“This is kind of big, isn’t it?” Sue commented as they all gathered in the viewing stands above the ring Dev and Lara were in. “Dev’s never challenged anyone. Is this related to the Flau clan stuff?”
“Don’t get your hopes up, Suelina,” Myk laughed. “Dev is still just as irresponsible about family matters as before.”
But what does that mean? Aida was annoyed that she was clearly missing something. “What’s the bet?”
“I think Dev would prefer we keep the details of the bet secret,” Shon interjected hastily. Myk side-eyed him.
“I think you’re saying you would rather keep the details secret.” Shon punched him in the shoulder as Myk laughed again. Aida stared.
“You’re in a really good mood today, Myk.”
“That’s because I have nothing riding on this bet,” Myk said airily, resting his elbow on her shoulder. “I can enjoy this match for what it is.”
“Don’t pretend like you don’t care,” Shon accused him. “You want Dev to win.”
“And he will!” Myk waved off the finger Shon was thrusting in his face. “What kind of friend are you for hoping he’ll lose?”
“Quiet, they’re about to start,” Pritchard said sharply. After a brief moment of silence, he added, “Anybody want to bet on how long it takes for the match to end?”
“They’re all addicts,” Aida muttered as Sue grinned, caught up in the mood. Caleb shook his head wryly.
“I’ll bet,” Levi said playfully as he slid over to them. They began negotiating petty baen until Abedi shushed them, drawing all eyes to the ring.
Lara and Dev both conjured water around them: Lara with thick ropes of liquid that wove through the air around her, and Dev with a whole wall. Audible gasps erupted from Lara’s girlfriends, and several of the boys let out whistles. Even Sue breathed out a small “wow.”
Lara’s face had been carefully controlled before, but when she saw Dev’s overt flaunting of his mana, her steel-gray eyes narrowed. She shot a jet of water towards Dev that he easily blocked with an ice wall, scattering the droplets into sleet. Lara followed up her attack immediately with three jets of water that arched around and above the ice wall, aiming for Dev behind the blockade.
Except Dev had disappeared, so the three jets crashed into each other with a thunderous roar, sending waves splashing upon the viewers. Aida instinctively blocked the water from hitting her and her friends, keeping their view of the match clear.
Lara tensed, her head swiveling as she kept her eyes peeled for where Dev might appear from. Her eyes widened, her only sign of panic, before she leaped from where she stood - and not a moment too soon, as the earth below her began roiling.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t fast enough to avoid the jet of water that shot out of the muddy whirlpool. The spear of water captured her around the knee, and immediately froze to ice before Lara could wrest control of it.
Dev rocketed out of the whirlpool, hanging suspended in the air by the speed of the ejection. He was covered in mud, though his eyes were clear. They flashed in triumph as they caught sight of Lara, and he aimed his wand at her as he fell, sending jets of water towards the trapped girl.
Aida felt adrenaline run through her - the certainty that the match was over, the bated breath to see how Lara was going to get out of her dilemma - and watched as a sphere of ice encased Lara, right before Dev’s jets smashed into her.
As soon as the water dripped off of the icicle that had caught Lara’s leg, everybody saw there was a massive ball of ice around the tip of the ice spike. Lara had finally freed her foot, but was now standing in the icy chamber, her arms crossed.
“Is that Lara’s ice shield? That means she has the upper hand, right?” one of Lara’s friends asked anxiously.
“No, the inside layer is Lara’s, but the outside layer is Dev’s,” Abedi replied calmly. “Time to see if Lara yields.”
Dev landed lightly on his toes, his eyes fixed on the ball of ice. He ran his fingers through his hair, scraping mud off and flinging it aside. He approached the spike, crossing his arms to mirror Lara’s stance. “Do you yield?”
Lara glared at him through the ice, looking around at her surroundings - and undoubtedly probing for any weaknesses in his mana - before rolling her eyes and nodding. Dev released the ice with a swipe of his wand, melting everything immediately.
Lara dropped with the water, landing on her knees in a massive puddle before standing up and glaring at Dev with fiery eyes.
“How did you learn that technique?”
“I learned it from the library,” Dev replied blandly. He approached her with his hand outstretched. “Good match.”
As Lara automatically held out her hand, Dev pulled her closer, clasping her shoulder and patting her back in a friendly manner. When he finally released her, she stood frozen, a mixture of fury and confusion warring on her face.
Dev summoned water to rinse himself off as he headed towards the viewing stands, trailing muddy rivulets as he climbed the stairs to where everybody was in an uproar. Sue was talking a mile a minute as she bounced between Caleb and Levi, trying to break down the specifics of Dev’s technique. Lara’s friends had already vacated their seats, leaping over the walls to dart over to Lara. Dev’s friends were dancing in a circle, gripping their heads in shock at what they had seen and making it impossible for Aida to hear anything.
