The morning bell echoed through the empty halls and crowded dormitories, rousing the young apprentices of Rose form their sweet dreams.

Saya slowly opened her eyes, yawned several times into her hand, before battling her way out of bed. It’s Saturday, and she would much rather sleep in, but her mana reserves were begging for food.

“Morning, Saya,” said Nina as she walked past, brushing her long black hair, already dressed and well awake.

“Mor…” Saya replied, sniffling a yawn. “Morning.”

Several hairballs bounced onto her bed, which turned out to be a few of the younger apprentices, who began snuggling against her back and pulling at her hair.

“Saya!” One of them shouted. “Can you lift me up with you telekinesis?”

“Yes…” She answered weakly as she lifted her hand.

“Woah!” The little one laughed out in joy, her body slowly lifting into the air. “Waaaaaa!”

Saya flicked her hand, flinging the little apprentice halfway across the room towards the entrance, catching her gently before she hit the ground and setting her down on the floor.

The other younger apprentices cheered, leaping off of Saya’s bed and running towards the entrance to their dorm room.

Welp, now she needs food even more.

With another jaw-cranking yawn she stumbled out of bed, turning around to roughly do up her sheets before grabbings her clothing from her wardrobe. Picking clothes isn’t really a worry for her, as most members of Rose simply wear their white and grey uniforms, and she can’t be bothered to find fancy clothes to wear.

She turned to walk towards the door, wiping the tears from her heavy eyes.

In the dining hall she found her friends, Andrei and Idris, already sat down with their food. They called out to her, and she replied with a yawn.

“Still sleepy?” Idris asked.

“Yep…” replied Saya, rubbing her eyes and stuffing food into her mouth. “Any plans today?”

“Not much, probably going to spar for a while and then help out around the manor,” said Idris. “Some of the apprentices are challenging each other to spar, we’ll probably go watch.”

“I’m gonna stand back a little,” Andrei chuckled. “Apparently Kaen challenged Krystal to a fight. There’ll be flames and ice spears flying everywhere.”

“I shee…” said Saya through a mouthful of food. “I’m just going to head back to sleep then. These last few weeks of training and missions have been taking their toll on my mana reserves.”

“Sure, we’ll call you up if anything important is happening.”

Andrei finished the last of his food, set down his forks and looked to Idris. “Should we go? The sparring session is starting soon.”

“Sure,” replied Idris, picking up his plate. “See you in a bit, Saya.”

“Bye...”

They got up and left, following the many apprentices and masters heading for the garden, where sparring sessions are held every weekend.

Saya finished her food, her stomach plump and heavy as she waddled back to her dorm room. She slumped onto her bed, punched her pillow a few times to beat it back to shape, before snuggling in and getting ready to fall asleep.

“Saya!” Someone called from the door, wrenching Saya away from the welcoming embrace of sleep.

“Wha!?” she yelped. “Who is it!”

“It’s me, Nina.”

“Ah…” Saya muttered, getting ready to go back to sleep. “What is it?”

“Idris and Andrei are getting ready to spar, I thought you might want to come and watch.”

“Really!” Saya yelped again, bolting upright.

“They were warming up with sparring weapons.”

“Of course I want to watch!” exclaimed Saya as she slid off her bed and stumbled towards the door, the remnants of sleepiness already gone from her system.

Together they jogged out to the garden, where many were already sparring, trading light kicks and blows. Wooden weapons clanked and clattered, the mana in the air billowing and swirling with each use of magic.

Sasha was sparring with Kaen as the latter waited for Krystal, her slender wooden dagger dancing through the air, but always blocked away by Kaen’s tremendous glaive before they could even get close. They were apparently having a no-magic sparring match, lessening Sasha's disadvantage. Kaen, alongside Saya, are the two most capable fighters among the apprentices, while Sasha is specializing in infiltration, as her magical powers are less useful in direct combat.

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At the far end of the garden was Thomas and Lilian, play fighting with the softest of blows.

“Too easy!” Lilian shouted joyously as she leapt through the air, her hair fluttering, her wooden dagger barely grazing Thomas’ fluttering clothes.

“Want me to go a little harder?” Thomas, who was clearly pulling his blows, replied.

“Nope!”

Their laughter filled the air as Thomas shot little bursts of flames at her, who ducked and weaved away with the lightness of a dove.

Then Saya found Idris and Andrei, in the center of the garden, facing each other with their wooden weapons, ready to attack. Idris had a one-handed short sword, not usually his weapon of choice, but still one he is proficient with. Andrei held a slim longsword in a hanging stance, the blunt tip of the training sword pointed at Idris’ throat.

