Aida woke up when Healer Luk slid her curtain open. The room was still dim; the sun hadn’t risen yet. She bore a small rectangular tray with a lit candle in it, the flame swaying languidly as if it also wasn’t quite awake yet. She placed the tray on the end table next to Sue’s note. She slid her fingers around Aida’s wrist as she offered a quiet “good morning,” feeling Aida’s pulse. Aida felt Healer Luk’s mana, a soft gray the color of rainclouds, dance through her body, probing her vitals.

“Better than I expected,” Luk said in surprise. “Youth recovers so quickly.”

“Do I have to be careful in today’s matches?” Aida asked, her voice small.

“You should always be careful with your health,” Luk scolded. “But yes, you shouldn’t push yourself to the level you did yesterday. Your body needs more time to recover.” She turned to the tray beside her, sorting through the items in it. “I’ll give you one last acupuncture treatment, which should help boost your recovery for today. Do not take it as license to drain yourself again,” she warned severely. She pulled down the blanket to expose Aida’s hospital clothes: a baggy white linen top and shorts. She folded the linen top above her ribs, exposing Aida’s belly. With quick and practiced movements, Luk popped needles into Aida’s torso, making her look like a pincushion. From underneath Aida’s bed, she dragged out what looked like a satellite dish, except without the antenna in the middle. She quickly assembled the dish so it attached to a rail on the bed, the dish now suspended over Aida’s belly like a desk lamp. Placing two fingers on top of the lamp, Luk channeled some mana into the gem on top, a comforting warmth washing over Aida’s exposed belly.

Satisfied with the temperature, Luk turned back to the remaining items on her tray. Picking up bundles of dried herbs, she held them to the candle, smoking the end of each bundle before dropping them into a small cone that she then placed on the needles. The herbal incense smell Aida noticed last night emanated from the smoking herbs.

“Go back to sleep,” Luk whispered. “I’ll remove the needles in an hour.”

Lifting the candle from the tray, Luk returned to the other side of the curtain. Aida was left in the dark, albeit slowly lightening corner.

Curious, Aida observed the activity around the needles. She had no idea what the herbs were, but the smolder seemed to release the plants’ inert mana, which was drawn along the needles and fed into her body. The mana seemed to be supplementing her own, feeding her mana energy she didn’t know she was missing. Her own mana seemed to swirl more energetically, flowing through the rest of her body to remove the heaviness: like smoking out buzzy insects, leaving a clear path behind them.

Finding the treatment relaxing, Aida closed her eyes, enjoying the peace.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

A gentle brush along her brow drew Aida out of her slumber. Sue was looking down at her with a tender expression. Her expression brightened when she saw Aida wake.

“Good morning, ya little weed,” Sue teased. She gestured to the side table. “I brought you some breakfast.”

Giving Sue a small smile, Aida pushed herself up. Sue rushed forward, helping to prop her up. She set the breakfast tray on Aida’s lap, then pulled up a small stool to sit next to her while she ate.

“It probably wasn’t a good idea to knock myself out like that yesterday, was it?” Aida asked as she ate. “I lost a whole day I could have spent training…”

Sue’s lips twitched. She looked like she was forcibly holding herself back. “Don’t worry about it,” she finally said soothingly. “It was just a learning experience, after all.”

“But Healer Luk warned me not to overexert myself against Weyn today,” Aida said quietly, lowering her voice so Luk wouldn’t overhear. “I probably had a better chance to score a point on him today if I wasn’t so reckless yesterday…”

Sue couldn’t hold herself back anymore. The largest grin Aida had ever seen spread across her face. “But Aida, even if you don’t score a point on Weyn today…you scored a point on Lara yesterday!” Sue clapped her hands against the side of her thighs in a sitting version of jumping with excitement.

“What?” Aida asked in disbelief.

“Yeah!” Sue reached out, clasping Aida’s hand in two of her own. Sue’s mana flickered like fire around Aida’s hand. “You showed everyone your grit. You blasted Lara clear across the ring, she didn’t even touch you. Rumor has it when the instructors were debating whether or not to give you a point, Professor Kozu fought for you to get the point. He said Lara didn’t win decisively, she won just because she was the last person standing.”

Aida stared at Sue, unable to believe it. Sue nodded importantly, her eyes gleaming like amethysts as she continued narrating. “He said most students nowadays aren’t willing to put their everything on the line, and that they’re ‘too comfortable demonstrating mediocrity.’” Sue leaned back triumphantly. “Professor Lloyd backed him up. He said people need to take risks in order to discover their limits. And breaking perceived limits is how society advances.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“That’s a lot of detailed information from a rumor,” Aida said, her smile beginning to mirror Sue’s. “How do we know what the actual truth is?”

Sue stuck her tongue out. “I asked Professor Kozu about it.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “He agreed with me you deserve a point, but don’t let it get out that I asked him, okay? People might think I influenced his decision.” Sue rolled her eyes.