“Frozen flames and burning earth, how did you pull that off?” Myk cried, shaking Pritchard’s shoulders as Pritchard began scraping the remaining mud off of Dev.
Aida had to admit she had no idea what Dev had done - or even what to make of the match. Fighting Lara for a bet? What's the goal?
She made her way over to the boys who were crowding around Dev, ducking under Abedi’s jubilant waving arms. “What was that all about?”
Dev gave a self-satisfied smile to Aida. “It was…a graduation match, I guess.” She gave him a deadpan look.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“An unsanctioned match?”
“It was a match for myself,” Dev allowed. His smile broadened. “I got my victory, now I can move on with my life.” He turned to his friends. “And you guys. You have to fulfill the terms of the bet now.” They all shuffled and mumbled at his reminder, though Myk looked smug.
“What’s the bet?” Aida tried again. Dev smiled and placed a reassuring hand on Aida’s shoulder.
“They have to give the thought of becoming an Adventurer serious consideration.”
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Aida sat at her desk that night tapping her fingers on her desk.
She had updated her evaluation of how Class 2 would be as an Adventuring group after Dev’s explanations. The bet - as silly as it sounded, but boys would be boys, she supposed - was that Pritchard, Myk, Shon, and Abedi had to actually consider starting an Adventuring group once they graduated. They all came from decently well-off families, so they could support their individual Adventuring costs - and with all of them being able to bring their own resources…
Dev actually got a bit embarrassed as he explained to Aida that as children, they - and the rest of their childhood playmates who hadn’t developed any elemental affinities - had always played at being Adventurers. And she could understand why: Adventurers, like the Gullbeaks, were local heroes. Superheroes with magical powers who could fight back monsters and protect their loved ones, and were generally lauded and praised.
Somewhere along the way as they got older, they slowly realized the burdens and struggles Adventurers faced, and eventually - aided and abetted by their parents’ well-meaning practical advice to be realistic - their childhood dreams faded to just that: dreams.
“But things are different now,” Dev said earnestly to Aida. “There wasn’t too much of a need for Adventurers back then - times were peaceful, so everybody focused on earning baen and building wealth. But with things as they are…society as we know it need adventurers.”
Aida had looked around at the other boys as Dev offered his explanation. Myk had nodded confidently, cosigning Dev’s sentiment. Pritchard had looked somewhat flustered, but he had agreed as well. Abedi had merely looked thoughtful, while Shon was the only one who seemed outright hesitant.
“But we can argue that it’s even more dangerous to be an Adventurer now,” Aida pointed out. “There might be more of a need, but that’s because there’s more of a risk, too.”
“I’ve been talking to Kuri about it,” Dev said. “She’s said even if the Gullbeaks - or honestly, the other Adventuring groups - don’t hire us, if we can put together our own starter group, chances are the currently established groups would be more than happy to give us some support in starting out, since they wouldn’t be sharing any of their own resources to prop us up.” Dev grinned triumphantly. “Worst case scenario, we take over the boring work of local patrols to gain experience while the more experienced groups get more bandwidth to patrol the more dangerous areas.”
Aida leaned back in her chair, sighing. She was gratified by Dev’s commitment to the cause - heck, he even went out of his way to plan out and confirm the logistics of how a Class 2 Adventuring group could be established. But she still worried for them…because being able to establish a relatively strong beginner group of Adventurers so easily meant they were just going to become cannon fodder, right?
This group of objectively strong warriors are supposed to give you hope that things will be okay, but that’s just to set you at ease before they get tragically taken out - to force the main characters to action. Aida shivered at her own pessimism before firming her resolve. I won’t let it turn out that way.
She told herself her anxiety about Class 2’s survival was only rising because it seemed a lot more likely to happen than when she was putting her plans together; but ultimately, their formation wouldn’t change her core plan of helping them from the sidelines. It was just confirmation that she had to improve her potion-making skills.
She pulled out the table of Class 1’s evaluation. I wonder how Lara would feel about joining an Adventuring group after her defeat today.
Aida bit her lip as she wondered if Suelina would be willing to join Class 2. She didn’t seem too interested in being anything more than acquaintance-friendly with the boys, not even bothering to ask Dev about the technique he used on Lara earlier; even after Aida had told her she and Pritchard had reached a friendly-enough truce.
Nah, very unlikely. She’s certain to get an offer from the Gullbeaks, and she can jump right into the thick of it without being relegated to “boring” patrols.
Aida sighed, giving her charts one last look before putting them away and getting into bed.
Desire Resources Dev Flau Yes Yes Shon Yanomo Maybe Yes Myk Chy Yes Yes Pritchard Spoak Yes? Yes Abedi Bellow Yes? Yes
Desire Resources Suelina Heslia Yes Yes Caleb Tulver No No Ezra Riolt Maybe Maybe; bad relationship Lara Lorr ? Yes Levi Ashet No Yes