Sleep was hard to come by with Evika's present state of mind. So many thoughts were spilling through her busy brain that the starshine spilling over the land some hundred feet above her head passed through without her sleeping a wink. So it wasn't surprising to have her smack into almost every aimed pole in morning practice.

"Beryl, Beryl, Beryl," sighed her sparring partner Cherry, pulling her again to her wobbly feet, "What's wrong? Sleepy?" Evika nodded slowly, just to have a stiffer pole swung from behind, hitting her on the spine. Stiffening with the blow, she was irritated already so it did not take much to have her back-swing her own pole to whoever decided to tease her. Hearing the grunt of contact, she reversed the blow and aimed center, feeling instant blocking. Quickly moving fingers, she reversed again, again hitting something hard, then heard her opponent's pole clatter to the ground.

Curious to see who bothered to annoy her in the morning, she nearly fell over in shock after turning around to see her teacher on the ground, nursing a bad bruise on the wrist. Her cheeks turned as red as Cherry's hair, burning with shame to have attacked a teacher. Eventually he came up and faced her eye-to-eye. But even though his thin mouth suggested displeasure, the hawk eyes burning into hers twinkled with mirth.

---

"You did what?"

Midday meal was a busy affair, but more than usual because of the events that took place earlier with Evika disarming a teacher; a beginner's teacher, but a teacher nonetheless. Right now, Evika was enjoying her bread while watching Zaviroa drip soup from his gaping mouth. "You…managed…to…disarm…"

"A teacher," finished Evika, "And not a very good one at that. He's not fast enough to get straight hits from multiple sides."

"Doesn't matter. Now you've just given me more paperwork…" he grumbled, swallowing his soup quickly.

"Why?"

"I have to move you up a class, of course."

---

The rest of the day passed in a blur. All her other classes were normal, but her fighting classes had been switched to a level she liked more. The room was bigger, the ceiling higher, the students harder, and her sleepiness had left itself in bed. She just finished a banter with another student she didn't know when the teacher called her up for a match. So it was true, thought Evika as she walked towards the slight depression off to the corner, remembering the warnings that her new teacher self-tested all new students coming into his class. Again, a wooden staff was thrown into her hand, but she had the disadvantage, having to face an opponent with a metal-tipped staff.

Students crowded around the dip in the floor, forming a thick wall of observing eyes. But neither contender noticed the quick glances looking them up every which way; they were too busy sizing each other up. Noting the knotted muscles in his arms and legs, Evika threw herself into a defending position, ready for a charge. But it never came as he instead threw his staff like a javelin, running circular to catch it as Evika leapt away. Landing back on two feet, she was a split-second away from being knocked out when the metal-tipped staff flashed right above her head. Dodging a second swing, she was bouncing around so much that she didn't notice the pole stretched out right above her leaping foot.

Falling on her stomach, she rolled over just to see her teacher haloed by the ceiling as he flew down towards her, staff in hand. Panicking, she held up her own useless staff, only to get surprise when lilac fire ripped through the wood, melting it into a metal rapier, thinner and more to her liking. Using two hands, she swept it to the side as her teacher flew down, carrying him with it. She flipped to her feet, now inflamed with battle as her teacher used his own magic to form a broadsword, charging point-first at her sword-arm. Just a little flick, and she vaulted up and over his head, landing just behind the end of his full swing.

Going for the offense, she instinctively went through the autumn moon slash, pretending that she was on one point of the crescent and that her teacher was on another. He didn't turn around yet, so it was him that landed on his face when his student's rapier caught him on the square of his back, flat edge striking with a surprising strength.

However, it was Evika who was caught unprepared when she put down her weapon. The broadsword came up from behind and was prepared to slice her in half if she hadn't noticed the shadow before her. A ripple of magic slowed it for a few seconds, but she still had to take the brunt of the blow on her thin rapier. It snapped like a twig, and she finally bid surrender when she saw how worked up he was.

Despite the intense challenge, the rest of the day was rather easy. Of course, they were harder with fatigue eating away at her muscles, but she survived. Well, survived long enough to collapse onto her bed during the before-dinner break.

"Something wrong?" asked Nairnè.

---

After some balm and aromatherapy from a herbal kit in her bag (from the forest), she felt ready enough to go take a short wash, soaking protesting muscles in a warm bath laced with peppermint, some oregano, lemon, and a bit of coltsfoot, as well as Nourasian willow flower. It didn't take too long for the herbs to take effect, nearly sending her into a calming sleep that would have lasted all through dinner if her cousin didn't knock on the door.

So she eventually got to the table and dinner. Eventually. The crowds that heard what happened swarmed around like bees to honey, demanding what had happened, getting the second level teacher in a rage he had curbed for an entire year. It seemed like forever before some older students broke it up, even if they too stuck around for a Q&A.

