Faris stared at his lunch, tomato soup with two hunks of bread. He really wasn't feeling hungry anymore. Venka for her part questioned Faris on everything he knew about human biology and physiology. And on more than one occasion demanded he create a visual representation, which he did through the Fairths, on more than one occasion she berated him for having such "Gross" information at hand, then asked him for more. Eventually after exhausting Faris's information on puberty for girls, she began to try and question what would happen to men, he quickly and forcefully made it clear that the information was on a need to know basis. He then suggested Venka go to a female nurse or female protector of life guide, as they likely had more knowledge of the subject, or perhaps Hanna. Hanna for the most part thankfully did not question Faris's depth of knowledge, which he had prepared to lie was due to lessons on biology from Angela. But she did treat him oddly for the rest of the meeting that morning, and had sent them lunch instead of a small amount of coinage for the week's meals like had been done before. As Faris stared down at the bread he ripped off a chunk and nibbled it, avoiding looking at the soup.

Venka for the most part was oblivious to his discomfort. She was almost never squeamish and found learning more about herself fascinating. This had come to a relief to Faris as he had also forced her to promise in the ancient language to not speak about the ordeal with any of the students. Of course, Venka could have been well aware of Faris's discomfort, and her return to a jovial attitude could be due to finding innocent mirth in his distress, but he'd never know, and she wouldn't let him know if it were the case. Faris turned from his barely touched meal to see Nya and Katya eating alone. It seemed that the three girls had managed to turn the majority of the Pearl Initiates against them, which didn't surprise him at all given the rumors he had already heard.

Nya had been caught beating a student black and blue after he insulted her ferocity, stopping him from fighting back, she had gotten away with it through a formal apology from her older sister which was from what he heard little better than a "If you don't like it get lost" sort of statement. Katya was even worse, she had blinded 3 students after they had been caught gawking at her, then went out of her way to find any of their friends unrelated to the incident and blind them, though those were rumors, but when he saw Katya and Nya push Morgan out the window, he believed there was at least some basis in fact. Morgan for his part survived, he had made the mistake of complementing the two, who had reacted with the open hostility they normally gave him. They would have gone down to finish the job it seemed if they didn't remember that he was their partner and wasting their magic to lower his reserves was a dangerous idea.

The match was in a day, and they had started to look a little desperate, the students they were up against were all well-known and respected in their own right, and the three girls had proven themselves competent mages compared to what they had been last year. In Faris's eyes they were all mediocre. But he was interested in seeing how the other first year Pearls used their magic.

"How'd I pass my test you ask? Well that will cost you?" Bartholomew was eating half a chicken, inhaling the strips of meat at record setting paces.

"I'll give you my lunch. And 20% of my magic reserves for today." Faris replied, picking up the half-eaten piece of bread. Bartholomew drained the soup and eat the bread, holding out the crystal, which when Faris placed his hand, showed the number 100, Faris pushed his energy into it until it reached 80, after which Bartholomew began to speak.

"From what I heard, you had been given diamond ranked tests, which are normally only given to graduates who wish to become teachers or elite journeymen and wish to start the trial. Though you had been given the simplest of the diamond ranked tests, for those who simply had or gained decent levels of magical power sufficient enough to melt the iron dummies."

Faris had heard that term before when Nasuada had confronted the mages. "Diamond?"

"As I'm sure you know, student ranks go as this: copper, bronze, silver, gold, and finally pearl. When a mage graduates as a pearl they automatically gain the rank of ruby, after which they gain the rank of sapphire, then emerald, then diamond, diamonds can compete with each other to gain the title of Paragon, there are only two Paragon's at a time, one is Lord Jaya, the other is Lady Trianna."

Faris nodded, "So what do Pearls normally do, and how did you beat it?"

"We each had a different test, normally pertaining to whatever guild we belong to. I was given a magic stone and a mound of clay, earth, and steel, and asked to create something with them, a skill most aspiring Engineering Mages should have some access too." He smiled as he puffed his chest out. "Automatons are a new creation my Uncle spoke to me about; it was enough to impress the proctor."

Faris nodded. Even if one knows the words to the spell, for something as complicated as that, a construct that ran on magic that listened to commands, a decent level of magical skill would be required.

"Oh, my dear rival, it would be inelegant to not reveal it!" Faris sighed as Morgan looked at him with a cool smile.

"Sure buddy…"

"We are rivals, aren't we? Fighting for the affection of the beautiful rose bud that is Venka."

"Thorns are known to hurt if you keep squeezing hard enough." Venka replied sharply.

"Oh! This rose is as poetic as she is beautiful!" He placed a hand on his forehead, as if swooning. "It's too bad you will not be helping us; I would love to show you my great magic!"

