“You're about to do something unpleasant to me, aren't you?”

He smirked and she groaned as she held out her hand. He took a firm hold of her arm, putting his other hand above her wrist. A warm tingling spread through her, only partially caused by the magic from his slender fingers. When he lifted his hand, three black ring-like marks encircled her arm. She poked at them but they felt no different from her skin, much like tattoos. She gave Laelith a curious stare but the other woman just grinned and showed her own, identical markings.

“Today's our last day here, so I requested an ordinary training room,” Ezeas started explaining.

“Your opponent will be Laelith. The premise is simple: for every hit, either of you take, a ring will disappear. Three hits mean you lose. Magic is your only weapon allowed. The markings also hold protection, so the magic won't injure you.”

Saelina nodded and tried not to think about the ease, with which her friend would best her in a fight. She had once witnessed Saelina's sword skills and was thoroughly convinced she stood no chance; even Ezeas refused to fight her, head on.

“Don't worry about hurting me, dear,” Laelith said with a huge smile.

“I won't even pretend it was my first concern,” she said, swallowing a lump.

Her friend's bright laughter echoed through the room and she felt her shoulders relax at the sound. Ezeas moved away from the pair to stand at the entrance where the commander was waiting. The latter's presence was unnerving.

“You're free to start,” Ezeas announced.

Laelith crouched into a fighting stance and Saelina reached for her magic, trying to think of a way to make sure she hit her opponent. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts she did not even see the ball of light, before it struck her in the chest. She staggered backwards and saw one of the rings on arm fade away.

“No sleeping on the job, dear.”

You're being sloppy.

Saelina grumbled to herself as she rubbed the spot where she had taken the shot; there was no pain but embarrassment carried its own sting. She gathered her power and sent off a flurry of fireballs, knowing she would have to be smarter to actually strike the nyx but it bought her time.

While Laelith gracefully dodged the attacks, Saelina created several spikes of ice and controlled them to surround her opponent. When the last blast of fire had missed its intended target, Laelith stood to see several razor sharp shards pointed at her. They shot through the air and she had no way out but up; leaping as high as she could, she escaped the spikes as they crashed together, but Saelina had anticipated the move and three fireballs from three separate directions shot at her friend, while the latter was unable to dodge.

An explosion sounded throughout the room and Laelith fell to the ground, though she twisted herself to land on her feet. Saelina saw she had only two rings left and grinned in satisfaction.

“That wasn't bad,” Laelith said with a smile.

“Are you alright?”

Overestimating your power, yet again? Are all humans this dense?

It doesn't hurt to ask!

You were given the answer before the battle sterted.

“Oh darling, your concern is precious,” Laelith laughed, interrupting the silent conversation.

A spurt of flames shot at Saelina from Laelith's hand and she only barely managed to erect an ice barrier to block the attack.

“Don't get cocky, whelp!” Ezeas reminded her.

The two of them started their game in earnest. Saelina managed to get the better of Laelith, by pretending to be stumbling, luring her friend to fire off a magic sphere at an odd angle; she managed to use her own magic to create a curve of ice, guiding the attack and leading it back on Laelith, who was distracted by a rain flames, pouring down from another blast Saelina had managed to set off before curving the ice.

In the end they were both down to one ring. Saelina thought she had managed to corner her friend, only to be hit in the back by a ball of energy, which she had previously dodged. Unbeknownst to her, Laelith had managed to retain control of the sphere and call it back. The last ring faded from her arm and the two men called a halt to the fight.

You could have won.

“Will that be satisfactory, commander?”

The older man nodded.

“Your improvement is impressive, Miss Saelina,” he said.

“Thank you,” she responded trying to repress a slight blush.

The commander left the room and Saelina slumped to the ground, groaning.

“I'm exhausted.”

“That's no wonder,” Laelith agreed, “Two weeks ago, you could barely manipulate the elements enough to shoot them at someone, now you went all out and almost won.”

“But I didn't win.”

“It also wasn't the point of the exercise,” Ezeas explained. “The commander needs to calculate whether you would be an asset or a burden during battle.”

“And the preliminary results?” Saelina wondered aloud.

The cousins smiled at her and she found herself smiling back.

“You did good, Saelina,” Laelith told her, sitting down next to her.

The nyx slung her arm around Saelina's shoulders and the latter had come to appreciate the warmth of a friend.

“We'll be leaving tomorrow, so make sure you take the rest of the day to rest up,” she was reminded.

“You don't need to tell me twice.”

