Gale’s first week at the school flew by for her. She had been spending a sizable portion of each day, from Monday to Saturday, training on her own to perfect her control of her magical aura. At first, she was having some trouble getting the “squeezing” exercise properly, it always ended up looking kind of diagonal, but Sofia gave her some pointers about how to let the magical energy flow in the regions she did not need to focus, a very fitting advice from a Water mage such as her. In any case, this resulted in her being able to perform the exercise properly by the end of Tuesday, much to Professor Aberyth’s delight.
Her next exercise consisted in trying to concentrate her magical aura on herself, something she might find useful in the future since according to Professor Aberyth, for the few people that could see magical aura, she was visible “a mile away”. This practice was more difficult for her, not only because it required more precise control but also because her magical aura was very big, but still managed to make some progress towards the end of the week. By the end of Saturday, she had managed to make it look like half a sphere around her, with smoke coming out of it (the residual magical energy). Professor Aberyth told her that she could train this further on her own, and confirmed that she was ready to start proper aura infusing training the following week.
While she was progressing with her studies, she was also getting to know her new cssmates better, thanks to all the meals they shared, and the joint cooking and cleaning duties. Even though she was more focused on Sofia for her own reasons, her fellow students were also nice enough, and she tried to make an effort to socialize properly.
She learnt that the twins, Tom and Jon, had actually been abandoned in front of a monk temple as babies, and thus grew up with them. The monks gave them a proper education, as well as martial training, but noticed their unusually high magical energy and recommended them to attend a magical school. Since they were officially part of the monk order, their magical studies would be covered by the government if they attended a funded institution, such as this one over here. Thus, they began their training around a year and a half ago. Originally, they did not have much hopes for it, but they ended up loving being able to use powerful magic and even created some combo moves involving both of them. Once they finish their studies, though, they do not really have a pn for the future, since being a monk was not really something they were interested in but hey knew no other life.
Teb was a vilger that entered a drafting campaign for his homend, a far away country in the west, when he was 12 years old. He got through martial training and became one of the most skilled fighters in his unit. A wealthy merchant got word of his skill, and offered him a job as one of the bodyguards for his continent-wide merchant caravan travels. He accepted, since it would allow him to see the world and avoid many messy active combat situations that happen in full-scale warfare. Alongside his 9 fellow bodyguards, he traveled for years all around the continent, with little trouble taking care of the assaults to their caravan. Recently, though, there has been word of a band of mages settling down in one of the wastend regions they need to cross, so it was decided that the bodyguard with best magical ability, him, would be trained for a few months in magical combat.
Saku, on his part, was the son of a high-ranking official from the magic fighting squad in Astidia. His innate magical power made him a good candidate for the squad, maybe even surpass his father, but he needed to start training as soon as possible. Thus, his parents sent him to start his studies at Aberyth’s academy once he turned 12 and his physical condition was able to sustain the training. He was still clearly a child, though, with a lot of passion for learning new cool magic and a lot of energy to burn.
Professor Aberyth received funds for each of the students he had, be it from their families or the government, that he used to supplement his own research fund. Gale notices that she was by far the exception, since she was attending for free at the Professor’s own insistence.
She had also become closer to Sofia during this week. She had offered Gale helpful tips for her training, while Gale in turn watched her train sometimes with her water whip, in which she was still making little progress. They also exchanged stories of their respective lives: Gale told Sofia about her secret hunting expeditions and training with her master, while she in turn told her about all the boring activities she had to endure as a heiress, and how she had escaped home more than once. They were really enjoying their time together.
When Sunday arrived, they decided to use their free time to go all together for a hike to the mountains, and maybe hunt some animal down to have for lunch together. Teb did not seem particurly interested, but he joined the rest anyway, while the twins and Saku seemed to love the idea. Sofia was also interested in taking a nice hike in the forest, and maybe climb the mountains surrounding the valley to see the amazing view.
They left shortly after sunrise, and went left from the entrance gate (after all, the goblin cave was nearby and there was no need to stir up trouble unnecessarily). The forest was still covered partially by the morning fog, and they could only hear some birds. Ideally, they would trek until they reached the mountain three mountains over from the town, and then go down and return along the river to the town. This should take them, including lunch, 4-5 hours tops, enough to purchase some ingredients on the way back and start cooking dinner calmly.
Gale was still not used to this new type of forest, so it still felt slightly off to her. She could see very far in the distance, at least the part not covered by fog, but could see little since it was quite dark inside. The big animals seemed to hide more thoroughly now, since they could be spotted from nd quite easily, so they would need someone with tracking experience to obtain a meal.
Gale was the expert, so she led the group as they went on with their hike, but taking care of not overlooking any animal trails. After more than an hour, Gale could identify the tracks of a boar, even if they were not very recent. She told them to move as silently as they could, and some meters behind her, while she started following the tracks. After a few turns, where they found some signs of digging, they spotted the boar.
Gale readied her non-magical sword, and prepared to attack, but before she could do anything, Teb unched an arrow past the boar. The boar turned around and saw them, but before it could react an electrical current flew from Teb’s magic circle covered fingers to the metal back of the arrow, giving the boar standing on the way a sizable shock. Before it could move again, Gale jumped and cut off its head in a jumping downwards ssh.
With the boar dead, they decided to cook it on the spot, but carry the cooked meal for a while, and eat it at the top of one of the mountains. They made sure to process it, removing the skin and organs and putting them in a heap some distance form the camp, so another animal could consume them if desired. They chopped it to pieces with a big kitchen axe, and put it in a big pot Teb was carrying on his back. Meanwhile, Sofia and Saku had gone down the mountain to fill a container with water, and prepared some spices to accompany the meal. Once it was cooked under the fire, the twins were the ones to carry the pot to the top of the viewing spot, a big protruding surface from the face of the mountain, higher than the end of the forest.
They sat down to eat looking at the valley below them, in which was probably the best viewing spot in the region. Gale found the food quite tasty, she would probably do well to properly learn how to cook, but she never really cared when her mother tried to teach her. She really missed her right now, along with her father and siblings. What would they be doing now? They probably were worried sick about her. Still, she needed to train properly, she had just found how fast the vilge could stop being safe at all.
She snapped out of her own thoughts when Sofia decided to sit down besides her, getting close. She noticed the cold wind blowing in that surface, and they both got closer still, with their shoulders touching.
“Gale”, Sofia started, with a gentle smile “it’s amazing how you were able to track down that boar. You were so resolute, and totally took charge of the situation. You were so… cool”, she finished, looking at the scenery as she said that st part.
“I mean, I have a lot of experience with that… But, uh, I, thanks”, Gale answered clearly embarrassed. In that moment, she noticed Sofia putting her hand over hers, holding them together. They stayed like that for a few minutes, looking at the scenery, before they started packing and descending towards the town. Gale thought at that moment that she might actually like quite a bit her new temporary school life.
