Chương 8: Chapter Eight

"I think I'm going to die," Bonnlyn whined as she sank onto a chair with all the grace of a jellyfish beaching itself.

"Don't be so dramatic," Olzenya grunted half-heartedly as she took her own seat. Despite her words, the sweaty-high elf didn't look much better than the dwarf, who was even now sprawled out across the cool wooden surface of the common room table. A move William had to fight not to emulate as he took his own seat. His… everything hurt as he sagged into his chair. Because he'd underestimated the academy. Oh, he'd certainly made preparations. He'd studied. He'd exercised.

But at the end of the day, part of him had envisioned Blicland as more of a political prop than an actual place of learning. He'd been wrong. He could admit that. The last two weeks had been a constant deluge of lessons and physical exercise. Politics. Obstacle Courses. Kit maintenance. Laps. Geography. Close combat practice. Magical theory. Magic practice. Advanced mathematics. Sit ups. Aether theory. Laps again. Logistics… The list went on and on. Wasn't this supposed to be a school for spoiled nobles?

William thought blearily. Apparently, someone had forgotten to inform the instructors of that. Griffith in particular. The damn woman was more machine than flesh. … And how he wished that made her less attractive. The sight of the dark elf in a sports bra and shorts did things for him, even as she lashed lagging cadets with criticisms – and occasionally her lash - as she effortlessly followed them around the training field. His head met the cool wood of the table as his willpower finally gave out.

"I'm grabbing a wet cloth," Marline's voice called out from the communal bathroom.

"Anyone else want one?" A trio of 'ayes' rang out from around the room. Well, William thought as he levered his back upright. One bright side of all this suffering is that it's bringing the team closer together. Which he was entirely sure was by design.

"Someone poke the orc. Make sure she's still alive."

"I'm alive." Verity grunted in response to Olzenya's words.

"Just… fried." She'd foregone a chair entirely, choosing instead to sprawl out on the floor. A move that would have drawn criticism from either of the team's two elves just a week earlier. Nowadays they just kind of… accepted it as one of the green skinned woman's odd quirks. Eying the orc, William would admit that she certainly looked 'fried'. While the rest of them were physically exhausted with a hint of mental exhaustion added in, Verity had the opposite issue.

The tall girl was a demon on the obstacle course, arena floor and exercise field, but she suffered horribly in any kind of classroom environment. As did most of the former peasants in their year. Fortunately, the academy did provide a solution to that issue.

"Do you have remedial lessons tonight?" Bonnlyn asked.

"No," Verity's voice was muffled by the fact that her face was against the – admittedly quite clean – wooden floorboard.

"I can do my own… stuff." They'd gotten into the habit of trading out the job of getting Verity's room ready for inspection on those nights where the orc needed to attend remedial lessons. Even Olzenya. I suppose it helps that if we didn't, we'd all be punished rather than just her, William thought. Which again, was likely by design. The team either succeeded together or they suffered together. There was no inbetween.

Or at least, that was the case for most things, he thought as a series of wet thuds announced the arrival of a trio of wet towelettes.

"You're a lifesaver, Marline." Olzenya sighed dreamily as she pressed the cool piece of fabric to the back of her neck.

"I agree," Bonnlyn added.

"Even if I'm still pretty sure you're some kind of voice creature pretending to be an elf."

"Because I'm not sprawled out on the table?" The dark elf said dryly as she finished rubbing her own cloth across her face.

"Because you're not sprawled out on the table," the dwarf confirmed without a second's hesitation. Marline just scoffed.

"Some of us just had a more… focused childhood than others. So this isn't all that different from what I'm used to." Bonnlyn made a noise that may charitably have been called a murmur of disagreement.

"Well try not to get too nostalgic for your frankly hellish home life," William said as he stood up on aching legs.

"The instructors probably won't be riding us like this for much longer." Even if his research had missed out on some of the nuance of the academy where intensity was concerned, the broad strokes would still hold true.

"They've spent the last two weeks breaking us down and bringing us together as a team, but now that's done they should back off," he finished.

"I mean, they'll probably continue the inspections and stuff, but they won't be on our asses at all hours like they have been." He deliberately ignored the way both Olzenya and Marline wrinkled their noses at his 'uncouth' language. Mostly because Bonnlyn chose that moment to provide a more convenient target for their indignation.

"Thank fuck for that," the redhead cheered.

