Chapter Twenty-One

Amber had hoped that she’d learn a little about her team-mates while shopping with them.

That didn’t exactly happen.

Sure, she discovered that Cassy really enjoyed buying clothes, and that Jade, once she opened up a little, had a keen eye for cute things, but that was it. It was still enjoyable though. Amber was a little too frugal to buy much, but she did get some jeans and a nice blouse, as well as some PJs from a catalogue.

Cassy tried to push her to get more, the flyer was certainly burning through her allowance, but Amber was reluctant to spend money at the best of times.

The only one that clearly didn’t want to be there was Morgan. The taller girl eventually begged off to head to the gym.

They all met again for supper. The conversation mostly stayed on the topic of favourite foods and brands and whether their Agarthan Studies professor was cute or not.

The evening wasn’t productive, but it was pleasant enough.

The next morning rolled around and Amber found herself actually eager for her first lessons of the day. It’s actually kinda fun? Didn’t think I’d ever be saying that about school.

Waking Cassy up took some effort, the girl grumbling and complaining the entire time, so much so that they were almost late for breakfast. Cassy spent that time slumped on the table, and barely ate a bite off her tray.

Amber imagined that she was going to be a nightmare for whichever instructor she received.

Math lessons turned to physics, and they touched on some English and world history before morning classes ended.

Amber rejoined her team and they headed out for lunch. “So, our next class is Combat, right?” Amber asked.

Morgan was the first to nod. “It is. It’s also likely one of the most important classes we have.”

“I hate gym,” Cassy said. She seemed to be trying to prove that by riding slumped over her broom instead of walking next to them. Even the broom was moving slowly.

“It’s not gym class,” Morgan said as they crossed the bridge between the north and south ends of the academy. “It’s a combat class. You learn how to fight, and how to kill. It’s physical, sure, but this is a lot more involved. It’s a lot more serious than just being told to run around and do a few push-ups.”

“Do we get hurt?” Jade asked.

Morgan started to shake her head, then stopped. “You can? If you’re not careful, and if you don’t pay attention. I’d be more worried about hurting others.”

“What’s that mean?” Cassy asked.

“It means that we’ll likely be training as a team first, before we ever train with any other teams or against any monsters,” Morgan said. “We have a good month of training with just the four of us, an instructor, and a Seelie.”

“The school has a lot of combat trainers?” Amber asked.

“It’s usually an alumni,” Morgan said. “Or one of the upper-year students that took a small course. And the Seelie is... it’s a Seelie.”

“Do they even know how to fight?” Cassy asked. “They’re a bit squishy looking.”

“They know enough,” Morgan said.

Amber walked on while trying to imagine what the class would be like. She knew she didn’t have long to wait before finding out, but it still occupied her mind as they arrived at the cafeteria and started loading up on food.

Cassy still didn’t take much. That is, she took as much as a normal person would eat, but Amber and Morgan and even Jade had plates filled to the brim and were pigging out while Cassy picked at her meal.

“Are you okay?” Amber muttered when Jade and Morgan got up for seconds.

“Huh?” Cassy asked.

“You’re not eating much,” Amber said. “Do you feel alright?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” Cassy said, dismissing Amber’s concern with a wave.

“If you need anything, I can run over to the dorms and get you stuff. I... should really start carrying a purse around.”

“It’s fine,” Cassy said.

Amber didn’t press it, she just stood and got her own plate refilled. I’ll have to keep an eye on her, just in case. I’m downing a day’s worth of food every meal, and I’m still peckish after. She must be starving.

She decided to ask Morgan about it later, and maybe drag Cassy to the infirmary if she thought the girl actually had something going on, but her increasing anxiety over combat class--not to mention another plateful of food--pushed that aside.

Once they’d finished eating, the team started making their way back, though they still had time to spare.

“I wish lunch wasn’t as long,” Morgan said. “It doesn’t take an hour to eat, and that leaves you with some time on your hands, but not enough to do anything. Working out for five minutes isn’t worth the hassle of getting changed and showering, and it’s rare that we ever get any sort of homework.”

Jade looked up to Morgan, then back to Amber. “We could investigate?”

“Investigate?” Amber repeated.

The shorter girl nodded. “That explosion thing. Some of the girls at orientation were talking about it before it started. They heard that they made background checks on all of the new students because of it, and when I went to the administration building, there was a whole crew doing renovations.”

“Oh,” Amber said. “Morgan and I were there for that. The explosion, I mean.” Amber was suddenly aware of Cassy and Jade looking her way. “It was... rather scary?”

“No one was hurt beyond the ability of magic to heal,” Morgan said. “Though I think some of the staff were traumatised?”

“I can imagine,” Amber said. “Seeing your workplace blow up, that’s got to be a bit scary, even when you return later.”

“Hey, don’t skip ahead,” Cassy said. “Give us the deets.”

Amber shook her head. “There’s not too much to say? I saw a pink-haired girl walk into the bathroom, then run upstairs, then everything exploded. Uh, then, before any of that happened, I told Morgan that there was going to be an explosion, and she helped evacuate everything before the explosion happened.”

“Uh, what?” Cassy asked.

Morgan was eyeing her from the corner of her eye too.

“My power, it’s got time travel-y things,” Amber said.

