Just after dinner, the doorbell rang, jolting the girls awake from where they were slowly falling asleep on the couch. They were both in that stage, in that loop a person spins through, just before falling asleep, where he can't be sure whether he is awake or not, anymore.

Looking at one another and groaning, Sidy was the first to get up. She opened the door and came face to face with a scruffy-looking man with short stubble and an easy smile.

"Zev!" she squealed, tried to hug him, and came up short as she lacked the length of arms to accomplish such an impressive feat. “What are you doing here? Come in, come in.”

“I had some business here in the Protectorate for the faculty and decided to pay you a visit. Lorney told me you’d be here and Ixa’s brothers mercifully provided the location.” The jolly man provided as he squeezed past her. If the doorframe was any smaller only a smear would have been left of the girl.

“Rattle-tales, the both of them! You want leaf juice? Something to bite?” sounded from the kitchenette down the hall.

“Some tea would be nice. Mind if I take the couch? I fear the chairs wouldn’t survive my manly stature and I would probably get stuck in that armchair.” He said as he made his way to the common room, smile growing wider as he joked at his own expense.

“Not at all, sit, and tell me already, what have you been up to here?” Sid prodded as she followed the boy in.

“Oh, you know, this and that. Super secret stuff, can’t tell, might get shot if I did.”

"He was promoting the school at the local university market. Luring prospective students into the jaws of our institution," came the answer from around the corner.

"And you just doomed me." Zev wilted as he finally sat down, placing his head in his hands.

“Nah, I was the one to give it up, they can’t legally place you against the wall. Doesn’t mean they won’t try, though.” Joked Ixalia carrying in a tray with a big pot of tea and two cups. For Sid there was her humongous mug, already filled. It was almost as big as the pot.

“So, how’s this course I’ve been hearing you’re attending?”

“I’m gonna kill the little shits,” Ixa murmured under her breath, but Sidy heard her anyway. Zev luckily didn’t.

They spent the evening and a part of the night talking. About Ingrem and the other pupils, what they were learning, and once that topic dried out, about anything else, really. It was nice to have someone else for company for a change, not just sweaty people and exercise.

As they were saying their goodbyes around midnight, Zev asked. “I still have some errands tomorrow, but would you mind if I dropped by the day after to see for myself? And would they let me?”

The girls shared a look and both shrugged at the same time. "Sure…" "We don…" they spoke over each other, stopped, and smirked in perfect sync.

At an upturned palm in a gesture of a go-ahead from Ixa, Sid started again, combining their replies into one. "Sure, we don't mind. You risk being put through the wringer, though. I don't think Ingrem will let anyone laze about in his presence.”

"Don't you worry, you wouldn't be able to tell, but I am pretty resistant to being made to move. Or being moved, for that matter. No connection between the two, I'm sure." He replied and waved to them as he disappeared down the stairs.

***

“Today we’ll go with sparring.” Their coach announced on Monday after their morning run. “Jerry, Perry, you’re up, take your choice of a weapon and stand right there.” He said, pointing first to a table laden with various items, not just weapons, and then to the middle of the room. “Yes, right there in the two smaller circles on the floor.”

“Get ready, and… go!” Ingrem barked.

Jerry was the first to move, trying to leverage his longer reach against the smaller woman. One step and a lunge. She sidestepped, dodged, came to the original position, and slammed her own rubber knife into his side, where it slid sideways and down before reaching him. He tried for a grapple but her arm once again slammed into the barrier he set up. With a soft pop she made it through and jabbed the knife into his ribs.

"Great, nice dodging, Perry, good movement. Jerry, it's like you forgot what we were doing here the past few weeks. You abandoned your posture and tried using brute force, no thinking at all. Good job with the mana shield, but you can't rely on it too much, you just don't have the necessary practice put in it right now." Ingrem gave them feedback and called the next pair.

Liman replaced Jerry, who was still rubbing his chest, and Loui, the cook, took up his position opposite him. Loui had a knife, but Liman decided to go without any items at all.

This time no one made any sudden moves, they stood there and looked each other over.

“Sparring, not stare-ing,” exclaimed the trainer and Sidy heard Ixa trying to suppress a chortle.

The duo in the middle each took a step forward and then a couple more. A quick exchange of jabs and slaps followed. The cook tried to slip past the soldier's defense and each time his hand was knocked aside or deflected by a barrier. Liman's attempts were hampered by a knife that always seemed to find its way in between his hand and its target and he had to veer off, to not impale himself, and slap the offending item away once more.

