Their routine continued normally, except for a bit of tension between Gregory and Yukiko. Both of them kept shooting glances at the other and getting caught at it occasionally. Together, they continued to read through the scroll teaching them how to combine body and spirit training.
In economics, Gregory was able to understand and keep up with Magus Marcia as she lectured. Aether introduction was different, as Adept John had some of the students try combining their magics together. The wind and water magi managed to bring a brief rain down on the area. Those who did not have magic that could be combined with others practiced like normal. Yukiko kept her shadow bind magic to herself, not wanting to tip her hand before the tournament, so she just worked on concealing herself in shadow. Gregory watched everyone, taking notes on what each novice was able to do and remembering it for next week.
During the hour before conditioning, Gregory and Yukiko tried to follow the steps from the scroll, walking through the simple exercises while meditating. The moment eluded both of them, but they were confident they would be able to manage it with more practice. With the movements being slow and controlled, they could even practice in their rooms if they wanted.
It was conditioning that had the biggest shift from the standard day. When the class was pairing off for sparring, a novice Gregory had never talked to stepped in front of him.
“Spar with me?” the man asked bluntly, making it more statement than question.
“I’m going to spar with—” Gregory began, but another student had stepped in front of Yukiko and was asking to fight her. They exchanged a look and shrugged. “Sure,” Gregory said, facing the man in front of him.
The first round was slow as Gregory and his opponent sized each other up, but Gregory knocked him down once they started in earnest. The man got right back to his feet and came back for more. Taken by surprise, since normally taking a person down was seen as a win and the sparring partners were supposed to square off for the next round, Gregory did his best to defend against the onslaught. A number of hard strikes connected with his chest, making him wince, but he managed to put the other student down again.
“You’re supposed—” Gregory began to say, but again, the novice came off the ground to attack a third time.
The adept closest to them intercepted the student and put him on the ground, holding the novice’s arm up and behind them. “You are breaking the rules of this class. The tournament is not until next week.”
“Yes, sir,” the novice on the ground spat.
A cry of pain came from behind the adept, and he released the chastised novice to find out what had happened. Yukiko stood back, her eye discoloring and her jaw set as she stared at the novice clutching his arm.
“What happened?” the adept said, going to the injured novice.
“He didn’t reset after I bested him. Instead, he attacked again and gave me this,” Yukiko gently touched her eye. “I reacted without thinking. I believe his elbow is broken.”
“Fucking bitch,” the novice on the ground spat. “Filthy half-bloods shouldn’t even be allowed to learn magic.”
“Quiet,” the adept snapped at the novice. “You are going to the healers.” Looking back, the adept stared hard at the novice Gregory had put down. “You will take him.”
“Yes, sir,” the novice replied, but his lip was pulled back in a sneer.
“The rest of you, back to sparring,” the adept said, moving to Yukiko. “How bad is that?”
“It’ll be fine. I don’t need to see the healer, sir.”
“Very well. You two square off.”
Gregory nodded, moving into position in front of Yukiko, “Yes, sir.”
~*~*~
When class ended, Gregory was slow in gathering his things. He wanted the rest of the class to leave before he spoke to Yukiko. “Yuki, are you okay?”
“It’ll heal,” Yukiko said, touching her sore eye, which was gaining even more color.
“Not what I meant. You can use your ring now that class is over.”
Yukiko exhaled deeply, “It hurt more than I expected. I’d gotten used to people not knowing or mentioning it. Being with you all the time made me hopeful that maybe things were different.”
“Fuck them,” Gregory said simply, touching her shoulder. “We’ll show them that you’re worth a thousand of them. We’ll take the top two spots in the tournament and make all of them cry. An uneducated fringer and a filthy animal will show them that they are below us. Won’t make our time here any easier, but it’ll put them all in their place.”
Yukiko snickered softly, “You’re not uneducated, not anymore.”
“And you were never filthy, nor an animal, Yuki.” Gregory squeezed her shoulder gently. “They’re jealous and will say anything they can to hurt you to make you doubt yourself. Personally, I think you’re the most amazing person I’ve met here.”
“You’re the only one who feels that way,” Yukiko said and looked down, her cheeks heating.
“I doubt it,” Gregory said. “Come on, let’s get a little training in before dinner, then we get to study.”
“Yes.”
Leaving the arena, the pair headed toward the training hall. They were planning on using one of the rooms for trying to combine their paths before using the baths. Approaching the building, they paused, as a number of novices were exiting after having used the baths.
“Greg,” Nick said, turning with his group toward the two of them, “about the party; are you coming?”
“I’m sorry, Nick, but my sensei has refused to give me the day off,” Gregory said.
“Sensei? Who’s teaching you, and what?” Nick asked, surprised. “Is that what you’ve been doing every day off?”
“Yes. Combat and Gin,” Gregory replied, giving as little information as possible.
“That’d explain how they’ve both improved so quickly,” Jason said. “If you just opt to join the clan, though, we can get you a better instructor.”
Yukiko stifled a laugh, which made her the center of attention. She gave them a smile, “Armsmaster Watashi is hard to beat for instruction.”
“He hasn’t accepted students in three years, and certainly never a novice,” Michelle said flatly. “His rates are exorbitant, as well.”
“That is roundly true,” Yukiko replied, her smile vanishing. “He was also the head of my father’s guards for a number of years.”