Saya ran up to them and sat down below a tree, watching the fight from a safe distance. Nina came over and sat down too, playing with the fallen blossoms covering the ground.

“Saya!” Idris called out happily when he noticed her. “I thought you were going to sleep?”

“Well... I wanted to watch you more!” replied Saya.

“Ah, Nina’s here too?” said Andrei, turning his head to look but not dropping his stance.

“Please enjoy the show,” said Idris, before shooting Andrei a glance. “Shall we begin?”

“Of course!”

Their swords flew and their bodies danced, just like they’ve done so many times in the past. The assassins of Rose are some of the most skilled fighters in all of the four Kingdom, and it’s in no small part due to how much they train.

Saya’s eyes were transfixed upon Idris the entire time. The way he swings, the way he parries, just the way he moves, is so mesmerizing she couldn’t bring herself to look away.

“He’s better than I thought with a sword,” mused Nina, looking at the way Idris held his ground against Andrei. “I think Andrei is going a little easy though.”

Andrei’s much longer sword twirled through the air, keeping Idris at a distance and constantly moving to deflect or dodge the strikes.

“Saya?”

But Idris found some openings here and there, thrusting his shorter but more agile sword, sneaking it through Andrei’s defenses before the latter deftly ducked away.

“Saya!” Shouted Nina above the noise of the sparring, giving Saya a gentle tap on the shoulder. “Saya?”

“Hm!” yelped Saya as she jolted out of her daydream. “Who’s talking? Nina?”

“…” Nina sighed. “You zoning out?”

“Well… yes…” she mumbled, twirling her hair with her finger.

“You were looking at Idris weren’t you…”

“Umm… no?”

Nina stared into her eyes, Saya could feel her telepathy reaching into her mind.

“I mean… fine! I was… He fights good okay!”

“Yes yes okay okay,” replied Nina with a sly smile. “I’ll be sure to inform him.”

“No!” Saya shouted. “No! No! Don’t! Don’t you dare!”

She pounced on Nina with her arms outstretched, ready to pin her to the ground.

But Nina swiftly moved out of the way, somersaulting backwards through the air, her slimmer build making her exceptionally agile. Though, that wouldn't matter much if Saya started using her telekinesis.

“Oi! Come back!”

They scrambled through the garden, Nina purposefully leading Saya towards the rack of training weaponry. She snatched up a pair of short daggers before vaulting behind the wide wooden rack, putting it between herself and the preying Saya.

“Come on then,” Nina teased, holding her daggers at the ready.

“Hah! I see how it is!” replied Saya triumphantly as she snatched up a training spear. “Let’s go then!”

“Humhum…” Nina chuckled, crouching down and tucking her daggers behind her back.

“You going to come out or not?”

Without warning Nina leapt into the air, twisting so her back was towards Saya.

“Huh?” mumbled Saya as she watched Nina sail through the air.

But Nina’s acrobatics were but a disguise for her attack. As she spun to face Saya, her arms whipped around, launching the two daggers towards Saya at immense speed.

Anyone else would have no chance of escape, but Saya had sensed the attack just early enough for her to roll backwards out of the way, the two daggers bouncing away harmlessly on the grass.

Nina landed where Saya stood just moments ago like a stalking cat, quickly turning around to grab two more daggers from the rack before facing Saya again.

“Nice try!” Said Saya, twirling her spear gracefully as she rolled onto her feet. “My turn!”

“Come on then!”

They charged towards each other, weapons clashing as they too joined the little crowd of sparring students. Somehow, perhaps by fate, they soon bumped into Andrei and Idris, who were taking a rest from their sparring match.

“Idris!” Saya yelled happily. “Who won?”

“We weren't going too hard,” Idris replied, taking a sip of water. "We're pretty evenly matched."

“I see…” said Saya with a smile. “Want to do doubles?”

“Sure. Against who?”

“Those two, obviously,” Saya pointed at Nina and Andrei. “I’ll lead you to victory, Idris!”

“You… fine…”

Nina and Andrei exchanged confused glances, but the confusion soon turned to determination. They nodded to each other, before raising their weapons.

“Come at us!” Andrei announced.

Saya looked at them for a moment. “You know, you two should get paired for the dance.”

“W... what?” Asked Nina, a little flustered.

“Nothing!” Saya shouted, launching herself forwards, her spear spinning through the air.

Like butterflies in the early noon sun, they danced over the grass, below the flowering trees, laughing and shouting, letting their wonderful abilities loose in their full, breathtaking beauty.

Their wooden weapons crashed and clattered, playing the fast-paced tune of assassins at work; a cacophony of death, albeit with wooden weapons.