The next week, Ranvir had to check with Pashar to make sure the bet wouldn’t interfere with his training schedule. It didn’t. He could still go to ice class despite his dispute with Grimar. If Sansir’s teacher, Orulf, could put him so far ahead in just six days, then Teacher Grimar didn’t deserve the title.

Sansir was surprisingly excited as they walked towards the field. They were the easiest to distinguish. He’d seen more interesting smoke fields with grates letting out huge plumes of smoke, instead of the small rysten in a bucket. Obsidian had their namesake stones lying about, but since they were used to demarcate every field, they didn’t stick out. The ice fields were set up in a circle around the biggest well Ranvir had ever seen. Students had already gathered and were filling buckets to bring them to the individual fields.

“Why are they gathering water?” Ranvir asked Sansir as they approached.

“It’s for manipulation.” Sansir explained, running a hand over his mostly bald head. He didn’t shave yesterday, so a bit of stubble was showing through on the edges of his head. “They can’t always access ice, but a competent manipulator can still get respectable effects from water. It might not be as pure as the Goddess’ chosen element, but it’s still in the same domain.”

Ranvir nodded. He would have to spend some time thinking it over, probably see it too.

“Besides, I heard some Masters can turn water into ice.” Sansir added, causing Ranvir’s head to jerk towards him.

“Into ice? From water? Like a rime oak?”

“Faster.” Sansir couldn’t stop the quirk of a smile that crept onto his face. “A lot faster.”

“That sounds incredible.” Ranvir muttered as they stopped at their field.

“How’s it going with your work?” Sansir asked. “You were working on sensing space, right? Sensing it at night?”

Ranvir failed to stop the bright red embarrassment that fought its way onto his face. “I uhh… It’s been going pretty slow.”

Sansir frowned as he looked at him. “What’s the matter?”

Ranvir averted his gaze, seeing the approach of a man in a Master’s uniform. “I just, it’s a little hard getting into training mode at the end of the day. And even when I do, it’s not like space’s readily apparent.”

Sansir let out a sigh.

“It’s not like I don’t have a lot of other things going on.” Ranvir muttered, feeling his shoulders lift in a deep purple defensive move.

“I get it.” Sansir replied. “It can be especially hard when there’s so much else going on. It wasn’t always easy for me, either. When I was training alone, there were many days where I would promise myself that I would get the extra hour in after dinner. Instead, I would spend it relaxing in front of the fire alongside Master Tore.”

“Students!” a master, Orulf presumably, called, as he stopped at the front of their field opposite the well. Behind him, Ranvir could hear the call of different Teachers to their group of young tethered.

Master Orulf had a special look, which was hard when under such strict guidelines as the military commands. Most of the teacher’s look came from his powerful mustache. Where most of the teachers and personnel at the academy either went for a clean shaven look or the more usual looking, well-trimmed mustache. Master Orulf’s mustache neatly ate the entirety of his lips, making it seem like he was speaking from beneath a veil hanging directly from his nose.

Ranvir didn’t know if it was because of this, but the master had an unusual way of saying students. Almost turning the ‘s’ into an ‘sh’ sound.

He clearly grabbed the attention of his ‘shtudents’, as Sansir stopped what he was doing and settled into an attentive stance. Ranvir wouldn’t describe it as a combat form, more like his friend was doing his best attempt at a stick stuck in the ground.

Ranvir would never tell Sansir this, but it reminded him of the zealot student from space class, Torben. He watched Sansir’s rapt attention locking on to the teacher. His green eyes watching the ice master’s every move, picking out every detail. Ranvir took a step away from his friend. He didn’t know if he preferred this to Grev’s suddenly stoic attitude when it came to training, but he was sure he would have his answers by the end of the week.

It was then Ranvir noticed someone following behind his new teacher. They were nearly eaten by the much larger shadow he cast. It wasn’t just Orulf’s mustache that was powerful, his entire frame seemed like it was built to stop sieges, by forgoing the ram and siege equipment and just have him charge through the walls. With a barrel torso, a bit of a gut, arms that belonged on a short giant, and legs that looked like they should’ve grown roots and thrown leaves centuries ago, Master Orulf would be a dominating presence anywhere.

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The figure behind him looked all the more fragile from the juxtaposition. She looked tiny and vulnerable, legs like sticks to his tree trunks. Her fingers were long and delicate, while Orulf’s looked like they could dent the edge of an axe. Kirs’ frame seemed even more vulnerable to her appearance outside of the library to be next to Master Orulf.

“First,” The monster made man began. “I’d like to welcome Shtudent Ranvir to our class for the week! I hope you can learn something from your time here.” His mustaches puffed out as he spoke. They moved even more clearly when he whispered what came next, not that his whispers were any quieter than a normal person’s spoken words. “Not that I can see how…” He then continued as if the entire class hadn’t heard him. “I believe we also have a guest who’s here to have a quick talk with you.”

