Olivia was surprised when the person from her cohort who came to see her that first day was Rald. She wasn’t sure why, but she had expected Veena or Adaida. Rald had smiled grimly at her when Professor Thain opened the door, and then he’d come in and tried to tell her about all their classes. Unfortunately, his recall was spotty at best, and the real reason he came was revealed when he got to his summary of Physical Education and Combat Practice. “Look, I was talking to Commander Grobak; I don’t know why, but he seems to like me. Anyway, he’s going to be basing a huge portion of our competition score on how much our punch improves from the first day to the thirtieth. He said he’d be scoring us on all the other stuff, like falls, grappling, and general endurance, but according to him, he’ll know how much we’ve improved based on that punch.”

“It seems a bit far-fetched. He had all of us punch his hand that day, but how can he remember exactly how hard we punched?” Olivia tried to wrap her head around it and supposed he might have some sort of eidetic sensory memory in his hand, but it seemed ridiculous.

“I asked him that! He has an artificed ring that records each punch!” Rald was practically crowing.

“Oh really? That’s fascinating! I’d love to ask Professor Brince about it. I never thought artificed items could be so nuanced in their function!”

“Oh, they sure can. I’ve seen some very interesting enchantments around here. Look at your ring, for instance—it’s a storage item, and it keeps track of your rank at the academy and your credit balance. And it’s so small! Imagine all the tiny runes that must be in the metal. Veena thinks they’re layered with some runes on each layer, invisible under the top layers.”

“It is fascinating, Rald, but I feel like you had another point you were going to make about Grobak?”

“Oh yeah, well, I think you should work on your punch while you’re in here. I know you don’t think physical combat is your thing, and that’s alright, but I bet you can get a decent score if you really improve at least that one thing.”

“Well, I don’t have great practice facilities here.” Olivia’s droll tone was lost on Rald.

“Oh, I know, I know, but you can do a few simple exercises to improve your strength, and I have a present for you.” He grinned and flourished one hand over his storage ring and held up two dark-brown leather gloves. “These are artificed so that you can punch the air and feel like you’re hitting a practice bag. The harder you punch, the more resistance they’ll give you. My dad gave them to me years ago, so I’m sorry about the sweat stains.” Rald held them out, rubbing at the dark leather and darker stains. “Really, it’s not all sweat; I oil them regularly.”

“Um, thank you, Rald,” Olivia said, taking the dark, smooth leather gloves from him. They looked like they’d be way too big for her hands, which wasn’t surprising; Rald was a large man. “I don’t think they’ll fit, though.”

“Oh, you can bond with them. They’ll fit you after that. Don’t worry, I don’t really need them anymore, but if you want to give them back, I can rebond with them.”

“Is that how it works? I always thought my items in my bound containers were safe. Can someone just take my ring from me and bond with it?”

“Oh, no. I removed my bond from these gloves. It’s easy; you just reach out to an item you’ve bonded with and pull your Energy signature out of it.” He watched while Olivia slipped one of the gloves on and briefly concentrated. The glove shrank to fit her hand perfectly. The one she wasn’t wearing also shrank—they worked as a set. “Before I leave you to it, I want to give you some pointers about punching and then show you some exercises, okay?”

“Alright, worth a try. It’s not like I have much else to do. Well, I do, actually. Rald, wait until I can show you guys the spellcrafting I’ve been working on. I’m so excited!” She’d reached out and squeezed his wrist enthusiastically, and Rald smiled at her, patting her hand.

“Uh, sure. We’re all expecting something great from you. I’m going to be happy to levitate a piece of wood.” He chuckled, shaking his head at himself.

“Do you have any affinities? Other than the normal Energy, I mean?”

“Nah, I don’t; I have a pretty high regular affinity, though. It’s why my clan sent me here. I hope to learn enough to get a good class and then help with our war efforts when I get home. I doubt I’ll be here for more than a year.”

“Your people are at war?”

“Oh yeah. Always. I’m from the Ridonne Empire, and we’re always struggling to hold back raiders from the Beneset Steppes.” He spoke the names of those places like Olivia should know what he was talking about, and she wanted to ask him for more details, but he stood up and motioned for her to follow suit. “Let me show you what you do wrong when you punch.”

Rald worked patiently with Olivia for more than an hour, showing her how to square her legs, rotate her hips and drive her punch as she pivoted on her back foot. He had to stop midway through and help her make a better fist. “You don’t want any space in there, grip down tight and put your thumb outside. Your fingers will move if you have extra space there, and your hit won’t be as solid.”

He also took a few minutes to show her how to do push-ups. She tried to tell him she knew how, but when she showed him, he moved her hands, so they were pointed in and closer to the center of her chest. He’d said, “Your chest is stronger than your triceps. You want to build your chest muscles as much as you can and use that to power the upper portion of your punch. Of course, all your muscles are important, and most of the power will come from your lower body when you rotate your hips, but still, work on this.” Olivia wasn’t an athletic person, but she wasn’t a klutz either. She followed Rald’s instructions, and he seemed pleased with her form by the time he left. She continued to practice her punches for a while, enjoying the exercise and marveling at how the gloves worked. It felt like she was hitting a soft, unmoving bag every time she drove her fist forward.