She looked up at Ezeas who seemed at ease as ever.

“So, why didn't you fight me, today?” she asked him.

“Not that I mind the change,” she quickly reassured Laelith who just smirked in return.

“You need to show how you'd handle an unfamiliar opponent, rather than someone you have experience going up against,” Ezeas responded.

He hesitated for a moment before adding: “And I was getting tired of always dodging your...less reputable tactics.”

Laelith leaned in closer.

“Did you ever manage to hit him?” she whispered.

“Once,” Salina answered. “Training was called off for the rest of the day.”

Ezeas cleared his throat and shot them both irritated glares.

“As interesting as the topic of my bruised groin no doubt would be to the pair of you, perhaps you could defer it until I'm out of earshot?”

“There's no need Essy, I got the general idea,” Laelith supplied.

Her cousin shook his head in exasperation.

“Make sure you stay out of trouble for the night. I would hate to start my day finding you back in the infirmary.”

Saelina shrugged.

“I'm only human. As you've repeatedly pointed out, I hardly stand a chance against the wily superiority of nyxan scorn.”

“Don't worry, dear. I'll be your bodyguard for the night.”

Laelith squeezed Saelina gently.

The three left the room and made their way to the mess hall. Though Saelina was near universally disliked, she had been left mostly alone during mealtimes.

Nyxan diet consisted mostly of fish, fruits, vegetables as well as several types of mushrooms. Plant-based food was grown in valleys among the mountains on the surface but since the nyxis could not process grain, they had no interest in growing it, so what little grain they had was imported, mostly to accommodate foreigners and half-nyxis, the latter of whom benefited from the addition to their diet, though it was not as essential as for full-blooded humans.

It still meant that Saelina got some porridge along with the rest of a normal nyxan meal while her companions went without. While it had a bitter aftertaste, the porridge was decent and filling. The atmosphere in the mess hall tended to be light and casual and the trio was even occasionally joined by the commander at meal times, which did seem to raise the human's value a bit.

Saelina went to bed, feeling a sense of relief at putting the compound behind her, the next morning. Her body grew heavy and her eyes fluttered shut within minutes.

Her dreams started as they had for weeks, now. The white snow crunched under the hooves of the horse; she was scared and fleeing, her hasty breath puffing clouds of white in front of her. Something slammed into her, sending her to the ground. She looked up to see cold, dark eyes in a pale, almost white face. He snarled, revealing fang-like incisors and as she struggled against his hold, the sweat of fear poured down her neck. His hand continued pressing on her chest, pushing down, harder and harder. She heard a snap and unbearable pain shot through her while the pressure kept increasing.

She could not breath deeply enough to scream and felt something covering her mouth, making it impossible to draw a proper breath. The cold gaze never left hers as Ezeas slowly but surely squeezed the life from her.

She woke up, gasping. The memory of Ezeas' cold eyes as he slowly killed her was still fresh in her mind. She told herself it wasn't how it happened, but she was beginning to wonder if her memory had been colored by the kinship she had come to feel for them.

Her every encounter with the Islasan population had led to pain and injury, to the point that she felt a weariness in her soul. She was surrounded by enemies and she hugged herself on her cot as she tried to fight the sense of panic and despair. The walls suddenly felt close and imposing, trapping her with people she knew wanted her dead; every shift and light snore drew her attention and a shudder ran through her core every few minutes. Finally, she rose and made her way out of the barrack as quickly and quietly as she could, desperate for fresh air and open space.

She ran around the corner and sat against the wall, resting her head in her hands as she breathed deeply, trying to settle the fit of unease which had taken control of her.

Dhíanvhúr?

She waited patiently for an answer but none came.

Dhíanvhúr! Please, answer me!

Was he sleeping? It had never taken long to rouse his attention, so why wasn't he answering? Had he abandoned her?

A tremble started coursing through her body as a brand new sensation of dread and loneliness filled her until she was about to burst.

“Please, Dhíanvhúr,” she whimpered. “Please don't leave me.”

The dragon's constant presence in the preceding months had often been her only comfort, despite the creature's antagonism. The idea of never hearing his deep, rumbling voice opened a void within her. She told herself it was temporary, it was simply the mercurial nature of the beast and he would soon scold her for pestering him.

The sound of voices drew her out of her desolation and she peeked around the corner to see a group of recruits approaching the barrack; their faces were a mix of glee and determination and she wondered whether they made up her de facto execution squad.

Before she could react to the sight of them, a hand clamped across her mouth and she was dragged backwards, into the shadows.