They went on for three minutes straight before the cook began slowing down, tiring faster than his opponent. Soon enough he found himself in a grapple and conceded.

“Excellent show, you two. Loui, you need to work on your stamina but great form, where you’re lacking is the mage department.” It was a long-standing ache for the man. He seemed unable to produce even the smallest of bubbles around himself. “Keep working on it.”

“Liman, you are a dumbass. Always take a force multiplier if you can. Had you something in hand, you'd have had a much easier time. Loui would have to be wary of any sharp objects and couldn't be so aggressive with his knife." He chastised. "Ixalia, Sidysvalda, your turn.”

Ixa jumped up when called and strode over to the table to look over her options. There were various knives placed on it and rubber recreations of different common items one might find herself in possession of. She thought for a moment and picked one of those items, one not made of rubber at that.

Sid picked up two knives and when they took their places, eyed her choice of weapons. A short laugh erupted around the room but was quickly stopped by Ingrem. She picked a book. A thick and heavy one with a leather cover. Lutto’s encyclopedia technica.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Their coach waited for them to get ready and then shouted. “Go!”

As the word left his mouth, Ixa threw her book at Sidy, turned around, and sprinted for the door. She stopped before she actually left and faced back again. Silence welcomed her. Her opponent was sprawled on the ground, rubbing her forehead and everyone else was staring at her.

“What? The first lesson was ‘run for it’. Was it not?" she asked and a barking laugh erupted from the man who trained them.

"Yes, indeed it was. Excellent point and very well made. But please, now go spar for a bit." He had to force his laughter to stop before he managed to say the sentence, barely at that.

Going back, the girl smoothed her clothes and helped Sidy to her feet. “You ok?”

“Yeah, you have a mean throw, do you know that? And the aim! Right between the eyes.” She was still touching a slight indent on her head.

“How did I even hit you?”

“Surprise. I was expecting something unexpected from you, but definitely not that,” a soft chuckle escaped her as she bent to pick up her weapons.

Ixa went back to the table and took a knife of her own, then headed to her spot and settled into position.

Knife-hand in front, the tip of the blade pointed diagonally, between her opponent and the ceiling. Her other hand slightly behind, elbow tucked in slightly, and palm open. Her torso was slightly tilted forward and knees bent with one foot at an angle. Overall, her posture gave the impression of a tensioned spring, ready to bounce away at a moment’s notice.

Sidy was in a similar pose, but with a knife in a backward grip. At the go-ahead, they approached one step at a time.

The blue-haired girl knew that her friend was already capable of making a relatively solid bubble, unlike herself. Ixa wasn't sure how long it'd take her to get through and was vary of the second knife. She had to break it fast and she thought she might have just the thing. Sidy had the power to make a good bulwark but her control was still abysmal, if she could disrupt that, she’d have a way through.

A thrust came from Sidy, she blocked with a bubble encompassing just her hand, using it as a buckler. She counter-attacked, forcing her friend a step back and stepped forward to close the distance. The brunette had a habit of leading with her right hand and she was ready to take advantage of it.

The next time Sidy attacked, she was proven correct. Ixa stepped to the left, blocked with her own weapon hand, and created a little bubble on each finger of her other hand, not bigger than a ping pong ball, spinning in random directions, and rammed it toward her opponent's side.

Three soft pops sounded as her drills fell apart before Sidy soundlessly lost her defenses and her hand punched flesh. The girl’s eyes widened but she reacted quickly, swerved out of the way before Ixa could capitalize on her success, and went for a slash with her backward-held knife.

Ixalia quickly made a half-version of a shield and the weapon slid near her forearm, yanking the attacker's arm with it. But the spin's direction backfired and the rubber blade stabbed her into an unprotected thigh.

It unbalanced her just enough to cause her to drop her barrier and before she could drive a blade into her friend’s ribs, said girl’s other weapon found its way across her throat.

“Sidy, good job, it worked out for you, but don’t over-compensate the other direction from what I told Liman. And you watch too many movies. That back grip of yours has its uses, but not in the way you tried to. Stick to what you know.” Ingrem commented once they placed the knives back on the table. “As for you, Ixalia, whatever you did to her bubble, I want to know, that was awesome. Otherwise, work on your own protection. There wasn’t anything overtly wrong, but you need more practice.”

Up next was Peter, the farmer, and Hugo, a law student. Their duel was spectacular, but probably not in the way Hugo wanted. He obviously wanted to impress and ran up to Peter swinging. Before he could enter a striking distance they both staggered and two cracks sounded out one after the other. The man failed his attack and Peter didn't miss the opportunity to deliver a killing blow.