Nick’s easy-going smile was nowhere to be seen. “Why didn’t you tell us? We would have joined you.”
“I had a hard enough time convincing him to accept myself and Greg,” Yukiko replied. “If you know him, you know that he handles instruction one-on-one, not as a class.”
“But he’s teaching both of you,” Fureno pointed out.
“He is teaching Greg. His assistant is teaching me,” Yukiko said.
“I see,” Nick said stiffly. “Then you won’t be joining the Eternal Flame?”
“That’s still up in the air,” Gregory said, trying to buy time. “I’ve had no one else approach me to this point.”
“I have not ruled against it,” Yukiko said a second after Gregory, “though having eurtik in my heritage makes me a little leery, considering some of the stories I’ve heard.”
Nick stared at them for a long moment before his easy-going smile came back. “Well, if you’re busy, you’re busy. We’ll be talking again after the tournament.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Gregory said. “We’re going to get cleaned up, see you later.”
“Night,” Nick said as he led his group away.
In the training hall, the two friends found an empty room to use. “Well, I guess that answers the question about his friendliness,” Gregory sighed. “He’s going to hate us after the tournament.”
“Yes. First for beating him, then again when we turn his offer down.”
“Still need to decide who we’re going to join,” Gregory said as he began to stretch.
“That is the difficult part,” Yukiko agreed. “An hour, then bath and dinner?”
“Yeah,” Gregory said. “I thought I almost had it earlier.”
“As if you could see it just out of reach?”
“Yeah.”
“Me, too,” Yukiko said as she positioned herself to start. “Maybe this time.”
“Maybe,” Gregory echoed her.
~*~*~
The rest of the week continued in normal fashion until the day before their day off. Breakfast had been good, and they had finished reading through the scroll a few days ago. Instead of turning it back in, they both decided to go over it again.
Economics, their study period, and aether introductions yielded nothing new to them. Gregory caught sight of the blue threads twice more, once seeing thick strands wrapped around a shadow near the wall, where it had a clear view of the novices. The moment he thought he saw the shadow magi, his vision of the threads vanished.
During their hour of rest before conditioning, both of them felt the flow of spirit and body connecting. Each of them was inside their aether cavern, still performing the techniques outlined in the scroll. As they watched, large embers left the fire, drifting to the deepening channels, and wisps of smoke drifted out.
They came out of their trances when other novices began showing up. They did not have a chance to compare experiences, but the smiles both of them wore were enough for them to know what had happened for the other.
All during the week, Gregory and Yukiko turned down all other requests to spar and fought each other exclusively. They kept to the basics, feeling the number of eyes studying them.
Heading for the training hall after conditioning, they were whispering to each other about their success combining the paths when two other novices rushed them from a clump of shrubs. Neither was prepared for the attack, but they managed to defend themselves, earning minor bruises in the first clash. The two attackers rushed back in only to find Gregory and Yukiko set and ready.
“Stop!” The word cut through the air like a blade, but the attackers did not heed it.
Gregory and Yukiko resisted the attack and turned the tables. Both assailants slammed into the ground almost at the same instant with gasps of pain. Backing quickly away, Gregory looked over to see Magus Paul striding toward them, his face dark with anger.
“I told you to stop,” Paul thundered at the novices on the ground. “You two, what happened here?” he demanded of Gregory and Yukiko.
“We were heading to the baths when these two rushed us,” Gregory explained. “We defended ourselves twice.” Gregory turned his cheek to show the red mark and scratch he had received from the first attack.
“That is what happened, Magus,” Yukiko confirmed.
“Considering I saw their second attack and they didn’t stop when commanded, I’ll accept that version of events. It isn’t unusual for novices to try removing competition before the tournament, but normally it is done with more finesse. It gets worse after the tournament, too. Now move along.”
“Thank you, sir,” Gregory bowed, mirrored by Yukiko.
The pair hurried away as Paul grabbed the two attackers by the backs of their necks and hauled them upright. “You two are going to have a hard time of it.”
“But, sir,” one of them protested, but Gregory and Yukiko did not hear the rest as they entered the building.
“Guess we’ll need to be even more aware of our surroundings going forward,” Gregory grimaced.
“Are you okay?” Yukiko asked, looking at the red line on his cheek.
“Yeah,” Gregory said, gently prodding his cheek. “Damned cheap shot.”
Yukiko frowned, “Assholes, trying to do that.”
“They interrupted our conversation,” Gregory said when they found an empty room. “Let’s see if we can do it again.”
“Greg,” Yukiko said slowly, “tomorrow, we’ll have to leave training a little early.”
“Meeting your parents,” Gregory nodded. “I remember.”
“We’ll bring our silks with us to change into after training.”
“That formal?” Gregory asked with hesitation.
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure they’ll still fit,” he mentioned, thinking of his other clothing.
“They were exchanged the other day. Didn’t you notice?”
“Uh, no. I take it the staff at the dormitory did it?”
“They undertook the errand I asked of them. Lagrand Clothiers were happy to help with exchanging the items.”
“When did you manage that?”
“I told you I would take care of it last week,” Yukiko said, looking away and smiling.
“Some days, Yuki, I wonder if I can ever keep up with you,” Gregory said as he walked to the middle of the room and took up the beginning stance. “You ready to start?”
“Yes,” Yukiko replied with a grin, “let’s improve ourselves so much that our peers are left far behind.”
“Sounds good.”