Olivia wasn’t sure why, but she felt exhausted that night, and she knew she was falling asleep early, but she wasn’t sure how early, her cell being underground with no window. She knew the light would turn off on its own sometime during the night, but she didn’t know what time. She had meant to ask Professor Thain but had forgotten. Still, she decided to make the most of her exhaustion and enjoy a good night’s sleep. Putting aside her texts, she curled up on the cot and drifted into a deep sleep.

She woke several times in the night, troubled by vague dreams that made her uneasy but unable to recall what they were about. Her cell was pitch-black, and the first time she woke, she was so disoriented that she’d almost summoned a ball of flames to take a look around. Only at the very last second did she remember about the wards and where she was; she choked back a sob and redirected the Energy she had almost manifested back to her Core.

The restless night seemed like a bad dream when she woke to the bright light that had clicked on sometime in the early morning. She called for Professor Thain to let her go to the bathroom, and then she started her morning routine: exercise and punching, break for breakfast, work through her cultivation drill, and practice her meta-element weaving. Professor Thrain had arrived with her lunch by then, and he gave her another bathroom break. Then, she did the whole thing over again.

She was happy when the door clicked open unexpectedly that afternoon, and Adaida poked her head in. “Hey, criminal. Can I visit you?” The bright twinkle in her honey-colored eyes betrayed how proud of herself she was for that faux insult.

“Oh, I suppose. I have to battle with some other inmates later, but I can squeeze you in.” Olivia returned the grin and sat down on her cot, patting the thin mattress next to her.

“Other inmates? Do the guards place bets on who will win the fights?” Adaida laughed and sat down next to her. The door clicked closed, and the sound of the lock clicking shut was jarring. “By the Tree, they don’t want you to get out, do they? What exactly did you do? The rumors are delicious, but I’m curious about the facts.”

“Oh God, there are rumors? Of course, there are. I didn’t do anything!” Olivia spent the next several minutes describing what happened, in detail, to get her locked up in that room. She found it strange that Rald never asked her, but then Rald was a peculiar guy; he was always joking or very serious. She supposed it was sweet that he’d come to help her with her combat practice, and maybe he’d avoided asking her about her “crime” out of kindness.

“That sounds absurd! Of course, Gwinna is behind it, that bitch!”

“This whole thing is absurd if you ask me. It seems a lot of power is given to that professor just because he saw me. I have to wonder if my lack of connections is part of the problem; I can’t imagine this treatment happening to someone like Gwinna or Sarice!”

“Of course not! That professor, ap’Gravin, practically works for Gwinna’s family! I’m sure there’s some prejudice among the senior staff, too; you’re definitely being singled out for your race and lack of representation. I don’t know Professor Oylla-dak very well, but I hope when she gets back, she roots out the creeps responsible for this because I can guarantee ap’Gravin won’t find anyone else to blame in his ‘investigation window.’”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m making progress on my spellcrafting and cultivating in here. I can handle three more days.” Olivia was happy for Adaida’s vehement defense, but she didn’t want to dwell on what she couldn’t control right now. There’d be time to figure out who was behind this mess sometime later when she had a bit more clout.

“Alright, well, I came to see what I could do to help. I tried to come yesterday, but Rald insisted he had to get you started on some exercises for Grobak’s class. What can I tell you about the other classes? Want me to go over the lectures from today?”

“Yes, please, Adaida! Let me get my texts out!” Olivia took out her texts, and they went over the day’s lessons one by one. Even with Adaida’s notes, Olivia felt like she was missing a lot when it came to Enchanting and Alchemy. Still, she felt like she was far ahead of the curve on spellcrafting—Adaida described a lesson about manipulating Energy into simple patterns, exclaiming about how difficult it was, and Olivia had to bite her tongue to keep from saying something that might be taken as demeaning.

Her time with Adaida went quickly, and before she knew it, Professor Thain was knocking on her door with a simple dinner of cubed meat in a sauce with a large chunk of buttered bread. He gave her a tall tin cup filled with watery wine and then turned to Adaida and said, “I’d invite you to stay for dinner, miss, but it's time for you to clear out, I’m afraid. Visiting hours are over.”

“Hmm, alright. If I don’t see you tomorrow, someone will, Olivia. Hang in there.” Then she leaned over and gave Olivia a very warm hug, and her usual sarcastic facade crumbled a little. “This whole thing is truly unfair, Olivia, and I’d be scared witless if I were in your shoes. I’m so impressed by you. You’re going to be fine!” Then she stood and hurried out the door before Olivia could reply.

“Your cohort seems to think a lot of you,” Professor Thrain said as he backed out. “I’ll pick up your dishes in an hour or so.”

Olivia ate her food in silence, ruminating on everything. Adaida’s warmth had surprised her. She got along well with her cohort, but she hadn’t felt particularly close to any of them, and it felt good to think that they cared about her and not just her performance in the induction competition. Before, she’d been working hard because she wanted to do well for herself, but now she felt some investment in her friends. She wanted to help Copper beat Jade and the other higher tier cohorts because Rald and Adaida deserved it, and so did the others, probably; it wasn’t their fault that only one person could visit her at a time.

After eating, she performed another set of exercises and a round of punching, noting that she had many sore muscles already. Then she broke to use the restroom one last time, and she finished the night just like the one before, reading her texts until her eyes grew too heavy, and she slept.