Professor Lloyd had efficiently directed Aida and her cohort into their own rings, while Aida tried to rapidly sift through what she learned in the past week that would help her in her match.

“You and Riolt seem pretty friendly.” Aida glanced up at Dev, distracted. Despite his slouch, he still stood tall. Standing on his own, away from Pritchard’s group, he actually looked like he could be a male lead. A tangible example of the reverse-cheerleader effect.

“I don’t know about that.”

“He never acknowledges anyone.”

Aida shrugged. “I suspect there is pity involved.”

Dev made a thoughtful noise as Professor Lloyd called out to them, asking if they were ready. Dev and Aida both nodded to him as they shifted into their stances.

“BEGIN!”

Aida shot an experimental mana blast at Dev - just a smidgen of energy to see how he would react, rather than a serious shot. He dodged it easily, of course, but his footwork was inefficient. He kept his feet planted, so that he had to waste time shifting his weight to his other foot before moving. A far cry from Levi’s quick steps and reaction time.

Despite being a bit slow on his feet, Dev was quick with his hands. He returned a mana blast that would have struck her face, if she hadn’t darted to the side. Aida fired three blasts at Dev, not too concerned with her aim - although she was pleased they were still mostly concentrated around her target - and he actually looked a bit surprised at how aggressive she was being as he was forced to slash through her first burst.

Aida considered her options as Dev responded in kind, sending larger waves of mana at her. If she and Dev continued with this low-power exchange, she was sure to lose the war of attrition. She had enough mana to cast one full-body Freeze, but that strategy sounded like it fell precisely into Professor Havi’s example of what not to do in order to earn a point.

She was already starting to get winded just from dodging. Maybe I should focus on cardio and physical development next.

“SHOW HER WHO’S BOSS,” Pritchard screamed from the stands. “End her in one move!”

Rolling his eyes, Dev gave Aida an apologetic look. “Sorry, Loreh. I don’t want to have Spoak yammering at me for the rest of the day.” Swinging his wand around like a lasso, Dev summoned a thick, serpentine stream of water from the air, the fluid hanging around him like a massive floatie, before he shot the column of water at her.

Desperately grasping at her mana, Aida reached out with her hands to tug at the jet aiming at her as she dodged, succeeding in prying a bit of water away from the main body of water. Before she could think, Aida hurled the small stream of water back at Dev, who was too shocked to move. The water splashed onto his face, forcing his eyes closed.

Seeing her chance, Aida pointed her wand at him, unable to keep a cry from escaping her lips as she mustered all her focus. FREEZE.

The thin layer of water over Dev’s face froze over, causing him to stumble back as his hands reached up to his eyes. It only took a few seconds for him to get over his panic, easily melting the ice away. He looked up at her fiercely, his eyes shards of ice. He pulled his wand back behind his head, and Aida noticed the sunlight quiver around her - as well as felt the tingle of a large portion of mana envelop her. Knowing she shouldn’t, knowing she should move instead but unable to force her locked, fatigued muscles to bring her elsewhere, Aida looked up and behind her, seeing the remaining water that she wasn’t able to commandeer from Dev surging up above her like a monster wave. Unable to do much more than cover her face with her arms, she was slammed into the ground by the wave’s collapse.

Aida felt her feet lose purchase with the ground as the water lifted her up. Forcing her eyes open in the water, Aida saw that Dev had trapped her in a sphere. Realizing she was in very real danger of drowning, she couldn’t help releasing a precious gasp of air, before she clamped her hands over her mouth. Focus! Water Manipulation, make a pocket of air!

She was only able to take a brief gasp of air before Dev filled in the void with more water, easily puncturing her little bubble of mana. Terrified, Aida tried swimming to the sides of the water sphere, but Dev merely moved her watery prison with her. Playing with her.

Making one last attempt to fight back, Aida tried launching some water at Dev from her position in the cage, but he was ready for it; he kept a firm hold on his water, refusing to let her penetrate his control.

I’m out of options, Aida thought, despairing. None of the skills she had learned the past week would help her out of this jam. Her magical skills weren’t strong enough to win in direct combat against Dev, and her physical skills weren’t developed enough to allow her to flee and avoid Dev’s attacks.

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Accepting her fate, but unable to allow herself to drown with dignity, her heart pumping in overdrive, Aida couldn’t stop struggling towards the elusive air inches from her fingertips, despite the edges of her vision creeping inwards. Maybe now I can wake up and see my parents again? This was all a terrible dream, after all.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Aida woke up to three pairs of unnatural eye colors staring at her. Sue’s eyes were the largest, her purple orbs blinking at her with concern, and finally brightening to joy as Aida focused on her. “Aida! How are you doing?”

Aida grunted, as the bronze eyes slimmed to crescents. “That was some clever manaplay! Very impressive, Aida!”

“Too loud,” Aida muttered.

The final pair of indigo eyes blinked, admiration coming through the depths of purple. “That was very quick thinking on your part.”

