Daciana frowned and Nessa snickered. “She hates being left out. Daciana, they have to play it safe.”
“Yeah, I know. After tomorrow, it won’t matter,” Daciana said. She glanced at Yukiko. “After we join the clan, will you tell us about training all three paths as we’ve been doing?”
Yukiko met Daciana’s eyes, holding them until she looked away. “Daciana, we’ll tell you as much as we can, but part of it is… special. We see all three of you as friends— good friends— but some of what we do is kept even from our families.”
Daciana looked up, opening her mouth to speak, but Jenn spoke over her, “We have Magi Squares and studying to get to before we fight.”
Nessa nodded. “We understand. We’ll join the clan first and do our very best.”
“Our very best,” Victoria agreed.
“Fine,” Daciana said. “First, we join the clan.”
“Let’s get working,” Yukiko said.
Gregory watched them thoughtfully for a moment longer. You’re imagining it... daydreams and desires. Don’t be an idiot, Greg.
“Dear one?” Yukiko asked when he didn’t pull a paper out.
“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry. I was just thinking,” he apologized, flushing a little as he considered what he had been thinking.
Yukiko’s lips pursed, but she didn’t push him. Instead, she started working on her Magi Squares.
~*~*~
They’d been in the arena for hours, watching the various displays of magic from different magi and clans. The one that impressed Gregory most was the light magic demonstration— the man had been able to disappear from sight and conjure different images that moved as he wished.
“It is more rare than shadow magic,” Lightshield said when Gregory mentioned how amazing it was. “It is prized by many clans for its ability to misdirect, as the magi showed us. He went invisible as a copy of him kept walking.”
Gregory fought to keep his aether sight off, knowing he’d need all of his aether for later, but he really wanted to see the magic in use. “Can they spread it to cover a unit of men?”
“They can, indeed,” Lightshield smiled, “though it does nothing about sound.”
“That would make it difficult to hide a lot of men, since their equipment would still make noise,” Yukiko said.
“Wouldn’t give you an exact position, but it would be enough to cause them trouble,” Jenn nodded.
“Thinking of how to apply it to the battlefield is good. Hopefully, you will never need to, but life takes paths we would rather not trod at times,” Lightshield said. “Now, you should all go to get ready. Your fight is not far off.”
“Yes, sir,” they said.
They were on their way down to the waiting area under the arena when Gregory caught sight of Hayworth and the Swift Wind apprentices. Pausing just above the steps, Gregory gave Hayworth a nod. “Hayworth.”
“I see you made it here first,” Hayworth said. “We’ll circle around to the other one, then. I knew we should have come sooner.”
“Wanted to take some shadows away from us?”
“Of course. Best tactical decision.”
Gregory looked at the two apprentices behind Hayworth. “Lost some more?”
“They’re not fully recovered, and we’ll have another fight one way or another,” Hayworth said. “Things might have been different if we hadn’t lost Kang to the earth trap the other day.”
“I can’t argue that,” Gregory said. “You’d have had an easier time with your last fight, at the very least.”
“Exactly. We’ll see you on the sands. Good luck.”
“You, too,” Gregory nodded to the apprentices. “We’re looking forward to a good fight. A loss does mean not facing the Eternal Flame, though, so maybe a loss is better overall.”
Hayworth snorted. “If you really thought that, you’d forfeit the match before it started.”
“And give Nick the satisfaction of not fighting us? I can’t do that.”
“Fair. Either way, he’ll have to earn it.”
“Good, though I don’t want him to earn it. I want him to fail again.”
Hayworth laughed. “So do I.” He turned to walk away. “Come on, we have to circle around.”
Making it down the stairs, Gregory found his wives waiting for him. “Is everything okay?” Jenn asked.
“Yeah, just making small talk. It’s just going to be Hayworth and two others. I hinted that a loss means not facing the Eternal Flame. The two with him seemed to hear that.”
“Trying to get them to back out?” Yukiko giggled. “Hayworth wouldn’t do that.”
“I’m not so sure,” Jenn said. “He just needs to finish in the top three. If they go all out against us, we might cost them more, and then Nick will roast them. What good does it do to get there, then get cooked or killed?”
“That’s a good point,” Yukiko said. “He played smart during the Empire’s Gambit challenge. I’ll consider it a possibility, but I won’t hold my breath.”
“Best that you don’t,” Gregory chuckled.
“They’ll be ready for you in a few minutes,” Mindie said from the tunnel.
“At least we know we’re in good hands if things go badly,” Jenn said. “How are you, Mindie?”
“Well, but I’m worried about today,” Mindie admitted. “The Eternal Flame has been burning so many... Some of the flames have been tempered this time, but the number of burns has gone up. With the bad will between your clans, if you face them... I worry it won’t be just mild burns.”
“We have plans,” Yukiko said, “but thank you. We’ll do our best to not get incinerated, if they even make it to the finals.”
Mindie exhaled slowly. “You have to win to face them, too.”
“Yes,” Gregory said. “Have you heard anything about your posting?”
Mindie shook her head. “Nothing yet. I might hear something after the solstice. I’ve applied to stay here for my five years, but I’m sure they’ll post me somewhere else. I have no clan to fight for me, so I’ll be posted
