Week 6 - The Combat Tutor

"Red hair and an Aldic accent, with sound proof barrier magic?" Mused Aerie, "Well I can think of one person who fits that description, but you'd have to have seriously bad luck to run into him."

"He said he'd see me around, too." Ro pointed out.

"Well your Anti-glamour magic will take care of that." Aerie said.

"It doesn't work on everyone." Momo pointed out. Aerie looked at her in confusion. "She already told us that Alexi knows what she looks like and I am guessing Professor Drakkon knows as well, considering the special interest he's taken in her."

"That's seems logical," Ro agreed, "When I was in his mind, I looked like myself. I didn't realize it at the time." They were silent for a minute and Ro took another bite of the food they had saved her from dinner. "Thank you again for this. I didn't realize the cafeteria would be closed after my tutoring session. I don't know how I'll get dinner every day if my sessions last until seven."

"We'll be sure to save you something." Momo offered.

"Thanks, you guys are the best!" Ro said relieved.

"How was your first tutoring session?" Aerie asked curious, "Is your tutor a hottie?" Ro swallowed more food. She shook her head.

"He never showed. I spent two more freaking hours doing those same exercises." She finished the sandwich. Momo looked at her in pity.

"That's rough." Aerie commiserated.

They did their magic practice for the night. Then Ro went back to her rooms to sleep.

***

The morning classes of the next day went similar. Alexi completed each activity easily and flew ahead of the class. Ro, who was just learning everything, struggled a bit before completing the exercises so she was a ways behind him. Angelique was a handful of exercises behind Ro, having a harder time with them. By the end of the period a handful of other class members had completed the moving shadow exercise. Momo was among them and so was Aerie's sparring partner Brawn.

During the meditation, Ro learned more about the elements and the different methods she needed to use to bend them to her will. Shadow and fire, she ordered, while air and water she asked. When she brought these methods up to her friends at lunch, they looked at her like she was crazy. She decided not to mention it again.

After lunch they worked on the same partner meditation from before. Momo partnered up with Ro this time leaving Aerie to be partners with whoever else was without. Today it turned out to be Brawn. Aerie smiled happily as she sat down across from him. While Momo was partner one, they were able to complete the exercise but when it came time for Momo to be partner two, she couldn't allow herself to merge with another's consciousness. Ro tried to help her as much as possible, however, when the end of the period was called Momo still was unsuccessful.

For the self-study magic period, Ro again worked on fire. By the end of the period she was able to summon a fireball with ease. Aerie too made a break through. She finally got her shadow to cross the room five times. Elated the girls headed to the locker room.

As yesterday, Ro was assigned to work on her own with the dummy. Ro's legs ached and protested when she started but she finally warmed up. She spent the two hours imagining music and stabbing and slicing in rhythm to it. When Sarge ended the class, she was pleased to see that she hadn't missed once. Sarge came over and looked at her dummy. He only grunted in response to her jubilance.

"Take a break until your tutor comes. But don't let your muscles get tight." He told her before he walked away.

Ro stretched as she waited, complying with Sarge's last order. Time ticked by slowly. At last Ro heard footsteps. She jumped to her feet and watched the handsome male walk towards her. She stiffened, he had dark red hair. His piercing emerald eyes were trained on her and a slight, almost dangerous, smile played across his full mouth. He had high cheekbones and a straight, average nose.

He flicked his long hair back off his shoulder. It should have been a feminine gesture but strangely it was very masculine. He wore normal clothes, an off-white collared shirt over a pair of jeans. They accentuated his toned body. To Ro it felt as if waves of malice were rolling off him. She took an involuntary step back.

"I am Laine." His voice was low and melodic. It had no accent. Ro relaxed and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. This wasn't the same male from the locker room yesterday. The waves of malice disappeared as she realized that she had conjured them in her mind.

"Pleased to meet you." She said with relief, "I am Ro, Roselyn." She held out her hand for him to shake. He looked at it in disdain. She dropped it after a moment. "It's a human thing." She said with a shrug.

Laine sniffed the air. The scent yesterday had come from her. He hoped keeping her at a distance would allow him to build up a tolerance to it. At such a close distance it was nearly overwhelming, and he could feel it eroding away his self-control. For that reason, he decided to work on her dodging. In front of him twenty or so fist sized lumps of dirt and gravel lifted from the ground.

"We will be working on your dodging and speed for the foreseeable future. Stand over there and do what you can not to get hit." He pointed to the other side of the sparring ring.

"Is that all?" Ro asked with disappointment. He smiled.

"It's plenty." She went to where he said. "Ready?" Before she had finished nodding, the first of the dirt and gravel balls was flying at her. She jumped to her left. The ball zoomed back to Laine and another charged forward at her. She ran avoiding it. Then she was forced to dodge right as a third ball went whizzing past her. She tripped, and the fourth ball landed with a crack across her right shoulder blade. She cried out in pain. Even though the ball broke apart when it hit her, the impact was still hard enough to bruise. "Again." Laine ordered as she stood.

They practiced like this for remainder of the two hours. By the end, Ro got hit so many times that she felt like she had been run over by a carriage and was so out of breath that she was doubled over gasping. Laine came over and placed a warm hand on her back.

"That was good for your first day. You'll get better." He told her before walking off.