Ranvir and Kirs had gathered at a field some time before the usual meeting of their group. Normally, they picked one of the grass fields, since they would spend some amount of time seated and concentrating. Something sand could very much get in the way of.

But for this situation, they wanted one of sand fields. Ranvir measured out three lengths of the ruler Kirs’d brought, before pushing down a stick into the sand, then another two and another stick. He continued until he had placed sticks marking various distances from a dummy at the center of the field.

Three, five, eight, ten, and fifteen meters. “Should I get some more sticks?” Kirs asked, looking at the distances involved. “Fifteen isn’t that far away.”

Ranvir looked down the range, he hadn’t placed the sticks in an exact straight line and it bothered him more than he thought it should. “Let’s just see how he does today. We can always move one of the other sticks further away.”

Kirs shrugged, “Fair enough.”

Ranvir turned to the center of the academy, the thick complex of buildings bigger than any he’d seen in his rural village growing up. “They’re coming.”

In the distance, he could make out Sansir’s tall and bald figure easily marking out their group. Grev walking beside him talking animatedly and waving his hands, causing his blond hair to bob and weave. Well behind them walked another pair. An older man in the black of the United Alliance, with the white accent marks of a Master. His aged maturity shining through as he walked next to his enthusiastic student.

Esmund was visibly struggling to contain himself as he saw Kirs on the field, only his respect for Master Svenar seemed to hold him back. Barely. Esmund’s shorter figure would surge forwards in short bursts, before slowing down to let the Master catch up, before once more lurching into motion.

“Was Master Svenar supposed to be here?” Kirs asked, her voice matched the slight flickering gray worry that rumbled in Ranvir’s chest.

“Not to my knowledge.” He replied. “Though, Esmund did say he was impressed by the exercise we developed.”

“It’s probably not going to be anything too dramatic.” Kirs muttered, digging through her messenger bag. The scholar had long since started carrying a bag to these meetings, her notes were growing with each passing session and she never knew when she needed to grab old ones for reference.

Ranvir smiled as he greeted Sansir and Grev, eying the oncoming Master and student. “Know anything about that?”

They both shook their head. “He just showed up.” Grev replied. They waited in silence as the last member of their group arrived. Esmund very nearly skipped over to Kirs kissing her briefly, before turning to Master Svenar.

“You’re wondering why I’m here.” The Teacher said.

“With a wit like that it’s not just his power we might cut ourselves on.” Grev muttered.

Svenar sent him a glare that made it clear the light tethered had not been as inconspicuous as he’d thought. “Let’s just say that my interest is piqued.” He continued. “I’d like to keep an eye on you and see what you’re doing, especially after that exercise you and Ranvir developed.” He said the last part to Esmund.

“Well, mostly he developed it.” Es replied, kicking at the sand.

Master Svenar nodded. “I just want to be a silent observer, see what you’re doing and if there’s anything I can take away from it.”

Ranvir and Kirs nodded, to the Master’s slight frown. She glanced briefly to the older tethered, before clearing her throat. “Well, we figured now was a good time to refocus and set our sights on our next goals. So if we take some time while everyone warms up, then we’ll go around and talk about it.”

They all settled in for warm up tether exercises, a simple tether-stretch without straining themselves too much. Ranvir who’d done it that morning and was still embracing the pressure didn’t need to, instead he made his way over to the slightly confused looking warp tethered watching the students.

“Teacher.”

“Student.”

“Should I explain?”

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“I take it this is some kind of development on that exercise you were doing when you first entered my class?”

Ranvir nodded. That had only been three months ago, yet his certainty in his tether and the exercise was miles different. Kilometers different. Ranvir absentmindedly corrected himself. He’d been working more and more often the scholarly measurements and it was easier if he only worked with them. Habits were hard to kill though.

“Exactly, like that. It’s still functional, too. So long as you don’t over do it.” A bit of yellow nostalgia rose up in him, moving like weathered paper fluttering on a breeze.

“Better than a simple exercise?” Svenar questioned.

“In some ways.” Ranvir replied. “When warming up it’s just fine. And I figured I would start here. What do you want to work on, while you’re here?”

“Work on?” Svenar looked incredulous as he turned to Ranvir. “I’m a Master.”

“But not a Triplet Master, so what do you want to work on?”

Master Svenar’s lip thinned. “I’ll think on it.”

Ranvir nodded and they stood in silence watching the others go through the tether-stretch. Focusing, Ranvir reached out with his tether-sense to each of the students warming up. “I think we’re ready.”

