“Look alive, people!”

Noratuk, dressed in her traditional Nexus furs, was pacing back and forth between them. Will did his best to stand at attention, or what he thought it would look like. He hadn’t been required to wear his furs, so he was dressed in a simple tanktop and sweatpants. It was a novel expression to stand in the frigid weather with his arms exposed, he thought. He could feel the cold of course, but the barrier of his flame protected him. He was even sweating a bit, given that he was standing perfectly still.

He glanced to the side, seeing Richard, James, and two other members whose names he hadn’t yet learned. These were the members of the Nexus who were still in training, and Noratuk was their teacher. She looked more stern than she’d done the day before, and her voice cracked out with more authority than the average drill instructor.

“Face forward, Will!” She snapped. “You need to focus, or you’re going to get burned!”

As it to reinforce this threat, a jet of flame erupted from her hand, scorching the line of grass she’d exposed with her pacing. She was in her element, Will realized, born to be a teacher. What better person to train the young members of the Nexus?

“Sorry,” he said quickly. “I’m focused, I promise.”

“First up, you’ll work on maintaining a fire,” she said. “You three you already know how to do this. James, step up and show Will how it’s done.”

James stepped forward obediently, moving to stand in front of Will. With an encouraging nod from Noratuk, he lifted his hands to either side, and created large pillars of flame. With a quiet roaring sound, he ramped up the heat a bit, making the flames grow until they were nearly five feet tall. He grinned widely at the awe-struck look on Will’s face, then looked back to Noratuk, who nodded her approval. James extinguished his flames and returned to his place in line as Noratuk pointed at Will.

“Your turn.”

Will nodded, lifting his hands. It took him a few seconds as it was only his second attempt, but he pulled his heat in enough to create two very small balls of fire in his hands. The flames licked against his skin without burning them, and he beamed as he looked up at Noratuk. She had her head tilted to the side as she studied the fire he made, and after a moment, nodded. “Good. Now keep that up.”

“How long?” Will asked. He was already starting to feel a little tired. In just thirty seconds, he began to feel a little weak. He tried to keep the flame going, but the effort was immense. Before he knew it, a massive pain shot through the back of his head, and his legs gave out, sending him to his knees in the wet grass. “Ow.”

“Well, that was a decent start,” Noratuk said encouragingly. “You’ll want to work on getting to at least a minute for the start, but that will take time.”

Will shook his head as the pain faded, and pushed himself shakily to his feet. “What was that? It felt like someone stabbed me in the ear!”

“That was your own condition breaking,” James explained. Noratuk nodded in agreement, and gestured for James to continue. He grinned at Will. “As you reach your limit, the Condition will break. Next time, it’ll take you a little longer to reach your limit.”

Will frowned thoughtfully. “So it’s just like working out a muscle, then. You grow muscle by tearing it.”

James shrugged. “If you say so. I’m not a fighter like you.”

“You are correct,” Noratuk said to Will. “If you practice this every day, you’ll continue to grow. In a year’s time, you’ll be able to maintain your condition for hours and hours.”

“How long can you hold your Condition?” Will asked. Just like with his days training in Kendo, he was curious to see the gap between himself and the Masters.

“I can’t remember my record,” Noratuk said, her eyes dropping from Will’s slightly. “Achievements aren’t important-”

“Two days, seventeen hours, eight minutes, and forty-three seconds,” James said, interrupting her. “She’s modest as hell with strangers, but she holds the record. Nobody can touch her.”

“Except Edward,” Noratuk said. Her cheeks had turned a little red, and she glared at James. “Spend more time on your own training and less on bragging about me, James.”

Will glanced along the small line at James to see him shrug diffidently, grinning. Noratuk’s foul mood didn’t seem to bother him in the slightest, Will thought. They knew each other well, of course, and regarded each other as family. He resolved to work his ass off in the coming year. Let’s see if we can’t beat that record. As if Noratuk could read his mind, she offered him a challenging sort of grin. “Alright then. Try again. All of you, flames up.”

They complied at once, and eight pillars of flame, from small to giant, flared to life along the line as their wielders’ faces set in concentration. Will kept his eyes fixed forward, focusing with all his might on steadily feeding power into the flames that were in his hand. Noratuk resumed her pacing, nodding approval as she took notice of Will’s obvious effort. She’d walked to the other end of the line and back to Will before he felt the stabbing pain again, and dropped his flames. He let out a frustrated sigh, and conjured the flames once more.

“No!” Noratuk barked. Before Will knew what was happening, her hands had appeared, slapping his own down. The flames he’d conjured dissipated, and in the next second, she’d struck him in the chest with both hands. He crashed over backwards in surprise, wincing at the pain in his hands. Just how strong was she? But as the pain continued he realized that she hadn’t been the cause of it. It was only when he glanced down at his hands that he saw the burns there.

“What in the hell?” He asked, bringing his blistered palms closer to his face. “I thought we were fireproof?”

