Caleb and Levi were both waiting at the gate for their turn when Aida approached.

“You’re always surprising us,” Levi accused, raising his hand in a high-five. Slapping his hand down, Aida puffed her chest out, playing up the fratboy stereotype.

“Never skip leg day,” she said demurely. Caleb looked pleasantly confused as he offered a high-five himself, and Levi made warning eyes at her, glaring meaningfully at Caleb’s back. Aida cleared her throat. “Good luck.”

Ezra met her in the stands just as she stepped through the gate. “I take it that since the instructors haven’t confiscated a hammer from Abedi, the plan to disrupt his channeling worked?”

“It worked,” Aida agreed. “But then he decided to get physical.” She grimaced. “I think I convinced him to begin training Mana Surge now.”

Ezra gave a half smile, throwing silver sparkles in the air. “You win some, you lose some.”

Waving the sparkles out of her face, Aida continued walking towards Sue. “I’m going to need to work on my physical fighting, too. I saw a lot of openings, but I didn’t know how I could capitalize on them.”

With a thoughtful expression, Ezra loped after her.

Sue smiled, looking mostly back to her usual bright self. “That was a great strategy. Sorry it didn’t work out.”

“It’s all good,” Aida assured her. “It was a good experience, and I figured out what else I need to work on.” Expand mana pool, learn how to fight so I can use my Mana Surge and Defense Up more effectively…

“Oh, before I forget.” Reaching her fingers towards Sue’s face, she probed her with mana, examining Sue’s injuries. An overlay appeared over Sue’s body, mostly green, but some places were highlighted yellow.

Sue sighed in relief. “Finally, it doesn’t hurt when I make expressions anymore.”

“Great, because I’m out of mana again.” Settling back in her seat, she glanced over at Ezra, who was watching the matches in the seat next to her. “By the way, how did your match with Lara go?”

“I defeated her.” After a moment, Ezra added, “She really did seem to have a vendetta.”

“Right?” Sue exclaimed. She leaned over Aida to talk to Ezra. “She’s never been so bitter before. Did she say anything to you?”

Ezra contemplated. “Nothing I haven’t heard from my brother before.”

Aida snorted, drawing Sue and Ezra’s attention. “Sorry. I was just thinking she’d probably get along really well with your family.”

Sue made a face. “Can you imagine if the Riolt family arranged a marriage with the Lorr family?” Ezra whipped his head to look at her, horrified.

Aida couldn’t hold back her giggles. “I mean, it might not be so bad if she married your brother, right? You already don’t get along with him. Or would you rather marry her yourself?” she teased.

Ezra stared at her with an expression of utmost betrayal, his face slowly reddening as he met her eyes. On the other side, Sue swooned dreamily. “Oh, can you imagine? What if, no matter who she marries, the two brothers fight over her to win her heart?” Ezra turned his gaze on Sue, face tomato-red. He looked like he was about to have a conniption.

Unable to hold herself back, Aida added on mercilessly. “And Lara, because she’s such a good person, will try to repair the relationship between the two brothers by offering to marry both of them.” Aida paired her words with a truly overdramatic performance, placing her hands to her cheeks and peeking shyly at Ezra, leaning towards Sue. Sue had mirrored her movements at the exact same time, both of them blinking innocently at Ezra. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Sue’s manifestation of red sparkles.

Ezra glared at both of them, struggling not to explode. “You two,” he said stiffly. “Are incorrigible.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Lunch was a lighthearted affair. Sue’s repaired mood drew everyone towards her again, so they all sat at the largest table in the dining hall. There was still some mild tension between Sue and Caleb, but for the most part everyone was laughing and joking again.

Under the cover of good cheer, Aida took a seat next to Levi. “I need some pointers,” she said quietly. Levi leaned over, listening. “I don’t know how to fight without using mana. I think having a strong foundation in striking would be a good complement to having mana abilities.”

Levi nodded. “Like Lara.”

Aida gave him a deadpan look. He grinned. “Okay. You have a point.” He looked around the table. “Caleb’s the one you’ll want to ask for any grappling and close-combat tips. I don’t know how helpful it will be for you, though, since he relies on his size. Ezra doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, so to speak, so he’s more of a kicking guy. Now me,” Levi did a couple mini jabs at an invisible opponent. “I’m not afraid of getting up close and personal, and pounding people who deserve it.”

Aida eyed Levi’s winning smile. “I think I’ll ask Ezra for help.”

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

Levi dropped his hands to his hips in mock outrage. “Hey! I’m a good teacher!”

“Yes, I think kicking is a good idea,” Aida decided. “I’d rather not get up close and personal with people.” And I can chain wand attacks together…

“Your loss,” Levi said loftily. “At least it won’t be too surprising of a request. Aida was awful with her leg coordination.”

Aida grimaced. Good to know.

“But here’s a free tip, so that you don’t give yourself away too easily: power always comes from the hips. So use your hips.”

