Fionn's eyes were beginning to glaze over as he read and tried to memorize more of the anatomy book Rialyn had him studying from. He had passed the first quiz, if barely. Rialyn was a more exacting instructor than he had expected from what he had seen of his personality so far. Besides reading and memorizing what he read, he was also expected to draw whatever part of the body Rialyn requested from memory. Anything from bones to veins or muscles and everything in between.

Rialyn said it would help guide his magic as he healed, if he had a working picture of how everything connected in his head. Fionn thought it was just as well that Fae were immortal. He would be a very old man indeed before he had learned to the standards Rialyn set otherwise.

He still didn't think they would ever be friends, but the abrasive side of the red-haired Fae wasn't as evident when he was in the home he shared with Djuran. Neither of the two had mates, and their friendship was strange to Fionn. He was still cautious around the Djinn, but the way Rialyn acted you would think Djuran was a cute fluffy puppy. The other Fae was constantly teasing and pushing the limits, and for the most part, all the Djinn did was close his eyes and sigh before leaving the room. And then sometimes...

Golden eyes flicked up from his book to silently watch the two figures spar in front of him. Djuran was faster than expected, but also ruthless. The blows Rialyn was dodging could easily break bones, and the Djinn wasn't even using weapons, just his hands. The red-haired Fae wasn't throwing many punches, but he was jumping and diving, tumbling almost like a gymnast to get out of the way. All of his long red braids had been gathered up and pinned to the top of his head, but a few of them were starting to escape the confines.

Djuran suddenly became a pillar of smoke and moved in the blink of an eye to surround Rialyn, before it condensed and he was in solid form again. One hand in the red braids, and one splayed across the front of Rialyn's throat.

"I win."

"Not fair! You cheated!"

"And so will anyone else who attacks you. As you well know." Djuran released Rialyn and stepped back, running a hand through the long sweep of his black hair. Smoothing it back to fall down his back instead of clinging to his skin and falling in a tumbled mess down his chest as it had been. "If you are done being bored, I do have other things to do today. As do you."

Rialyn just pouted at the Djinn and sat on the floor with his back to his friend. Shaking his head, Djuran left the room.

"Enjoy the show?"

Fionn jerked and flushed guiltily before looking up at Rialyn. The red eyes were amused, even if the tone was close to the usual snark.

"It's hard to concentrate on reading when you two are fighting in the same room." He paused and worried at his lower lip a moment. "You push him so much, aren't you ever afraid? Djinn are Dark..." Fionn trailed off, not sure exactly what he wanted to say. Dark wasn't the same as Evil, he knew that. But his only real experience with Djinn were Adzir and Djuran. And the dark-skinned Djinn was around him as little as possible.

Rialyn didn't stop untangling his braids, barely even looked at Fionn as he worked, and yet almost seemed to read his mind. "Dark is not the same as Evil. As I'm sure you very well know. Shadow Demons are Dark after all, have to be, with that Element. Djuran would never purposely hurt me, we've been friends too long." The red-haired Fae flashed a slightly wicked grin. "He might want to at times, but he never would. He needs our sparring matches just as much as I do. I need them so I know I'll never be taken again. He needs them to help bleed off some of his excess magic. Safely that is."

In one fluid movement, Rialyn had stood up from his seated position on the floor. Moving quickly towards Fionn, he leaned over Fionn's shoulder to see what chapter the golden-haired Fae had gotten to. Then made a tisking noise. "Only on page 389? I expected you to be farther than that by now."

Fionn hadn't flinched, too used to the other Fae invading personal space like it was going out of style. "Had you not decided that I needed to draw and color, as I went, and not fought all over the room for the last half an hour, I might have." Golden eyes flashed in annoyance briefly, before equal parts shock and nervous fear took over. He hunched his shoulders and sank down into the chair as he had not done earlier. Completely missing the spark of approval in his teachers red eyes.

"Well! If you are healing during a fight, or battle situation, you will need to concentrate better than that." Flipping his braids over his shoulders and hearing the soft clinks as the amber beads clicked against each other, Rialyn tapped a finger on his lips. "Hmmmm... Your punishment for failing to reach my expectations today shall be..." A decidedly evil glint appeared in his red eyes. "Having to memorize, draw and color the next 50 pages in the book... while sitting in Fred and George's lab. During inventing time."

The look of horror on Fionn's face was priceless, and Rialyn doubled over clutching his side and giggling. "That should help you with focusing on the important things." He gasped out, and tapped the book to emphasize what he considered to be 'important things.'