‘The shop’, as the squad called it, was filled with all sorts of interesting tools and materials neatly organized, but by what system, Callida couldn’t tell. It smelled strongly of leather, ashes, oil, and sweat.

“I just need to take a few measurements,” Ablenkung explained, a little heat rising in his cheeks.

“Measurements?”

“Yeah. Uh. Your measurements.”

“Like, for armor?”

“Not exactly, no. But kind of.”

“Ok? Go ahead.”

He grabbed his measuring tape and knelt down in front of her. “Ok, spread your legs.”

“Excuse me?!”

“No! Not like that!” He recoiled, his face a flaming tomato red. “I need to measure your thigh! I’m making you a utility belt to wear under your dress. It has to fit around your left thigh.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?!”

“I’m sorry! I’ve never outfitted a girl before. It-it’s a lot more nuanced than working with another guy. I just didn’t think about it.”

To his confusion, Callida started laughing so hard, she nearly fell over. “You should have seen your face!” she gasped.

“What?”

“I was just teasing you!”

“You… you…?”

“Shield, this isn’t the first time I’ve had measurements taken by a guy before. I was once fitted for armor. It’s a lot more involved than simply measuring my thigh.”

“Uh, yeah. I’ve made armor before….”

“Are you going to take your measurements or not?”

Ablenkung couldn’t quite recover, but he did manage to chuckle a little before he’d finished taking his measurements. “I didn’t realize you were a tease, Beta.”

“Not always, but sometimes,” she grinned. “You just made it too easy.”

***

“Alright, Beta, let’s work on your acting skills.”

“Ok. Where should we start?”

“Well,” Buhne looked uncomfortable, “don’t kill me, ok?”

Exasperation only approximated the sentiment conveyed by her heavy sigh. “What is it this time?”

“I swear I have a good reason for asking this….”

“What is it, Parrot?”

“How serious was your relationship with the young Alpha?” Seeing the look on her face, Buhne backtracked awkwardly. “Really what I need to know is how comfortable you are with physical intimacy and flirting.”

Something he couldn’t identify flashed through her eyes, and Buhne gulped down an instant panic as Callida stalked toward him, backing him up against a tree near the stream where the squad was filling up their water bags. With her hands resting on either side of the tree trunk, Buhne had nowhere to run. “Admit it. You’re really asking me if I know how to seduce someone,” she said, her voice soft and silky… like her freshly coiffed hair. Oh, Primordials, help me! Buhne caught the scent of the citrus oil and went from flustered to positively agitated, his eyes darting to the rest of the squad begging for some sort of intervention that never came.

“Something like that,” he eventually stammered.

“Then, let me ask you something,” Callida continued, her hands moving from the trunk of the tree to slowly, agonizingly slither up his arms, her eyes following her hands as though drinking him in, “what’s the most serious relationship you’ve ever been in?”

He was having trouble focusing. “Erm, I dated a girl for a few months. We broke it off when I joined the military, and-” he choked as Callida’s fingers slid across the edge of his jaw, pausing to trace his lips with a feather-light touch. Is she seriously going to kiss me just to prove a point?! But then, would that really be so bad? Buhne found himself rationalizing and then hungry and then expectant.

She leaned in, the tip of her nose teasing his earlobe, and his breath hitched. “Can you simply accept that I have more experience in this department than you do?” she whispered, the heat of her breath against his throat stimulating the hair on the back of his neck to stand on end. Their eyes met, her deep caramel-brown eyes heavily lidded with something resembling lust, the tip of her tongue poised against her upper lip as though barely resisting tasting him. Buhne nodded mutely, somewhere between terrified and exhilarated, and for a moment, all rationality left him. He wanted her. Callida cocked her head to the side and withdrew observing her handiwork. “Good. So what’s the next lesson?”

Buhne cleared his throat, his senses returning in a snap and his voice coming out in a ragged gasp. “You’re going to have to give me a minute.”

“Take your time,” Callida smirked, and turned to collect her water bag from a similarly stunned Erkunden. “Thanks, Stag.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

She took a swig of the water and climbed the ditch back up to the road. “Are you guys coming?”

***

“If you believe the lie, they’ll believe the lie,” Buhne repeated. “Again, tell me who you are, where you’re from, and why you’re going to the brawler arena. And give me your sales pitch. Pretend I’m a potential recruit.”

“My name is Aria Mendacium. I run a bodyguards for hire business here in the Bear Tribe, taking advantage of everyone’s fear of being attacked by bandits. I’m looking to recruit some new talent, train them up a bit, and then connect them with wealthy clients needing temporary bodyguard arrangements. Recruits can pick and choose which jobs they want to do, working as much or as little as they want; the jobs pay well and you get paid upon completion of a job; and I provide specialized training that can only help you in the ring. It’s the perfect side hustle for brawlers!”

“You’re getting better, Beta!”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“How can you tell?”

“Part way through your spiel, you switched from telling me a cover story to trying to recruit me. That’s progress.”

“I didn’t even notice.”

“That’s the whole point. You’re starting to believe the story, so the way you present it is changing,” Buhne grinned. “Now, go run it again... on Shield this time.” She sighed and sped up to catch Ablenkung. As Buhne watched her leave, Spahen moved in beside him.

“Do you think she can do it?”

“Maybe. She doesn’t have a dishonest bone in her body, but she’s almost there. The question is, will she be able to be convincing to a room full of strangers? That, I couldn’t tell you.”

“At least she has lesson one to fall back on,” Spahen teased.

“Shut up, Professor,” Buhne scowled, a slight blush giving him away.

“She really got under your skin, didn’t she?”

