Aida lay on the ground, gazing dimly up at the clear blue sky. She could hear the sounds of the other combatants in the rings around her fighting. Her mana was slowly but surely recovering. She couldn’t believe that had worked. She really appreciated the ground’s sturdiness, supporting her while she rested. The sun felt pleasant on her skin.

A silhouette fell over Aida’s face, making her squint a little less against the sun.

“Miss Loreh, are you all right?” It was Healer Luk.

“Mhmm.”

“That was some very quick healing on your part. You only have a first-degree burn right now, but you are also missing your eyelashes and eyebrows. Would you like me to help regrow those for you, or would you like to do it yourself?”

Aida checked her skill progress bars. “I can do it myself later, once my mana recovers a bit more.”

“Very good. Please depart the combat arena for now, as your match is over.”

Reaching up to grasp Luk’s outstretched hand, she allowed herself to be pulled to her feet. Luk stayed nearby to make sure Aida could walk without assistance before bustling away to be on standby for the other matches.

Slowly making her way across the arena, Aida eyed the still-ongoing matches in the other five rings. Everyone’s mana pool was so large compared to hers. They were able to employ various strategies and attempts; recover from a mistake, learn how to get better. I only get one shot, while these kids have multiple attempts. Not a stranger to the dissatisfaction of not having a safety net, Aida gloomily kept her head down until she finally reached the gate.

Sitting on a stool near the gate wall, Aida leaned her head back and began Mana Cycling as she waited for the Water-Fire matches to resolve.

Soon enough, she heard the chatter of several combatants returning to the waiting area.

“That’s such a surprise—“

“Is it really, though? Suelina is the weaker element…”

“I mean, she was second best the other two years, and now she’s lost two matches in a row?”

Opening her eyes, Aida looked towards Ring 1. Sue and Lara were still in there, fighting - except Lara was on Sue, having pinned her to the ground. They were both straining against each other, each grasping the other’s wrist with one hand; both wands lay on the ground, forgotten.

Aida headed towards the ring, concerned. Sue looked worse for wear, with a bloody lip and bruised eyes. Lara just had her lip curled in a snarl, the only indication that exhaustion had broken her composure.

Suddenly, Sue slammed her head into Lara’s face. Lara didn’t lose her grip on Sue, however, instead managing to redouble her efforts during Sue’s momentary slack, slamming Sue’s wrist to the ground while her own fist broke free from Sue’s grasp to rock her across the cheek in a rear hook.

That was it for Sue. Lara began pummeling Sue across the face.

“Stop it!” Aida shrieked. Lara didn’t stop. Aida waved at Professor Gemma, yelling for her to end the match.

“Miss Heslia, if you don’t fight back in three seconds, I will declare victory for Miss Lorr,” Gemma shouted. “Three, two, one! Miss Lorr, please cease your attacks!”

Lara paused, her fist raised in the air, shoulders heaving as she panted. When Sue didn’t stir, Lara pushed herself up laboriously, breathing heavily. She sluggishly picked up her wand from the side before exiting her ring, swaying gently as she walked. As she passed Aida, she leaned towards her.

“I really don’t see how she can be considered top five, let alone top two.”

“Judgmental much?” Aida asked irritably.

Lara stopped, turning towards Aida. “I’m being serious. I would question my friendship with Suelina if I were you.” She spoke condescendingly, as if Aida were a child and Lara was her parent.

“Fortunately, my friendships are not any of your concern.”

Lara stepped towards her, leaning forward, her steel-gray eyes intense. “Aida, listen. I understand your struggle, coming from a family with nothing, and having to claw your way up when everything is stacked against you. But it would be in your best interest to make sure you align yourself with strong people. You will never climb out of the sewers if you keep company with dregs.”

“Thank you for the unsolicited advice,” Aida said coldly.

Lara’s eyes hardened. “Look, I’m just being considerate. I don’t have to say any of this to you, but I am because I want to give you hope that you can improve your life.”

Aida laughed, a full belly-laugh that made her double over. “I’m sorry,” Aida wheezed, wiping a tear away. “I’m really sorry, that was just such a self-absorbed statement.”

Lara’s mouth pinched shut. She looked angry, but she didn’t say anything else. She turned and stalked away, leaving Aida chuckling.

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Composing herself, Aida approached Sue and Healer Luk, still smiling. The audacity of a teenager giving advice to a working adult. Aida chuckled again. Swallowing her merriment, she put on an appropriately somber expression as she knelt down next to Sue.

“How is she?”

“She’s fine,” Luk said absently. “I healed the internal bruising and bone fractures, so she’ll be fine tomorrow, but I’m leaving the more superficial marks.” She glanced at Aida. “If you have any mana left after healing your burns, perhaps you could practice healing Miss Heslia’s minor injuries.”

Nodding, Aida waited for Luk to depart before she leaned towards Sue. Pulling her to her feet, Aida looked closely at Sue’s face. Her swelling had gone down, and the blood cleaned from her mouth, but she was clearly dismal.

“What happened?”

“Nothing.” Sue’s response was petulant.

“Did Lara say anything…?”

“Nothing,” Sue snapped.

