Elnor had sent her new squire off to the barracks to stay with the other recruits who had come from foreign cities. Ishan was tall and intimidating. But the results of his evaluation show how his looks could be deceiving—a score of one on both his evaluations. Only if he were a sorcerer, he would not be so useless. She remembered when she stared at her new squire's eyes. Unlike Leo's, there was no fear. There were determination, strength, and something else she could not make out. He was a graduated orphan, she remembered. At least this time, there is no family that she would have to meet if he died.

Nevan slept in one of the bunk beds provided in the barracks. Lying on the hard bed, he missed the soft ones in Nirvana. There were other new knights in the small stone building already asleep. He had counted four occupied beds out of the hundreds available when he entered, taking the one furthest from the entrance. The five of them were spread out evenly this way. He held the thief’s sigil in his hand, eyeing it while he lay. He would receive his sigil once Commander Elnor deemed him worthy of being a full-fledged knight. The following day, he was to train with his new superior. She did not mention how long it would be when he asked, hoping that he would have some spare time to investigate after.

Elnor met with Nevan an hour after the morning bell had rung. They were in one of the many courtyards that were currently not in use. She had brought two training swords and wore full armor, handing one of the blades to him.

“I assume you’re not familiar with the sword.” She said.

“No,” Nevan replied. “I had a few lessons but never really gotten any better with it.”

“I see. Well, you’ll have to be at least somewhat capable with it to be a knight.” She raised her sword into a stance. “Show me what you got.”

Nevan raised his sword in the defensive stance he was most familiar with, the blade resting on his left forearm. She gave no signal for them to begin; she simply attacked. Not used to parrying, he ducked low and avoided the incoming slash. He slashed at her knee, and the blade bounced off the protected leg.

She stepped back, waiting for her squire to be ready again. “Parry my attacks and aim for the gaps. You can’t cut through armor. Even a child knows that.” She stated the obvious.

“Yes, My Lord.”

Commander Elnor attacked again. This time Nevan met her sword with his. She was surprised by his strength. Unprepared, she was pushed back, the blade close to her face. On reflex, she slid a foot behind him and advanced, causing him to trip backward. He interlocked the elbow of his sword arm with hers, locking each other’s blade across their chest. She fell on top of him and pinned his neck to the ground with her other hand, the warm exhale of each other's breathes tingling their cheeks.

She whispered, “If you were to fall, make sure you’re on top. The one on the bottom is as good as dead.”

Nevan tried to push her off, but her arm held firm.

“Ishan,” she said to gain his attention.

He stopped struggling and looked at her. There was no disappointment or mockery that he expected. It was the expression of a genuine teacher giving an important lesson to her student.

“I understand,” he finally said.

Elnor nodded and got back up. She readied her sword, and so did Nevan. They clashed for hours, only stopping once in a while to drink water from the drinking fountain nearby. He got more frustrated as they continued. He was not getting any better, only receiving a collection of bruises as they went on. She finally stopped their training at sunset.

“I have seen children who are better than you.” She said.

“Give me another weapon, and I’ll show you better.” He balked from the ground.

“And which weapon will that be?”

“War hammers.”

“War hammers,” she spat, remembering the weapon that crushed Leo’s lungs. “The weapons of a brute.”

“It’s effective. And I’m good at it,” her squire replied.

“We’ll see.” Said Elnor. “Help me remove my armor. I want it polished by tomorrow.” She turned her back and lifted her arms to either side. Nevan helped unbuckle the straps and placed the pieces on the floor. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She said as she left, not looking back.

“She seemed unnecessarily cold,” Commander Ryuji said to Commander Nada. They had been watching Commander Elnor training her new squire from the balcony above. Ryuji was surprised when he heard that the large man, Ishan, was the last recruit to be chosen. But now that he had watched the squire handle a sword, he began to understand why.

“Who could blame her. Elnor just lost her squire and is now forced to be paired with the worst. It’s not fun watching your squire die only to be replaced with someone who would probably stab themselves with their sword.” Said Commander Nada. She was in the same sorcerer’s academy as Elnor. She was not an augmenter; therefore never knew Elnor well. But Elnor had a reputation of being kind and caring, not the frozen-hearted woman she recently had become.