“Did you?” Aida asked, her smile feeling more like a grimace now. “Influence his decision?”

“Of course not!” Sue said indignantly. “He’s the one who said the line about the students demonstrating mediocrity, and Professor Lloyd heard us talking and agreed with us that you deserved the point.”

“But you talked to them before they posted the results?”

“Yes, but why does that matter?”

“It doesn’t,” Aida said, looking back down at her breakfast tray. Not anymore. She was hungry, especially since she had missed lunch and dinner the day before, but the steaming curry on her tray was no longer appetizing. “Thanks for updating me on what happened.”

“Of course!” Sue pulled back, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small glass jar. “Lily also wanted me to give you this. And this.”

Aida took the jar and envelope from Sue. Setting the jar next to her rice bowl, she opened up the envelope to a frenetic scrawl.

Hi Aida!

I loved that tenacity you showed in the ring yesterday! If I ever manage to breed an inspiration plant, I’m going to name it after you.

This is a poultice that’s excellent at speeding bruise recovery time. My own recipe! Give it a try, let me know how it works.

Fight on!

Instead of a name signed at the bottom of the note, there was a small detailed drawing of a lily. The steady and precise lines in the drawing were in stark contrast to the rest of the scribbled words. Smiling again, Aida unscrewed the jar and dipped her finger into the paste. Lifting her shirt up, she smeared the paste across her purple ribcage. Immediately upon application, she felt a warming sensation, not dissimilar to the heating lamp Healer Luk used on her, spread underneath her skin.

“Wow, Luk’s treatment is impressive,” Sue said, observing Aida’s bruising. “If she had left you to heal on your own, your ribs would still be black.”

Before Aida could respond, the curtain opened, revealing Ezra. His eyes lingered on her exposed ribs, and Aida hastily pulled her shirt back down.

“Hey, Ezra!” Sue chirped. She stood up, grabbing his sleeve and pushing him into the stool she had just abandoned. She grabbed another stool and sat down next to him. “We were just talking about how Aida’s recovering quite nicely after yesterday’s match.”

Ezra nodded, now looking at Aida’s untouched food. “You should be eating.”

Aida picked her spoon up. Ezra and Sue made for a very nice pairing in the morning light. The silver in Ezra’s hair and eyes complemented Sue’s golden, shimmery hair and aura. Aida chewed without tasting her food, trying to avoid looking at the pair.

“What is your plan for your match today?” Ezra finally asked quietly. He was still intently focused on Aida.

“I’m not sure,” Aida said, her spoon dangling in the air. She laughed, hearing the embarrassment in her own voice. “I don’t think I can handle a hand-to-hand match.”

Ezra nodded slowly. He never took his eyes off of her.

“If I were Weyn, I’d go for a physical match,” Sue said thoughtfully. “He would be banking on you having been weakened by Lara. But he’s also not that talented of a brawler, so it’s hard to say how he’ll decide his strategy. He’s always trying to act bigger than he is though, which is ridiculous given how tall he is.” She shook her head in amusement.

“What do you think?” Aida asked Ezra.

“I think,” Ezra said slowly. “That you should fight in the way you feel most confident.”

“But…” Aida drifted off. She wasn’t confident in any style. She had never been in a physical fight before, and she already knew she wasn’t good at the casting side of things. The one win she had against Levan was pure luck, and Weyn Bure was ranked higher than Levan, in the top half of the class.

“Do what feels most comfortable,” Ezra said. He reached out and touched Aida’s shoulder briefly. “Your mana is agitated and unstable, which won’t help your performance. When you are forced into a challenge, at least strive to be balanced. You’ll be most capable of an optimal response when you are calm.”

“I don’t know,” Sue said slowly. “I find I always do better when I’m fired up.”

“People have different constitutions,” Ezra said calmly. “What works for you may not work for Aida.”

“Thank you for your advice, Ezra,” Aida said quickly, seeing Sue open her mouth to argue back. Sue seemed startled at being interrupted. “Thank you for your view as well, Sue. I’ll take both your opinions into account.” Sue settled back, mollified. Aida continued spooning at her food.

“Miss Heslia, Mister Riolt, please make your way to the combat arena,” Healer Luk said, peering around the curtain. “Miss Loreh needs to get changed as well.”

“Oh, of course - we’ll wait for you outside,” Sue said brightly to Aida. She slipped past Luk, followed by Ezra. Luk came in, bearing Aida’s athletic wear from yesterday, freshly laundered. She pulled Aida’s curtain to give her some privacy, then puttered around on the other side as she gathered her things.

Aida changed quickly, aware that Luk had no intention or desire to walk down to the combat ring with a student - not that she wanted to make small talk with an established adult, either. Adults were more likely to be suspicious of unusual behaviors.

Exiting the room with a quick thanks to Healer Luk and a reassurance that she wouldn’t overexert herself again today, Aida shut the door behind her and sped out into the hallway, where she saw Sue smiling sweetly at a pink-cheeked Ezra.