing light weight armor.

The room was practically empty, Fiana counted two attendants at the empress's side. She waved a hand, and they made their way past Fiana and her ward, even the guard was leaving.

"Your mission was a success?" Mahara asked, their voice low and clear.

"Yeh-" Fi's voice came out slightly garbled, she coughed to clear her throat. Not for the first time in her life Fiana wished she had the control over her voice the empress had. Mahara never stuttered or garbled her words.

"Yes. The bandits blocking the trade route have been killed. Merchants and other travelers should be able to safely travel to our capital again."

"Hmm." Mahara sounded vaguely pleased. "Good job."

Their head suddenly snapped towards Nelda. "Are you being treated well."

"She is, I've-"

Mahara gave her a scathing look. Fiana shut up.

Returning her gaze to Nelda, the empress asked, "Why did she try to answer for you?"

Fiana wanted to jump in and explain that she was only trying to make things as clear for Mahara as possible. Also, to try and soften the blow of anything Nelda might reveal.

"Um, I believe she was trying to- that she might be used to answering for me. I have trouble speaking to some people."

"I see. You became complacent letting her answer for you, so you don't have to challenge yourself by talking to people."

"That's...fair." Nelda said, guilt clear in her voice.

"It's what happened." Mahara said. "I'll ask again, are you being treated well by Fiana?"

Fiana felt heat spike up her spine, tensing herself for Nelda's answer. The worst part was couldn't say anything, Mahara would heap scorn on her if she tried to defend herself from what Nelda said. She couldn't imagine Nelda giving her a good review, not after what she'd gone through today since Fi had let it happen.

Nelda had tilted her head to the side in thought, tapping her foot absent mindedly on the floor. Finally, she looked up and answered. Fiana closed her eyes preparing to hear the worst.

"Yes." Fi's eyes snapped open.

"She's treated me kindly, and my education has improved because of her."

"Really?" Mahara asked.

"Yes. She's been more attentive and has helped me a lot with my magic. During today's skirmish I... killed someone." Nelda paused.

The room was silent. Fiana felt herself breathing hard, silently begging Nelda not to go back into her trance.

"Go on." Mahara said, her voice sharp. Nelda seemed to snap out of her trance and continued.

"Um, I killed the bandit using magic, which miss Fiana had taught me earlier. The bandit could have killed me if miss Fiana hadn't helped me. Because of her I'm braver and smarter than I used to be. Because of that, I'm grateful to her."

She was lying. Fiana had taught her no such spell, the wasn't one that made people explode. Why was she lying? Could the empress tell?

Mahara stared at Nelda for a while, the girl stared back at her, whether out of fear or confidence Fiana couldn't tell, all she could see was the back of the girl's head. The empress looked at her next, Fiana forced a confident smile onto her face.

Mahara shook her head.

"Very well." she said. "Congratulations again, to both of you, on a job well done. Fiana, the usual reward will be sent to your room, split it with your ward." Fiana frowned. She wasn't getting a raise now that she had to take care of Nelda, that was stupid. She should get more, and almost asked, but Mahara started speaking again.

"You're free to do whatever you want, except leaving the Capital until I call you for another mission. You may leave."

Fiana swallowed her question. Both she and Nelda bowed to the empress before leaving. Fiana breathed a sigh of relief once they left the room, but only a small room. Mahara might've heard otherwise.

Fiana took the lead, starting the walk back to her quarters, with Nelda trailing along behind her.

"So." Fiana said. "You lied back there."

"Yes. Do you think the empress believed me?"

"Well, she didn't call you out on it, but that's beside the point. Why did you lie? Today was bad for you, right? I would have thought you'd be jumping at the chance to not have to go through that."

"Maybe, but I don't want to leave you just yet."

"Why?" Fiana was confused.

Nelda coughed, embarrassed. They were close to Fi's, and therefore Nelda's quarters. Nelda ran forward suddenly to get inside but turned back at the last second.

"I wanted to thank you for what you said." She darted into the room, before sticking her head out again "Thank you." She went back inside.

"What she'd said?" Back in the throne room? No, Fi had barely said anything then, too scared of Mahara. What she'd said to Jaina the? But she'd hardly even meant it, it wasn't that Nelda didn't have those qualities, it was just that Jaina had been caught in a trap, and it was better to hammer the point in.

If all she had to do to not get ratted out for her behavior was to give her ward the slimmest fucking compliment she could manage, then this understudy business might go better than she thought. Fiana smiled to herself and entered the room.

…...

Mahara sat back into her throne and pondered on her exchange with the girl. Her lies were as barefaced as they could get, but Mahara could appreciate the boldness to tell an outright lie. Even Jaina and Fiana tried to be subtle. For that, she was proud of the girl.

But the warmth that bit of pride brought her was every time quenched by how fucked up her situation was. Fiana was never going to be a good teacher, the only way their relationship would end was in heartbreak.

But Fi was also the strongest battle mage in the empire, besides herself wo would be too busy to ever tutor the girl. Fiana was at least competent enough to at least pass on her fighting skills to the girl. But she was flighty and wasteful, boastful when she could back down and save face for all parties. She was going to be a liability soon, and the empire would need someone to replace her.

Was it going to be worth it in the end? Was the trauma that girl would inherit be worth the price of her usefulness? How long would it take for her to realize her master was only using her, how long before she grew disenfranchised? Mahara mulled the thoughts over in her head, then pictured that girl on the battlefield. Learning magic less than a month and she could already explode people...

She would let it come to pass.

End.