"How's that?" William asked as he finished strapping the last belt of Bonnlyn's maneuver suit tight. He was still sore from yesterday, but he was also feeling a lot better after a good night's sleep and some breakfast. Say what you would about Blicland, they didn't skimp on the food. And a hearty meal of bacon, eggs and toast had done a lot to energize him for the day ahead. The dwarf said nothing though, a complicated expression on her face as she stared at the far wall.

Just outside the entrance to her personal quarters, the pair could hear quiet conversation from the team's communal area. Mostly it was Marline walking Verity through the fairly complicated process of mounting the suit's flight gear. With Ozlenya occasionally chipping in with a slightly clipped, but ultimately helpful comment. For William and Bonnlyn's part, her aether-tank and collection of slightly worn looking thrusters were still piled high on her bed.

"Bonnlyn?" he reiterated. Eventually, the dwarf just sighed.

"You know, for an outwardly flirty guy, you sure know how to leave a girl feeling distinctly unsexy."

"Unsexy?" He raised an eyebrow.

"It really did feel like it was my dad helping me get changed just now." She gazed down at him accusingly.

"You didn't even blink when you walked in with that updated jacket – even though I was in my underwear. My sexiest underwear."

"Oh, uh, sorry? I guess?" He shook his head.

"Ugh, right in the feminine ego." The dwarf grunted as she fastened the top button of her gambeson-like flight jacket.

"You didn't even sneak a glance at my tits - and they're my best asset!" He could only bemusedly shrugged, reclining on the bed he'd been sitting on while helping the dwarf get changed. She wasn't wrong though. Ignoring the fact that Bonnlyn's 'assets' would never fool anyone into thinking she was anything less than her full eighteen years, her somewhat diminutive size had made him slip into the same mindset he'd used to have while babysitting his nieces and nephews a lifetime ago. …

Back when they'd been at an age where it wasn't weird for an older relative to help them get changed, of course. Something the dwarf had apparently picked up on.

"Right." He coughed.

"Is it better though?" The dwarf glared at him for a few more seconds before reluctantly sighing.

"Yeah, it's better. I can actually breathe now, so you do good work." She glanced toward the door.

"Almost good enough to make putting up with the elf worth it." He stood up, patting himself down.

"Good to hear." Even if he was deliberately ignoring the second statement. It was early days yet.

"Because now we're moving onto the more difficult part." He gestured to the bed, where enough paraphernalia to make a firefighter blush waited to be attached to what was really just the undersuit. The dwarf rolled her eyes.

"Do what you must." He chuckled, grabbing the first manoeuvring thruster.

"Alright, but please do try to pay attention. You'll be helping me next. More to the point, I imagine there'll definitely be tests on how fast you can get all this crap on in the future." After all, in the event of an attack, the speed at which a marine-knight could get all their gear on would literally be a matter of life and death.

The dwarf grunted dismissively, but did actually pay attention as he started latching the first thruster into place – making sure to point out how to tell if it was the right way up as he did. He'd made that mistake all of once growing up, and he had no desire to see it repeated with any member of his team.

Unlike the other two balkanized states of the former Elven Imperium, Lindholm still retained the old Imperial Navy approach to warfare. An approach that emphasized redundancy. Captains needed to be able to fight in a maneuver suit. Pilots needed to be able to command airships. Marines needed to be able to pilot shards. Admittedly, that last item was an aberration, given that Shards weren't a thing back when the Elven Imperium spanned two continents, but the general thought process remained the same.

People could be more easily replaced than equipment. At least where mithril was concerned. If a ship's captain was killed, the ship's marine-defender needed to be able to take over immediately. If a pilot was killed before they could launch their shard, a marine-saboteur needed to be able to pilot that shard. If a ship's marine-defender was killed, the captain needed to be able to personally defend their ship. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

It was a large part of the reason why Lindholm's academic training period was so long relative to its continental cousins. The need for cadets to be trained in multiple fields. It was also part of the reason why the first year of that academic training period was so preoccupied with maneuver-suit training. It served as a decent basis for the other more advanced specialties.

"The beach," Olzenya deadpanned as she clambered out of her team's wagon and onto a patch of dirt, just short of a long bank of soft sand terminated by open ocean.

"All that money. All those facilities. And Lindholm spends half a day shipping us out to the beach."

"It's efficient," the short-stack grunted as she jumped out.

"Why bother building some massive structure for initial flight training when there's a perfectly good environment for it just down the road."

"I'd also point out that a structure of any kind would have walls and a ceiling," Marline pointed out as she and William helped Verity climb down.

"Not ideal for flight training." The reason the orc needed help was her choice of armour. While specialization wouldn't actually occur until the fourth year of the academy, it was still suggested that recruits start preparing for what their preferred roles might be as soon as possible. The orc wanted to be a marine defender. Or at least, she did once the concept was explained to her. As such, she was wearing the heaviest variant of maneuver-suit possible.