“Thanks, Teacher,” Aida muttered.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

“Let’s see your balance.” Aida lifted one knee up, and promptly felt her torso tipping to the side. Windmilling her arms, she managed to regain her balance and stay upright with her hands on her hips.

“Now extend your leg.” Stretching her foot out, she felt her quads and calves begin shaking with the effort to remain elevated.

“Repeat on the other side.” Aida’s balance was even worse, and she had to put her foot down before quickly lifting it into position again. She wasn’t even able to fully extend her foot on this side.

“Relax.” She put her foot down with a sigh, rubbing away the beginnings of a cramp.

Ezra looked at her silently, chin resting on his fist as he contemplated her performance.

Aida returned his look, attempting the balancing exercise while she waited for his judgment. She wanted to show him she was willing to put in the effort. She got better at it, at least. She never realized how many muscles were required just to stand stably on one leg.

Ezra exhaled, rubbing his nosebridge. “If I were to teach you something you can use tomorrow, it would be the turning kick.”

Aida nodded enthusiastically. I’m going to Bruce Lee the shit out of the turning kick.

Ezra continued speaking, his voice taking on a lecturing tone. “The turning kick is a good, basic kick, but very predictable. Another good kick you will want to learn eventually is the back kick, which is a good, basic counter if your opponent is rushing you. But I don’t anticipate you will be able to learn it today.”

He came to stand next to Aida, his legs spread so that one foot was in front and his torso was open to her. Aida mirrored him.

“Let’s start with the front turning kick. Using your front leg only, raise your knee, keeping it still in this turned position. Kick out.” Ezra demonstrated slowly, raising his knee in one smooth motion, pausing, and then kicking his foot neatly out, holding the position so she could appreciate his clean lines. “That’s the basic motion. To add power to it, incorporate your hips.” Resetting his front foot on the ground, Ezra did a turning kick with his front leg, torquing his hips so rapidly she could barely notice the fabric twitching. A small boulder tilted, before settling back into its groove in the ground ten feet away in front of them.

“Did you use mana on that kick?” Aida asked, staring at the boulder. There was no wind in the gym.

Ezra looked at her quizzically. “Never mind,” Aida said quickly. “Carry on.”

“You can use mana,” Ezra conceded, “but don’t use it today. Give it a try.”

Copying what Ezra did, Aida hesitantly raised her knee, before snapping it out in a bid for balance.

“Faster.” Aida tried again, and again, and again, each time feeling more confident that she wasn’t going to lose her balance. In fact, it was easier to go fast than it was to go slow.

“Good. Let’s do another variation: the rear turning kick.” It was the same as the front kick, but using the back leg. Easy enough. “This one has more power than the front kick, because you have more room to use your hips. Make sure to keep your knee in the same line as your body as you travel.”

“For efficiency,” Aida realized, as she experimented with turning her hips with her kick.

“Exactly,” Ezra said approvingly. “You understand the hips very well. The next step to harnessing power for your kick is to use the ground.”

Ezra bent his knees slightly, then fairly exploded off of the ground on his back foot, flying across the gym floor with the distance he covered.

“Did you use mana that time?” Aida called shrilly, holding her hair back out of her face in the wake of his takeoff.

“No.”

Trying to emulate what Ezra did, Aida landed heavily as she set her kicking foot down.

“Don’t be afraid to spin on the ball of your foot; you don’t want to break your ankle while you kick.”

The training session continued, with Ezra providing useful tips to correct her form incrementally. Aida couldn’t remember the last time she felt this fulfilled by repetition. Even though this one kick wasn’t going to be a game-changer in any sense of the word, being able to feel the improvements to her technique, understanding how and why she was getting better, and knowing that she would be slightly less defenseless in a fight gave her self-confidence - and a stronger sense of purpose.

Training was fun. Getting better for the sake of getting better - not to avoid some looming existential threat, but just because it was fun - was something she had never understood. She had always considered “improving” to be important because it would lead to better outcomes: a demonstration of merit that would result in preferential treatment from others. But what was happening now?

I want to see what my limit is, Aida realized. Not so that I can rank in the top five with Ezra, Sue, Levi, Caleb…but just to see what I can do.

“What’s wrong?” Ezra was looking at her with concern.

“Huh?” Aida looked at Ezra, wiping the sweat off her chin.

“Are you all right? Did I push you too hard? I didn’t mean to…” Ezra trailed off, looking completely flummoxed and contrite.

“What…” Aida started, before she felt tears beginning to slide down her cheeks in full force. She started laughing. The look of panic on Ezra’s face made her laugh harder.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Aida reassured him, wiping her tears away. She hiccuped. “I think I understand you now. And why you were angry with me at Shale Port.”

Ezra’s expression turned wary. “I told you, I didn’t—“

Aida waved his explanation away. “No, you weren’t in the wrong. You care about improvement for improvement’s sake. I…had an ulterior motive driving my desire for improvement. But now…” she smiled at Ezra. “…it’s fun. I’m having fun.”

Ezra stared at her. Then he slowly began to smile.

“Do you want to try the kick with mana now?”