“Yettier,” Tess said.

  “That is the point of practice.”

  “Faster than most, I meant. Or, even more frankly, faster than I expected, with how you started out.”

  Natalie snorted. She didn’t take offeruggling with spellcasting had her temper fraying faster than most things did, but she didn’t mind being called bad. It was self-apparent. Plus, it made Tess’s praise that mueaningful. Though, the praise hadn’t been that she was good—just gettier faster than expected. Still, small victories.

  “It’s all I’ve been doing, so I hope so,” Natalie said, shrugging. “Been ing everything else, pretty much. And lots of that is probably more important than messing around with a single illusion spell.” As a padin, beieam’s frontline would require more traditional fighter skillsets than it did spellcasting ones. Just, she wanted passing petency with it. Maybe that was a bad idea?

  “The age old question,” Tess mused, mirr her thoughts. “Train to improve your deficies, or train to hone your strengths. Which is a better use of time?”

  “And the answer?”

  “It depends.”

  Dryly, Natalie said, “Real useful advice, that.”

  “Oh, no. The world is nuanced. Certaiions don’t have simple answers. Such a novel discovery.”

  “Smartass.” Despite her response, a smile had found its way onto Natalie’s lips. Tess’s dry—even snippish—sense of humor had been something she’d only gotten hints of yesterday, but which had e out in force during practice today. Just with Natalie, though. She remained polite with the others. Did that mean … ?

  “Smartass?” Tess quoted. “Students are supposed to respect their instructors, you know.”

  “Good thing you’re not an instructor.”

  Tess looked around at the gathered students and raised a ly trimmed eyebrow. The uppercssmen really had such stern poise to her. More of an air of ‘instructor’ than most actual Te faculty did. She didn’t e off as only a few years older than Natalie.

  “I’m not?” Tess asked. “And all this is, then?” She swept a hand out at her collected students.

  “Not a real instructor,” Natalie crified, though Tess had known what she meant. “And even if you were, what? Gonna punish me for talking back?” After yesterday’s fantasies, the actal innuendo had Natalie’s heart skipping a beat. “Wash my mouth out?” Hopefully Tess hadn’t noticed the way she stumbled.

  She rolled her eyes, so she probably hadn’t. That was good.

  Patting her shoulder and turning, Tess said, “Keep it up. You won’t o be in my course for long, I tell.”

  “Wait.”

  Tess paused, body still turned, about to move to the student. “Yes?”

  “Uh.” Tellio stop hadn’t been fully iional. Like usual, Natalie’s impulses had guided her. Oh, well. There’d been an idea she’d been sidering, so she might as well try, right?

  “I was w if you wao, uh, show me around the mage’s guild.”

  Her eyebrows went up. She faced back to Natalie, crossing her arms. She seemed unimpressed. That was a default expression of Tess’s, but in this situation especially? A first-week freshmen hitting on a third year? Especially a girl like Tess?

  Not that Natalie was disced. Hitting on girls out of her league didn’t scare her. Was kinda fun, actually. She stuffed her hands in her pockets, shrugged, then smiled.

  “I know it’s, like, a secret rule you should stick with one guild, and I’ll probably be going with tank. But still. I’d like to look around. Maybe talk about it, a bit.” Then, just in case Tess hadn’t picked up her real i: “And maybe after, we hang out? Get something to eat, or whatever?”

  Her expression didn’t ge, so she had sussed out Natalie’s goal. Or was especially good at not reag. That would hardly be a rare trait at Te.

  Natalie would like if she didn’t have to be so btant about things, but she didn’t have much choice. Straddling the liween being ‘grossly obvious’ and ‘obvious enough’ could be hard. But was necessary. One of the woes of being a girl that liked girls. She had to bludgeon potential partners with her i. Else all sorts of misuandings could happen.

  Because some people were unimaginably dense when it came to romanatalie was fortunate she wasn’t one of them, but others, she knew, weren’t spared from that fate.

  Tess’s scrutiny sted long enough most people probably would’ve started squirming. Natalie almost did, but while Tess was cute, and she did want to get to know her better, this was hardly some long-standing fession. She wasn’t that anxious.

  “Only if you want to,” Natalie offered. “I think it could be fun.”

