A leaf floated in mid-air in front of Arran's face. He used a sliver of Wind Essence, and it slowly floated a pace away from him. Another touch of Essence, and it came drifting back. Again he used some Essence — a sudden gust of Wind hit the leaf, tearing it apart and sending the shreds flying in the distance.

"Why do you keep doing that?!" Jiang Fei scowled at him. "Stop using so much Essence. You're moving a leaf, not trying to blow down a house!"

Arran sighed. While he tried to restrain himself, he still found it hard to control the Essence he used.

"You must keep practicing," Jiang Fei said, sounding exasperated. "Your strength is useless if you can't command it."

Arran nodded apologetically. He tried his best, but although he had improved a lot these past few months, he was still far from reaching the level he needed to reach.

Over the past months, as the three initiates spent much of their time practicing together, they had naturally grown closer. To Arran, Initiate Jiang and Initiate Guha had become Jiang Fei and Amar.

Arran and Amar had quickly become friends, both enjoying their daily sparring matches and the banter that came with sparring.

Arran and Jiang Fei, meanwhile, weren't exactly friends, but by now much of her initial coldness toward Arran had disappeared.

Moreover, he now better understood her character. She was fanatical in her magical studies, pursuing excellence to the point of obsession. Occasionally that lead to clashes when Arran failed to meet her standards, but her guidance proved invaluable in his studies, and he knew he had her to thank for much of his progress.

Still, there was only so much of her help he could take in a day. However skilled a teacher she might be, her lessons were rarely pleasant.

"Sister Fei, I think I have wasted too much of your time already," Arran said. "Maybe we should continue tomorrow?"

"You're trying to get out of training?" she asked, a look of suspicion appearing on her face.

That was, of course, exactly what Arran was trying to do.

He shook his head. "I value your help, Sister Fei," he said, doing his best to look sincere. "But surely you must want to practice Windblade?"

A complicated expression appeared on Jiang Fei's face. It was no secret that her slow progress in learning the Windblade spell frustrated her to no end, and she spent every available moment in training.

Naturally, Arran made good use of this whenever he wanted to get out of the lessons she gave him, which happened more often than he cared to admit.

"I suppose there's little use in continuing right now," she said after a moment's hesitation. "Alright. You can practice by yourself."

Arran was unable to fully contain his smile. Immediately, Jiang Fei's scowl returned.

"Don't think that you can go slack off with Brother Amar," she said. "If you haven't made any progress by tomorrow, I'll make you practice twice as long."

Arran waited patiently until she had left. When she had disappeared into the cabin, he hurried to Amar, who was practicing his swordplay a bit further down the valley.

"Brother Wei An!" Amar called out when Arran approached. "Up for a bit of sparring?"

Arran grinned. That was exactly why he had come.

While he struggled with the slow and precise control of Essence that Jiang Fei taught him, he reveled in using Wind Essence during his sparring matches against Amar.

In a fight, there was no spending hours trying to meticulously control a floating leaf. Instead, he could use his Essence with wild abandon, acting and reacting in an instant, weaving his swordsmanship and magic together without thought.

And if he occasionally blew Amar to the ground when he drew too much Wind Essence, that only helped him win some much-needed victories.

While his progress with Jiang Fei had been slow, he had advanced rapidly in the use of Essence during fights that Amar taught him.

At first, Amar had barely need to use any Essence at all when they sparred, instead relying on his sword skills to match Arran, despite Arran using all the Essence he could in their fights.

As Arran's skills grew, however, Amar had been forced to use more and more Essence to match him. By now, Arran was confident that he could force Amar to use at least half his Essence in a fight.

Of course, it went without saying that if Amar did not restrain his use of Essence, he could still easily beat Arran in a single exchange.

With a grin, Arran lifted his training sword, and Amar did the same.

"I'll get you this time," Arran said with a grin.

"We'll see about that," Amar replied, then attacked immediately.

They sparred for several hours, and Arran was pleased to find that his skills were still improving rapidly. Perhaps he could not meticulously control a single floating leaf, but he had little trouble in using Essence to enhance his sword strikes and deflect his opponent's blows.

When they finished, both of them were exhausted. After bathing in the stream they headed to the cabin, where they scoured the cupboards for food.

"What did Adept Kadir bring us yesterday?" Arran asked.

Amar's face fell. "Same as always. Rice, beans, and some vegetables."

"Again?" Arran grimaced. Adept Kadir had many virtues, but good taste in food wasn't among them.

"There is something we could do…" A mischievous glint appeared in Amar's eyes.

"What is it?" Arran asked eagerly.

"There's plenty of good food in town," Amar said. "If we leave now, we'll be there by midday."

"If Adept Kadir finds out…" Arran frowned. "But it would be nice to eat some real meat for a change."

"My thoughts exactly," Amar said.

"But how will we convince Sister Fei?" Arran asked.

"Just let me do the talking," Amar said with a grin. "I know her better than you."

They found Jiang Fei next to the cabin, sitting in the grass with a book in front of her. There was a look of intense concentration on her face.

When she heard Arran and Amar, she looked up. Immediately, a scowl appeared on her face.

"Shouldn't the two of you be training?" she said.

"Sister Fei Fei," Amar said. "Are you hungry?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" She gave him a curious look.

"Brother Wei An and I thought we might head down the mountain, and find something good to eat in town." Amar smiled broadly as he spoke.

"Absolutely not!" Jiang Fei replied with a shocked expression. "Have you gone insane?! What if we get seen? What if Adept Kadir comes while we're gone?"

"Adept Kadir was here just yesterday," Amar said. "And during the day, the other initiates will all be training at the monastery. We'll be back here before evening, and nobody but us will know."

Jiang Fei shook her head. "It's out of the question," she said. "Only an idiot would take a risk like that, just for some food."

"We could have dumplings," Amar said.

"Dumplings?" A hint of hesitation sounded in Jiang Fei's voice.

Amar nodded. "And the bakery has those cakes you like. How long has it been since you last had one of those?"

Jiang Fei's eyes widened.

———

"This is a terrible idea," Jiang Fei said. "Absolutely terrible."

She had said it over a dozen times, but still, she accompanied Amar and Arran down the mountain path. If anything, she looked even more eager than they were.

After several hours of carefully navigating the narrow paths down the mountain, they reached the town. It was already past midday, and the long walk had left them even more hungry than they had been when they left.

"We'll visit the bakery first," Jiang Fei said resolutely. "After that, we'll get dumplings."

Neither Amar nor Arran dared to argue with her, and they made their way into the town, slowly traversing the narrow streets. Even if there was little chance of encountering any of their fellow initiates, they were careful not to draw attention, and they avoided the busier areas.

Just as they were about to reach the bakery, Arran saw a group of men heading down the street. The six in front were on horseback, and a dozen followed on foot behind them. All of them wore pristine white robes, and all carried swords at their sides.

Arran immediately felt a wave of dread.

"Who are they?" he asked, but he feared he already knew the answer.

Jiang Fei turned toward the group. When she laid eyes on the group, her face turned ashen in an instant. "They're from the Academy!"