Ch 2.53: Struggle

It was certainly getting warmer finally, the sun beating down on Elaina and Tira as they sparred during Combatives. It was less sparring than practice though, a luxury Professor Calivahn was happy to provide them since they were part of the same practicum team, allowing them to work on tandem attacks, where Elaina would make a chain for Tira to swing around, or Tira would help aim Elaina’s attacks at training dummies. The awkward part was figuring out how to practice in a way that would be useful to the to of them while under the instructor’s eye, since they couldn’t exactly openly use their skills, or even the full strength of their aspects anymore.

“Weaver, make a weapon.”

“Okay, what kind?” She wasn’t sure whether Calivahn meant rope or chains, or maybe something.

“A weapon. Something that you might find in an armory,” Calivahn replied.

“Uh, I’m not really sure what you mean…” Elaina wasn’t Sturgess, so she really wasn’t sure what was expected of her.

“I don’t think she’s there yet, Professor,” Tira said as she took a swig of water from a canteen. “I’ll try and get her to that point.”

“Hmm,” Calivahn said as she walked away to observe other students.

“What are you two talking about?” Elaina asked, grabbing her own water from the floor and taking a drink from it.

“You need to be more active in combat. Restraining things is obviously great in a lot of contexts, but not all of them. You won’t always be able to just tie up multiple enemies all the time. Sometimes you’re only going to be able to spare the mana to make one thing, and you’ll need to use that one thing for multiple opponents.”

Elaina looked down at her hands, trying to picture herself doing what Tira was describing. “I don’t… I mean, with my mana pool, I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

She had a hard time comprehending Tira’s expression when she looked back up. It wasn’t quite pity, not quite sympathy either, maybe somewhere in the middle. “Try and hit me.”

“Hit you?”

“Yeah, with a chain. Do it.”

Elaina stepped back, putting distance between her and her opponent as soon as she focused on what she was doing. She was getting better at the instinct side of things, at the least. She hesitated for just a second, not wanting to hit Tira as she just stood there, making no effort to fight back, but she steeled herself and formed a chain, swinging it at Tira’s side, but with not nearly as much force as she needed. The chain curved upwards as she swung it, soaring over Tira’s head and then falling to the ground.

“No. More mana than that.” Elaina grit her teeth, feeling redness swell through her face. It wasn’t embarrassment though, but annoyance. “Come on, Elaina. You know I’m durable, don’t hold back.”

It was the tone of Tira’s voice that was putting Elaina on edge. It wasn’t commanding or authoritative, but goading, a much more unwelcome tone, especially coming from Tira. But if Tira wanted harder, Elaina could provide it. She sent a wave of mana through her already existing chain, whipping it back towards Tira at twice the force previously. And still, it soared over Tira’s head.

“More mana.”

“If I go any harder I’m gonna seriously hurt you!” Elaina hissed, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention. “I’m still a level higher than you. If I go any faster I know you won’t be able to stop it, but I’m not trying to break your bones!”

“I didn’t say harder,” Tira said. “I said more mana. You’re not used to actually fighting someone whose aspect actually interacts with yours, right? You need to pour mana into keeping your attack straight, on target. You can go as fast or hard as you want, but if you’re not focusing on keeping a straight shot, I’m going to be able to deflect it.”

Elaina had a hard time understanding what Tira was saying, but it made a little sense, she supposed. Tira was just changing the direction of Elaina’s attack, not the speed after all, not in this instance anyway.

“Now try again. Don’t focus on a hard blow, just on hitting me. Put as much mana as you can into making sure the attack is on target, fighting against my attempt to alter the course.”

Elaina nodded, trying to visualize the attack in her mind, the way she’d have to use her aspect. If what Tira was saying was true, she wouldn’t have to really pile a lot of force into the hit, which would make it easier mentally at least, since she wouldn’t have to risk seriously hurting Tira.

She reached out into the chain again, slowly raising it into the air at first, and feeling it move slightly off course as well, slightly move to the side. “That’s what you need to fight against,” Tira said. “Focus on making sure I can’t do that.”