“She was proving a point, and she did so flawlessly,” Buhne said tersely, but unbidden memories of citrus oil and brown eyes and heat on his throat…. He shuddered, trying to shake it off.

Spahen snickered. “You’ve got it bad, Parrot.”

“Keep it up, and I’ll have her practice on you next.”

“Are you sure you won’t get jealous?”

“Hey, Beta! Come here a sec.”

“I was just kidding, man!” Spahen quickly backed off.

“What is it?” Callida asked, noting the trepidation on Spahen’s face.

“Professor wants to ask you something about lesson one,” Buhne smirked.

She rolled her eyes. “Go ahead.”

Put on the spot, Spahen started stammering. “Uh, just, if you find yourself needing to implement lesson one, it’s-it’s generally a good idea to get your target to leave alone with you… so you can deal with them without interference. And lesson one can serve as a good distraction if you get backed into a corner. People naturally look away when couples start kissing.”

“So what’s your question?”

“Uh, just… that’s it. It’s not really a question… more of a tip.”

“Ok?” Spahen could feel the fire in his cheeks burning ever hotter as Callida studied him. “That’s really all you had to say?” He nodded more adamantly than he’d meant to, and, at long last, Callida shrugged and turned to resume practicing her recruitment pitch with Shield.

“I think she’s managed to get under your skin too, Professor,” Buhne grinned.

“Oh, shut up.”

***

“Hey, Papa,” Callida pulled him aside as they set up camp, “is something going on with the guys that I should know about?”

“What do you mean?” Bern asked.

“Well, it’s hard to explain, but they’re all acting weird. It’s been going on for a few days now, and it seems to be getting worse.”

“Weird how?”

“I don’t know… like they’re afraid of me or something.”

“Why would they be afraid of you? I mean, more than usual.”

“That’s what I’m saying! They’re just…. You haven’t noticed?”

“Not specifically,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, pay attention and let me know what you think is going on. Please?" Bern shrugged and the pair returned to the newly started fire. Callida shot Bern a look and then tapped Erkunden on the shoulder. “Hey, Stag?”

Erkunden jumped. “Uh, yeah? What, Beta?”

“Just, I was hoping for another tracking and hunting lesson this evening.”

“Oh, sure,” he fumbled.

She made eye contact with Bern again before addressing Ablenkung. “Shield-”

“What?” he almost barked, his head snapping toward her with unnecessary vigor.

“Uh, ok…. When Stag and I get back, would you mind sparring with me for a bit?”

“Yeah. No problem.”

Once again, Callida glanced at Bern who was now reining in laughter. “I’m gonna go get some water,” she said. “Stag, don’t leave without me, ok?” Erkunden nodded stiffly, and Callida bit her lower lip in an effort to contain her giggles long enough to get out of earshot first.

Once she was gone, Bern called a squad meeting. “Alright, what’s going on, boys? Why are you acting so skittish around Beta? We’ve less than a day of traveling left, and then it’s go time! If there’s some sort of team drama going on, we need to iron it out now.”

Buhne flopped onto his bedroll and groaned. “First that stupid dress and then lesson one. Why does lesson one have to be lesson one?!”

“Because it’s the quickest way to throw someone off-balance if things-”

“It was a rhetorical question, Papa.”

“What are you talking about?”

“No, no. I’m with Parrot on this one,” Spahen agreed.

“Me too,” Erkunden added.

“Shield?” Ablenkung nodded. “Please explain this to me,” Bern scowled. “You did lesson one a week ago. She nailed it, you moved on.”

“Exactly. She nailed it,” Buhne whimpered. “And now things are tense and awkward, and I just can’t shake the feeling that if she really wanted to, she could manipulate me into doing just about anything.”

Bern snorted. “You’re kidding, right? Are you saying that you’re all in love with her?”

“No! No. Nothing so quaint as that,” Spahen chided.

“You’ve never had a girlfriend before, have you, Papa?” Ablenkung said.

“No. I grew up on a ranch-- didn’t meet too many girls before joining the military.”

“So you’ve never been kissed or anything?”

“No. What’s your point?”

“Try it sometime and get back to us,” Erkunden grumbled.

“So then, you’re saying that things are awkward with Beta because you’re all just girl hungry?!” Bern busted up laughing.

“We don’t meet too many girls in our line of work,” Ablenkung protested. “And, yeah, we miss it.”

“And by it you mean…?”

“All of it. Everything girl and relationship related,” Buhne answered for him.

“So since Beta has proven that she’s capable of… that, you’re feeling all bothered just being near her?”

“Pretty much.”

“You guys are pathetic.”

“And you don’t know what you’re missing!” Buhne shot back.

“Well, get over it. You have less than twenty-four hours to figure it out.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Buhne mumbled.

“Ahem,” Callida announced her presence, and everyone jumped. “Ready to go, Stag?”

“Uh, yeah. One minute.” While Erkunden collected his bow, Callida caught a cheeky grin from Bern and took comfort from knowing that he’d figured something out. “Alright, Beta,” Stag said and led her into the woods, awkwardly avoiding eye contact.

***

“So?”

“So what?”

“What did you figure out? Why are they acting like that?”

“They just realized that you’re a girl.”

“Seriously?” She was not amused. Bern shrugged. “So this is all just a bunch of sexual tension?!”

Bern blushed hard at this declaration. “I-I guess so, yeah.”

Callida muttered something unintelligible about the emotional maturity of men. “What do you think I should do? Confront them? Ignore it? Or something else?”

“I don’t know. I have absolutely zero experience with this sort of thing, but I already told them to get over themselves.”

“Well, I guess, thanks for being the one sane person on this team, Papa.”

Bern chuckled a little nervously. “You’re welcome.”