The weeks passed, midterms came and went, and then it was time to learn something new. We arrived in PTT one morning to see a pair of covered carts, suggesting that we would again be learning a new spell. There was a simmer of excitement in the group as we did our warm-up exercises, the anticipation almost palpable.

  “You all desire to be spacers,” began the sergeant. “Living in the void is challenging, even with modern technology and spells. Occasionally, some of you may need to leave the safety of a ship and brave the void and the aether permeating it directly. This is, of course, extremely dangerous, but sometimes necessary.

  “We will teach you a number of spells and skills to help you survive. Today, you’ll be learning Telekinesis. This is a difficult spell and can quickly become draining. I do not expect you will learn it today, or even tomorrow, let alone master it anytime soon.

  “‘Why Telekinesis?’ you might ask. Imagine this scenario: you are doing external repairs on a vehicle when your tether breaks or detaches and you begin to float away. How will you get back to the ship? And don’t tell me that you’re not an engineer—good officers are flexible, and you never know when a catastrophe will happen that requires you to act in an unexpected way. For this reason, and others, Telekinesis is considered a vital spell for anyone spending significant time in space.”

  He paused to let us absorb that before moving on. “Now, Telekinesis, like other spells that create force, does not let you violate the basic laws of motion. If you pull with Telekinesis, you will experience the same force in the opposite direction. This is extremely useful for returning to your ship in the case where you are floating away, but it can also be detrimental. If you try to shove someone away from you, you are liable to fall down as well unless you are properly braced, whether in the normal way or with a second telekinetic force. With practice, though, these interactions will become second nature.

  “Now, line up as usual and learn your new spell.”

  Once I had made it through the line and downloaded the spell from the grimoire, I sat down to practice. The spell was of a similar complexity to Elf Shape, and I realized it would take a lot of practice, not just to be able to cast, but to be able to control.

  There were dozens of individual components to the spell, and most of them allowed for some degree of manipulation. It wasn’t quite so simple as just “will this thing to move,” unfortunately. Still, I was determined to learn the spell to a thorough degree, as it seemed useful in many areas. From what I could tell, the spell was actually more limited than I had expected—there would be no hovering an object some distance away from me, for example, because the spell could only create forces pointed towards or away from my body, though I could choose the point within my body. If anything, it seemed more like a greatly increased, directionally-localized form of gravity manipulation.

  We were given that first period to study the spell, then told to learn it on our own time. We spent the following few days primarily sparring, with permission to use the spell if we had learned it, regardless of whether our opponent had. The sergeant claimed this was an “additional incentive” for us to learn the spell, which proved true the first day someone had learned it.

  I finally managed to cast the spell on the fourth day, though my control was terrible. Nevertheless, the first time I shoved an opponent, it threw them off balance, allowing me to take advantage of the opportunity to get a victory.

  I saw the opportunity inherent in the spell and practiced it whenever I could justify the time. I even convinced the others to allow its use in the sports we played on Poldays—wallball was excellent for training accuracy and control.

  By the time finals approached, the spell had begun to feel almost completely natural. I found myself using it without thinking, adjusting things here and there. I could use it from any part of my body, and my control over the exact amount of force to use was excellent. I could even levitate myself by exerting three balanced forces around me, though flying was still out of reach. I hoped that I would get the chance at some point to practice using it in zero-g, since I knew it would be a very different experience. I even managed to figure out how to levitate objects using a combination of forces, despite my initial thoughts that it would be impossible.

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  Finals went by quickly and without too much trouble, and soon enough, Kolo and I were on a train with Valissa to visit her family again. Like we did for the equinox, we helped Yandar prepare a big meal for the solstice. After dinner, we all separated to take some time for personal reflection, something that was apparently traditional in Oquetano culture. I didn’t mind it, spending the time thinking about the past nine months. I had run away from home, joined the military under a false name, learned spells, made friends, turned twenty-one, and had the time of my life. There was no way I could stand to return to my life before, and I supremely hoped I would not have to.

