“That’s quite the strange injury,” the ice-tethered said, examining Master Ayvir’s back and shoulder. He had a deepening that ran from the back of his shoulder and all the way over to the side. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like it.”

“I wasn’t quite fast enough,” Ayvir hissed, as frigid mana coalesced around the injury. The Concept behind the technique felt like ice growing into a runnel created by water, restoring to its whole.

An interesting observation Ranvir had seen was in healing. Korfyi’s general healing knowledge was far above that of Vednar, as would be expected. Yet, when he looked at it closer, he found that their individual practitioners didn’t quite match the trend he saw in other subjects.

Korfyi had some crazy medical skills, like inoculating someone to a bunch of diseases, making their long survival far easier. When he’d first arrived, he’d been given the treatment in easy to manage pills. However, their braced seemed good for little more than generalized recovery.

As it turns out, healing was an incredibly intricate field. So much complexity and room for study that it was ‘poorly suited for braced.’ The focus on individual Abilities and limiting them to ten made it very difficult for someone to have a broad enough repertoire that they could manage more than general care. In most cases, healers specialized in a three or four Abilities focused on healing, then gave the rest to support functions.

Ranvir hadn’t known it at the time, but Master Stjarna, restoring his sight after Ayvir accidentally burned his eyes, was a show of immense skill. Stjarna was absolutely the best healer in all of Elusria, but he wasn’t the best in all of Vednar. He was, however, better than any one healer in all of Korfyi.

Ranvir wasn’t sure they could’ve fixed his eyes, but for Stjarna it had seemed par for the course. Or at least, that’s how it played out in his memory.

The layer of ice mana settled over Ayvir’s shoulder, and he struggled to put on his shirt and coat. Ranvir ignored his struggles, instead focusing on the healer. It wasn’t Master Stjarna, but a student from the academy. He’d volunteered to take part, thinking it would be good experience.

“There are no long-term injuries,” the ice-tethered said. “Though I’m still not sure how he managed to get that wound, even the Master’s injury should be healed within the day, sir.”

“Sounds good,” Ranvir offered him a hand, and he took it. “I’ll get you back to the academy in a few minutes, alright?” they agreed and Ranvir turned to the last person in the room.

Alexis sat with narrow eyes. Her hair had grown down to her shoulders, hiding her face from his as she went over the list in her hand. The butt-end of a pen tapping against her bottom lip.

“Everything in order?” he asked. He let his tether-sense pass over her gently. She slapped it away instantly, glaring up past her hair at him. There were three people on the entire plane who Ranvir knew for certain would’ve detected such a gentle touch. One had spent most of his long life studying and honing his spirit. The second had been taught by him for over a decade. The third was Alexis, who, to Ranvir’s knowledge, had little more than natural talent on her side.

Alexis was, in many ways, a mystery to him. She didn’t associate any colors with her own feelings, but she’d let enough hints slip through conversation that she could pick up on other’s emotions and that they were colored in some way. Like the reverse of him.

She naturally had an affinity for mana, but not a conventional type. Where Pashar and Dovar had an affinity for smoke, or Ayvir and Grevor had affinities for light, she had an affinity for numbers.

Esoteric mana didn’t quite behave like almost any other kinds of mana. It vanished quickly, evaporating into thin air. The many different types only occurred when enough sapient people gathered into one spot. A town like Eriene wasn’t even big enough. The smallest Ranvir had seen was Legea, which was as vast as the Elusria-City, if not bigger.

He’d wanted to invite Alexis to join the school, but she’d flatly refused. Even getting her to ‘quartermaster’ them had been tough enough. He had a distinct feeling that he put her off, somehow.

“What do you want?” she asked, glaring at him.

Ranvir blinked and opened his mouth to answer, but someone knocked on the door. Grevor cracked it open and peeked inside. “Ranvir? Perfect, I was just looking for you,” he said, like he couldn’t have found Ranvir anywhere in the school with a simple scan of his senses.

“Grevor,” Ranvir said, a gray and black apprehension seeped forth, like a heaving smoke cloud. Alexis let out an inarticulate noise and Ranvir stepped away from her, next to the door. Ayvir joined them soon after, leaving the medical student to pack the last of his items. “Are you done?”

The blond-tethered nodded solemnly. “It was a probing force. A check to see the amount of investment Elusria was putting into this place.”

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Ayvir frowned. “What did we show them?”

Grev winced. “According to them? Four Masters, two second-stages, and whatever they sensed in the mixed-bag of students and teachers.”

“Three Masters?”

Grev nodded. “Amalia and Kasos only captured one of the smoke-spies that had been watching, but their effort revealed both of them. They are a lot harder to judge than other normal so they were lumped in as third-stages. Pashar also captured one, which we are assuming was noticed.”

Unlikely, Ranvir thought, narrowing his eyes.

“What does that mean?” Ranvir wasn’t too sure about the density of high-power tethered to normal. Korfyi had kind of thrown him off since their ratio was tiny. Most Braced were Tier 3. On average, they were weaker than a first-stage, but Abilities and strength of spirit could make an enormous difference.

Tethered men, because of their focus on combat power, averaged second-stage. What exactly that meant compared to a Braced was difficult to say. Approximately Tier 10, not accounting for exceptions like Ranvir. But a warp-tethered would do significantly better in a fight, while a space-tethered would do worse.

