A/N: Hey guys, unfortunately, Einhart doesn't show up until towards the end but I can always write them together in another fic, right?
7.
She spends weeks, months even, learning how to kill without killing.
Her magic is forced out in blasts, in waves, in recovery spells. She learns to use binds and break them. All of it is sloppy and exhausting.
When she's done, she's allowed to sit at the dinner table. She's too tired to call magic and even if she could, she is better at holding it down. It has to be that.
If that wasn't the case, she wouldn't be here at the Bureau day after day.
Not that she wants to be. She'd rather be anywhere else than standing in front of this big, scary building to get fitted for a Device she doesn't want.
But Fern, formerly her maid, is already here. Her eyes are stern and gentle at the same time and she doesn't tap her foot in that crisp military uniform that doesn't fit right to the young girl's eyes. Regardless, Sieg shuffles forward.
"Relax," Fern says. "The Aces were rougher than this at your age and they had Devices. If they manage to avoid permanent damage to these buildings, you have nothing to worry about."
The Aces of Earth. Everyone knew them, or knew of them. They were an example for every potential young mage, heroes before she had gotten out of diapers, before they even graduated elementary school. In other words, not normal.
Like her.
Somehow, the thought is comforting.
The people who greet her are quick and leave her a questionnaire. Then she's whisked off to a training field and told to fight.
It's not as terrifying as it was the first time, but it's just as exhilarating. Her heart is thumping as she raises her fists. Fern's eyes are on her back. They are a challenge.
Well. She's going to accept that.