That had helped, actually. She hadn’t really paid attention to the feeling the last few times, but it was there, the counterpull of Tira’s aspect on her own. It wasn’t like trying to restrain a moving, living being, or pull a heavy object. It was its own thing, a separate factor she had to account for when using her aspect, aside from the actual physical movement of the chains.

Ready again, she lashed out once more, a moderate speed attack, in between the strengths of the first two, until she felt that supernatural resistance, Tira fighting back. Elaina refocused her mana though, dumping as much mana as she possibly could into keeping her attack straight, pouring energy into the path rather than the power, and sending the chain directly into Tira’s shoulder.

Then Elaina fell to one knee, clutching her chest and taking in a deep breath. “What the—” She couldn’t even finish the curse, going lightheaded and her vision going blurry. It all lasted only a second, was more disorienting than anything else, but she was left dumbfounded, kneeling on the ground, no idea what had happened.

“Tira, is she okay?” she heard Calivahn ask from across the field.

“Yeah, just dumped her mana pool,” Tira said as she raised her waterskin to Elaina’s lips, the girl gladly gulping down from it. “I’ll keep watch on her, and we’ll go easy the rest of class.” The answer must’ve been adequate enough, because Elaina didn’t hear a reply.

And Tira was right. Elaina’s mana pool, nearly full when she’d started the attack, was completely empty. “The more mana you use at once, the worse the kickback for emptying it is,” Tira said, reaching her hand out.

“Yeah,” Elaina said, taking the hand and letting herself get pulled up. “It was… a lot.”

“The point is, even with a large mana pool, it can empty fast.”

“You could’ve just told me that, you know,” Elaina said as she walked over to one of the benches on the side of the field, pulling her own water out and taking another swig.

“You needed to experience it anyway,” Tira said while rubbing the small of Elaina’s back. Through just the thin uniform shirt, it almost felt like her actual hand. “Aspect teaching is about letting the student figure things out for themselves.”

“That doesn’t sound like you, at all.”

Tira was the one who blushed at that, looking across the field at Calivahn. “It’s how she taught me, got me to where I am. I’m not even supposed to be here, you know, not on merit. The strength of my aspect wasn’t strong enough, but mom is the one who got me in, and most of the teachers treated me like that. Calivahn was different though, never expected less of me than any of the other students.”

Elaina could see it. She hadn’t exactly felt derision from any of her other professors, but Calivahn treated everyone the same, it seemed. She expected the best from Endrin students, whether they were Elaina Weaver, or the person she was currently coaching, Prisma Fireguard.

As always, it was a spectacle to watch Prisma do anything. She’d been banned from practicing against the straw dummies on the first actual day of combatives after demonstrating to Calivahn that she could burn them to a crisp near instantly, and she had moved on to a spare sheet of chainmail Calivahn had acquired from Professor Sylvas, pouring streams of fire into the metal, causing the individual links to burn bright, even in the light of the sun.

“Enough, I’ll test it now,” Calivahn said, her authoritative voice carrying across the field. She pulled her sword from her scabbard and thrust into the mail, her weapon going straight through the would-be armor. “Still more resistance than I’d like. Try smaller flames, more intense. You don’t need to melt it completely, but I want to see how weak you can make it.”

“Yes ma’am,” Prisma said, wiping sweat from her brow. Was that a side effect of her dumping her mana?

“Alright class, that’s all for today. Good work, everyone,” Calivahn said as she sheathed her weapon and started walking off.

Most of the class started wandering off immediately as well, trusting the Endrin automatons to clean up after them, but Elaina sat and watched Prisma, the girl still staring at the piece of chainmail, clutching her fist together.

“Go talk to her,” Elaina heard from next to her, breaking her out of her own thoughts. “I know you want to, need to after what happened.”

Elaina nodded, but hesitantly. Tira was right, but despite knowing in her heart she needed to talk to Prisma, she had no idea what to say.

“It’ll be fine. Just start with the obvious.”

The obvious. Elaina wasn’t even sure if Tira knew what the obvious was, but she supposed that didn’t matter. She herself knew, and that’s all that mattered. “Alright, I’ll see you at lunch.”

“Sounds good,” Tira said, standing up and stretching for a moment before walking off.

It was only the two of them left on the field as Elaina stood up and walked over towards Prisma.