Timothy stepped out of the doorway and looked down the hall to watch Candice continue storming off, he shook his head and looked down at the envelope in his hands. He looked from the envelope to Nava.

“What do you mean that you think she likes me?” Timothy asked Nava.

She gave him a disappointed look, “Seriously? It is early in the morning, and I am in your room. Make a wild guess as to what she thinks may have happened between us.”

Timothy rubbed vehemently at his temples, “Damnit!” he muttered under his breath, “I really don’t want to deal with this drama right now.”

“Then tell her to go pound sand,” Nava said.

Timothy waved a hand dismissively, “Na, I will figure something out, but not right now,” he held the envelope up, “What do you think this is?”

Nava smirked, “A love letter.”

“You don’t let up, do you?” He said with a smile, “Let’s find out.”

“I don’t,” and she punched him in the arm, “and sure, open it up.”

Timothy rubbed his arm when she punched him, it was playful but damn, Nava knew how to throw a punch. After rubbing the sting out of his arm, he held the letter in front of him and opened it up, it was from the mayor. The mayor was inviting him to meet at the jail at twelve o’clock, there was a stipulation in the bylaws that allowed him to question prisoners within the first forty-eight hours.

“The mayor is asking us to meet him at the jail at noon, are you coming?” Timothy asked.

“Ya, I want to hear what they have to say,” Nava responded.

“Okay, good. I am not going to heal this,” rubbing his arm again, “Maybe they will lock you up for assault,” he said with a smile.

Nava punched him in the other arm, her action was so fast that Timothy couldn’t react, “Show them that one too,” she smiled and pushed him out of the way and wend through the door, “Time to train, get your stuff.”

Timothy rushed around the room gathering his staff, gloves and other belongings that he needed to spar with Nava. When he turned toward the door Nava was gone, probably to her own room to gather her own items. The two met in the hallway and started making their way down the stairs, towards the common area.

Candice was standing at the bar waiting for drinks for some of the guests. She must have seen the two from the corner of her eye, she turned her gaze toward the pair and glowered at Nava as she and Timothy passed through the room. She didn’t look to be calming down, Timothy thought as he spared a glance in Candice’s direction. What he missed was the look that Nava was giving Candice, inciting her anger.

As soon as the two exited the inn, Nava turned to Timothy, “Race ya!” she said, then she shoved him in the chest, bolting away from him.

“CHEATER!” he yelled after he recovered and chased after her.

By the time the two reached the clearing with the training ritual Timothy placed his hands on his knees, panting for breath.

“Can you at least fake it?” He asked.

“Fake what?”

“Being a little tired after a run like that,” Timothy said.

“And make you feel like you don’t suck?” She poked a little fun at him.

“I already know that!” He said indignantly.

She gave him a wry smile, “Good. Let’s keep it that way,” she glanced around the circle, “You ready?”

“Give me a minute,” Timothy tried to say but Nava started the training exercise. Timothy just shook his head and straightened up, readying himself.

Time after time, scenario after scenario, Timothy found himself laying on the ground looking up at Nava. Every strategy he tried, every chance he took and trick he attempted failed. He never got the upper hand, and it led to frustration within himself. There was an anger bubbling up just behind that frustration that he was struggling against to keep it at bay. He was in a mental struggle with that anger, similar to the times in the prep room just before he passed out for days. Rift had warned him about letting that power out and Nava was quickly turning into someone he saw as a friend. He would not let that power loose on a friend, not like this, and with that thought, the power subsided.

“Are you okay?” Nava questioned him. She squatted down with a look of concern covering her face.

“Ya, I am fine,” Timothy said with disgust, “Just a little frustration.”

Nava grinned at him, stood up and offered a hand to him. Timothy shrugged a bit and took her hand.

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“Do you want a rest?” She asked.

“Just a minute. I want to run these last few sparring sessions through my head. Maybe…just maybe, there is an opportunity that I am overlooking.”

“Okay, take what time you need. We should have time for another one or two fights before we need to clean up and meet with the mayor,” Nava said.

“Have we been here that long already?”

“Only about an hour and a half,” Nava replied.

“Then we should have plenty of time, we have another two hours or so before we need to leave,” Timothy said to Nava, but she looked at him like he was stupid.

“The ritual shouldn’t be doing actual damage to you, no matter how many times I punch you in the face,” her grin widened.

“What the hell are you talking about, we don’t need to be there until twelve!”

Nava looked at him and spoke slowly, “You said noon.”

“So?” Timothy said, but he started turning things over in his mind, and when he looked at Nava, it looked like she was doing the same. Then the dawn of realization came to both of them at the same time.

They said to each other at the same time, “Twenty-one-hour days!” and they started laughing.

Once they composed themselves Timothy felt a lot better and the frustration had faded, clearing his mind. He couldn’t help but think back to his discussion with Rift in the prep room, “The power of laughter”.

With a clear mind he thought of a tactic that he had not tried against Nava, Well, it can’t be any worse! He thought to himself.

