Conflict Between Teams

On pure instinct Aayla punched the shadow in front of her with all of her might. There was a loud crunch as her fist collided with something fleshy. The shadow fell back behind the ledge, crying out in pain. With her balance destroyed, Aayla's feet slipped.

The wind blew through her ears as Aayla grabbed onto the rope. The rope slipped through her icy gloves as she crashed into the snow seconds later. The slush filled the void over her seconds later. Coughing and spluttering, Aayla tried to pull herself up.

The clock was ticking. She had to get out before the slush started to settle and solidify on top of her. Aayla wrapped the rope around her wrist since her hand was too icy. She wiggled and pushed the slush around her away.

With some space free around her head, Aayla could finally breathe again. But the slush started closing in again. Before her progress was undone, she took a deep breath, kept her head down and pulled on the rope, like she was climbing it.

Several minutes of kicking and flailing later, her hand finally reached the surface. As she cleared away the snow above her, two hands pulled her up out of the snow. Aayla blinked in surprise as the light suddenly hit her eyes.

"Look, Captain Parlow. Your cute little first-year is right here, safe and sound. There's no need to be so angry. Let's just talk about this and stick to the new rules."

"D**n the nonaggression rule! Cisseus Maecilius Tassiades, you have five seconds to release my junior or I will send you back to the village for immediate medical assistance."

When her sight returned, she saw two different people holding her wrist. One was a furious Aubrey Parlow with rage burning in her eyes. The other was the recipient of her rage: a tall, muscular young man with tan skin and strong facial features.

**********

Several minutes later, Aayla sat around her fire pit with Cisseus Tassiades, some boy with a bloody nose and a black eye, Aubrey and Iva. The rest of the students from the teams stood behind their respective captains.

The Nafriton team was gnashing their teeth in rage, while the other team had an aura of anger and embarrassment. The incident near the valley almost boiled over before Aayla dug herself out of the snow. Several of the students nursed cuts or bruises.

"So, what's your excuse for lurking around our camping area, stalking one of our student workers and attempting to throw her off of a cliff, Captain Tassiades of Tigurum?" Aubrey spat.

"It wasn't that tall – *COUGH*" The boy with the bloody nose was sharply elbowed before he could continue.

"Please excuse my team member, Captain Parlow. The head of Kaeso Arius is filled with nothing but skirts and flowers. What he meant was that he apologizes for startling your team member, causing her to accidentally slip and fall down the slope. We stopped by for a friendly chat when we saw your team member. Curious, we decided to greet her first, yet this idiot over here startled her."

"Tch. You better be willing to explain that to Deputy Heston. She's Nafriton's student, but as a first-year she can't be on the team. This time Ms. Glowery is working as the deputy's field agent. Meaning, she is a staff member. So, you will need to negotiate with Deputy Heston."

Many harsh gazes landed on the skirt chasing idiot sitting next to Cisseus. It was one thing to injure an opposing team member in a duel or in an accident. However, he just had to hurt a mere first-year support staff member working directly for a deputy headmaster.

"She is Ms. Glowery? Ah, Deputy Heston's goddaughter, right? How nice to finally meet up close and in person. I did wish for better circumstances, though."

Aubrey smiled sweetly and nodded her head. Cisseus's eyes narrowed. This incident couldn't just be brushed off. Some serious benefits would need to be handed over to keep this little accident on the down low. That flower-brained punk better bring the team some serious benefits this time.

"Really, Captain Parlow? I won't say anything about Deputy Heston bringing her goddaughter along, but how could let Ms. Glowery roam in such a dangerous area without a body guard or two? Deputy Heston would be distraught if you let something bad happen to her. She could be just as mad at you as she would be at any perpetrators."

Aayla frowned while Aubrey's smile cracked. She was not a child, and could take care of herself. By the time that those two had pulled her out of the snow, Aayla had basically saved herself already.

"The Nafriton team was merely abiding by Deputy Heston's wishes for Ms. Glowery to be treated as normal support staff and gain field experience. You did hear Deputy Heston announce these wishes during the final briefing, yes?"

A quick save from Iva earns her a grateful glance from Aubrey.

"Yes, yes. She must be treated like a neutral resource despite staying right next to the Nafriton main camp and miles away from all of the others."

Captain Cisseus doesn't relent and strikes a ruthless blow.

"Actually, it's our Nafriton team that's staying right next to Ms. Glowery. We decided to move our camp for a better vantage point after we heard that another team or two would be moving into our designated camping area."

Captain Parlow parries the blow, bringing the fight to a standstill.

The captains glared at each other. Neither was willing to yield an inch, yet neither wanted this matter to escalate. If this issue got out, both would look bad as either schemers trying to kill a younger non-combatant or incompetents who failed to protect a junior from their university.

Aayla quietly added another log to the fire. She wished that she had popcorn for this show. Still, it was getting close to dusk. They needed to wrap this up quickly. Someone else could arrive at any minute, then there was no way that they could keep this incident under wraps.

"Is everyone gathered already?"

Speak of the devil and he appears. Apparently in a pair this time. The four professors in charge of the third check in had arrived with some other students in tow. Aayla tried to remember who those students were. If Nafriton and Tigurum were already here, then they should be from Olafssey.

Everyone put on happy smiles, though the smile of bloody nose guy made many want to cry. Still, a strange atmosphere lingered in the air. One of the new professors frowned as she saw bloody nose guy.

"What's going on here?"

Captain Cisseus beamed. "Just a little chat professor. We stopped by to greet our new neighbors and make sure that we had the same understanding about the new rules."

One of the new students pointed at bloody nose guy.

"Really? Mr. Arius looks fairly black and blue for a simple chat. That idiot didn't break the new rules already, did he? Hm… several of you seem a bit black and blue as well. Did both of your teams get involved? Hahaha, don't look so tense. I'm just teasing."

The atmosphere turned tense again. The professors silently watched the students verbally battle it out. Aayla fiddled with her hair. She didn't know what the new rules were yet, but the old ones were really strict about conflicts in the main camping areas.

She stood up and patted snow off of her clothes.

"Good evening professors. Nothing major happened. Mr. Arius is indeed an idiot. Tigurum has set up their camp on the hill next to this one. He fell down into the valley between the two hills while they crossed over to say hello. Like Captain Cisseus mentioned, both Tigurum and Nafriton were discussing the new rules and camp borders in a neutral setting."

One of the new professors smiled at her. "You're Deputy Heston's goddaughter?"

"Yes, sir. My name is Aayla Glowery. Technically, I'm just a support staff. The captains decided to talk in my camp at the last minute for a more neutral ground. Olafssey can join in as well if they like, however they were about to stop for the night. I want my campfire back to make dinner."

"Really?" An Olafssey student interjected. "You look a bit cold. Everything's seriously alright? There was a lot of magical damage near the valley."

Aayla looked down at her boots and the edges of her coat. Darn it. There was still a bit of ice element mana left.

"Absolutely. Like one of your teammates said earlier, Mr. Arius is an idiot. Naturally, he does stupid things. The issue has been resolved, and he won't do that stupid thing again. They were just discussing how to keep the camp borders clear going forward."

Aayla stared hard at bloody nose guy, aka Mr. Arius. He nodded his head so hard that Aayla feared it would fly off. Cisseus didn't even need to prod him this time.

The professors glanced at each other, then made a decision.