“It’s difficult to say, really.” Grev worried at his lower lip and exchanged a look with Ayvir. “Depends on what they’ve felt for sure. Someone like Es is going to stand out. His… spirit feels strange and his warp is even more in your face than normal. But they might mistake someone like you for a Triplet Master.”

Ranvir scratched at his temple, feeling the eyes of the not-at-all-listening-in medical student on his back. “And if they think that…”

“Then this would be some sort of high-priority facility,” Ayvir said, a slight hint of a smile on his face. “Like a sort of elite training grounds for tethered.”

Ranvir shoved him and rolled his eyes. “What can we do? Is there a way to lower the priority on their eyes?”

Both Ayvir and Grev sucked air in through their teeth at the same time and in the same way. Neither seemed to notice.

“Do you think there’s anyone watching us now?” Ayvir asked.

Ranvir shook his head. He’d searched personally and found nothing.

“Well, then there’s very little we can do.” Ayvir clicked his tongue.

“Perhaps we could get some sort of statement circulating?” Grev suggested. “A brief on the purpose of the school.”

“And that’s not going to catch any eyes?”

“We’ll call it a ‘vanity project’ for one of the country’s stronger tethered. We know the Purists have enough spies to get the information. Should take some of the heat off you.”

“And that would mean we’d have to send a few of you back, to get the message across quickly,” Ranvir noticed.

“I’m supposed to be returning now, anyway. Either way, what’s left for the school? Actual classes?” he gave Ranvir a crooked smile. “Do you even remember my lessons from our first trimester?”

“I remember you sneaking in wine.”

Grev chuckled and slapped him on the shoulder.

“You snuck in wine on academy premises?” Ayvir sounded outraged.

“Oops, gotta go. Gotta say goodbye to Sansir.”

Grev ducked out and Ayvir followed, fully wearing the guise of ‘Master’ once more. Ranvir and the healer exchanged a long look before he nodded and left for the lounge.

“Sneaking in wine?” Alexis asked, one eyebrow curiously arched.

Ranvir twitched a smile. “It was a different time.”

“I can tell.” Her left cheek pulled the barest hint back into a smile.

“The list is doable?” Ranvir asked, bringing the subject back on course.

“I think so. Nothing too outrageous. Except…” she looked more intently at the text. “Do you know what a… bananas is?”

Ranvir drew his brows together in a frown. “Is that a real word?”

“I…” she pursed her lips. “He might’ve been messing with me, honestly.”

Ranvir chuckled. “Belnavir, I presume?”

She nodded.

“We’ll look at it together, alright?”

She gave him a hesitant smile, and they continued through the list. Most of it was general goods or snacks. Nothing too special. There were a few who asked for more luxuries, but they were all people with their feet firmly in the soil.

“I think you’ve caused enough problems already.” Shiri’s faint voice rang down the corridor and slipped past the barely cracked door. Ranvir looked up, but the sound was too faint for Alexis.

“I don’t think you’re in any position to question me, Civilian.”

Aaand, that’s Estrid, Ranvir thought, shaking his head.

“I’m in a damned better position than you, Fuckhead.”

Ranvir entirely stopped listening to Alexis, turning his attention entirely to the conversation that was… slowly getting closer?

“Maybe you should step off before you get hurt.” Estrid did not sound happy at all.

“Are you gonna hurt me? What a big strong tethered you are. If only you had enough mind power to elevate beyond your brethren in the dirt.” Shiri’s voice dripped with enough acid to leave pits on the obsidian floor.

There was a beat of silence. Ranvir turned his head slightly, waiting.

“I think that’s all, but if anything else jumps out, you know where to find me.” Alexis said, getting to her feet.

Ranvir blinked and nodded, following her to the door.

“You aren’t strong enough to keep me away. And you aren’t woman enough to keep him away.” Estrid’s voice carried the whispered violence of a knife in the night.

Ranvir shook hands and tapped chins with Alexis before she left. He quietly directed her in the opposite direction of the two serpents hissing at each other. Concerned, he quickly scanned the area and teleported.

“Ranvir,” Amalia said, aware of him before he’d even created the portal. “What can I do for you?”

She seemed relaxed, still wearing her traditional wedding garment. Traditions varied on how long you should be dressed. Ranging from a few weeks, well beyond what Amalia already had done, to a full year, of which she was almost a quarter-way through.

“I need some advice,” he said, pulling out a seat. They were in her school office. Where she’d spent all the time, she wasn’t educating. It would appear that she was preparing the last of her notes.

Ranvir hadn’t prepared a curriculum for the year. In fact, he mostly let every teacher decide what was most important and roll from there. He knew it wouldn’t make for great structured lessons, but with less than twelve students and all the teachers knowing each other, it was less of a problem.

“About?” she asked, not looking up from where she was skimming her notes.

“I think Shiri and Estrid were fighting over me.”

Amalia froze like a deer hearing the snap of a twig behind it, or perhaps more accurately, a predator realizing the prey was actually right in front of it. She slowly turned to look at him, the hint of a smile on her lips. “How do you know?”

Ranvir coughed in a fist and began relaying the overheard conversation.