"Keep dreaming!" Venka yelled, grabbing Faris's arm. "Come on! We're leaving!"

"But my answer!" Morgan called out.

"Don't need it!" was her reply.

"It would have been nice to know." Faris stated sheepishly.

As they walked down the hallway Venka in her ire bumped into someone and fell. She looked up to see the hooded covered child of Lord Jaya, her piercing eyes staring down. She was about to say something as the fellow first year raised her hand and Venka fell over.

Faris charged their assailant, the 13 words of death streaming from his mouth rapid time as his dagger nearly flew from his hand as he swiped at her. Her left hand grabbed his wrist her right hand lashed out, hitting him in the gut before whipping back for a stronger hit. He kicked her in the chest to and blocked her hit with his open palm, sliding it out of the way. Her grip on his wrist loosened and he drove his knife onward, only to be blocked by her wards. She punched him, but he sidestepped and began to attack using the shaolin style, tripping her with a few movements before switching to jiu-jitsu, through which he pinned her and held the knife to her throat. All the while their mental battle continued. She fought in an odd way, her mind feeling splintered and fragmented, each mental lash disjointed and off tempo, like a group of disorganized spear men or archers using the pure number of weapons flying at the enemy to find a chink in the armor. Faris struggled, attempting to pin down each of her mental tendrils with his own before choosing to simply encompass and wrap around them, like a vice grip. He held her this way, paying no attention to any physical or mental pain he afflicted upon her until he heard her say in the ancient language: "She's only asleep". He ceased tightening his mental hold, but did not loosen it. "Why did you cast that?!"

The girl for her part removed her face mask, she was beautiful, her face clean and smooth like a sculpture, with the countenance of a model. Faris was too angry at her to really care.

"I wanted to see whether you were worth my time." The girl said, smiling. "From what I've seen, you're passable."

"What?! What does that even mean?!" He demanded. She simply shook her head and snapped her fingers. Faris felt bonds clamp down his arms and legs as he was lifted in the air and pinned into a wall. The pain and shock caused his mental hold on her to loosen, she struck back with even greater ferocity than he had felt before, they stood, eyes locked on each other for minutes on end before Faris finally lost. As her mind surrounded his she did not attempt to even glance at his memories, she simply projected an image of Jahat. Faris could not hide his shock and fear, which elicited perverted excitement out of the girl.

"My name is Seya." She projected before kissing him on the lips and releasing the magic, dropping him. Faris swiped at her, causing her to leap back, much faster than before. He got up quickly, face inflamed.

"What the hell!" He yelled. Wiping his lips, he had tasted the poison. Luckily while he hadn't set wards to protect him from physical attacks, his wards against poisons and venoms were constantly up.

Seya put back on the wrap around her face and pulled back on her hood, now the only thing available were her eyes. He charged at her, attacking with greater ferocity, switching to Muay Thai, she now easily side stepped his attacks, blocking and dodging his most devastating elbow and knee strikes with ease. She would whip her arm around, finding different places to flick him with her finger, her fighting style wasn't at all formal, but Faris could tell she had developed it from years of combat as she seemed to anticipate his reactions to avoid his attack, even with that all she physically overwhelmed him to a point he had not witnessed, not even Bergan had demonstrated this level of speed and power, and he had to admit that he wouldn't be able to control his movements as precisely as she did if he attempted to augment them with magic to the same level. She finally pushed him back, as he hurtled to the opposing wall, he twisted his body to try and soften the blow. Collapsing after he hit the wall, he looked at her. She merely stood there, hands on her hips, her eyes betraying a sadistic grin. He pounded the floor with his left hand and got up, charging at her. She winked at him and yelled out "Vakna!" (awaken)

Venka began to slowly get up, still groggy from the spell, Faris was immediately at her side. Seya took this opportunity to leave.

"Venka! Get up, slowly…"

"What happened?" She muttered, holding her head.

"Lord Jaya's daughter, she cast a sleep spell on you and attacked me." Faris looked at Venka with concern. "Why do you remove your wards? Don't remove them. You regain more magic in an hour than the Ward would drain in a day."

She merely nodded. "What did she do? Are you hurt? Did she steal anything!" She got up quickly, "Did she take your gemstone!?"

Faris shook his head. "She didn't steal anything from me…"

Faris did his best to get the encounter out of his head. Seya had gone easy on him at first, she had been faster and stronger than he was even then, but after she removed her mask, she began to overwhelm him, he hadn't felt any change in her physical state or any rush of magic, so there wasn't anything tied to the clothe that sealed up her magic. What scared him was her use of wordless magic, that required high levels of concentration, even worse he hadn't felt her mind shift at all to try and cast the spell, he always knew when someone's mind shifted to open up magic, even wordless spells had this trigger. Even he who practiced till the point of splitting headaches to gain the ability to conceal his mind from a search couldn't avoid the tell-tale mental shifts of casting a spell.