Ranvir nodded, but said nothing to the mountain man. Instead, he ran to meet Kirs. They didn’t say anything to each other. She just watched intently as Master Orulf set the rest of the class to work on their meditation.

Once the rest of class was busy, the Master turned to them. “I hope this won’t disturb the rest of my students.” Ranvir didn’t think he meant to sound threatening. His sheer size simply lent a measure of threat to his words without his intention.

“I doubt it, Master.” Ranvir replied, bowing slightly. “Usually my powers don’t tend to be highly noticeable.”

The Teacher nodded along judging from the rest of his face; he was doing something with his mouth. Not that Ranvir could tell what, with most of his face shrouded behind the mask of hair.

“Very well, then.” He turned and lumbered towards the middle of the field. Ranvir swore he felt the earth shaking as the giant man walked away.

“That’s not normal.” He muttered.

“It’s also not that important.” Kirs interrupted. “What do you say we get the measurements out of the way, first?”

Ranvir was about to agree when a thought occurred to him. “Actually, I think I usually perform better after I’ve had time to warm up. At least, that’s what it feels like to me. It’s hard to keep track of time.”

Kirs puckered her lips as she looked at him. “For today, we’ll take a measurement without you warming up. That way we can measure the results tomorrow against warming up.”

Ranvir nodded in agreement. It sounded reasonable enough.

“I gotta remember to bring a book tomorrow.”

Ranvir sat down. “What was that?”

“I gotta remember to bring my book tomorrow.” Kirs said. “So I can… write my notes down properly. If you’re going to spend time warming up, something I’m assuming is like what the class is currently doing, then I could use the time better.”

Ranvir blinked, keeping his eyes from narrowing along with the orange suspicion growing in his chest. “Yeah, sounds smart.” Closing his eyes, he purposely avoided touching his chest as he searched for tether-space. He still couldn’t find it, but he felt he was getting closer, as a brush against his chest was enough for him to enter.

Taking a single long breath alongside his tether, he watched it spin. Mentally, he pushed it to move faster. He wanted to play with it more, though. Part of him was well aware that Kirs was waiting right next to him, ready to take his measurements.

Pressure came flooding in, pushing tether-space to the back of his mind. For a second, he vaguely felt something emanating from his right. Like a vast hole made of snow, cold, and ice. Even turning his head broke the feeling, but he still looked. All he could see was the class of students and Master Orulf walking amongst them.

“You ready?” Kirs asked, pulling his attention back to her.

“Yeah, just a second.” He lifted a hand between them, noticing her getting ready with the measurement. “Smallest first.”

She frowned, eyebrows bunching together as her forehead wrinkled and she lowered the measuring stick. “Why smallest first? Any particular reason?”

Ranvir hesitated. “I’ll probably get thrown out of this state if I use all my power, then it’ll be awhile, at least a few minutes, before I can even attempt to re-enter.”

Kirs pulled out a slate tablet. He noted that she’d written ‘warm up’ on it already. “This is from ‘embracing the pressure’? That you get thrown out?”

Ranvir nodded. “It’s what allows me to feel the world, and manipulate it.”

She looked up from the tablet. “It’s like tether-space?”

Ranvir felt a frown creep over his face, as thickly webbed red consternation entangled him. “I guess it’s tough to explain. I have to enter tether-space to see my tether, right?”

“Yeah.”

“So after that I need to let in the pressure from outside, to allow my senses to go beyond my body?”

“That sounded like a question, more than an answer.”

“I guess it was.” The web of consternation throbbed as it wrapped itself tighter around him. “I have to let the pressure in-“

“Before you go any further, what is the ‘pressure’? Is it space? The Goddess? Something else?”

“I don’t think it’s the Goddess… Maybe we should ask Orulf.” He turned to look for the Master, but Kirs stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m less interested in what the Master thinks than what you feel. Let’s try from the beginning. Go back and do it slowly, really feel the pressure.”

Ranvir nodded. He closed his eyes in order to focus better on the pressure sitting with his tether. It was a lot harder to force it out, without the backlash throwing him all the way back to his body, than he’d expected.

He managed, but it took a while. Slowly, he opened himself to the pressure. He didn’t let it in, just sensed it. It still nearly came tumbling through and he had to close himself off immediately. Closing himself off was surprisingly easy, taking no effort at all. It was as simple as closing his eyes.

Yet, when he tried to sense the pressure again, it rushed in.

“This might take a while.” Ranvir muttered, as the pressure washed into the space pushing him through.

“That’s fine.” Kirs didn’t sound excited about it, but also not very disappointed. More resigned than anything.

It took longer than the rest of meditation before Ranvir managed a somewhat reliable stalemate for almost ten seconds. The good news was it didn’t really strain his tether, and he got the warm up he wanted.

In the few moments before it came spilling in, he senses a tightly woven network that connected everything with everything. It was everything, and somehow also empty. It was nothing, yet full. It was space, and yet so much more.