Marline was wearing a medium, suggesting that she was aiming for the marine-saboteur role. The rest of them? Ultra-light. Which meant pilot. Still perfectly serviceable in any of the other roles of course, but it was the weight class of choice for pilots for a reason. Captains could wear whatever they damn well pleased – and none of them were in a position to be one anyway, so it was redundant.

Nobles who were attending with a retinue might have had that option, but as general intake, they were never going to have that opportunity. Not unless six of my sisters happen to drop dead, Olzenya thought. Feeling a little guilty about how wistful that thought sounded, she settled for sending a betrayed look Marline's way.

"Form up," Instructor Griffith called as the other teams from House Royal clambered out of their own wagons. They moved promptly, each team quickly aligning itself by height as they moved to stand at attention.

"You are here to learn one of the most basic functions of the marine-knight." Instructor Griffith began, glasses gleaming in the mid-morning sun as she strode up and down the line of cadets.

"Limited flight. The same ability that allows a marine-saboteur to board an enemy craft in the heat of battle, or a marine-defender to reinforce an ally in the same instance." She gestured out to the water.

"As you can see, a number of rafts have been set up for you. On top of each is a pole with a hoop attached. By the end of today, we expect you to be able to fly from here, through each of those hoops, before landing on the raft." A hand went up from a young man in defender armour.

"Uh ma'am, I don't think I can swim in this." Griffith's gaze was utterly dispassionate.

"Then I suppose you should learn how to fly quickly. Or failing that, how to use aether to escape the water." To the side, Olzenya could – predictably – hear William coddling the orc.

"Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds. And Griffith's got her own flight suit on. I bet she's got it so she can fish cadets out if they run into trouble." The human wasn't wrong. Sure, being waterlogged added weight to a suit, but being submerged in water gave you something to 'push off' with your aether-thrusters. Even if you lacked the strength to regain flight, you could still power through the water like a pre-occupation human ram-ship.

"You've done this before," Verity whispered in realization.

"I doubt there's a former-noble here who hasn't." The short-stack said.

"It's probably why blondie is so pissy. She was probably expecting something a little more fancy from the fabled Blicland academy." Olzenya coloured a little as the dwarf perfectly guessed her sentiments.

"Ha, I bet she was hoping we'd be going to the Skeleton today," William chimed in. She didn't deny it. And it pained her that that was probably what the other houses were currently doing instead of this. Once more she lamented being placed into House Royal rather than another noble's retinue. And once more she cursed her sister for her vindictiveness.

"Ma'am?" A cadet from another team asked politely.

"Will we be taking turns to attempt the course?" Rather than nod, the Instructor surprised them all by shaking her head.

"No, you may all go as often as you wish. You merely need to return to the beach between attempts." She eyed them all.

"Other participants will act as an added complication to your flight paths – and I assure you, they will be much easier to dodge than incoming bolts, arrows, spells or shards." The crowd went silent at that, no doubt ruminating on that thought. The Instructor nodded, satisfied there were no more questions incoming.

"With that, you are all dismissed. You may begin your attempts when ready. I will be watching and recording your results." With that said, she pulled out a clip-board and moved to stand in the shade of a nearby tree. As the cadets once more turned into huddled groups, Olzenya saw that William was already explaining the basics to Verity and Bonnlyn.

"You use your time here on the beach to build up pressure in your tank. Thereafter that's going to be your primary propulsion. It's limited, but you can extend that by continuing to refill it in the air as you expend it. Though that'll mean cutting down on how much you maneuver." As he spoke, he demonstrated by lifting one leg and pushing aether out of both his elbow and his foot, using the specially placed holes and thruster add-ons positioned there.

Though he had to stop after a moment, as the action nearly unbalanced him.

"I know." Bonnlyn crossed her arms.

"We've had entire lessons on this. The next thing you're going to say is that as you empty your tank, you'll get heavier. Because aether is unnaturally buoyant in air. And while we'll never be lighter than air, because that would impede flight speed, at max capacity the suit should be pretty close to neutrally buoyant." William was utterly unphased by her tone though – which was a point in his favour.

Strange as the human might have been, Olzenya could admit that his distinctly un-aristocratic attitude towards most things meant little rattled or offended him. Though she pitied his future fiancée. Their confrontation in the cafeteria was still making the rounds of the school nearly two weeks later. … With that said, it wasn't as if she didn't understand some of the points he'd raised either. She didn't necessarily agree with them all, but she understood them.

