LITMIR.BIZ

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their seats, while Britea tentatively followed. While she felt nervous about being in this class, she couldn’t help but wonder how different she was from the girl who had faced Namiran warships and bargained with an Alkynaia serpents less than a month ago.

      Instructor Shelley poured a thimble of a clear liquid over the cauldron with glowing coals, and she was rewarded with a huge blaze of fire.

      “Novice Blade, you may start. First tier please.”

      A young boy of twelve eagerly stepped forward and instantly wielded a large orb of fire. Students behind him jumped back.

      Instructor Shelley sighed. “Much smaller, novice.”

      The boy grinned as he complied.

      “Repeat six more times, same shape.” The instructor said, nodding and writing a note on a clipboard before ordering him to take a seat. Britea caught the disappointed look on the young student’s face. He obviously wanted to wield some more.

      I know how you feel, little brother. She had wielded only once in weeks, and she was itching to do more of it.

      “Novice Masters.”

      Once again, the instructor made a note as the next wielder created a small orb of fire. Britea looked at the second student and could see the young novice straining to create a tier-one form. Some students snickered, but that died quickly when Instructor Shelley sent a quelling look in their direction.

      “Once more, Novice Masters.” The embarrassed junior novice tried once more, and her second wield was slightly better than the first.

      “Well done. Have a seat.” The female student looked relieved as she fled to her seat.

      “Next!”

      Britea grew more nervous when she realized she would be the last person in the class to wield. What if she failed?

      The very next moment, she berated herself silently for such thoughts. Of course, she knew how to wield the first tier!

      “Are we boring you Novice D’Tranell?”

      It took only a heartbeat for Britea to realize she had unconsciously turned away from the class. “Um, no Instructor Shelley. I’m sorry for not paying attention.” She felt her face grow warm with embarrassment.

      The senior wielder stared at her for a long moment before turning back to the curious junior wielders.

      “Next!”

      Britea made sure to keep her eyes on the students before her. It didn’t take long for her to notice something odd.

      First, there were no signs of euphoria. Britea had experienced that the first few times she wielded until Kahl helped her through that tricky phase by ensuring she ran up and down the deck after wielding. With more wielding the euphoria soon became nonexistent.

      These juniors must have either been practicing for quite some time now, or they were so young the euphoria did not affect them.

      Second, a significant number of the children were finding it difficult to maintain the first-tier wields. Very few were as powerful as the first eager student, Novice Blade. Many of them needed to attempt it up to three times to properly wield the easiest tier.

       Why am I in this class again?

      However, she was smart enough to keep her thoughts to herself. As the students before her practiced, her eyes were drawn to the book in the instructor’s hand. Was she making note of those who may be harder to train? Or those to kick out of the college?

      “Next!”

      Britea was pulled from her thoughts at that, only to discover it was almost her turn. She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and then it was just her, the cauldron, a class full of curious children, and one very stern-looking instructor.

      She blocked them out of her mind as she spontaneously wielded a large orb of water. Instructor Shelley frowned disapprovingly, and Britea quickly reduced it to half its size. Some of the students exclaimed in surprise, and a few even clapped.

      Surprisingly enough, the instructor didn’t shush them, but neither did she make any notes in her book.

      “Same shape and size six more times, Novice D’Tranell.”

      Once she had completed the task, the instructor ordered the class to return to their seats. Britea had hardly gotten back to her seat before the instructor continued talking.

      “Before we move on, is anyone experiencing euphoria?”

      Silence greeted her question, so she moved on. “Excellent.” Britea felt a sudden pang of loneliness as she recalled a certain young Dyhaeri who had helped her overcome wielder’s euphoria. She wondered how Kahl was.

      “Now, on to your assessments.” Instructor Shelley looked at her notebook.

      “Some of you wielded adequately but many of you need to practice your first-tier forms more often. Starting from today, you will be paired up. Those with stronger wields will help the weaker ones.”

      Britea glanced around as the students began to mutter excitedly. Apparently, this was not the norm.

      “But let me make a few things clear. Being a stronger wielder doesn’t make you better than your partner. What matters most of all is control, and if you don’t learn that, you will fail this class. Is that understood?”

      “Yes, Instructor Shelley,” chorused the class.

      She smiled at them and began to assign partners.

      Britea found herself biting her fingernails as she wondered who she would be partnered with. She began to count the students.

      There were forty-three of them including herself.

      Wait. Forty-three students. That meant someone wasn’t getting a partner. Who ?

      The instructor smiled grimly as she looked at Britea then. “You’ll be partnered with me.”

       Seven Hells!

       #

      Britea was mentally and physically exhausted by the time she got back to her dormitory. She was so tired she just shrugged off her jacket and kicked off her shoes before collapsing on her bed.

      She knew it was almost time for supper. She would just lie here for a minute.

      Barely a moment later, her eyes closed as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

       #

      She jerked upright, her heart pounding.

      “Wow, easy. It’s only me, your friendly roommate.”

      Britea tried to calm her heart down at Danai’s voice. “I just wanted to sleep for a little bit.”

      The older student chuckled. “It’s almost time for lights out, sister.”

      Britea’s stomach chose that moment to growl. She winced at the sound. “I’m going to die of hunger.”

      “Not on my watch.” The aroma of delicious food filled her nostrils. She stared at Danai in amazement. The fire wielder uncovered a small bowl of chicken soup on the table between them. Beside it was a sandwich, an apple, and a cup of water.

      “Be sure to thank Navos when you see him. The cooks are used to him asking for second and third helpings, so that’s how we could smuggle this out of the dining hall for you.”

      Britea felt ashamed. One of the rules was all food should be consumed in the hall and not kept or stored in their rooms. She hoped Danai and Navos didn’t get into trouble for this.

      “Come on, eat before it gets cold.”

      “Thanks so much for this.” Britea dug in.

      Danai busied herself getting ready for bed.

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