Svenar grunted his brows lowering into a frown. Ranvir felt a vast swell as a massive beast stretched forth to the students, touching them with the weight of an ancient stronghold. The sensation left Ranvir with a strange sense of surreality, as he stared at the Master from which the sense originated. It felt wrong.

Ranvir frowned as he turned to the Master. This was the first time he’d ever sensed another tethered stretching out their senses, though he’d known others to be capable of it. He didn’t know if it was strength, though judging from the lack of reaction from Sansir and Grev it might not be, or something else. Only he and Esmund reacted to the Master’s action.

They both turned to look at him. Despite not being the target of Svenar’s senses, he’d still felt like he was being bludgeoned by them. Reflexively, he took a step back. There was a rough edged quality to the movement of the power, that increased the feeling to Ranvir. Like a child waving a stick the size of a tree around.

“How can you tell?” Svenar questioned, looking to Ranvir. His eyebrows raised when he saw the distance that had grown between them.

“Is that normal?” Ranvir asked. “Can you tone it down at little?” Remembering himself, he quickly answered the question. “I can feel it in their tether. They feel different when prepared.”

Svenar’s frown turned into a scowl. “Thanks.”

Kirs looked between Esmund, Ranvir, and Master Svenar curiously, then raised her book and quill questioningly. Ranvir nodded and strode over to her.

“Let’s start with you.” Ranvir said to Es as he approached. “Obviously, we’re going to be training-“

“My awesome new powers. I want to see everything I can do!”

“I was going to say your control, but…” He trailed off looking to Master Svenar who nodded in confirmation. “Control.”

“I think so too.” Kirs agreed.

“But cool cutting powers.” Esmund chopped his hands back and forth a few times.

“Aren’t worth much, if you can’t avoid hitting your allies.” Ranvir finished the sentence.

“Fine, but after that I’m going to do some crazy shit.”

Ranvir smiled and slapped his oldest friend on the shoulder, then moved on to Sansir.

“Advancement.” He said immediately. “We’re getting close, Grev’s already diverged.”

Diverging was apparently a phenomenon that happened when tethered grew in strength while a pre-stage. Ranvir and Kirs hadn’t known about for the simple fact that they hadn’t known to look it up and hadn’t thought to ask the teachers about it.

Diverging was when a tethered broke from the established pattern. In the beginning six tethered of equal strength but each with a different element would all be able to manage the exact same feat.

Diverging was when the pre-stage reached some critical level of strength and the differences started showing. Generating and manipulating light was pretty low intensity stuff, compared to obsidian. When Grev diverged he was suddenly able to manage a glowing streak from finger tip to finger tip. Going from less than fifty centimeters to more than a hundred-and-fifty in one night was a pretty amazing feat.

With Es advancing and Grev diverging they had considered dropping the measuring experiment. The smallest effect Ranvir could make was still on par with Es, despite his jump in power and control. They would need to increase complexity, which would be impossible, or nearly so, to measure without someone of the same type for comparison.

Kirs bumped her knuckles against the top of his head, which emanated a worryingly hollow sound. “Any thoughts?”

Ranvir blinked, advancement, right. He cleared his throat. “I have some thoughts on how to prepare for advancement, so I’d be curious to add them to your training. Obviously we’re going to be stepping up ritual training and I’ll have a bit of experimentation to do.”

“My goal is advancement too.” Grev added

“Do you know how close you guys are?” Ranvir asked.

“Master Ayvir’s not entirely sure.” Grev said. “He probably wants to play it safe.”

“Orulf said I was closing in.” Sansir added. “Around the middle of this trimester, something like that.”

Ranvir was a little skeptical of such an early call, but in this one regard he judged the Masters to have plenty of experience. He nodded at them as Kirs finished writing down in her book. It was a bit shoddy without a proper desk and she had to be careful not to spill ink everywhere.

“What about you?” Grev asked, causing the others to look up.

“Well, I’m still examining my withered string, but long term… Senses, obviously.” Ranvir replied, he tried acting like it meant nothing, but he felt the shimmering intensity rise in him flickering colors of wounded red, pale violet fear, and gray worry. “Being blind once, is twice too many.” Angry reds, oranges, and yellows flared up even more intensely behind the shimmering haze of other colors.

“And you, Teacher?” Grev asked, breaking the tension somewhat.

Master Svenar turned his gaze away from Ranvir. “My tether-sense it would seem. Apparently, it’s a little much.”