As Thomas's first term as a student at the Green Key School was nearing its end, there was an assembly of all the first years.
The Headmaster began by addressing the assembled students, "May I have your attention, I will be explaining the term end practical exam. The Exam course will open next week, and remain available until the week before next term starts. That gives you three weeks to succeed. If you fail to clear the task in that window, you will need to schedule a make-up attempt before you will be allowed access to the school's labyrinth next term. This will be your responsibility, to be done on your own time after the new term starts. First you will be required to form parties between two and six first year students. If you cannot find party members, an open list will be available at the administration offices. If you choose that method, random parties will be formed by the school staff. Then you will need to clear the first exam dungeon. There will be traps, and puzzles alongside the monsters patrolling the corridors. You will have two hours inside to make your way to the boss room and activate the final switch. While this is a party raid, successfully clearing the dungeon is an individual task. If you are "Killed" your party will continue without you. In that event, the remaining party members will receive their passing grade, while you will need to try again. There is no limit on how many times you may attempt the task. You are free to choose your party members, but I highly recommend that you include members from all three primary courses. The exam dungeon is intended for relatively balanced parties." The Headmaster looked over the assembled students, "Are there any questions?"
A student from the Druid dorm raised his hand. "Can you attempt the course again to raise your score after you've cleared it once?"
"Yes, however your old score will be overwritten, unless you fail."
Another student stood up "How will we be scored on the test?"
"You will receive points for kills, healing your party members, puzzles solved, traps disarmed, and how quickly you clear the dungeon. These will be totaled to give you your individual score. That score will be used in your class placement for next year. You can pass the exam with a score of zero, providing you do clear the dungeon with your party."
After the assembly had been dismissed, Alex approached Thomas. A muttered moan arose from several students who were obviously hoping to invite Alex into their party for the exam. Thomas chuckled. "I don't understand why they're surprised. We've been friends all year."
"I think they have just figured out that I'll be taking the exam with you, so if they want to take it with me, they'll be taking it with you as well. Most of them do not want to stand up to Cecilia and Lenard, so they will not be trying to recruit me."
"So, who do you think we should bring as our third? I think just the two of us alone will be hard."
"Excuse me Alex," a meek voice sounded behind Alex's armored back. Sara was standing nervously, twisting her hands as she waited for Alex's attention. "I was hoping I could join you for the exam." Blushing, she lowered her head. "I am fairly good at healing but I don't have much in the way of attack abilities."
"Unfortunately, both Thomas and I are capable healers ourselves. I do not think we will be needing …."
"Wait a second, Alex," Thomas cut in. "We may not need another healer, but that doesn't mean she couldn't come along." Thomas turned to Sara "I know you have been trained in self-defense. What weapon are you best at?"
"Umm, the staff, I guess." A small spark of hope seemed to momentarily shine from Sara's eye. "I also know several barrier spells."
"What do you think, Alex. Some barrier spells can slow enemies down, spacing them out so we could pick them off individually. Sounds better than getting mobbed. And we've a week of open study before the exam opens. If we give her some extra weapons training, I think she would be a welcome member of the party. But," Thomas returned his attention to Sara, "I hope you are ready for Lenard and Cilicia's groupies to target you."
"I know, but I've decided that Alex is right. All this bullying is Wrong! And I hope you can forgive me for being complacent in it through my inaction."
"No problem. So, can you spare some time right now? I would like to see your abilities so we can plan your training."
At the training grounds, Alex and Thomas both took turns sparing with Sara. While she was well below the standards of the warrior classes, she was not hopeless. Alex noticed that Sara was using her staff more as a spear.
"Why do you use your staff like that?" Alex asked.
"When I was a small girl, I would watch my father train with his spear. He was a guild fighter, and I always wanted to follow his path. But when I enrolled here, I was classified as a priestess."
Thomas took a spear form its rack along the training yards wall. "Let's see how you do with an actual spear, then," Thomas passed the weapon to Sara. As the sparing commenced it quickly became apparent that Sara was markedly better with the spear.
As the sparing continued, Thomas noticed a large tiger watching them from the roof of the storage building on the grounds.
"It looks like one of the druids is interested in us."
Walking over to the tiger, Thomas greeted the student. "You are welcome to join us. We're just preparing for the term final."
The student-tiger stared at Thomas for a moment and huffed a resigned noise, then dropped down to the training grounds. Crouching as it approached Alex and Sara, the tiger pounced toward Alex's back. Fortunately, Thomas had seen the move coming, and called out his party members, "Heads up! New player!"