"Don't tell me," said Zaviroa when Evika approached him, "More paperwork."

"Sorry."

"No; my fault. That's what I get for assigning you teachers that personally get involved with students."

"No; my fault. I need to get my battle skills under check. I still battle non-stop, unable to cut myself free."

"But it's still my fault."

"Eat your dinner, Zavi. Then I'll say it's your fault."

"You honestly think I believe that?"

"No."

---

The next day seemed like the most unpredictable of all.

Morning was normal, with breakfast going by like the snowflakes in a blizzard. After finishing off the bread and preserves, she attended magic class, in which she kept her knowledge hidden despite the boring warm ups and basic light calling.

After nearly dulling herself to death, she took midday lunch with Zaviroa and Nairnè.

"You're lucky," she moaned to Nairnè, "Being able to fit in with the advanced class while I have to stay low, with all the trouble I've been through."

"Oh, I'm not so sure," she mumbled, mouth full of fruit, "It's really draining, and the recovery potions are so…so…"

"Vile?"

"That works. They taste like dry wines mixed with old milk…and…" She looked around to see her cousin green in the face. "Eh, that doesn't do during mealtimes, I think…"

"No…"

Bidding them good-bye sometime afterwards after promising them to meet in the corner during starhigh meal, Evika went straight to the caves of third-level fighting.

What struck her first was that her new class was very large. The next surprise was that her classmates were at least five years older than her. Last of all, she noticed that she had run into a swinging pole.

Luckily, all she suffered was a broken nose; no blood though. So it wasn't even five minutes later when she was paired with Cleoi, another student, to practice wind strikes (which she already mastered at the age of seven). It was quite difficult to try and act like an amateur; she worried that the effort showed way too much. Luckily, all that showed was: "Miss Beryl, ease off. You're perspiring as if you had just run the entire boundary of Misled Lake."

"I'm sorry," she said meekly, relieved that what showed of her holding back was misinterpreted. She didn't get anything in return except a sharp rap between the shoulders and a scolding about using apologies in a battle class.

However, it was then that some of the more senior students thought that playing around with the new girl sounded quite fun. She couldn't count how many staff ends met her back, some more than once. It already took a lot of energy not to lose her temper, so she practically exploded when one staff end missed its mark and went lower than expected, right below her hip.

Evika let loose a particularly long chain of swear words, and charged the unfortunate wielder of the staff. Everyone in the room could feel her pulsing anger like an ocean wave; only difference was that it was white hot when it smashed into their heads. Her target got the worst of it, going under flashing staff and boiling anger.

Later they told her that it took an eighth level teacher to separate her from the student. Nairnè also arrived because of her mind magic, so together they slowly calmed her inner fury to a little puddle, leaving only a previously masked feeling of humility, embarrassment, and sorrow.

She took starhigh meal and dinner alone to let the rumors run and calm themselves, only letting in Nairnè and Zaviroa.

"What have they been saying?" she asked ruefully.

"Well, now nearly half of the students promised to leave you alone."

"And the other half?"

"Eh…they promised to squish you to a pulp. You know you just landed one of the most 'cutest' boys in Libertas in the infirmary, reducing his face to something short of a squeezed orange?"

"Did I? I can't really remember…"

"You can't?"

"Well, I know I lost my temper…and I hit someone…but it was my hands that scared me. Somehow, I wasn't controlling them like I want," she said, gripping the sheets until her amber hands turned white, "And I don't want to do that. I might have killed him, right?"

"But did you see what you hit him with?"

"Actually, yes. First, I went for his back, swinging in wing position, then angled for the nauraya star strike, and then…"

"Did you want to do those to him? Why go first in the nauraya? Why not go petal-fall first?"

"I actually don't know," she admitted, "I just pulled up my training and started chaining them together. It wasn't like the first time, with the teacher, I mean; I actually had control; I knew what to do. But this," she stared at her long fingers and open palm, "This is like…it's not me." Evika then giggled. "It's like that story Father used to tell me of the Knight who was so fast and strong."

"'The Tale of the Blade'?"

"Yeah."

Nairnè grinned, "I remember; he used to terrorize battle. His enemies and allies swore that he used his weapons so fast, they were armorbird wings to whoever was so unfortunate to be under them. What my mother said was that they 'raged like the water, stabbed into the ground with the strength of fire; those swords in flight'; I loved that stanza."

"I did too. But he was kind of crazy."

"No he wasn't!"

"Okay, to bed, you two," chuckled Zaviroa, "Nairnè, you can have that cot next to your cousin. Evika; you'll report to me tomorrow for battle class."

"Why?"

"Seeing as half the teachers are quite frightened of you now, I've been chosen to be your personal tutor."