Nessa and Daciana were waiting for them in the archive. “All three of you made it! That’s amazing,” Daciana said with a wide grin. “Our clan is amazing.”
The three friends exchanged an amused glance at her phrasing.
“It’s not our clan yet, Daciana,” Nessa reminded her.
“It will be,” Daciana said confidently. “We’ve been doing good, right?” she asked directly to Gregory.
“You’ve been doing well with the Magi Squares. I think you’ve done well with Indara, too. How do you feel like you’ve done?”
“Great!” Daciana beamed.
“Good, but we can improve,” Nessa said.
“We’re doing better than just good,” Daciana said, turning to Nessa.
“You can still improve,” Jenn said bluntly. “Even we are still improving.”
Daciana looked down. “Yeah, I know… But we have to be good enough to join you.”
“If you keep pushing, you’ll be doing the right thing,” Yukiko said. “Just keep on like you have and you should be fine. We’ll probably have more than just you two wanting to join, and Dia won’t let everyone in.”
“We’ll be allowed to join,” Daciana said firmly.
Nessa took a deep breath, wondering how her friend could always be so certain about things. “When do you find out who you’re fighting?” Nessa asked, trying to change the topic.
“The same time the fights are always posted,” Jenn said. “All the final eight fights will be in the center arena. You might want to go early if you want a seat.”
“Is that where you’re going after this?” Daciana asked.
“No, we have more training to do,” Yukiko said.
“Can we—?” Daciana started to ask.
“No, Daciana,” Nessa said, taking her friend’s hand. “We can’t just follow them around.”
Daciana frowned, but nodded. “I guess…”
“It’s best if you keep your own routine for now,” Yukiko said.
“Why?” Daciana asked.
“We’ll be away from the academy after the tournament,” Gregory told them. “We won’t be back until the start of your novice year. Just do what you’ve been doing and you’ll be ahead of most of your class.”
“Is that usual?” Nessa asked.
“From the end of the tournament until the start of the next academy year, the clans have time to train their members as they see fit. Elder Lightshield wants us to leave the city,” Jenn said. “It’ll be the same for you in a year, if you’re part of the clan.”
“Should we focus on learning something for that?” Daciana asked.
Gregory chuckled. “We have no idea if it’ll be the same for you or not. Study hard subjects to expand your mind, but balance that with lighter topics you have an interest in. I learned about fletching and bowyering, Yuki learned about leatherworking, and Jenn did smithing.”
“Non-aether crafts?” Nessa said. “I know a lot about cooking, already. Oh, maybe the academy has new recipes?”
“I’m not good at crafting things,” Daciana said, for once not confident about something. “Too many things upset my nose.”
“Oh?” Yukiko asked. “Is it sensitive?”
“Not like my father’s, but yes. I do my best not to react to most things… it draws more attention to my blood.”
“It doesn’t bother us,” Gregory said. “Do we cause you problems?”
“Make me hungry at times,” Daciana admitted. “Your food smells good, and it lingers on you. Smells vaguely like what we eat at the mess hall, but better.”
“Well, the cooks for the clan are the ones who worked in the mess hall earlier this year,” Jenn said. “They make even better food now, though, since the clan gets them better ingredients.”
“Oh, now I’m getting hungry again…” Daciana sighed.
“We should get started on Magi Squares,” Gregory said. “Maybe that will help distract you.”
~*~*~
They flowed through their meditation routine, the motions smooth and easy. Gregory felt the fluidity of the Peaceful Fist moving through him as he watched his aether flame. Embers left, traveling down the channels. For a brief moment, Gregory thought he saw a feminine face in the fire, and his ability to stay focused faltered. Blinking as he lost the cavern, he frowned, but continued moving through the motions.
“Time for a quick rinse before we find out what the council has in store for us,” Gregory said.
“Are you okay, Greg? You seem distracted,” Yukiko said.
“Thought I saw a face in my aether flame,” Gregory admitted without thinking.
“A face?” Jenn asked. “Is that like seeing a bane wolf in the clouds?”
“Uh, yes, in a way,” Gregory said, feeling a little guilty for evading her question.
Jenn laughed. “I never thought to look at the flames like that before. That might give me something else to do when we meditate.”
“Let’s get going,” Yukiko said.
“Yes. I’m looking forward to fighting Greg,” Jenn said.
“You’re dead set on fighting me,” Gregory laughed.
“I want my rematch,” Jenn said as she headed for the door.
“If I don’t fight him first,” Yukiko said.
“Oh, now that would be a fun fight to watch,” Jenn said. “Him knowing where you are, but you always shifting places? I wouldn’t know who to root for.”
Gregory followed them. He wondered if he’d be okay telling Jenn about Darkness, or about who he’d been in a previous life.
~*~*~
Two dozen people stood outside the training hall. Nick and Jason had their clan members with them, Hayworth and two members of his clan were together, and Klein Armit had Adept Dunn standing beside him.
“Novices, it’s been some time,” Dunn greeted them. “I’ve seen your fights; it’s been impressive, especially your foresight, Pettit.”
“Adept, you honor us,” Gregory replied.
“No, I speak only the truth,” Dunn said. “I’ll be interested to see how you do if you fight Armit here.”
Klein, wearing the Shining Light emblem, gave him a nod.