  The break passed quickly, and soon winter term was starting. Over the following months, we learned more about life on a ship, orders and regulations, as well as two more spells—Air Bubble and Aether Barrier. The former was straightforward—it created a bubble of air around your body that continuously refreshed itself, while the latter was a variation on the Shield spell except limited specifically to preventing aether from reaching you, making it much more efficient at that specific task.

  Soon enough, it was time for our second cycle. We had become senior cadets, and we learned that the following terms would be different. Rather than individual classes, we were all grouped into mixed cadres of various roles. This meant that for the first time, I wasn’t spending all day with Valissa. Luckily, I ended up grouped with Kolo, so I wasn’t alone.

  We still had PTT, though it was only for a few hours in the afternoon. Our mornings were spent in our cadres, learning to work together with people from other tracks as a unit. In the afternoons, when we weren’t in PTT, we spent time with others from our role, effectively having a shorter practicum every day.

  They told us that in later terms we would actually be taking time with our cadre to spend on a training ship. We would, of course, be overseen by a few experienced officers, but we would get to experience operating the ship in various roles, both officer and enlisted. Apparently, they considered it important to understand what the enlisted sailors did.

  I hardly thought of Torlan anymore, since he hadn’t bothered me for a long time. Unfortunately, as Delroy found out, he still hated me. Delroy was unlucky enough to end up in the same cadre as Torlan, and the dragon took it out on him. He continually tried to sabotage Delroy’s efforts, though he didn’t get all that many opportunities. Delroy’s competence showed, and that meant that Torlan had to be sneaky about it.

  When his efforts to sabotage Delroy’s academics failed, he escalated, and Delroy came into dinner one evening with a slight limp.

  “What happened?” Gathrok immediately asked.

  “Some guy from my cadre decided to have his goons attack me. I considered reporting it, but there were no witnesses besides his friends, and they healed me up enough that there’s no proof.”

  “Was it that guy who’s been giving you a hard time all term? What’s his problem, anyway?”

  Valissa and I looked at each other. We hadn’t heard about this yet, and I had a sinking suspicion I knew who it was.

  “Is his name Torlan?” I asked.

  “I think so, yeah. How’d you know?”

  I sighed and explained the story. Delroy then explained all about how Torlan had been trying to sabotage him but failing.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Gathrok asked, a pang of hurt in his voice.

  I looked away, guilty. “I didn’t want to worry you all or drag you into it, but apparently Torlan did that all on his own.”

  “You should trust your friends more,” Gathrok chided.

  “I know. It’s just… I don’t know.”

  That caused Kolo to giggle. “Do you know, or do you not know? Kind of hard to be both at the same time.”

  I nudged her playful, a smile creeping onto my face. “Goober. I know that I should trust you all, but I don’t know why it’s so hard.”

  A knowing look crossed Kolo’s face, like she understood more than I was saying.

  “Anyway,” I said, changing the subject. “What do we do about it?”

  Delroy shrugged. “What can we do? Like you said, he’s a dragon. Even if we’re all supposed to be equal here, we all know that’s not strictly true. Without solid proof of wrongdoing, we’re just as likely to get in trouble for accusing him, if not more.”

  “I know, I know. It’s frustrating, though—I thought he had given up on us. I should have known his pride wouldn’t let him drop it, though.”

  “I wish I had an idea, but Dax and I have discussed this at length, and the best option we discovered is to ensure that we avoid being alone at all times. It’s not ideal, but it helps.”

  “Ah! I noticed you clinging together more closely a while back. Honestly, for a brief moment, I thought you two were hooking up.”

  Valissa and I looked at each other before simultaneously laughing.

  “No offense, Valissa, but you aren’t my type. Great friend, but that’s it.”

  “Indeed. I rarely find myself interested in women, and you are not one of them.”

  “Yeah, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that I was wrong. You two are close, sure, but not like that.”

  Suddenly, Gathrok looked up, having seemed to be off in his own world. “I have an idea.”