Aldric ignored Nadrina’s nervous babbling as he examined the offered bowls. Now that he was looking closely, he could see runes inscribed around their rims, obviously engraved with great care and attention to detail. They were simple enough that he figured them out immediately. She’d enchanted one bowl to warm its contents, and the other to cool them. They were common enchantments used for food preservation and cooking, though they weren’t usually this meticulously crafted.

Then he realized what they were really for. The bowls heated and cooled the water, just enough to change the temperature without altering the form of the water. Doing so would force Lilianna to put more effort into controlling the transformation of the water.

Nadrina had made these to make Liliana’s training more difficult without altering the rules of the exercise, probably at Liliana’s request. It was a simple solution, but a clever one.

“Very well done, Nadrina,” Aldric said, and meant it. “Overall, there’s not much you could have done any better.” Despite how behind these kids had been at the beginning of the year, Aldric was getting worried about how he was going to reign in their expectations of themselves. Training rarely went this well.

“See? I told you. Have more faith in yourself, Drina.”

Nadrina was blushing scarlet from the top of her head to the bottom of her neck at the praise. She tried to hide her face behind her long hair, but he could still see her delighted smile. “T-Thank you, Professor,” she mumbled shyly.

“Aha!” Codrin cried from his desk. Aldric and the girls turned to see him smiling victoriously at his lit candle. The top was gooey, but the overall candle was still whole.

“Hahaha! How about that? Nothing to it. Just needed a few tries!” Codrin crowed, basking in everyone’s attention being on him.

“Yeah, a few thousand,” Alek muttered. He executed a one-handed hand spring and landed on his feet, wiping at his brow. “There, five sets of three hundred. That means I can move on from these stupid exercises now, right?”

“Actually, Professor,” Lilianna interrupted. “I think I’m ready to move on as well, with your permission? I’m not sure I can improve the technique anymore. All I need to work on is my mana conservation, since I tire out too quickly. Do you have any exercises for that?”

Aldric was about to answer when the sound of a metal catch releasing stopped him, followed by a giggle from Nadrina. He turned to find her already beaming at him in victory. She was holding up the opened mana lock like a puppy presenting a trophy to their owner. “Have you made any more yet, Professor?”

Not for the first time, Aldric felt more than a little overwhelmed by these kids. They were finishing exercises faster than he could think of them. He felt like he was working more now than he ever had in his life.