"You have a lot less bite than usual," a tall youth said, looking down at an all-too-familiar Troll girl. He wore the well-fitted kaftan uniform that was customary for Elven servants.

  “Hello, Senior Adeleye," was her reply, curt and cold, a far cry from her usual raring-to-go demeanour.

  This man was quite aware of this and showed a slight expression of discomfort, but not for too long.

  “Don't tell me you're depressed because you got decked by a single Lycan," he said with a provocative smirk. "You shouldn't be. After all, you're still so inexperienced. Heck, when I was your age I… well, I never lost with a number's advantage or disgraced my master in front of Goblin nobility.”

  "What do you want, senior?”

  Her dry tone flustered him; usually she would have already been raging and challenging him to a duel, but this time she wasn't taking the bait even a little bit.

  Did the loss affect her that much?

  Adeleye didn't know what to say.

  As Danjuma’s chief servant, he served in a similar capacity to her, a fact which had brought them into proximity by virtue of the closeness in age of their two masters. With this close contact, as it often did, came intense friction. This haughty Witch and fiery Troll found themselves at constant and violent loggerheads. This current situation was perhaps a record for the longest time they had spent exposed to one another alone without engaging in combat.

  This was uncharted territory for the sixteen-year-old, and he could only mumble out something about it being a while since they had fought.

  "Okay", she said easily, once again surprising her senior, “but I need to check on my injured teammates first, if you don’t mind.”

  “Oh… that’s not an issue. I’ll accompany you; we haven’t talked in a long while.”

  It would be more accurate to say that they had never truly spoken, but that was neither here nor there; the proud Witch walked next to her, keeping up with her brisk and energetic pace.

  “So, was the fight that bad?”

  Yachit wasn’t offended by the topic and only smiled ruefully as she gave her older rival a little once-over.

  “It was… different,” she said simply. "He was certainly weaker than our group, but his powers were unorthodox. Even if we had known his information before our fight, it wouldn’t have been anything easy. It’s funny, the tales we tell of his kind in Jan Zaki both over and underestimate them. On one hand, we get the regular spiel about bloodthirst and underdeveloped intelligence, which seems to only be the usual propaganda which should be taken in with as much salt as one can comfortably fit in their palm, and on the other, the strange and macabre account of their abilities hardly does them any justice. Have you ever faced one?”

  "Never," Adeleye admitted stuffily, “although we did meet a few when doing a food transport mission earlier in the year. I will admit that I was expecting something a little more than the mildly bad-tempered farmers we did meet, and even then, their bad temper only extended to their lackeys, and they showed the Jan Zaki due respect. Aciayau actually recommended we start a fight with some of them to test out their abilities.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss.”

  Aciayau was one of the servants who had died during the hunt.

  “That’s the way of the Lion, isn’t it? To stand on one’s feet even in death. She was always way too troublesome.”

  They arrived in the sick bay, and the medics gave way, greeting the taller Witch with some respect. As a core member of the rising star that was the second young master, he was afforded no small regard in the clan and among their vassals. He simply nodded in acknowledgement as he watched her address her teammates.

  Atu was asleep at this time, but the string user Iya greeted her familiarly and nodded in her companion’s direction.

  It was a brief visit, and the usually rough girl cut a quite contradictory figure with the fistful of flowers she deposited between the pair.

  “It may be callous to say this while you’re in the middle of mourning, but I’m actually very relieved… relieved that although we lost the battle, we didn’t lose any of our members.”

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  “I understand what you mean,” he said with a dark smile. “I used to always secretly count myself fortunate whenever I saw such misfortune meet others instead of me, but ultimately, the sun will shine on you whether you’re sitting or standing.”

  “More than this relief, though, is an unaccountable jumble of feelings. I fear the culprit, though I want revenge on him… more than anything else, I’m enraged at my own inadequacy. That’s another reason I was hesitant to fight you again.”

  "Explain."

  “You’re… too weak.”

  The words were said like plain white rice, without any garnish, and Adeleye, already believing that he had been surprised for the last time by his rival, found himself proven wrong. What was up with her today?

