{Eve}

"Now, just attack them from a distance, and as they run over to you you're going to want to kite them out," Cara explained, as the two of them hid behind a bush, looking at some trolls up ahead. Trolls resembled giant, bald humans, and had a sheet of fur covering their arms and legs. "One of them is an archer, so what are you going to do?"

"I-I'll target that one first," Eve told her.

"Exactly," Cara told her. "Now, just breathe, calm down, and get it done."

[Okay,] Eve thought as she nodded, [come on, you've done this before! Just walk up, take them down with your magic, and you'll be done! Easy.]

And so, Eve flew ahead to where the trolls were relaxing. There were four of them in total. Three were currently sitting around a dead yariko, eating from its body, while one was sitting a few steps away, holding a bow.

As that one saw Eve approached, it made a confused expression before then standing up.

[And, now, I just...]

As was the plan, Eve prepared a spellsign that would cast the [Ice Shard] spell. The spellsign consisted of a cone with a half-circle at the top.

However, her hands trembled as she attempted to draw it out, and instead, a small explosion occurred that sent Eve flying back.

"Agh!" She yelled as she fell to the ground and each of the trolls quickly stood up, as they realized there was a threat nearby. Eve hurriedly tried to stand back up, but before she could do that, the trolls were already running toward her.

[Eh!? What do I...?]

Cara answered that question, though, when she then charged in and decapitated all four enemies with a series of quick slashes from her greatsword.

As Eve saw that, she blinked and then let herself fall back to the ground, letting out a disappointed sigh.

[I messed up.]

A couple of seconds passed and Cara was then standing over her, looking down with a slightly worried face.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I-I don't know," Eve replied, sitting up. "I tried to cast the spell, but... my hands just shook too much and...."

Cara nodded and looked away.

"Come on, get up."

Hearing that, Eve nodded and did as she asked. Flying up into the air to hover next to her, she followed behind Cara as the teacher began to walk away from the four bodies.

"Eve," Cara said. "Why have you been so nervous lately? You've been performing just fine up until now."

As the adventurer posed this question to her, Eve kept her eyes low, as she felt so disappointed with herself.

"I... I don't know. It's just..."

"Take your time," Cara told her. "We have a long way to walk."

"Uh, right. Um... I-I don't know, it's just... the monsters I've been fighting are so much stronger than the first ones," Eve mumbled, putting a hand over her chest. "It's not like fighting kobolds. If I mess up, well, it doesn't take as much effort for these monsters to kill me than it does to kill humans. If I make one mistake I..."

In truth, the deeper Eve went into this semester, the more danger she was exposed to, and the more she understood why a lot of fairies never went out of their clans. The world was quite scary.

She hadn't given up on her dream, but she was definitely a lot less sure of herself than she had been before.

"..." Cara stopped in her tracks, turning around to look Eve in the eyes. The fairy felt smaller under the scrutiny those eyes held. But, Cara then walked closer and tilted Eve's face up by her chin so that she'd look up at her. She didn't retrieve those fingers though. She let kept them there so as to prevent Eve from looking back down.

"Eve, we've been over this," Cara told her. "You've proven your talents multiple times by now, You've got just as much a chance of going far in this career as any other student. The sooner you get out of your own head, the sooner you'll see what I see when I look at you. And, what I see is a promising young sorceress."

As Cara let those words hang in the air, she finally let go of Eve's chin and the fairy nodded.

"I-I know. Sorry, I just... I get scared every now and then."

"That's natural," Cara said. "But you're handling those worries the wrong way. You shouldn't entertain them for so long. Let those concerns go through your mind, acknowledge them, and then let them go, knowing you have a mission to do. Understood?"

"Uh, y-yeah."

"Good. Now, come on. We're gonna find more trolls for you to fight."

"Okay."

With that being said, the two of them continued down the path through the mountain that Cara had laid out for them. But, as they did, Eve tried to make herself listen to her teacher's advice.

[It's okay to be scared,] she thought. [It's okay. It's okay. Just... Let it happen, and get over it.]

"Ah, okay, see them?" Cara spoke up and Eve looked back up at her.

"Huh?"

"Ahead. Three more," Cara pointed out. "You know what to do."

"... Right," Eve said, as she located the monsters she spoke of.

Again, that anxiety resurfaced in her heart, but this time, as Eve looked over at her teacher and saw her watching on with some kindness just under the surface of her stern expression, she took a deep breath.

[... Let it go, and get it over with.]

And, with that thought, she moved up to fight them.

---

Later, the fairy returned to the Academy with her teacher by her side, and with a wide smile on her face.

"Stop smiling like that, it's creepy," Cara told her.

"I can't help it!" Eve replied with a giggle. "I did it!"

Cara rolled her eyes as the two of them got to the gate.

"I'm gonna go look for the next student," Cara told her. "Get yourself some rest, get some food, celebrate. You earned it."

"..."

Eve considered it in her mind, and then, thought [screw it,] before flying straight into Cara with a hug.

"... H-Hey," Cara said as Eve felt like she'd just flown into a wall, but she didn't care. She was too happy.

"Thank you," Eve told her, with her face buried in Cara's chest. "You're the best!"

"..." Cara sighed. Then, something Eve hadn't expected. The woman put a hand on her back in a small, but clear attempt to return the hug. "Just go have fun already," she muttered. "I need to keep working. Can't do that with a fairy on top of me."

"Hehe," Eve pulled away. "Alright. Bye."

With that, she flew into the building. She nearly collided with a few students and staff members who were walking through the halls. She was too elated to care, though. Instead, what she did next was head over to Lisa's room, where she hoped to be able to ask the girl to come to eat with her.

She felt like she could do anything right now, and in large part, she owed that to her teacher.

[For someone so mean-looking... She cares more about her students than anyone else in this Academy,] Eve thought. [She's amazing.]

However, those praises were cut off when she reached the second floor and on her way to Lisa's room, she saw something that made her stop her flight in mid-air.

"..." Eve's lips parted. Her eyes widened and her heart stung.

Ahead, Lisa and Dylan were kissing just in front of her room.

[...] Her mind went blank as Lisa's eyes opened and she noticed Eve there.

"O-Oh," Lisa separated herself from Dylan and the boy chuckled. "Eve! Hello! Did your mission go well?" She asked with an awkward smile and a blush.

[... Well,] Eve told herself, as she smiled back. [It's fine.]

"Yeah. I, uh, was just heading back to my room to take a quick nap."

Before Lisa could respond to that, Eve flew over to her room, opened the door, and closed it quickly.

Letting out a deep breath, she looked back and found Sara at her bed, reading. The raven-haired girl looked at her with that same emotionless face as always and said.

"... mission went well?"

"Uh, yeah," Eve replied, assuming she understood what she meant to ask.

"Good."

With that, their conversation began and ended quickly. Eve flew over to her bed and fell on top of it, staring up at the ceiling.

[... What was I expecting?] She wondered. [Just focus on your adventurer studies. You have a lot to do.]

Even though those words went through her mind, however, that kiss played back in her mind, and Eve couldn't help but feel a little sad about it.

With a sigh, she closed her eyes.

[Crushes suck.]