Shaya wasn’t sure if she believed her own statement, but the Amber flowed into her without issue, so she supposed she must. The gap between their martial skill was growing more apparent, Una relying on giving ground to keep Shaya from overwhelming her. The ‘vines’ had stopped attacking as well, Una unable to focus on keeping Shaya away and directing them at the same time.

The next time the smaller woman stepped back, she immediately went on the offensive as Shaya lunged after her. The giant woman was surprised as a spear thrust towards her face, Una’s woodshaping resharpening the splintered point. The point skidded across her jaw as she barely juked her head out of the way, pain blossoming on her face from the blow.

It offered enough time for Una to break off their close engagement, circling around Shaya as she continued to thrust repeatedly. Shaya’s arm went numb again, forced to block the first few thrusts rather than deflect them, but at least thankful she switched her shield arm to better mirror the side Una thrust from. She recovered her wits and pressured Una again, rushing towards the smaller woman after deflecting another spear thrust.

Una was running out of options, back to giving ground as Shaya got inside her reach. Before she could shift her stance, Shaya unveiled one of her tricks: with a flick of Jade, the spines on her cloak erupted and she whipped it into Una’s face. Una wasn’t expecting the extra reach from the cloak and cursed as the barbs raked her flesh. Due to the Five Rings’ magic, the barbs didn’t hook into her or tear further flesh, and Shaya wondered if the Rings’ magic was smart enough to convey that blinding pain.

The smaller woman recovered faster than Shaya wanted, body moving on reflex to shift her stance and parry a follow up axe strike. She went to give ground again, but Shaya unleashed her spell. Phaedra’s wings snapped open as a wall of light sprang up behind Una in a semi-circle, stopping her backward movement. With all of her magical training, Shaya was able to maintain both the complex barrier spell and her ward against Jade magic.

Her eyes widened in shock as Shaya bore down on her, grunting in pain as she deflected an axe blow from her head into her shoulder. Rather than slow her movements, being caged seemed to invigorate her and Una flew into a frenzy of attacks. At close range, she didn’t have space to build up much momentum, but her enhanced strength meant that even small smacks from her staff would have left welts through Shaya’s armour.

The ferocity was enough to push Shaya back and let Una slip out of her trap. Shaya wheeled in time to see Una pointing a spear tip at her, a wicked grin on her face as the spear extended explosively. Before Shaya could think about it, she whipped her axe at Una and raised her shield to block the spear. The spear hit her shield with the force of a cannon ball, hurling her through the air. Pain lanced through Shaya’s arm and threatened to knock her unconscious.

But not before she saw the shocked expression on Una’s face a moment before an axe slammed into it.

Shaya blinked up at the cloudy sky, wondering if she had actually passed out. The pain was still there in full force, but she made herself roll onto her good arm and then pushed herself up to stand. Wobbling, she turned to see Una lying on her back, limbs out like a starfish. Her chest was rising and falling as she breathed, but she otherwise appeared to be unconscious.

“Serra Shaya Heirsoth is the winner by knock out!” Avaim announced.

Shaya’s friends cheered, as did much of the crowd. She spotted some of Azreon’s loyalists in the crowd, who pointedly did not cheer for her, but even they looked impressed... or horrified, she couldn’t tell from this distance. Una’s companions looked crestfallen at their leader’s defeat.

Una stirred.

Shaya shambled over to her, looking down at her as her eyes flicked open. She immediately glared up at her, tensing up as if ready for more violence.

“It’s over,” Shaya said, offering her a hand.

Una eyed the offered hand like it was a viper, but finally accepted the help up.

“You’re more slippery than I expected for someone your size,” Una admitted.

“You’re more bullish than I expected for someone your size,” Shaya retorted.

“Damn right,” Una grinned, “given that your other arm is limp, I’m guessing I got you.”

“Heh,” Shaya chuckled, “that you did. I had no idea your spell could be used offensively like that.”

“It’s not efficient in terms of aether,” she admitted, “but I needed to end the encounter then and there.”

“You came close,” Shaya nodded, then grinned down at the short woman, “not too close, mind you, but you did alright.”

“Uh huh,” Una’s eyes narrowed, “I’ll definitely get you next time.”