“I’m ready,” he told Nava.

She cracked her knuckles and walked to her side of the circle. The circle flashed red, then yellow, then green.

Nava rushed him with her full speed, but Timothy was prepared for this and cast his shield spell at the last second. Instead of putting as much mana as he could into the spell to shape the force magic into a strong shield, he only used one mana. He effectively placed a thin wall in front of her, that she slammed into. The shield itself was not very strong, and shattered easily from her charge, but the force at which she hit it was immense and she rebounded off it as it dissipated. Her nose was bloodied, and she staggered a little bit from the shock of slamming into the invisible barrier. Timothy used the opportunity to retreat away from her, backing his way around the circle.

Nava was gathering herself when her right leg was knocked out from under her by a bolt of force. As she fell to the ground, she saw Timothy standing about fifteen feet away with an outstretched palm. This was the most damage he had ever inflicted on her and she felt a bit of pride, knowing that she had helped him to this point. She started to push herself up when she was slammed into by another bolt of force, this one slamming into the top of her head, making her woozy.

Timothy had thrown everything he had at her and she was still going, trying to get up after the second magic missile he hit her with, god, she was tough. He was running low on mana and, from this point forward, anything he threw at her would be absorbed by her damage reduction. He had one idea left.

Nava stood again, Timothy stood there with a stupid smile on his face, waving her on. She was no dummy, he was trying to egg her on so she would make a mistake. Maybe she could use this to her advantage.

Timothy knew that taunting her would not work, she was too smart for that, which still surprised him a bit. Most of the games he played back on earth had the orc race as unintelligent, blood crazed, monsters. Nava was so far removed from that stereotype that there were times he didn’t even think of her as an orc. Sure, she had her rough edges, but she was smart, and very quick on the uptake, he was enjoying his time with her. He was going to have to find out if she was an anomaly or not. This was not the time for those thoughts, he was close and wanted to beat her for once, it was time to end it.

When she charged in it was as he thought, it was a ruse, she stopped short and tried to grab him, but he blinked out of the way. He appeared behind her and smacked her with his staff. Unfortunately, strength was one of his worst attributes but it did some damage. She turned to face him just as he finished casting one of the two cantrip spells he learned in his room. The tiny fireball spell exploded in her face, fortunately she was able to shrug the damage off with her damage reduction, but the soot covering her eyes was a different story. She was blinded.

He used the one spell he had yet to use, “Immolate Weapon,” and his staff was ingulfed in flames.

Spell: Immolate Weapon

Spell Level: 1

Gem: Red

Magic Type: Fire

Effect: Wreathes a weapon in fire that will not damage the weapon itself but adds damage to any strike caused by the weapon.

Minimum mana: 1

Maximum mana: 20

Damage: +1 damage per mana

Duration: 1 Strike (Duration can be extended by sacrificing mana for damage and diverting it to the duration. 1 to 1 ratio.

Overcharge: Yes

Overcharge effect: 10% chance per resolve to ignite the opponent. Damage is equivalent to 1/2 the mana and the duration on this effect is equal to 1/2 the resolve in rounds.

He smacked her in the leg with his staff, now covered in flames, and it caused her to grunt and stumble, but it did not finish her off.

Nava took the last hit to the legs and knew that one more hit would do her in, fortunately, it still would take one more hit. Timothy made one mistake in the fight, his last strike had left him too close to her. She gave him an uppercut under the chin with her fist covered in stone. He didn’t see it coming and he crumpled to the ground after the hit, unconscious.

Timothy looked up at Nava from the ground, again, but he had a smile on his face, “I was close that time, wasn’t I?”

“One more hit would have done me in,” she reached out to help him up again, “That retreating battle tactic was a good strategy, did you run out of mana?”

“I did. I was so close to finally beating you, but that last hit left me inside your guard, huh?”

“Yep, but that tactic was sound, use it. At the first level of power any caster would have a hard time with an orc or a boarback, like Brian. We can take so many more hits than the other races. If I was any other race I would have been out of the fight after the second bolt, probably the first,” she gave him an assessing look, “I am surprised at how much mana you have. If you find a good group when you leave here you should do well for them and yourself,” she paused a second, “If you can stay away from the frontline,” she said wryly.

She was trying to play it off, but Timothy didn’t miss the pain in her expression. She would never have a chance to do anything more than what she is doing now. The cruelty of level locking someone was starting to sink in, he would go nuts if he was locked away from growing these powers. She was holding it together rather well.

Timothy decided to change the subject, not wanting to linger on those thoughts, “Should we get ready to go to the jail?”

“Ya, probably for the best,” she looked away, “We don’t want to be late.”

“Agreed,” Timothy said, and cast a quick spell, ice sheet, under Nava’s feet, “Race ya!” and took off at a dead sprint.

Nava slipped on the ice, landing on her ass. She shook her head and smiled, “You will pay for this little man…” she muttered under her breath, then got to her feet and took off after him.