“You want to try taking it from me?” Aphra shifted her weight to the balls of her feet.

“A simple yes would have sufficed.”

“But it’s not as fun.”

Shyla grinned. “Another time then.”

“No magic. That’s cheating.”

She agreed. “No magic.”

While walking back to her room, Shyla considered her brief conversations with Rae and Lian and Aphra. Perhaps they should all train and spar together. They could spare fifteen angles a sun jump. Not only would it keep their skills sharp, but it would create a sense of kinship. Like all good ideas, she wished she’d thought of it sooner. Maybe then Rendor wouldn’t have left.

She pulled her thoughts from that direction. Those “should haves” and “could haves” would only drag her into despair. Instead, she focused on the mission, and was surprised to find Mojag waiting for her in her room.

He played with the sand in her practice bucket, molding shapes with his hands only to squash them and create something else.

“Is it true?” he asked without looking up.

No need to ask what he referred to. “Yes.”

“What if I lose my abilities to…sniff out people by opening up my magic?”

“I think it would enhance those abilities.”

“What if it changes me?”

“You don’t have to do anything. If you’re happy to remain this way, I won’t force you. No one will.”

Now he looked at her. “I can’t do that. It might help us.”

“Might is the key word, Mojag. No guarantee.”

He jumped to his feet. “You sacrificed your eyes for us. Your eyes! No guarantee then either! It’s the least I can do.”

A very mature reaction. She wondered what Jayden had said to him. “Why are you afraid of changing?”

“You and Jayden and the others are so…serious and worried all the time. You have so much…responsibility. No one is happy.”

She’d been ready to explain until he reached the last point. Thinking quickly, she said, “We’re unhappy with the situation, which is why we’re working so hard to change things.”

“Nah, that’s not it. You haven’t been happy since Rendor left.”

“That has nothing to do with magic, Mojag. And you already have serious responsibilities which you are handling so well. When I was your age, my biggest worry was handing in my assignments on time.”

“Sounds boring.”

“It was.”

“Okay, I’ll do it. And if the magic lessons don’t work, I wanna be first.”

“First what?”

He tapped a finger on his chest. “The first person you open.”

Mojag left before she could respond, which was a good thing as she didn’t want to upset him by refusing.