"She's really strong, and really dangerous. She could maybe even beat you, especially if you don't ward yourself."

"But the teachers always say to remove the wards before you sleep to avoid exhausting yourself."

"That's only because one can't keep their mind connected to the stone as they sleep, making them more susceptible to attacks that could overwhelm the wards. An Alarm spell is suited then for those sorts of magic users, you are more like an elf or rider, you can and should keep your wards up indefinitely."

Venka nodded, closing her eyes as she began to chant her words of warding out in the ancient language. After about 10 minutes of intensely speaking the words, checking with Faris, and making updates and addendums, Venka's wards finally took effect, her skin took a slightly reddish-gold sheen for a few seconds before turning back to normal.

"Remember, this keeps anything from hurting you physically or through magic. As well as blocks any spells cast with the intent of effecting you negatively or doing something to you that you would not wish for, as well as a whole host of other things. It will even protect you from accidents." Faris's mind wandered to the scene in the story when Roran was accidentally gored by the ox horn, which bypassed Eragon's wards. He had taken his time to think up the perfect defensive spell for Venka, with several different layers of defense, counter spell options, ways to cancel spell piercing and spell turning attempts, and a whole host of other defensive options all the way down to a temporary diamond-like covering to block any impacts that somehow deflected every other spell. He had already tested Venka's ability to transmute, she could turn 100 cubic meters of air into literal iron, she had decided to do that after excitedly being able to turn first a thimble full of earth into water, then being able to turn a cup, of the same dirt into water, then finally being able to fill the bathtub. Faris felt light headed as he remembered how for the first time, Venka was actually using up most of her magical stamina. He nearly cried in relief as he had used up 90% of her total energy to completed the feat meant for gods, and pounded her on the head for even attempting something so stupid. The final touch layer was a last resort, made for stopping a weapon like Angela's sword, or the dragon hunting spears. Faris didn't know if it would work, but he also really didn't want to ever find out. Still, it didn't hurt to try.

The rest of the day went by interestingly. The headmaster announced that three esteemed guests were coming to tour the school, and would view the match tomorrow, due to the rarity and expected skill display of Pearl level Mage duels. Faris, who had by this point had been done with the various female students in this school belittling him in some way shape or form went all out in the physical stamina building session, and in the melee combat session, trouncing both Katya and Nya without mercy or style. Nya had been especially embarrassed over the display, as she had been comfortably ahead of most other students in all the physical activities despite her relatively small frame. Faris had been interested to see that Seya did not attend this class, as well as a majority of students, most of whom devoted time to watch the other students who did in fact partake in the physical activity. To her credit Venka did her best to keep up, and was actually doing quite well, being in the upper half of the 30 or so students out of 500 that actually attempted the classes and gave a damn about physical fitness.

Faris had especially enjoyed when Nya and Katya came to him after class. They were led by Morgan, who hadn't done very badly himself, scoring all around just below Nya, who Faris could admit was a skilled fighter. Faris turned his thoughts back to the task at hand as he looked at Nya. The girl was around 14 or 15, and was very, very, angry over being shown up by a 10-year-old. Faris had his own techniques and ways of keeping fit. While Nya overtook him in in all the exercises that required only strength, he beat her in tests of speed, reaction time, and endurance, and defeated her handily in the melee combat session. He wouldn't lose to anyone who wasn't at least as fast and strong as the power Seya demonstrated. He turned from his thoughts to see them staring at him, Morgan had his usual jovial appearance, which was countered heavily by Nya's sour look. Katya for her part had a semi shocked look, like a deer caught in headlights, Faris hadn't seen that expression change from when he placed it on her face, after flipping her when she had thrown a punch.

"Hey! Pay attention!" His eyes snapped back to Nya, who was beet red.

"Ye-as?" He said, stretching his 'yes' out with his best imitation of a Southern drawl.

She scowled at his obviously mocking tone. "Can you take this seriously! This is difficult for me!"

"Yes, I'm sure, insulting and berating someone while also insinuating that they are partaking in illicit acts with a friend they are dependent on. All the while trying to coerce said friend to join them for the sole purpose of little better than exploitation, which!" He raises his finger, "Cannot, and will not be excused for the sole reason of, 'But everyone does it here!' It must be really difficult for you to find the words to say after you had spent the latter part of this week throwing all those jabs and exhausting your evidentially limited vocabulary and word prose on insults."