“Good reactions Peter, you saw a window and took it, well done. And you, Hugo. Leave it to the lawyers to jerk their egos. Your bubble was too big and impacted Peter's. Tuck it closer to your body, it has to allow you to reach outside to strike, you should even be able to make it stronger that way.” He judged the men.

***

The rest of the day was spent alternating opponents and scenarios. Sometimes only one was armed, others neither or both. They were told to protect someone or it was two-on-one.

Ixalia’s trick worked with varying degrees of success but she got better with every attempt and by the end could break anyone’s but Liman’s mana shield with regularity.

Her barrier improved as well, she got better at putting it up and spinning it, but its strength was still lacking and easily overwhelmed under prolonged contact. In the physical skills department, she showed a stark contrast as she struggled to land a hit after stripping her opponents of their defenses and more often than not lost the match.

Ingrem went over everything they did well and wrong after each bout and then in more detail when a cycle finished. Once or twice, he had to stop a spar before someone got hurt, but it was nothing major. He corrected people’s stances and showed them better ways to go about things.

This lesson was Ixa’s favorite to date and she couldn't wait for tomorrow to continue. She felt tired and hurt all over, but it was the good kind of pain.

“Tell me, how do you do it?” Ingrem asked as they were getting ready to leave.

“Basically, I try to make a tiny hole that they then failed to compensate for and burst the bubble for me.” The young mage replied.

“And the long version?”

“Fine,” she jokingly sighed, shoulder slumping, feet dragging. “I create several spheres each spinning in a different direction. Mana, contrary to popular belief, interacts with the surroundings quite a lot, these balls cause drag around them and if applied right, cause instability in the shield. Either the person manages to compensate, the bubble is strong enough to endure or a pinprick is made. Then they have to make up for it in the way their mana flows or it collapses the whole construct in a cascade.

"It's tiny, so the correction should be small as well, but most people don't have the fine control to make such a minute adjustment, so they overcompensate and it goes downhill from there." She explained.

“Just like that? So simple to destroy something generations spent their lives building?” The coach seemed exasperated.

"Hardly easy. I almost didn't get to Sid, and hers was thin and poorly maintained. No offense, Sid." She apologized to the girl.

“None taken,” came the reply.

“And it was a process, getting the right shape and texture to increase drag took me all day, and it's far from optimal. And you have to find just the right way to spin each ball to maximize the effect. And we are still all novices here. Maybe this is as far as it goes." Ixa added with a shrug.

“Texture?” the man asked further.

"Uhm, if the standard bubble is a sheet of paper, what I am making is like sandpaper. I do change the shape to roughen it up a bit, but I mostly focused on manipulating the way it interacts with the environment.”

"Ok, that's the how, but why did you even come up with it? Not that it is not effective, but with such control, you should be able to just power right through, why go about it in such a convoluted way?" Ingrem was getting thoroughly puzzled now.

“I can’t make a shield. Not a proper one, at least.” She confessed to him for the first time.

“What? But you are always helping the others with their shields, how come?”

“She doesn’t have the core depth.” Interjected Sidy, she heard Ixa complain about it enough times and knew how thoroughly irritated she was with explaining it to other people all the time.

“She’s capable of making one, she just can't fuel it. Yes, the bubble is probably the most simple and stable shape, but there’s a lot of volume to work with. You do get most of the mana back if it breaks and the trickle to maintain it is negligible, but if you can’t build it in the first place.” She shrugged.

Ingrem listened and then turned back to Ixa. “But I’ve seen you make a shield today, and not a bad one.”

“That was either a smaller version, omitting my legs, as Sidy can attest, or one conforming to my body, not a sphere. Less volume to fill, but weaker in comparison.”

"Huh," was all the trainer managed to say.

They discussed some of the nuances after that and he gave them both more advice. He even took interest in her emergency bag, giving tips about what she should add.

“Condoms, you definitely need to get a pack of unlubricated condoms. Oh, don’t give me that look. That is not what I meant by that. They are great for other things. Have you ever found a better, tougher material for when you need to pack something tight without water getting to it? And speaking of water, if you ever need to carry any amount around, they are a perfect vessel. With how tiny a weight and space investment they are, there's no reason not to pack a pack, or three." Ingrem told her.

“Maybe I did judge too hastily. I’ll see if I can’t find any.” She replied and they said their farewells as they separated near the building’s entrance.

Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough, Ixalia thought.

***

And elsewhere, Helena of Insbenn had exactly the same belief in mind.