This is the Imposition 2

"But I- I- I- wouldn't want to impose on you." She spluttered eventually.

Aven pointed a finger at her and waved it up and down her length as he said, "This, this is the imposition." Sky looked down at herself flabbergasted.

"Uh- is that the only way you'll take me?" She asked pushing her glasses up her nose. They'd slipped down because of the fine sheen of sweat that had broken out over her skin. Aven nodded and crossed his arms again. Sky sighed. "I'll go ask West and Dain." Aven's face darkened and his hands tensed. "It's not because I don't want to go with you. I just had hoped to go during the week and you're so busy and even if you don't mind, it is still an imposition. I feel bad about even-" Aven cut off her rambling.

"I'll shift things around so we can go on Ruken afternoon. I'll come by your rooms at two." Sky let out a sharp, staccato breath as Aven turned away clearly dismissing her. She wanted to protest, but he'd obviously made up his mind and at least he was taking her.

***

Sky returned to her classroom with a dizzying torrent of rapid thoughts spinning through her mind. At first, she didn't notice the tense atmosphere, but then a sniffle broke through the silence and her thoughts.

"I- I thought he was giving us points." A young woman said. She was standing in a group with six other women in front of Jin's desk.

Jin raked a hand through his hair, and said, "He did. You each have 27 points. That just isn't enough to survive the cuts."

"How are they still here?" A different girl demanded pointing to the two men who were seated at an arrangement with books open in front of them. "They didn't even come to class." Jin's mouth twisted. One of the males looked up at the female who'd spoken.

"We've been taking the exercise tests with Instructor Gillianice." He said. "We actually wanted to learn magic." The woman's face turned red. So did the faces of the other six girls.

"Look, I'm sorry but you just don't have the points." Jin said running a hand through his curls again. He slid the small stack of papers on his desk over to them. "Here are your termination papers. You can arrange your travel home from the travel room with these." The first girl who'd spoken, grabbed one and left. The other six girls looked after her. Then, slowly they followed suit.

Jin flopped back in his chair with a grimace on his face. Sky walked over to him.

"What was that?" She asked. He sighed heavily.

"That was the second round of cuts." He replied to the ceiling.

Just then the door opened revealing the pretty girl Sky had seen leaving her exercise test. Jin looked at her.

"Are you Mary Johnson?" He asked.

She shook her head and said, "I'm Lysette Nolan." Jin nodded and a look of relief crossed his face.

"Pharon must have liked you. He gave you 63 points." Lysette put a hand over her heart. "I have to warn you, you have a lot of catching up to do and I am only authorized to give half points for make-up exercises. I will give extra points for extra exercises though." Jin looked at the two males. "That goes for you too, but they must be impressive spells." The males smiled to each and began riffling through their books. The female, Lysette, slipped a finger through her necklace and tugged the pendant to fall in the center of her chest.

She leaned towards Jin and said, "You know my protector understands that instructors sometimes want things from their students. He wouldn't mind if-" Jin lifted a hand and cut her off.

"Not interested." He turned to Sky. "So, you get it yet, murderess?" He asked excitedly. He was referring to the spoken magic spell he'd told Sky to learn. Sky's eyebrows drew down.

"Yeah, I figured it out yesterday." Jin sat bolt upright; a wide smile on his handsome face.

"Show me! Show me!" He exclaimed. Sky bit her lip and held up her hand.

"Onsa-"

"No, on the dummy! Use half power." Sky sighed and turned to face the nearest dummy in the row of dummies on the right side of the room. She estimated that it was twenty feet away.

"Um, I'm not sure about this but um, Easakaviraisiix!"

Boom! The wall behind the dummy blew apart. So did the dummy. Wood exploded at them while the wall exploded backwards. She'd missed.

Jin's eyes went wide. Then he clapped excitedly like a child.

"Again! Again!" Sky frowned at him.

"But I blew up the wall."

He shrugged and said, "What's another hole?" Sky turned to face the dummy to the right of the one that exploded.

"Easa-"

"Stop it right now!" Aven's angry voice sounded across the room. Sky looked at the hole between the rooms and saw him standing there. His expression was dark. Arrayed behind him were the students from his class.

"But Aven-" Jin whined. Aven glared at him.

"If you want to see it again, go to the practice courts." He snapped. Jin pouted.

"Do I still get the points even though I missed?" Sky asked tentatively. Jin nodded and started pressing buttons on his ALOV. Aven turned on his heel and snarled at his students. They quickly returned to their seats.

"Award five points for miscellaneous exercise. Confirm." Jin said to his ALOV. The display flashed yellow and then he closed it. He looked at Sky. "Let me see your book." He said holding out his hand. Sky fished her Advanced Spoken Magic book out of her bag and handed it to him.

"W-W" one of the men, the one with brown hair, began. He cleared his throat. "What book is that?"

Sky replied, "Advanced Spoken Magic Volume II." The two men stood and headed towards the door. Lysette, who'd been staring with wide eyes at the wall, turned to them in alarm.

"Where are you going?" She asked desperately. The brown-haired man gave her a flat look.

"To the library, obviously." He said.

"I'm coming too." Lysette said. The two men shared an irritated look, but they didn't stop her from following them. They left.

Sky, with nothing better to do, sat in an armchair to wait for Jin to select the next spell he wanted her to learn. After fifteen minutes, she turned to him.

"Where's the rest of the class?"

"They went to the library. The four of you are it." Sky stared at him in shock as he flipped between three pages. "I'm torn." He whined. "I don't know which I want to see more." Sky turned her gaze on her hands in her lap as her mouth tightened into a line. Her hands fisted. This place was horrible.

Eventually, Jin settled on a spell and Sky headed to a practice room to work on it and the week's exercises.