Faris's hostile tones caught Nya off guard, she tried to speak but was too flustered to find the words.

"I… but…"

Faris turned around, "I apologize but simply trying to let bygones be bygones isn't so easy, what you said affected me, anything you can say or do can have a massive effect on anyone. Didn't your parents teach you what to do when you've offended someone?"

Venka looked at Faris oddly for a moment before covering her mouth, her eyes were very wide as she looked at the scene.

Nya looked really flustered as she turned to Morgan and Katya for answers or support.

Morgan looked at Faris then back to Nya, "I believe there is no other choice Nya."

"But! He!" Nya began angrily.

"You were berating him constantly Nya." Katya began, "You even told me if he looked at you funny you would beat him black and blue."

Nya's face turned even more red, before she breathed in and out, calming herself ever so slightly before turning to Faris. "I am sorry…" She began, almost robotically as she chewed the words out. "I should not have insulted you as much as I did."

"So, you're saying you should have insulted me unprovoked only a little?" Faris asked incredulously.

"Why are you being so! So!"

"Insufferable? Egotistical? Pig-headed? Righteously obstinate cause you were actually really awful to me?" Faris suggested.

"Shut up!" Nya looked very mad now. "Look I'm sorry, I judged you on your apparent magical ability, and I made the assumption that you were weak because of it, even if your magical stamina is subpar to what I consider to be my standard, you are still a pretty skilled fighter and from what I can tell, an exemplary mental duelist. I implore you and Venka to help me defeat those girls, Morgan and Katya are strong and dependable, but just the three of us will not be able to handle ten pearl initiate mages, especially due to the level of magic power they have over us."

Faris inspected his nail as he leaned against the wall, "And why should we help you?"

Morgan now stepped forward. "On behalf of these two, please accept my apologies Faris. They have both had… difficult upbringings, in fact, all six of us had difficulties. Our tenure as apprentice levelled adherents were not kind, but we all bided our time and learned our own powerful techniques, which allowed us to pass our respective Pearl level exams, even then we would have been content as merely Gold Initiates, but our family…"

"Our families are all major powers and patrons for this institution." Katya continued. "The fact we passed those tests mixed with our bloodlines gave the proctors reason to move us to the Pearl level. But we made it here on our own power, if we had been first year students the year prior, they would have given us the Pearl Initiative."

Nya continued, "When we heard news of two children not even being in the apprentice level, and not even being related to any notable magical family passing the tests marked for Diamonds, you could not imagine the jealousy I felt. Or the pain I went through dealing with my family's ostracization, I was now second best. I was approached by my sister to learn more about you two, and to separate the two of you. I'm certain we all had been given similar tasks."

Faris sighed, "And why should telling me your sad backstory make me feel enamored enough to help you? You've just admitted you tried to manipulate us." He felt his voice rise, actual anger evident. "Did you not think for a second that we are also human? That we may have had things happen to us?!" His mind began to reflect not only on his life as Faris, but also on his upbringing as Damien, his tone changing as it did. "Even if you can say you had it worse, don't discount whatever struggles someone else has faced. Because what to you may have been the slightest of mistakes could be the heaviest of traumas for another." Nya looked down in shame as he tapped his forehead. "The mind is a fickle thing you know, all it takes is a few honeyed words to make someone unsure of themselves fall for a liar's flattery, and all it takes is equally harsh and uncaring words to destroy whatever fragile foundation they began to build up, causing them to lose faith in themselves and everyone else. How do I know you aren't the liar? How can I be sure to trust you, especially after everything you've done?"

Morgan began to speak up, "Faris please, she apologized. We all have our willful moments, we all had to in order to survive until now, I'm not expecting you to forgive her so easily, but please, we can help you recover Venka's gem at the very least."

Faris looked at them for a bit. "This isn't just a matter of trust; I hate your families and by proxy you all." Morgan flinched at his hard words, Faris continued, "I wanted to give you all a chance but you've shown that you're only marginally better than your family in the thirteen."

"Faris you don't mean that…" Venka began.

"And why wouldn't I? They belittled your parents Venka, thrice, then threatened our lives for 'daring' to fight back, why would I trust their…" He turned back to the three, who now stood uncomfortably under his openly hostile gaze. "If you want to help them you can, I won't stop you. But I'm not as kind or as charitable as you are Venka, I couldn't stand to tolerate someone I hated so easily."

Venka's face betrayed her surprise and guilt at Faris's revelation of his understanding of part of her feelings. "Then you should give them a chance, please."

"Venka… I…" Faris sighed, "I can't, not right now."

He turned to leave. He didn't hear Venka's footsteps behind him as he left the training field alone.