Mor and Orth were putting their respective teams through training hell, and to the dismay of their "trainees", both had adopted the do-or-die training philosophy. For Mor, this meant he crammed Elly's and Jorgen's heads full of magic theory and forced them to enhance their weapons repeatedly. At the same time, Orth dragged his highly motivated squad through a special magical and physical training. However, none of the victims had any right to complain because both of them also adhered to those rules and exercises.

The big difference was the quality of the people they trained. Mor had his two Ice-kin friends and, therefore, no problem getting his point across, but Orth had a ragtag bunch who didn't know him. Also, Orth's special training regime dampened the firstly motivated team, and morale deteriorated quickly until he showed them how it was done. For that, he even had to go against the decision he made and let his Second teach him the magic recovery technique early instead of waiting for the next school year.

What drew the ire of the trainee soldiers was that Orth had ordered them to choose their favorite spell and use it over and over until their reservoir was depleted. Instead of allowing them to rest, he then hounded them through physical training exercises until their reservoir was filled again. Then it was rinse and repeat until dinner and lights-out.

The military cooks soon flagged them as the glutton squad because they would fall over the provided foods like ravenous monstrosities. Under Orth's orders, every soldier was on triple rations. This, in turn, made Orth's weirdos the laughingstock of the other trainees.

However, as mentioned, it wasn't smooth sailing until this point when Orth had first laid out his training plan. He was looking at a mutiny, which was quickly replaced by respect and stone-hard loyalty when he showed them what such training would make out of them. Because it is hard to argue when your squad lead can beat you without using magic, and their granite knight spell version three was simply scary as hell.

Still, even Orth had to give it to his team. Each of them was a madman. One of them was incredibly adept with the wind cutter spell but sucked at the movement-based wind magics and therefore was deemed a failure. Another liked the water spray spell, which was pretty useless but had potential if you get pressure involved. However, his Second was a monster. Ambor had an extreme healing affinity and, if let loose, was a complete maniac. He was moderately bad at healing others, but the perfect example of what Mor had tried to show the Ice-kin hunters. He would switch off pain and then go at everyone like a raging berserker, healing himself whenever he got hurt too badly, which in Soul-kin society made him something worse than a failure. Orth made a mental note to get that one a weapon like Mor had and as much fighting training as he could remember from his friend.

They were still an uncoordinated bunch, but each of them would be a scary threat on their own, meaning it was his duty as squad leader to use them to their maximum effect. And he couldn't be prouder. At first, he had a bad feeling because he let himself be roped into this whole bet without thinking, and Clare did tell him he was an idiot after he told her, but now. His brother would need to bring more than his best squad to win.

While the two boys were busy with their training, the girls were having tea. Saphine, Clare, and Tiara were meeting up as often as they could after Orth was whisked away by his father. They did this mostly to keep the worrying Clare company but also to chat about Saphine's marriage prospects.

"So, how was the last one?" Tiara asked, snacking on the pastries Clare had made.

And when Saphine blushed, the interest of the two other girls peaked.

"A hit?" Clare added more pressure.

"No, it was a complete catastrophe," Saphine replied, confusing her friends. He wanted to spend the day with me and introduced me to his friend circle. They were the worst bunch of nobles I have ever seen, and one of the girls then spilled her drink on me. Well, she tried. I still would have to thank Mor because my reflexes are faster than ever."

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"But you are a high noble? Shouldn't they show you respect?" Clare asked.

"You would think so, but it seemed that the girl was the previous fiance and didn't take kindly to getting her fiance taken away. What she saw in that idiot, I couldn't say." Saphine said.

"Then why the dopey smile?!" Tiara shouted impatiently.

"Well, my "date" gave me the fault that there was drama in his group and called me a freak for my body."

Clare and Tiara took in sharp breaths. Up close, it was clear that something was different with Saphine's body, but she did everything in her power to hide it. However, the girl wasn't done.

"But then one of the boys told that idiot he was not nearly handsome enough to have such a rotten personality and offered to bring me home."

Tiara crunched down on another pastry, intrigued on how it continues.

"While walking, we talked, and he apologized to his friends, then we continued to chat. He is completely in line with my political views, meaning he is also in line with Dino's."

Clare looked skeptical at that but kept quiet for now.

"However, there is a little problem. He has no water affinity but wind." Saphine finished.

"Are you sure he is not using you?" Clare cautioned, and Saphine nodded.

"He was just nice and isn't in a relationship because he wants a wife he loves. He just brought me home and then left."

"Sounds strange. What's his name?" Tiara asked.

"Avisim Apatite." Saphine sighed.

"Somebody got hit full force." Clare chuckled.

"Huh, Apatite," Tiara said. "I know the family. They are wind and water specialists. If I remember correctly, the ice empress is from that family, but don't quote me."

"Really?" Clare asked, and Tiara nodded.

"Well, how about you invite him to our little gathering and introduce him to us before you jump him?" Clare joked.

"Good idea!" Saphine said, then addressed Tiara. "You can bring your fiance too."

Tiara stopped mid-snack and sighed. "I don't know. Dino had explained the situation to me, but I'm not convinced. I mean, I can understand where you come from, and you said once, this is the lot of us noble ladies, still..."

"Why is this the first time I hear of this!" Clare demanded to know.

"Because I don't know if I want to follow through. Also, when I told Aunty about it, she had an extreme reaction, saying something like "I can't" because she wants Mor and me to get together so she wouldn't lose me. Uncle tried to set it right but had no success. He also told me he would support my decision if I stood behind it." Tiara said with a sigh.

Clare and Saphine felt for their friend and Sophie. She still wasn't entirely over Mor's death and would sometimes relapse into believing her boy was still alive. On a very bad episode, they had to stop her from flying off with her glider to go visit her boy. However, if you reminded her, she would cry for a time and then catch herself.

"I think we all need to do something before we make our final decisions," Clare said to change the topic, and her friends looked at her, confused.

"You know, we only ever have seen the floating isles, and getting away to clear our heads could help. So let's visit some other places after we're done with school. Well, next break for Tiara."

"Where do you want to go?" Saphine said, not sounding very excited.

"Do you remember Snow?" Clare asked, and Saphine nodded. "I thought of visiting her because, if I remember correctly, Mor had promised to visit her after school, and I think somebody also needs to tell her of his demise."

"That's the Ice-kin who trained Mor, right?" Tiara wanted to clarify, which Clare did with a nod of her own.

"Then I want to go!" Tiara exclaimed, and after some thought, Saphine also agreed to join.

Now, they just needed to find out how to get to the Ice-kin and get approval from Dino and Lord Sapphire. To their surprise, Tiara and Saphine got it, but only if they went with the Soul-kin traders and stayed within the settlement. All in all, both men thought it was a worthwhile experience for the girls' future.