“I look forward to it,” Shaya said, wincing from the pain, “in the distant future. To give you time to grow, you understand.”

Una chuckled, “You’re not half bad, I guess. Full stupid, but tolerable.”

“Thanks,” Shaya replied, eyes half-lidded with sarcasm, “You’re all bad, but I can respect that.”

“Thanks,” Una grinned, “I do what I can.”

“Yeah, I can tell,” Shaya said massaging her shoulder.

A number of the full-fledged knights in the crowd looked on at their interaction, and nodded with approval.

Shaya wondered if they would if they could hear what they were saying to each other, and the thought brought another smile to her face.

+++++

Shaya recovered from the fight faster than she could have hoped for, the ring’s magic ensuring that only pain was translated from each blow. Even her armour survived unscathed, which she was ecstatic about. Her shift at The Forge passed uneventfully, Shaya happy to be allowed to work with metal directly again – though Vatag had threatened her with more administrative work since she proved so good at it.

“Here,” Auric said at the end of her shift, handing her a bag of clinking metal, “your pay for the week.”

She took the bag and hefted it. It felt like a lot more than she should have earned.

“Unless you’re paying me in copper, I think you gave me too much,” she said, looking up at Auric, “I know I need the money, but I’m not going to accept hand-outs.”

He smirked, “Vatag has the smelting house over a barrel because of your discovery, and they’re throwing coin at us to keep quiet about the ‘error’ in their ingot molds. What’s in there is your pay for the week, plus a small bonus.”

Shaya opened the bag and blinked at the coins inside. Twelve electrum were in there, what she’d expect for four of her normal short shifts and her full shift that day, as well as an extra ten gold coins. “You can’t be serious, this is more money than I earn hunting monsters on average.”

Auric’s deep laugh reverberated in her chest, “Yes, the world is unfair that way. Your discovery has netted us in the vicinity of a thousand gold, and counting.”

“Gods...” Shaya said, looking down at the coins in her hand. Her eyes narrowed as she aimed a smoldering glare at Auric, “wait, and I only get a ten gold bonus!?”

“I believe I just said the world is unfair,” Auric’s smile was infuriating, “really, you just did a good job, as we’d expect of any worker... I’d probably consider offering you higher pay if you wanted to become a clerk for us full time.”

“No,” Shaya replied immediately, before her greed could consider it, “I prefer smithing, there’s something about it that just...resonates with me.”

“Good,” Auric nodded with approval, “you’re taking to it well, and I see you studying the tools of our trade hard. I better not find it interfering with your grades though.”

“It won’t,” Shaya rolled her eyes, “don’t worry, I’ve already been given that lecture... more than once.”

The bronze giant chuckled, “Are you surprised that we’d care about the progress of a gifted student?”

“Gifted?” Shaya blinked, “I feel like I’m behind almost everyone, except Foundations.”

“Hardly,” he shook his head, “look back to your last deployment: most students immediately lost control of their emotions and lost the ability to draw their aether. A mage with no aether is no mage at all.”

“I guess,” she replied, “but now that they’ve all experienced real life-threatening combat, I’m sure they’ll adjust and do much better next time.”

“It’s not that simple to control one’s emotions,” Auric continued, “that’s why your current ability is impressive. Perhaps it’s your fear of losing control of your anger that got you here so fast, but the others will take time to catch up.”

“Alright,” she grinned, “I guess I am pretty amazing.”

He rolled his eyes, “I don’t think I have to warn you of the consequences of letting such things get to your head.”

A picture of Azreon flashed in her mind, and she winced.

“No,” she agreed, “you don’t.”

“Perfect,” he grinned and clapped her on the shoulder, leaving the limb numb from his strength, “your dedication and passion for self-improvement are admirable, just keep it up and don’t burn yourself out. Mentally speaking, not magically speaking.”

“I’ll do my best,” she said, massaging feeling back into her shoulder for the second time that day, “I’m just trying to catch up from sleeping so much this week.”

“Your body needed it given the strain from the healing magic,” he replied, “and besides, you won’t be able to sleep in too much tomorrow.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Chancellor is calling an ad hoc assembly early tomorrow,” he explained, “so make sure your lance is up and ready for it.”