“Nobody’s fireproof, idiot,” Noratuk snapped. She took hold of Will’s arm and yanked him back to his feet. “You have to give it time before you go again. If you try to create fire without your Condition, you’re going to burn yourself.”

Will winced again as he gently poked the raw skin. Now that the shock was over, the pain seemed to double. He quickly dropped to the wet grass and put his hands into the freezing water there. It was painful to be sure, but he felt an immense sense of relief wash over him as he felt the touch of the cold ground. He let out a quiet sigh, then glanced nervously up at Noratuk, as if expecting a rebuke. The other students were staring at him in mild amusement, but her expression was one of concern.

“Sorry,” she said shortly, dropping to her knees before him. “I really should have pointed that out beforehand.”

“It’s fine,” Will said, gritting his teeth as he lifted his hands from the grass. They were still bright red, but some of the pain seemed to have passed. “Does this mean that I’m out for the day, then?”

“Not really,” she replied, a reassuring smile splitting across her face. “Watch this.”

She twisted his wrists so that his palms faced upward, then gently placed her hands against his own. He let out a low hiss at the painful contact and made to pull his hands away, but before he could, he felt another wonderful sense of relief. It was as if the heat of the burns were being pulled out of him. Noratuk’s face was contorted in fierce concentration, and as he watched, some of the color seemed to drain out of her face even as she drained the heat from him. When she removed her hands, he saw that most of his burns had been healed. The skin was still red, but the blisters had gone, and the pain had faded completely.

“You can heal with fire?” Will exclaimed, his eyes wide. “That’s amazing!”

“I don’t know if it works for people outside the Nexus,” Noratuk said. Her voice sounded a bit slurred as if she’d just drank a fifth of vodka, but she stood up all the same. “But it’s a useful trick for healing damage that you do to your body.”

“It’s also very advanced,” James provided helpfully. “Right now only Nora and Charlisa can do it.”

“It’s not a matter of skill or power,” Noratuk explained, taking a deep breath. She seemed much steadier now. “It’s a trait that’s pretty unique. And Charlisa’s much better at it than I am. That wound wouldn’t have even made her flinch.”

“Ooh,” Will said, amazed. He knew that Charlisa had already completed her core training, of course, but this was the first testament to her skill that he’d heard. It only made her more awesome in his eyes. Inspired, he jumped back to his feet and held out his hands. Then he hesitated, and glanced at Noratuk. “Is it okay for me to begin again?”

She nodded. “Should be fine. You’ll get a sense for your Condition soon enough. For now, give it two minutes after each break.”

——————————

Will flopped down on his bed four hours later, exhausted and dizzy. He hadn’t felt up to eating just then, as he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep the food down. Noratuk, though kind and patient with her explanations at the start, had soon revealed her true nature, that of a cruel and unrelenting taskmaster. Even the others were tired out at the end, though James and the other older Nexian hadn’t seemed quite as drained as Will. James had only broken his Condition once, and taken a ten minute break before resuming the exercise.

“Still, I bet it’ll pay off,” he said to himself, rolling over onto his back and staring up at his hand in the dim light. “I can pick this up quick, no problem.”

He’d done much better with his last attempt, lasting almost ten minutes. Even James had glanced over in surprise as Will’s Condition broke and he hit the snow, eyebrows raised in surprised approval. Noratuk, meanwhile, had just wordlessly gestured for him to continue once a minute had passed. Will always enjoyed testing his limits whenever possible, a trait he picked up when he’d met his Kendo Sensei. He smiled faintly as he remembered her now. Mona Takamura. She and Noratuk had a lot in common, what with their patient but stern air. He wondered if that was what made a good teacher.

The knock at his bedroom door distracted him. He shot up into a sitting position at once, and swung his legs off the bed. “Coming!”

When he crossed to the door and opened it, he was half-expecting Charlisa to be standing there, or rather that’s what he’d hoped. But to his surprise, he saw Edward instead. The Alpha had taken off his furs, replacing them with a simple pair of jeans and a plaid button-down shirt. The sleeves were rolled back to reveal his thin arms, giving him the aura of a dad just getting off work. Still, Will stood up a little straighter, and stepped to the side. Edward walked into the room without asking for an invitation.

“I wanted to make sure you’re settling in alright,” The Alpha said. “I didn’t see you at dinner, so I thought I’d check in.”

“Oh,” Will said, surprised yet again. “Sorry, just tired after my first day of training.”

Edward grinned at that. The expression seemed forced, as if he had something weighing on his mind. What that was became clear at once as Will released his grip on the door, and walked over to his dresser. Perhaps that wasn’t the best option, as it put Edward between him and his only escape from the room. But just then he was too tired and complacent to recognize the coming threat, and so couldn’t have thought about it.

“So my daughter seems to have taken an interest in you.”

Will whipped around at the words, then let out a yelp of shock as Edward reached out and gripped his shoulder. The grip was just firm enough to be painful. But what was even scarier was the fire that erupted along his hand and forearm.

“Let’s have a chat about that, shall we?”