Alex turned just enough at Thomas' shout that he was able to catch the tiger off balance. As they tumbled across the field, the tiger suddenly leapt back, allowing Alex to regain his balance, if not her feet. Seeing Alex on one knee with her hammer at her side, the tiger again charged. But Alex was faster than the tiger had been expecting. Thrusting the head of her hammer against the tiger's breastbone, she used its momentum to regain her feet, while taking a step back. The tiger was clawing at Alex's mailed arms and pauldrons, but could not reach her head with claw or tooth. Now on her feet, Alex shoved with the head of her hammer, forcing the tiger down and off balance.
Bouncing back the tiger set its sights on the priestess. Sara took a basic spear forward stance, with the tip of her spear directly in line with the tiger's nose. The tiger began a series of short pounces and cuts away, trying to get toward Sara's flanks. While Sara was able to counter most of the tiger's moves with a slash or a thrust, it was readily apparent that the tiger was being far less aggressive than it had been with Alex. Eventually, Sara over reached her thrust, and the tiger cut to the side and pounced back in, tackling the priestess to the ground.
After a quick snap of its jaws at Sara's neck, signifying a kill, the tiger turned toward Thomas. Thomas readied himself for his turn as the tiger's target, but the tiger just walked calmly up to him and brushed its head against Thomas' hip. To the others, the tiger gave a friendly growl, then turned and leapt over the wall of the training ground.
"Well, that was rude," Alex remarked after the tiger-student had left. "He didn't even give us his name."
"Maybe, he's worried about catching the eyes of Lenard or Cecilia?" remarked Thomas. "He wouldn't be the first student to avoid us to save themselves. Still, at least he did agree to spar with us."
"But not you, though," Sara remarked. "And what was that head rub about? Talk about rude, and weird."
"Do either of you know who he could have been? Or if he was even a first-year student? When do the Druids begin learning to shapeshift?" Alex sputtered to a halt. "Sorry, but this was just one big block of weird."
"I think you're right about that. But it's over for now. Shall we continue our training?"
Sometime later, as the three were leaving the training field, Thomas turned to Alex, "So, what do you think? Is Sara going to join us for the test?"
"I think she'll do well," replied Alex, earning her a bright smile from the priestess. "Besides, I doubt anyone will be lining up to be our third. Except possibly one very weird tiger."
"You might be right about that," Turning to Sara, Thomas continued. "How is your relationship with your dorm head?"
"OK, I guess," replied Sara. "But what does that have to do with anything?"
"You see, Alex and I have been training in the school's labyrinth for a while now. I would like you to join us, but we'll need permission for you to enter early."
"And my dorm head can give me permission?"
"Not exactly. There is a procedure to follow to get early access. I think we can get approval from Sister Johanna. She was very accommodating when we asked for access to the spirit magic course. If you write a request letter, and we can convince your dorm head to give his recommendation, we can ask the Headmaster. He'll probably agree, since I know he's been concerned about the whole 'don't like the shaman' crap that seems to be the major theme for this year. If we find a student who will willingly join us, it's likely that he'll encourage that in any way he can, as long as the school's rules are followed."
"What should the letter say?"
"Mine was pretty basic," answered Alex. "'Thomas needs a partner to advance his training, nobody else is willing, I'm the only first-year paladin and need to train harder, yada, yada, yada'" Alex shook her helmeted head. "To be fair I don't think either Mr. Ericson or the Headmaster even bothered to look at it. Thomas is right. Any first-year would likely have gotten permission. Ms. Nightfrost was a lot harder to convince when we tried to get her to let us run the magic course. 'Alex has no business in the magic course. He won't learn anything and could get hurt in the process.' It literally came down to the fact that without me, there were no other viable options."
"Magic course? I thought we were only going to be allowed in our own course's section?"
"Benefits of being a hybrid class," remarked Thomas. "Because we have abilities that cross course boundaries, we get to run all the courses we have abilities for. The Shaman class has abilities that cover all three courses, so I get to use all three labyrinths."
"And I was able to tag along as his party member, even in the magic course. And Ms. Nightfrost was wrong by the way. The magic course really helped me develop my barriers. You learn really quick when lightning bolts and shards of ice are flying at you from every direction."
Thomas chuckled at the memory. "To be fair, that room was meant to teach you to interrupt enemy casting and counter-cast against them."
"Easy for you to say," retorted Alex indignantly. "You have the abilities to pull that off. All I could do was hide in the corner and shield myself. Hiding like a mouse is NOT in line with the image of the paladin I am working to become."