“Like a seer?” Jade asked.

Amber shook her head. “More like, um, I have a personal Delorean. We have magic lessons tomorrow, right?”

“We do,” Morgan confirmed. “You still need help with your powers?”

“I’m kind of reluctant to use them too much. They’re very, uh, I don’t know.”

“Timey-Wimey?” Jade asked.

Amber pointed to her. “That.”

“You know that time travel is almost as bull as my own power, right?” Cassy asked. “Bet I could still take you though.”

Amber didn’t have time to really poke at that, they’d arrived at the building where their next class would be taking place. It looked like one of the lecture halls, but on entering, and following a sign with their team’s name on it and an arrow, they were led into a large open room.

She felt a shiver running down her spine as she moved in, but nothing in the room should have inspired that. It wasn’t even cooler than the hallway they’d been in.

It reminded her a little of a basketball court. The floors all polished wood, the walls covered in blue pads, and industrial lights hanging down from above.

In the middle of the room, on the only chair around, was a brunette in an academy uniform, her back bent and her eyes closed as she faced the ceiling. A seelie with a....

Is that an army helmet? A teeny tiny army helmet?

The seelie sat on the girl’s lap, unblinking eyes looking at team Svalinn while the girl rubbed along its back. “Hello, Team Svalinn,” the creature said. “We, that is, Wendy here, and ourselves, have been eagerly awaiting your arrival!”

“Heya, kitty cat,” Cassy said. She placed her broom horizontally in the air and sat on it.

Jade, surprisingly,hopped back and sat next to Cassy. The broom wavered a bit, but held. Jade shrugged when Cassy looked down at her. “I was curious.”

Morgan nodded to the seelie, set her feet and crossed her arms. “Hello Seelie, hello Wendy.”

The girl’s eyes opened and she leaned forward until she was sitting up. “Yo,” she said.

The image of professionalism, this one. “Hello,” Amber said.

“So, you’re team, uh...” the girl paused, then looked down to the Seelie who turned its head up to meet her gaze.

“Svalinn,” the seelie said.

“Yeah, that,” Wendy said. “I’m Wendy. I’m going to teach y’all how to fight things, I guess.”

“You guess?” Morgan asked.

“Yeah,” Wendy agreed. “So.” She clapped her hands, grabbed the Seelie, and placed it on the ground, then she bounced to her feet. “How should we start this?”

Amber shifted. “Shouldn’t you, uh, know?”

“Oh, right, I’m the teacher... shit.” Wendy scratched at the side of her nose. “I’m shit at teaching. My team leader said I had to do it ‘cause I needed to learn though. Make me a responsible woman, or something. Anyway. Fighting’s easy. Just hit things ‘till they die. If you’re having trouble, get better so you can hit things more and faster. And harder, I guess. That’s important too.”

“This is just sad, Wendy,” Morgan said. “Didn’t Samantha give you any prep, at all?”

“She said I had to learn to do it myself!”

“Did you?” Morgan asked. Somehow, she managed to stand even taller and toward above their teacher.

Wendy looked away. “Fine, I’ll try harder next time. Uh, this is your first hands-on-y class, right? Yeah, bet you don’t even know how to transform and stuff. We can work on that, right?” She looked to Morgan as if to confirm that it was a good idea.

Morgan nodded. “Yes, that would be a good place to start. After that, you should assess everyone’s combat potential.”

“Oh yeah!” Wendy said. “So, y’all get to transforming, then I’ll beat you up.”

“No,” Morgan said. “That’s... do you want me to lead the class?”

“I mean, no? I’m supposed to do it.” Wendy said.

“You’re doing a terrible job,” Morgan said

Wendy huffed. “No I’m not! We’ve barely started. Right girls? I’m not doing so bad?”

Amber looked away, and she noticed Jade tugging her scarf up a little. Cassy gave her a big thumb’s up. This isn’t as clear-cut as I would have liked.

Morgan shook her head gestured with one hand towards the seelie. “Do you approve of this?”

The seelie tilted its head to the side as if considering, then nodded. “We do. The growth of a magical girl is important, and that includes learning how to interact with others. Seeing Wendy learn is wonderful. At the same time, this has yet to impact the growth of team Svalinn. If we sense otherwise, we will act to rectify things.”

“Alright! Sammy always said I needed approval before I could do fun stuff, and that sounds like approval to me!” Wendy cheered. “Okay, Morgan, you can transform already.” She pointed to Amber. “Get dancing.”

Amber wanted to protest, but she figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to set the example. She closed her eyes, tossed her bags to the side, and stepped away from the others. Closing her eyes didn’t stop her from hearing Cassy’s giggling as she swayed her hips and swung her arms around like a clock.

Her costume settled on her between two ticks of the clock, and Amber shifted back to stand normally.

“I’ve seen weirder,” Wendy said.

“Thanks,” Amber deadpanned. “So, is there actually going to be any training today?”

“Yeah yeah,” Wendy said. “Don’t get your panties knotted up. I swear. How about you get next, uh... Jade?”

“That’s me,” Jade said. She jumped off of Cassy’s broom, and stood a little to the side.

Amber noticed the bit of pink in the girl’s cheeks. That didn’t stop her from watching .

Let’s see what Cassy and Jade can do.