"You worry too much. Everything will work out fine, you wait and see."

Katrin rose from her seat. "Come on," she urged, "hurry up."

"What's the rush?"

"We have to sign you up before the list is full."

Mistress Tatiana examined the target carefully before turning and walking back, remaining silent as she did. The students all held their breath in anticipation. Their instructor stopped, then looked each of them in the eyes before speaking. "An accurate shot, Yana," she said, singling out a blonde-haired woman, "but you need to put more energy into it. That would scarcely count as a wound."

The blonde's head fell, a look of utter failure darkening her features.

"Who's next?" called out the mistress.

Another student moved up, this time an auburn-haired young woman.

"Ah, Lydia," said Mistress Tatiana, "let's see how you make out, shall we? Go ahead and cast whenever you're ready."

The young woman began the incantation, firing off the spell. A large number of ice shards flew down the range, narrowly missing the target.

"Good power," said the mistress, "but you're going to need to hit the target if you want to be on the team." She cast her eyes about the remaining students, "I remind you we have one berth left to fill. Ordinarily, we would allow only students in their final term to participate, but it has been mutually agreed upon that at least one member of each team must not be so, however, if we cannot find someone who can hit the target with sufficient force, we shall have to disqualify ourselves from the competition."

"Here!" yelled Katrin, raising her hand.

"You want to try?" asked the mistress.

"No," she replied, "but Natalia does, she's the best shot here."

"Low-born," muttered Galina.

"Is there anyone else?" asked the mistress.

Hands popped up, and Mistress Tatiana scanned over them, all too familiar with their classroom progress, for she was their primary instructor.

"Natalia is powerful," persisted Katrin, "you should at least give her a chance. Or don't you want us to win?"

Mistress Tatiana, perhaps stung by the words, looked at the low-born peasant girl with a look of distaste on her face. "Very well, Natalia, let's see what you're capable of."

In answer, Natalia stepped forward, stood on the line, peering downrange at the dummy. Some of the other students mocked her, but she tuned them out, concentrating only on her target. Taking one step forward, she thrust out both hands, uttering the words of power. Ice shards leaped from her fingers to fly downrange and hit the target full in the chest, knocking it over. Lowering her hands, she turned to face the rest of the class, which had grown quiet with her demonstration.

"I think we just found the last member of our team," announced Mistress Tatiana.