“I find the council having chosen three people from two clans to be odd, though,” Dunn said in his flat, monotone voice. “We were told it was based on the strength of the opponents beaten and how easily they were handled. Your clan makes sense; undefeated, and your friends with seven wins and a tie. Clearly, you’re the top three. The rest all have only a single loss, half of which were to your clan.”
“It’ll be a tough final eight,” Yukiko said. “You use spatial magic, do you not, Klein?”
“I’m the other novice with that magic in this year’s class, beside Hayworth,” Klein said, his voice a little detached. “It’s apparently almost unheard of to have two users of spatial magic in a single year. I was lucky to have the Shining Light take an interest in me.”
“You think Shun and Argon are the most dangerous of their clan?” Dunn asked. “Parks is the one you should worry about. All of you should.”
“He uses force magic,” Klein said. “He’s the only one with it in our class. Did you see any of his fights?”
The three friends thought about it, but shook their heads.
“It’s almost like he was being kept from you,” Dunn said. “Good luck.”
Magus Paul Erichson made his way toward the group, cutting off further conversation. “Finalists, and others, I have your brackets. I will not be your adjudicator for these matches. Grandmaster Yunlo will be handling it, instead, as I have been accused by some of being biased.” When he finished speaking, he looked at the Eternal Flame novices for a long moment before continuing, “Baseless accusations, but the council has decided that it’s best to remove that implication.”
“Baseless?” Nick asked with a smirk. “Of course.”
Paul’s eyelid twitched, but he looked away from him. “Best of luck on your matches.” Posting the brackets, he stepped aside but stayed next to the board, clearly intent on making sure there were no incidents.
When the entire Eternal Flame group started to move forward, Paul took a single step toward them. “Finalists to the board only. The rest of you can wait back there.”
Nick snorted. “Whatever you say, honored Magus.”
Nick, Jason, and Jamie went to the board while the others stayed back. Nick laughed, turning to Yukiko. “Fried chicken is on the menu.”
Gregory’s jaw clenched for a moment before he chuckled. “Going to lose again, are you, Nick? Losing to her twice… that’ll hurt your standing in the clan, won’t it?”
“No,” Nick sneered. “I’ll win, then I’ll be seeing Jason in the following round.”
The three Eternal Flame members walked away, leaving the board free for the other five finalists to approach. Gregory saw Yukiko lined up with Nick and Jason against Jenn, both on the far side of the bracket from him. His fight was against Klein, leaving Hayworth to fight Jamie Parks.
“Wonder how the force will work against my magic…” Hayworth murmured. Shaking his head, he looked at Gregory and Klein. “Either of you would be a good fight. I’ll look forward to it.”
Klein nodded absently. “It’ll be interesting.”
“It’s stacked against us,” Yukiko said.
“Making me wait for my rematch…” Jenn sighed.
“Novices,” Paul said as the trio started to leave, “I wish you good luck.”
“Thank you, Magus,” they each said, bowing to him before heading away.
Walking slowly to the arena, Gregory pulled off his ring and handed it to Yukiko. “Make sure to give this to Jenn after the fight. I’m glad your father got us the half-dozen cores he could. It’s too bad they’ve been in short supply in the city.”
“We’ll need them,” Yukiko said. “It figures that they would want Nick to fight me first for the final eight, since we were the last fight to actually happen during the first tournament.”
“I fight right after you,” Jenn said. “Means I’ll need to be ready to rush out to you if things go badly.”
“Yes… they might have to take me right to the healers, and that could prevent you from getting the ring,” Yukiko said.
Gregory thought about trying to push his foresight to see what would happen, but he hadn’t been able to reliably see that far into the future, and it used the majority of his aether to even attempt it.
“No, dear one,” Yukiko said, touching his arm. “Don’t. You’ll need everything you have for your fight.”
“You’re right,” Gregory sighed. “I just worry.”
Yukiko took his hand for a moment. “It won’t be like the first time. I will win, and without being burned.”
“Okay.”
“Then I’ll have to beat her to get my rematch,” Jenn said. “Yuki, are you sure you can win against Nick?”
“Yes. I just need to go where he won’t expect me.”
“A side wall,” Gregory said.
“Yes. He’ll expect me behind him or the adjudicator. I’ve always gone to those two spots.”
“Is it likely he’ll expect you to change it for him?” Jenn asked.
“Nick?” Yukiko snorted. “He’s too self-absorbed for that.”
“Jason might, though, and he’s the one who can make Nick listen,” Gregory warned her. “Just be careful.”
“I will be.”
“Jason wants his revenge for losing the first time,” Jenn said slowly. “He’ll be harder this time, and they’ll likely have given him something different than the fire he used on me last time.”
“They specialize in fire,” Yukiko said. “It’ll probably be just a different type of fire. Go fast, and strike hard. You’ll be able to stop the first one cold, and if you keep two cores in your off-hand with the ring, you can recharge instantly.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Jenn smiled.
“That just leaves me with the enigma that is Klein,” Gregory said. “Does he seem as detached as Dunn?”
“Yes,” Yukiko nodded. “Not as flat yet, but definitely like he’s distracted.”
“At least I know the trick for space magic,” Gregory said. “Shouldn’t be too hard a fight.”