“Hopefully, she trains him well,” said Ryuji. “We can’t have another of her squire holding her back. We need her for the wars to come.”

“Agreed.”

Having finished polishing his Commander’s armor, Nevan made his way to the army library. It was a tall, square, three stories stone building with barely any windows. The night was already dark once he began making his way, and there was only the librarian who remained inside.

“Good evening,” the librarian who sat by the entrance said. “May I help you.”

“Yes, thank you.” Said Nevan. “I’m looking for information about the noble thief.”

“Ah, the noble thief,” said the old man. “We have many requests for those. Follow me.” The librarian guided Nevan through a myriad of bookshelves until they reached a wall full of drawers. The librarian fetched a nearby ladder and climbed towards one of the high-up drawers. He fetched a document file and climbed down. “Here you go,” the librarian handed the file to Nevan.

It was a criminal document full of eye-witness claims and a warrant of arrest for the thief. Nevan skimmed the papers. “Is there no information that’s more recent?” Nevan asked the librarian.

“No,” said the old man. “We don’t have much of those, sadly. A few people had filed charges against the thief, but they were always eventually dropped. Thus, investigations never really offered any results.”

“I see,” Nevan frowned.

“May I know why you’re looking for information on the noble thief?” the librarian asked him.

“Thief is my hero,” Nevan lied. “Wanted to get to know her better.”

“Her?” the librarian eyed Nevan questioningly.

“Or him,” Nevan shrugged.

The old librarian smiled, “The thief is a hero to all of us lowborn. Don’t be so discouraged, though. Rumors have it; the thief is going to make a return soon.”

Nevan raised his eyebrows, “Where did the thief go?”

“Nobody knows. The thief disappeared around a month or two ago, I think.”

Nevan nodded. “Do you have a table I could use? I’m quite excited about learning this,” he jiggled the document in his hands.

“We do have, but I think you should just bring it home. It’s getting late, and the atheneum will close soon.”

“Even better.”

“Follow me, and I’ll check it out for you at the front desk.”

Nevan went back to the barracks carrying the documents in his hands. The lamps were still lit when he arrived. He saw the other four knights who stayed in the barracks, talking to each other about their day on one of the empty beds.

“Hey,” one of them called out when Nevan entered. He was a man in his early twenties, finely dressed and clean-shaven to show his strong chin. The rest of the group were around the same age.

“Hi,” Nevan replied to the man.

“Name’s Khan, come join us.”

“Ishan,” Nevan said as he moved to sit with them.

“This is Zanya." A woman, with dark skin, long curly hair, and gold rings around her neck, waved. “Sura,” Khan pointed to the tan highborn woman with dark brown hair and a silver nose ring. “And Yokine( pronounced Yo-ki-neh),” pointing to the blonde woman with freckles.

“Nice to meet you all,” said Nevan.

“We were telling each other about our first day,” Zanya said. “My superior, Sir Luxtra, made me communicate with him from increasing distances. It got so far at the end that I almost passed out.”

“You’re a visioner?” Nevan asked her, immediately embodying the personality of Ishan.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to go into your mind.” Zanya waved. “Tried it on him and immediately regreted it.” She pointed at Khan.

Khan smirked at Zanya, and raised both his hands in an innocent gesture, “What can I say.”

Zanya punched Khan’s shoulder lightly.

“Anyways, Yokine here is an elementalist. She’s been showing off her abilities all night.” Zanya continued.

“That’s cool. What’s your specialty?” Nevan asked Yokine.

“Air,” Yokine said. “And I wasn’t showing off, just practicing. Madam Tina wants me to be able to blow gusts as soon as possible, ” she said sarcastically.

“Sure you were,” Khan said.

A round of laughter erupted among the group, obviously indicating a joke that Nevan had missed.

Khan frowned in a way that it looked like he was holding back a smile, shaking his head. “Anyways, what about you, Sura? How’s your first day as a healer.”

Sura let a tired breath out, “Madam Wuli made me read books. Apparently, I have to understand human anatomy to heal correctly.”

“That doesn’t sound fun,” Nevan said to her.

“I know.” She complained. “It’s like I’m back at the academy, just worse.”

