Rime spun the staff in his hand; he flexed his fingers and then gripped the staff before looking over at his opponent a tall human woman from the hunter’s guild who had agreed to be the teacher for her former master’s apprentices. Her brown hair flowed in a long braid behind her and her dark green eyes squinted at the young man that circled the filed just as she did.

The sound of single clap echoed through the field and she rocked her body forward taking one powerful step, just like that she shot her body forward, her glaive cutting through the air as she headed in the direction of the young man that just stood still, a blank look masking his face. She swung her weapon aiming for his neck but within a second he vanished as if he had not been there.

She spun bringing herself to a stop and swung her glaive behind her, there was a loud thwack that signaled that she had successfully blocked his attack, and she turned around grabbing her long blade out of his sheet and swung for him but he jumped back out of her range. She jumped again as he swung his staff at her and just as she was about to land the head of the staff connected with her stomach causing her to stumble back.

She coughed and looked back, she dropped to the ground just as his staff swung for her head and flicked herself onto her feet listening as the staff connected with the earth where she had just been sitting. She flicked back three times and then spun and threw her glaive at him but he jumped into the air one of his feet landing on her outreached weapon using it as a base for him to push himself forward.

He ran to her and swung his staff at her head, she raised up her had that held her blade and it blocked the hit but the momentum of the swing sent her to the side, he used this to his advantage and within a second he knocked her to the ground and sat on her chest holding his short blade to her throat. She glared at him and he put a slight pressure on the blade causing her to his as the sharp blade pressed on her flesh. “Fine I give, get off you bastard!”

Rime smirked at her and stood up he stretched out his hand and she grabbed it allowing him to pull her up, she rolled her eyes at the sight of his boyish smile. “You’ve gotten better, much, much better, you’re going to need a new teacher soon because it looks like I’ve taught you all I can.” She sighed and they walked over to the benches where Cyra was sitting sipping on her juice as she munched on a meat bun.

“Same goes for you little one, you’ll need a new teacher and in future you’ll be a better fighter than your brother because you started at such a young age. Maybe I could get one of the generals, or gold leafs for you too also I still don’t understand why you need to be a master of all weapons.” She shrugged and dropped down on the bench taking her towel to wipe her face.

“So are we done for the day?” Cyra asked as she handed her brother his lunch bowl.

“No you’re required to put in forty eight hours of training a week we haven’t covered all of it, so you got to stick around ok. Maybe you can spar with each other or I can take you over to the arena and you can spar with your fellow students, it’s up to you.”

“I have an idea, let us eat our lunch first and then you can brutalize us.” Cyra said with a cute smile and her teacher laughed.

“Okay I’ll be back in a bit, eat well.” With that she ran off and the siblings were left staring at her vanishing figure.

“I’m tired, I want to go to the park today, and they said we were going to have a break soon but it hasn’t happened.” The sadness in his sister’s voice had Rime setting aside his glass noodles to pull her into a hug.

“I know and I’m sorry but think of it like this, just two more years and we’ll be able to do what we want, I promise it’ll get better, we just got to stick with it.” Rime ran his fingers through his sister’s hair that had grown a great length as he spoke in a soft tone. “How about a haircut, maybe a little change will make you feel better and we can ask one of the maids, I need mine cut too.” He watched as she twirled a lock of her hair between her fingers and then nodded looking up at him with a soft smile.

They went back to their lunch clearing out their respective bowls and jugs before their teacher returned and they decided on sparring with the other students. It was a bit of a walk before they reached the other students and they were all too eager to spar with the mages apprentices. They had already picked out the students for the sparring and Rime noticed some of the students placing bets of who would win. He sighed he didn’t think after today they would be so eager especially when they got their asses handed to them by a four year old.

+

Rime chocked back a chuckle as he watched his little sister jump off the round and slap the older girl in her face with the side of her blade. The girl looked a bit stunned as Cyra landed on the ground and ran through the girl’s legs knocking the back of her knees as she did. The girl dropped to her knees and Cyra grabbed her hair and placed her blade at the front of the girl’s neck.