"And I'm repeating it now," William continued.

"The more aether you expel to propel yourself, the less buoyant you'll become. And the more you'll need to continue to expel to keep yourself in the air. So don't try to 'fly'. Use quick burns and think of it more like a series of jumps with each thrust being a push off point." Verity tugged fruitlessly as her heavy breastplate.

"I'm really regretting going for heavy armour right now. Do you think I'd be allowed to strip it off for the first few runs?"

"Keep it on," Olzenya said, though not unsympathetically.

"It's what you'll be using going forward so it's better to get used to the added weight from the outset." Unlike their refined aether capacity, a mage's raw aether output didn't increase with time and practice. Sure, their stamina could increase, allowing them to output more of the substance for longer, but the throughput would remain the same.

With that in mind, it was universally agreed that it was better for cadets to learn to develop their muscle memory with the weight they'd be expected to use in actual combat rather than start light and slowly move up.

"Easy for you to say," Bonnlyn muttered, utterly ignorant or uncaring of the fact that she was wearing the exact same kit. Before Olzenya could scathingly point that out, William interrupted.

"Olzenya's right, so don't cause trouble." For some reason, the high elf felt her mood buoy a little at the human's words – even if she'd have been perfectly capable of defending herself. Though the moment passed quickly as he returned his attention to the orc.

"I know it sucks, Verity, but you'll get used to it quickly enough. All suits, from light to heavy were designed to be capable of flight. The only real difference is how much each can afford to maneuver in the air." Off in the distance, a series of low shrieks rang out, sand and blue-green aether billowing forth as the first few cadets took to the skies on plumes of aether.

Olzenya watched one of her fellows – species unknown given her goggles and flightmask – rocketed out to sea, the tank on her back blasting aether, while her hands and feet occasionally did the same as she made minor course corrections. She's burning too much, Olzenya thought as the girl realized her initial angle was off target for the first hoop. Short bursts to retain buoyancy for as long as possible. Not a continuous burn.

Likely a plebian then, she thought as the girl cleared the first hoop, but slowly started to sink in the air. In the end, she splashed down into the ocean way short of her third hoop. A move imitated by plenty of other cadets moments later. With that said, there were at least three that the high elf could see were well on track to reaching the final hoop. Nobles like her, with plenty of experience using a maneuver-suit under their belt. Behind her, Marline was still talking.

"Like that. Aether fades from our reality after about two minutes, so you'll need to keep filling the tank regardless, but you don't want to expend your reserves needlessly. So use-""Short bursts." Bonnlyn cut in.

"I heard you both the first dozen times." With that said, she pulled her padded skintight mask up over her head, settling the goggles in place.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to show these varlets how it's done." She shot up into the air, blasting all of them with sand and aether as she tore off overhead. Cursing the little addlepate as she rubbed sand from her face, the high elf blearily looked up to watch as the dwarf tore through the first hoop. Much too fast, she thought with some vindictively glee. Indeed, in the name of speed, the dwarf was burning through her tank's supply much too fast, rather than using her own aether output to maneuver.

Sure, she was using short bursts, but she was using too many. The blonde could almost see the moment the panic set in, as the dwarf was forced to dodge around another incoming cadet, gravity slowly started to reassert its insidious hold on the dwarf. The gaps between plumes of aether started to grow shorter and shorter, while the burn time grew longer and longer. In the end, like a stone reaching the apex of its arc, the dwarf started to plummet from the air.

"Think she'll remember to stick her feet out?" Marline asked conversationally. William sighed.

"I doubt it. She's probably in full panic mode right now." Olzenya didn't doubt it. She'd had plenty of practice with a maneuver-suit these days, but she still remembered those first few outings. The sheer terror as suddenly the freedom of flight was wrenched from her. The looming surface of her family's lake. The rather jarring feeling of impact with the water. Anyone that thought crash landing into water was soft had obviously never performed a belly flop.

So it was that she almost felt a little pity for the dwarf as her hunched form dive-bombed into the ocean.

"Well, now she'll learn to-" Olzenya's words were cut off as a blast of sand and aether impacted her face.

"Oh, come on!" Uncaring of her ire, William – for Verity and an unimpressed Marline were still on the ground with her – tore off into the sky. And as much as she hated to admit it, considering the fact that she was still spitting out sand, he flew well. Body straight. Not a wasted movement. Only the briefest bursts from his hands or feet to change course as he shot through the first hoop, nimbly sliding past another cadet with just inches to spare.

