Ranvir was beginning to understand how Floki got to the point where he paid so little attention to his class that he didn’t realize he was teaching a student the wrong procedure for advancement. His tether-sense scoured the students before him examining their progress.

Master Floki’s class was a disappointment… None of them were even close to their first breakthrough. Of the fifteen that still remained within the class, Ranvir doubted any of them would even reach their first stage this year. Even if he counted himself among their group that was an abysmal rate.

However, when all your best and brightest student got bought off their contract and stationed in a noble’s mansion making extra spacious pockets, rooms, or other facilities, then you weren’t left with a lot to work with. Even Torben, the near-fanatical student, had gone. He’d been the only true talent in the class and he’d apparently been bought out sometime before the end of the second trimester, despite his vocal fervor.

“They’re not great,” Ranvir said quietly as Master Floki threw together a pocket-space for him.

“I know,” Floki replied stepping away from the slight hitch on the fabric of space, “Can you open it yourself?” he had a slightly cocky grin on his face as he gestured for Ranvir to approach. From the looks on the faces of the students that was a quite unusual attitude for him to take during classes.

Ranvir rolled his eyes as he turned towards the connection point and spread his Veil. He brushed away a few of the more curious students’ tether-senses, before plunging his own into the connection. With a twist of will, he manipulated the aperture open and stepped inside as he pulled out a small notebook he brought for the purposes of this examination. He intended to get as much information as he could on the space.

“How long will you be in there?” Floki asked.

“Until you throw me out,” Ranvir replied then closed the aperture in the old master’s face. The last thing Floki saw was Ranvir’s own cocky grin. Seeing his old classmates, now so far behind him, had put him in an odd mood. A good one, if a little arrogant. Feeling their blunt senses poking forth, taking in their weak tethers and slow progress was a stroke to his ego, he couldn’t deny it.

He was the tenth first-year student to advance into the first stage, though the others had been picked out early for their talent. All of them were supposed to be of greater talent than Sansir or Grevor and yet…

Ranvir shook his head and focused on the pocket-space surrounding him. It was a master’s craft, even if it wasn’t a master craft. Saleema’s had been perfection in creation, like a touch of the Goddess on the world. Master Floki’s space was great in many ways, handled excellently and superbly useful. It just lacked the practiced touch of the ankirian’s expression.

Still, it was about a million times better than what Ranvir and Kirs had scrounged together in his apartment. He’d spent a good portion of yesterday fixing the balance and instability of the space and it still wasn’t nearly stable enough to support Kirs. Floki’s wasn’t even shaking under the presence of Ranvir with his Veil fully extended. His presence was touching a huge portion of the space at any one time. If he’d been even half as blunt to his own, he would already be sitting on his ass back in reality.

Ranvir dug his tether into a nexus of connections, braces, joists, the whole frozen family, disconnection as much as he could before attempting to patching it up himself. He didn’t do that great a job, mainly because he was bad at it, but also because he couldn’t make extra material to work with. If he needed more, he’d have to grab it from outside and bring it into the space.

Occasionally, as he worked he got a sense of something beyond the barrier of the space. Sometimes it was a glimpse of vast emptiness, other times it felt like he was sensing Vednar, catching a glimpse of the plane from an oddly distant perspective.

At some point, the space collapsed around him and he was shoved back into reality. Ranvir looked around surprised to find the students gone and Master Floki standing alone, “Class’ up, come back tomorrow,” Floki said, shoving his chair into a pocket-space before leaving, he paused after a step or two, “You know, I never realized how strong your tether-sense was. Packs a real punch, especially for your advancement.”

“Thanks,” Ranvir said forcing a grin on his face. It’s new.

Sansir and Ranvir stepped back from the door. The new lock glinted shiny and metallic in the light of the bright torches. The iron contraption had been damn expensive, Ranvir’d hoped to buy iron hinges as well, but they’d been too expensive and they’d kept the ones that came with the apartment.

Of course, that wasn’t mentioning the three foot long and a handspan thick drop bar they’d also installed.

“You don’t think that’s a bit too much?” Esmund asked looking skeptically at the whole drop bar contraption.

“Dovar, we’re good,” Sansir said with a grin as he slid the log into place. It was soon followed by a hefty thump as the biggest student in their year, potentially the entire school at this point, threw a kick that could break anvils into it. Still, the door held.