  “Haha.”

  It was a while later, but he burst into laughter and placed his hands on his knees.

  “You stupid animal,” he said, knuckling at the tears that had formed from excessive laughter. “I’m supposed to be mourning right now, but instead you’re throwing me for one loop after the other.”

  “I misspoke,” she said apologetically. "That's not what I meant to say, senior.”

  “It’s fine,” he said, waving off her apology. "You all of a sudden became quiet and thoughtful, and I was worried that my imbecile of a junior had finally grown up, but who would have thought you’d articulate more clumsily the more thoughtful you were?"

  She didn’t comment and only shook her head at this.

  “So, what exactly did you mean?”

  “I have this feeling that the direction of my growth is not with you or with anyone in this compound. The Lycan… he showed me a unique sort of power, a power that seems to me to be the key to my becoming stronger.”

  “Because of the connection their race has to Ninefold Ignition?”

  "That's certainly a part of it, but I'm unsure if that's all. Still, I'm very determined to meet him. If I'm lucky, I'll get some payback for Atu.”

  “Does the third know about your intentions?"

  “No, but I'm also not keeping them from him if that's what you're curious about.”

  Adeleye made no comment.

  Despite her quick temper, he had never known her to do things without some sort of license from her exacting master. The Lycan boy intrigued. He was far too busy to look into it himself, though. There were funeral preparations for his teammates just to begin with. The stress and depression he had been mired in these past few days were part of the reason he had sought out the ever-energetic Yachit, hoping a quick spar would take his mind off things.

  The result was quite different from his expectations but still diverting in a way only she could be.

  “Yachit, have you checked in with Iya and the… rest?"

  The trailing voice belonged to Julnan, the new squad leader of Busa’s private core group of servants.

  “Oh, I remember that you were replaced," Adeleye said with a grin, giving a gentle greeting to the newcomer.

  Julnan enquired politely, belying his inexperience in his role and even surpassing his predecessor’s.

  “It’ll be good for us to get familiar,” he said suddenly. "Your appointment is quite contrary to the norm; I’m sure you must have all sorts of hidden talents.”

  The usual mode of selection for core servants of a young master was generally through scrying; children of remarkable talent born in the same year or as close as possible would be chosen and raised alongside the scion. This method was believed to be best in cultivating loyalty and understanding one another thoroughly, and it generally showed to be quite effective. These were, of course, the core servants chosen by the clan and not the individuals themselves. It was not overly rare for this selection to change, in part or in whole, due to death, the choice of the scion in question and other such things. Still, they’d hardly ever pick someone so much younger than them that they were in a different growth phase, excepting some extraordinary talent deemed essential for their master’s ambitions.

  Julnan answered that he’d be honoured but enquired how exactly he intended to “grow familiar” in this exact moment.

  The young Troll was naturally suspicious of his senior’s offer because of the tensions between the second and third young masters, especially in light of Busa telling him that he positively hated his second brother, even more than the oppressive first brother.

  Danjuma was already 16 this year, which meant that although he was too young to be an official part of clan politics, he was old enough to be a target, as the recent events proved abundantly. The retaliation he and his party could have was very limited, though, as the restriction cut both ways.

  In light of that, it was more likely that they would target the defenceless third young master. Overt attacks were, of course, off the table, but subtle things like critically injuring the leader of his personal squad under the pretence of sparring were not only commonly practiced but also very successful.

  “Cautious, eh?” Adeleye said with a smile before waving towards the silent Yachit. “Still up for it?”

  She nodded her head sedately and followed him up to one of the open courtyard. Julnan followed behind for support, prepared to interfere if he saw any signs of underhand measures from the older servant. He couldn’t as well call his master for this as there was no rule against friendly spars and the young master would most likely encourage it rather than force her out.

  He felt a little relieved that they had no official business over the next few days and hoped that whatever injuries she suffered would be healed by then. She was, after all, the unit’s strongest member, and losing her in such critical times would be nothing short of disastrous.

  What a headache.