“Okay.” Gently taking Sue by the elbow, Aida led her out of the ring, where Levi, Ezra, Caleb, Lily, and Vanita were hovering. When Sue saw Caleb, her movements became stiffer, but she continued at the same pace.

“Can you take Sue to get lunch?” Aida whispered to Levi, who was the first to approach them. “She’s in a bad mood, and I need to talk to Caleb.”

“Got it,” Levi murmured back. “Anything I should avoid?”

“I think don’t talk about any of the matches, unless she brings it up,” Aida murmured. She glanced over at Sue, who was striding towards the dining hall, ignoring Lily and Vanita as they asked after her. Ezra and Caleb were slowly following, uncertain if they should follow Sue or wait for Aida and Levi to catch up. “And don’t talk about Lara, she’s been a bit of a—“

“I can imagine,” Levi said grimly. He gave her a small salute. “Consider Suelina taken care of.”

Nodding, she watched as he jogged after Sue. She turned her gaze back to Ezra and Caleb, who were both awkwardly standing there, trying to look like they were casually busy and not just waiting around.

She reached out and touched Ezra’s elbow, pulling him away from Caleb. “Can we talk later?” she asked softly. “I have questions on how best to fight Abedi tomorrow, since I don’t know how I would approach Metal.”

Ezra nodded, eyes tracing her features, as if he was making sure she didn’t have any other injuries. She touched her browline, wincing as she felt smooth, tender skin. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll heal myself up once I recover some mana. Luk says I’ll be able to grow my eyebrows and lashes back.”

Ezra nodded again. “When did you want to talk?”

Aida bit her lip. “Dinner? After dinner?”

“Let’s do dinner.”

Aida nodded, smiling gratefully at him. Ezra slouched away, leaving her alone with Caleb, who had started shuffling towards the dining hall alone. Jogging after him, she pulled lightly on his sleeve, getting his attention.

“Aida, amazing job,” Caleb said, smiling.

“Thank you,” Aida said, smiling quickly, but wincing again as her skin pulled. “Ouch, I shouldn’t do that yet.”

Caleb laughed softly. “How did you do it?”

“I’m not even sure,” Aida confessed. “I wasn’t expecting it to work, but I figured if I didn’t try I would definitely lose.”

He shook his head, a wondering smile on his lips. “You have incredible willpower.”

“I guess it’s the only thing I have.” Aida smiled bitterly. “Everyone else has so much more mana than me that they can have a prolonged fight.”

“Was what you were doing yesterday related to what you did today?”

Aida tilted her head at him, confused.

“You ran into the gym, then ran out again immediately after,” Caleb clarified.

“Oh right!” Aida laughed, embarrassed. “Yeah, it was. I mean, not directly. I was going to try to squeeze in some more physical training, but since the gym was busy I thought I’d head to the Lake and work on my mana challenges instead.”

“The lake?”

“Oh yes,” Aida said. She considered how much to say. Will he think I’m crazy? “I went to the Lake initially to practice more Water Manipulation, to conserve mana by avoiding water creation…and then I guess I was inspired by nature? And I realized Freeze wasn’t as hard as I thought it was at first, so…I got really lucky at figuring out my strategy today.”

Caleb looked at her with a bewildered smile, but he seemed to accept her explanation.

“Um, about Sue…” Aida trailed off. She hadn’t figured out what she wanted to say before approaching Caleb; she just knew she wanted to keep Caleb away from Sue, at least until Sue had a chance to process her feelings with Caleb. Caleb’s expression had tightened at the mention of her. “I don’t really know what happened between you two, but…Sue has been weird, when it comes to you. So…if you’re comfortable sharing, I’d appreciate hearing what might have happened,” Aida said carefully.

The tightness in his face remained, but he exhaled, the breath whistling between his teeth. He took a seat in the stands, putting his head in his hands. “I…we…” Aida sat next to him as his voice faded, her movements careful, as if she were moving around an invalid and didn’t want to disturb him. “…we mixed mana,” he mumbled.

“You and Sue mixed your mana?” Aida asked quietly to confirm. “Was it an accident?”

Caleb’s hands dropped from his face. “Of course it was,” he said forcefully. “I would never force or coerce anyone into doing that against their will.”

Aida raised her hands in a placating gesture. “I know,” she said soothingly. “I know you wouldn’t.” Caleb continued to glare at her, his anger melting away when she didn’t push him further.

Aida put a gentle hand on Caleb’s shoulder. “I know you wouldn’t force your will on anyone,” she reiterated. “Thank you for telling me. I was just worried about Sue.” She took a deep breath. “You don’t suppose the advice I gave you would work on her, would you?” she cracked a small smile, trying to assure him she wasn’t accusing him of nefarious intentions.

Caleb’s head dropped into his hands again. “Honestly, your advice is mud.”

While Aida tried to figure out the connotation of his metaphor, Caleb added, “It’s the worst advice. I think if I didn’t have that slight advantage over Fire, I wouldn’t have been able to beat Sue.”

“But you did focus on something other than Sue, right?” Aida asked, slightly defensively.

Caleb half laughed, half scoffed. “I did,” he allowed. “I focused on you. ‘What would Aida do? What did Aida do?’” he shook his head, bemused. “There really isn’t better advice, is there?”

“None that I’ve been able to find,” Aida said quietly. She sighed. Teenagers.