Aida squeezed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath as she felt her awareness come back to her. Sue, Levi, and Caleb’s energies were swirling around her. She was fascinated to observe that the mana of each was gently tinted a different color: Sue’s was red, slightly pink; Levi’s was a lovely shade of green; Caleb’s was a soft, golden brown. There was also a small stream of nearly colorless aura floating around her, that flicked away as soon as Aida reached out to it. Opening her eyes, Aida looked beyond Sue, Levi, and Caleb’s grouped heads and saw Ezra turning away.

“Has she returned to us?” Healer Luk asked, walking over and grasping Aida’s wrist to check her pulse. “Good. Professor Lloyd was quick enough on the uptake to end the match and apply some of his mana circulation to yours. Make sure you eat a full lunch and light dinner, and go to bed early tonight.”

Dismissing Aida, Healer Luk headed to the cluster of instructors standing in the center of the combat field, where Professors Lloyd and Gemma were glancing at her with concern. Sue came to Aida’s side, slinging her arm over her shoulders to pull her up from Healer Luk’s stool.

“Day one is done!” Sue declared, dragging Aida into the building. “And that was an impressive show against Dev. You should have heard the spectators when you froze his face!”

“Do you know when the points will be revealed?” Aida murmured. She didn’t really want to eat; she just wanted to curl up in bed. But her mana levels were out of balance, so she conceded Healer Luk’s advice to eat a full meal was a good one.

“I doubt they’ll be able to post scores so quickly. Maybe by tomorrow morning? They looked pretty deep in discussion when we left.”

Sue seated Aida at a table, and looked at her expectantly. “What would you like to eat for lunch? I’ll go get your meal for you.”

Aida gave Sue a list of food elements she was low on, and Sue immediately headed to the ordering counter, followed shortly by Levi. Caleb volunteered to stay with Aida, giving a more simple menu to Levi to pick up. He kept glancing at Aida.

“What’s up?” Aida sighed. The nervous jitter of his mana was quite distracting.

Caleb flushed and cleared his throat. “Oh, it’s just…I was really impressed with how you handled yourself in your match against Devinne Flau.”

“Thank you,” Aida responded flatly. She thought back to Caleb’s words to Sue. “What are you really trying to say?”

“Ah…” Caleb scrubbed his hand over his face. “I’m making everything worse, aren’t I?” He took a deep breath. “I know you haven’t had a chance to evaluate your match against Devinne yet, and I don’t want to push anything on you…but, well…” glancing at her nervously, his next words came out in a rush. “It’s probably too late to do any meaningful training for the rest of the placement matches, but if you’d like, we can train together to improve your stamina and general physical abilities?”

Surprised, Aida stared at him, causing Caleb to redden as time went on. “I appreciate the offer,” Aida said slowly, trying to keep suspicion from creeping into her voice. “But why are you helping me?”

Caleb mumbled something that included the words “my mother,” only straightening up and speaking more clearly when Aida raised an eyebrow at him. Despite the awkward juxtaposition between his built physique and unconfident demeanor, Caleb’s personality was still endearing. “My mother encouraged me to help you where I can…she really liked you when you came to our bathhouse.”

Aida blinked. “Oh…that’s so nice of her. But I don’t want to hold you back from your training…”

Caleb shrugged. “I keep a consistent training schedule, so if you show up then it won’t be a bother.”

Aida nodded, her spirits lifting at the idea of being able to boost her physical attributes soon. Caleb gave her a small smile, offering to meet with her later that afternoon.

“Here you go, Aida!” Sue chirped, depositing a fully loaded tray on the table and pushing it towards her. “Eat up!”

“You’re the best,” Aida said enthusiastically, diving into her food with gusto. Sue had gotten her mixed-grain rice, fried eggs, an assortment of steamed vegetables, pan-seared fish that really looked more like a steak, and a small bowl of miso soup with cubed tofu and seaweed.

“I think she’ll be fine,” Levi said to Sue, looking at Aida impishly. “A hearty appetite is a sign of good health.”

Sue let out a tinkling laugh before digging into her own meal. Levi passed Caleb his tray, and the table was silent save for the sounds of utensils clinking and hungry mouths working. Sue finally sat back, daintily patting her lips with her napkin. “So, what’s the plan later today? Since we have the afternoon off to prepare for tomorrow’s match.”

“I guess I’m going to review how my match went with Dev,” Aida said slowly, when no one else volunteered their plans. “And then later this afternoon Caleb and I are going to start training together…”

Sue’s eyes lit up. “Oh, wonderful! That’s so kind of you, Caleb.” Caleb reddened at that, shaking his head as if it was nothing. “Do you want any of my notes on your performance?”

“That would be helpful,” Aida agreed. “I think I know what happened, but I’d appreciate an objective view as well.”

Levi snapped his fingers. “Excellent. I’d like to be part of your performance review as well.”

Sue looked earnestly at Caleb. “Would you like to join the performance review committee? I’m sure you have great insight on what physical activities she should focus on.”

Caleb gave a small smile. “I don’t want to overstep, but I do have some ideas. I think we can cover them later this afternoon though.”

Sue nodded excitedly. “Sounds good! Let’s break then!”