“What about you, Khan? How was your day?” Nevan asked Khan.

“Tiring,” he said. “Sir Kiro kept making me lift heavy and heavier weights. He said that it is the easiest way for an augmenter to get more efficient in transmuting tenaga.” Khan said while making an impression of his superior's gruff voice.

“Uhh, Sir Luxtra said the same thing but for visioners,” said Zanya. “What about you, Ishan? What was your day like?” They all turn to Nevan, awaiting him to answer.

“It looks like we got the whole set here,” Nevan replied. “I’m a non-sorcerer.” They all winced except Khan, who just nodded.

“It’s not that big of a deal,” Khan said. “Many non-sorcerers still made it to becoming a Commander.”

“True,” Yokine said, bobbing her head side to side in contemplation. “So, how was your first day?” she asked Nevan.

“Commander Elnor pretty much beat me all day with the sword, on top of the constant insults.” All the groups’ eyes widened as they heard the name ‘Commander Elnor.

“Your superior is a Commander!” Sura exclaimed. “You must be very good at fighting then. What did you get in your evaluation?”

Zanya nudged Sura with her elbow, “Haven’t you heard? Commander Elnor was punished for disobeying a direct order.”

“So? What does that have anything to do with Ishan?” Zanya asked back.

“Her punishment was that she got the last pick for a squire,” Zanya tried to whisper, but everyone still heard her.

Sura made a silent “oh,” and grimaced at Ishan. “Sorry,” she apologized.

“Don’t worry about it. I got much worse from the Commander herself.” Nevan accepted her apology.

“It worked in your favor, though,” Khan said. “Almost every augmenter had dreamt of being a squire to a master augmenter. Let alone one that is also a Commander.” Nevan looked at Khan in surprise. “What? You really didn’t know she’s a master?” Khan asked in bewilderment.

“I didn’t even know she was an augmenter. Let alone a master.” Nevan replied.

Khan looked at him in astonished amazement, but before he could say anything, Yokine cut him off. “Come on, Khan, he’s a non-sorcerer. How would he have known?” she said, hinting at the fact that non-sorcerers were not permitted in the sorcerers academy.

Khan turned to Nevan and saw the file that Nevan was holding. Forgetting what he was about to say, Khan asked about the document instead. “What’s that?” he pointed.

“Oh this,” Nevan held the file up. “It’s information on the noble thief.”

Khan and Sura frowned, but others smiled. “The noble thief is legendary,” Zanya beamed. “What have you found?”

“I would call them infamous instead of legendary,” Khan said, receiving a nod of agreement from Sura.

“Oh, come on, Khan. You know the thief only targets corrupt people.” Yokine said.

“Still,” Sura replied. “It’s not a nice feeling that only highborns were targeted.”

“I can understand that,” Nevan said, trying to prevent the conversation from heading where he thought it was going. “I’m just an admirer, that’s all. I haven’t got a chance to read it yet.”

“Ooooh, can I borrow it once you're done?” Zanya asked him.

“Yeah, sure. Just make sure you return it to the library.”

“Deal!” she smiled.

“Anyhow, I think I’m going to bed. I don’t know about you lot, but I’m tired.” Yokine yawned. They all agreed, wished each other goodnight, and head to their respective beds.

Once the lamp fire was put out, Nevan left the barracks to sit under the torchlight outside. He did not find any helpful information on the thief’s whereabouts other than what he already knew. She was sighted in many cities, often the ones closer to the capital. What worried him the most was that the thief might have already left the country. Ronan was at war, so her leaving was a high possibility. However, the document stated that her last sighting was two months ago, and Nevan knew she was still active until at least a little more than a month ago. She was still here, he was sure, although he did not know why. But even if she had left, he would hunt her down across the world. He turned to the sky, thinking of his next move while watching the dancing stars.

The same stars that danced for Elnor while she sat in the garden of her estate, looking up. She wasn’t ready to lose another squire. Not prepared to let the child of another parent die. She would train her new squire the best she could, but even then, would it matter when it comes to a battle? Ishan may be an orphan, but there will still those that would miss him if he were to lose his life. Would she be one of them? She wondered.