  Tess seemed to make her mind up. “I suppose I could spare an evening. But not today. Tomorrow?”

  “Sounds like a pn.” She fought down an obvious grie her few-seds-prior thoughts about how she ‘wasn’t that ied’, she found herself inordinately relieved, and also a bit giddy. So. Tess swung that way. And had accepted an offer to hang out.

  With a wave of her fingers, Tess walked away. Natalie let her smile break out a bit more obviously, now that Tess wasn’t watg.

  “That,” someone drawled o her, making Natalie jump, “is so not fair. You make it look easy.”

  Blinking, Natalie faced the invader. It had been a voice she half-way reized.

  “It’s those eyes of yours, I think,” Camille added. “All big and blue and fident.”

  “Camille,” Natalie said, caught off guard. One of her fifteen cssmates—the pnt-based mage she’d fought the day prior. “Uh. Hi?”

  “And the hair,” Camille tinued ihick eastern drawl. After so much crisply enunciated northern dialect, it was twice as noticeable. Even her, Jordan, and Sofia’s voices didn’t stand out as much. “Red hair, blue eyes. It’s the rarest bination, you know.”

  Natalie caught up to the ued versation, shaking off her surprise. Camille had seen her flirting with Tess, successfully, then said ‘it wasn’t fair’.

  … because of her hair and eyes?

  Was she being hit on? It didn’t have that sort of too it, though, however much the words themselves would’ve suggested it. Camille sounded more … exasperated, than anything.

  “I know red and blue’s not on,” Natalie said. “But the rarest?”

  “A few steps short of a geialy. And bined with the rest …” she gave Natalie an up-and-down, which, bizarrely, still didn’t e off as flirting, then said, “it’s not fair.”

  “Thank you?”

  “You’re w why I’m here. In the newbie yard.”

  “A bit,” she admitted. “You didn’t e off as an amateur during ht.”

  “I assing by and saw you. Figured I’d say hi.” Camille oward the hallway, which was lined with windows. “I had no idea you were a mage. Didn’t sense anything in css, unless I’m mistaken?”

  “No, you aren’t. I haven’t made much use of it.” Natalie hadn’t been so outstandingly subtle in her spellcasting that an experienced mage—which Camille had demonstrated herself as being—hadn’t seen it. Rather, she was so bad she’d chosen not to use it at all. “It’s a work in progress.”

  Camille made a noise of amusement. “I tell. You’re clumsy on your execution.”

  Again—tinuing the trend of Camille’s words being tradictory to the impression she should have gotten—the insult didn’t e off as one. She made it sound like idle entary.

  “Thanks?” Natalie was a bit bemused by this versation. She still hadn’t decided if Camille was hitting on her.

  “But illusions,” the dark haired girl tinued. “Useful.”

  “Once I get a hold of them, they will be.”

  “I’ve heard they’re tricky tle,” she said. Then, a mischievous amusement crept onto her face, seemingly from nowhere. “And, truth told, a specialty I wouldn’t mind having. I’ve always wondered … what else could you do with them?”

  Natalie jolted. The words had beey obviously ced with … well, innuendo.

  Huh?

  “All sorts of fun things, I’d imagine,” Camille tinued, her grin widening.

  Mentioning illusions in that way? After the bathroom event, yesterday? Was this girl—?

  “Anyway,” Camille said. “Just wao say hello. Didn’t mean to distract. I’ll leave you to it.”

  She turo leave, and Natalie took a step forward. “Wait.”

  Camille turilting her head.

  Except, what was Natalie supposed to say?

  First, not only might those ents not have been an innuendo—though she was failing to see what else they could’ve been—but even if they had, it might be a ce. Just a crude sort of humor. Hardly impossible.

  But what a ce. Making that sort of suggestion about how Natalie could use her illusions? After being fairly certain someone had caught her ihroom, yesterday?

  On the ce it was, though, she shouldn’t raise suspi. After a long pause, Natalie tinued mely, “Never mind. See you at css.”

  Camille smirked.

  She smirked.

  She knew. Didn’t she? Natalie couldn’t tell. She didn’t know the girl well enough.

  “At css,” Camille agreed. “Talk to you ter.”

  Natalie stared, watg her great.

  That wasn’t going to drive her crazy.