One of the sparring teachers stepped forward to call the win but was interrupted by the sound of loud clapping that caused Rime to turn around; he grimaced at the sight of the mage entering the arena with a smile on his face. “That a pleasant sight, I’m always surprised at your progress every time I watch you fight, it was almost like watching my little girl fight again.” Cyra nodded and released her opponent’s hair and removed her blade before she went over to stand by her brother.

“Now I’d like to stay here and watch the two of you dispatch each one of these brats, but apparently that’s not a nice thing to do and also we have some business to attend to, so go ahead get yourselves cleaned up and grab your things we must be going.” Rime and Cyra didn’t need to be told twice as they quickly ran to the stands to grab their things and then off to the arena showers.

The Grand Mage watched with a crocked smile as his apprentices ran off before he turned to looked at the brunette woman that was approaching him. “You know every time I see you old man I’m surprised you’re still alive.”

“And I’m surprised you’re still married, what did you brainwash my poor grandson into thinking you’re a gem when you’re just an un-killable bug that won’t go away.” He laughed at the sight of her face going sour. “I told you not to trifle with me, I’ve been at this longer than you and I’ll always be twenty steps ahead of you little girl, so turn your ass around and take that attitude to your pathetic husband.”

He watched triumphantly as she frowned and looked down at her feet. “Anyway aside from your poor attempts to one up me, how are my apprentices doing?”

The woman shook her head and played with her braid. “They are amazing as I suspected, I’ve been teaching them for less than a year and they’ve already absorbed everything I can teach them. I was thinking of asking my brother to train them, after all he is a Gold Leaf and he’ll be able to handle them better, by the end of a year they could be gold leaf ranked.”

The Grand Mage nodded. “Well I suspected as much, those two are far too talented for the likes of you. I really wandered who their fathers were I researched on their mother and she wasn’t anything special but she did bring two prodigies into the world so I’ll give her that. But if I could trace their fathers then maybe everything would explain itself.

And I was thinking that maybe I should train them myself but the combat I know is leaps ahead of your gold leafs and I’d probably end up killing them, prodigies or not. Anyway I am going to the council today so I’ll speak to your brother myself, he’s one member of your family that I’m happy to have a connection with. I would have Cyra wed him but he’s too old for her and her brother would drain the life from my old bones and I quite enjoy wreaking havoc on you young lings to die just yet.”

He looked up at the sight of his students approaching, fully covered in their cloaks, the only parts of their face that was visible was from their nose down. “Well at least they look the part of your apprentices, hopefully when you’re done training them they’ll use what you thought them to kill you, but I’m sure with how twisted you are you would be proud.” He smirked at that because he knew he would.

He looked at the pack Rime was carrying and frowned. “Where are your things hatch lings? I told you to bring extra writing equipment because I’m taking you somewhere important.”

“We had to leave them in the class, when we came for training.”

The grand mage nodded. “Okay go quickly and fetch them then meet me at the Academy gate and hurry we must not be late.” With that the old mage turned and walked to the gates not bothering to use his magic, the children would take some time after all.

+

Rime and Cyra looked at the Grand Mage and glanced at each other; Cyra rolling her eyes, Rime shrugged and took her hand so they could quickly run to their class. When they got their, they had to knock on the door and Rime to Cyra to wait while he went in. He didn’t want to have to deal with the teacher’s spitefulness when the Mage was way more childish and had the authority to do as he pleased.

The teacher looked from the board to him as he walked up to her and leaned in close so they could speak quietly. “I’m sorry professor but it seems Cyra and I have been summoned by the Grand Mage, I just came to get our things and be on our way.” The teacher scowled at him but nodded anyway, he gave her a slight bow and went to his desk. He ignored the stares and grabbed up everything including their trunk that still held the plants in it, and he gave the teacher a nod and then went out the class.

He handed some of the bags to Cyra and they quickly headed to the gates where they saw the Mage speaking to the woman that was always in a gold dress. She was scowling at him while he had his usual playful smile on his face as he leaned in and told her something that made her throw her hands in the air before stomping off causing the Mage to laugh with glee.

When they approached he smiled. “Oh good, I thought I was going to die before you got here, but I was surprisingly wrong, anyway take my non-wrinkled hands so I can guide you to a better place.” They both stared at him blankly and he rolled his eyes. “Learn to take a joke hatchlings.” He went over and grabbed their hands giving them a smirk just as they vanished from the school.