She'd have said he looked like a bird in flight, but to be honest the more apt comparison was a fish. And now he's through the second hoop, she thought. Relying on the lightweight of his suit supplementing the buoyancy of his tank, he then soared through the third, fourth and then fifth hoops. Sure, he wasn't the first to do so, but Olzenya would admit that he'd definitely done it the fastest.

"Bonnlyn's still not surfaced." Ozleyna nearly missed Verity's words, so quietly were they spoken, but as she tore her gaze away from her male teammate's return flight, she saw that they were correct. The dwarf still hadn't surfaced. Please don't tell me she knocked herself out, Olzenya thought with a small thrill of panic.

Yet even as she glanced up, she saw that Instructor Griffith had clearly noticed as well, despite the fact that she was observing the whole class, and was pulling her goggles up over her face – glasses discarded. Yet she paused, just before taking off… Glancing back to see why, expecting to see the dwarf break the surface of the waves, Olzenya watched as William shot down, burning aether to gain speed even with gravity assisting him.

For just a moment, the high elf was reminded of the birds of prey that used to catch salmon in the rivers near her home, as the human didn't hit the water, but practically slid into, like a spear with nary a splash to be seen. … Though the same could not be said for when he emerged. Like a whale breaching the surface of the ocean – or perhaps a kraken, given the man's oft-disdained moniker – he shot from the water with a much smaller figure in his arms. It was not a princess carry.

The dwarf was slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. A sight that actually made the high elf suppress a smirk, despite her recent ire at the man. The pair didn't make it all the way back, which wasn't unexpected given the additional weight the dwarf represented. The pair slid into the water just short of the beach, almost gliding along the surface to come to a stop in the shallows.

And before she knew what she was doing, Olzenya was following Marline and Verity as they hurried over to where the human was now dragging his reluctant passenger up onto the sand. As they got closer, they could hear the man… not quite yelling, but the chiding tone was impossible to miss.

"-on't know how to swim!? And you thought you'd go first!?"

"It's not 'don't know'," the dwarf – who was apparently conscious rather than half-drowned – was feebly arguing back.

"Can't. I'm a dwarf. We have dense bones."

"Which means you don't know how to swim." The man said as he attempted to strain water out of his soaked suit.

"Because if you did, you'd realize that the giant flotation device on your back would have served as a decent counter to any amount of bone density. Just because it won't float in air anymore doesn't mean it doesn't still float great in water - if you bother to refill the aether a little." Bonnlyn opened her mouth to say something, before pausing.

"Ah, I didn't think of that." That there wasn't quite the same amount of fire in her voice as she sat in the sand, almost clutching at it. If Olzenya didn't know better, she'd say the red-head's recent experience with nearly drowning had taken some of the wind out of her sails.

"Because you don't know how to swim," William repeated, though not unkindly. The dwarf drooped.

"I guess." The man crouched down, clothes squelching as he did.

"Just… think a little next time. Maybe inform your team, so we could have someone on standby in the event of… what happened. It's not like Marline, Olzenya or me actually need the practice." He glanced up at them as they came to a stop.

"I don't think?" Olzenya scoffed, while Marline shook her head.

"I could have gone first and then watched out for the other two. I was actually planning on doing that for Verity, given the weight of her suit, before Bonnlyn took off." The dwarf sagged further.

"Griffith was here." This time, they were all surprised as Verity spoke.

"The Instructor should be your last port of call for help. The team should be your first. We're all in this together. We need to rely on each other." The orc's voice was the firmest she'd ever spoken, a hint of her disappointment in her brown eyes.

"Ugh!" That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as the dwarf threw two clumps of wet sand to the side.

"Fine! My ego tried to cash a debt I couldn't actually back up. I was reckless. I should have told you all I couldn't swim. I should have asked for someone to keep an eye out for me."

"I'm sorry." She glared at all of them, before turning back to William.

"There, you happy now? Can you quit doing the disappointed dad routine?" Ah, so that was what it was. Olzenya had thought the man's general demeanour seemed… vaguely uncomfortably familiar.

"Sure," the man laughed, returning to his usual personality as he leaned down to help the dwarf up.

"Now, give me two seconds to retry the course and I'll be back to play lookout for you when you go for your second attempt." Out of the corner of her eye, Olzenya saw Marline hashing out similar terms with Verity. Sighing, the high elf couldn't help but feel a little left out. …Fortunately, she managed to make herself feel better by pelting all of them with sand as she took off to make her own attempt at the mini-gauntlet. Ah, revenge is sweet, the blonde thought as she tore off through the air.