“I take it back,” Esmund muttered after the second kick, “What if they have an ability that actually makes them better at breaking doors down? Like strength?” Ranvir looked at him for a long moment, “Or warp?” he added finally.

“Dovar is better at breaking doors down,” Ranvir replied. “The agility and speed from Flesh more than makes up for not getting an extra kick of strength—“ the door was hammered again, “Alright, I think that’s good! —from his advancement. Of course, there isn’t much I can do about warp.”

Sansir slid the drop bar to the side and it landed with a heavy thump, Sansir leaned it against the wall and stepped away from the door as Ranvir unlocked it. Of course, it wasn’t a perfect plan, though, it would give them a few seconds to hide their experiments which was all he really needed. It didn’t have to stop someone from entering, just inconvenience them.

“That is really sturdy,” Grevor said as he ducked around the door followed closely by Dovar, “Didn’t even creak or nothing. Want to check out the hinges, they might have warped a little.”

Dovar shook his head, “I didn’t kick it that hard.

“Are you implying that you can?” Grev asked leaning against Sansir’s chest.

Dovar simply smiled.

“You should just be happy that Pashar and Kirs took Frija out for a trip around campus,” Es said. “Imagine how distraught she would’ve been after all that noise.”

“I wouldn’t have done it with her here, if Kirs couldn’t have taken her I would’ve.”

“I don’t know if she meant to let it slip out, though,” Kirs said.

Ranvir nodded slowly, holding his opinion back at the moment. She obviously did.

“She seemed genuinely mortified to have told me,” Kirs continued. “Then again, you never quite know with Pashar,” she looked at Ranvir scratching her upper lip with the nail of her thumb, “You think she did it on purpose, don’t you?”

Ranvir nodded, “Pashar’s very exacting in everything she does. If she told you she intended you to know, probably even intended for it to drip down to me.”

“What a weird way to tell you, though.”

Ranvir nodded, “The stipend isn’t inconsequential as you told it. It’s just another show of good faith.”

“Another?”

“She’s been making a lot of those lately,” Ranvir said gently resting his hand on Frija’s tummy as she stirred in her harness. “Most notably, her helping with Frija.”

Kirs smiled at his daughter, “So what do you intend to do about it?”

Ranvir shrugged, “Nothing, I’ll take a look again once she comes asking for a favor.”

“Or tries to force your hand. Actually, knowing her, that’s more likely,” they both snorted before returning to the others.

They had full accompaniment to this after period class, both masters Ayvir and Svenar were in attendance. This class was fully dedicated to just banding exercises. So far, Dovar and Esmund had been making great strides in these fields. Esmund was almost at a point where he could fully sheathe his Dagger, some year and change ahead of schedule, though he was still noticeably weaker than when students normally achieved such.

Dovar wasn’t too far behind him either, though Esmund’s talents and his relatively easy advancement was starting to show a strong foundation. Sansir and Grevor were making good progress as well, though Veil was the hardest to fully sheathe, followed by Dagger, and finally Flesh.

Apparently, that was supposed to flip on second stage, with Lungs being the hardest, though Ranvir, as of yet, couldn’t understand why.

Frija stirred further on his chest, coming awake with a yawn that melted his heart. Ranvir caught a glimpse of Master Svenar looking up at the noise, looking directly at Frija, before his own attention was captured by the lightly squirming baby. This time she wasn’t as tightly swaddled, though she was wearing a thicker outfit than usual to make up for it. It allowed her to stretch her tiny arms forth as she stirred, letting out another yawn.

She stopped mid-movement, her eyes catching on the empty night sky. Only Ingra and Vejka filled the sky, their pale blue glow showering the ground in just enough light that they didn’t need Grev or Ayvir’s abilities tonight.

Frija grabbed at her harness as she stared into the sky, seemingly captivated by the moons. Ranvir rested his hand on her belly as he looked up as well, sending awe, happiness, relaxation, and safety to her through his tether-sense. She squirmed further, one hand grabbing the tip of his thumb as she settled in the harness and let out another yawn her other hand going up beside her head.

“Are you crying?” Ayvir asked, causing Ranvir to look over at the two masters.

“Yeah,” Svenar answered, the grizzled war veteran wiping scarred fingers over his eyes. “She’s so darn adorable.”

“Fair enough,” Ayvir replied with a grin and grabbed Svenar’s shoulder.