“You wish,” I said with a grin. “Give me a sec to warm up and I’ll join you.”

Haken was the same guy who’d been in Caldera’s office that first day—tall and fit, with blond hair, blue eyes, and an easygoing manner. He was also one of the few Keepers who didn’t seem to have a problem with me, and I’d liked him immediately. I picked up a focus weapon and squared off against him.

Despite our banter, the fight wasn’t very serious. Haken’s a fire mage, and while fire magic is very good at hurting things, it’s hard to use nonlethally. Fire magic has a natural tendency towards aggression and destruction, which means that fire mages tend to go one of two ways: either they learn a lot of self-control, or they’re the kind of people you really don’t want to spend time with. Haken was the self-controlled type. Although the sword of carved flame in his hands looked dangerous, the fire was tightly focused and didn’t expel much heat, and none of his strikes came close to touching my skin. I returned the favour by being careful to pull my blows. When you’re dealing with someone who’s considerate enough to restrain themselves from hurting you, it’s a good idea not to provoke them.

I was absorbed enough in the fight that I didn’t notice anything else was happening until a burst of laughter broke my concentration. I stepped back, lowering my sword, and looked left to see that the other groups had merged, congregating into a loose circle. At some point while I’d been busy with Haken they’d switched to one-on-one sparring while the others watched. Right now most of the group were calling out comments; whatever had just happened, it had obviously been good entertainment.

Caldera was in the middle of the circle in her white gi. Opposite her was a stocky Keeper with close-cropped hair that I knew vaguely. His name was Slate, and right now he was hunched over and scowling. “Sorry,” Caldera said. She was trying not to grin, and not doing a very good job of it. “Slipped.”

“Bullshit,” Slate said.

“Hey,” one of the men sitting around the edges called out. “Not like you were using those anyway!”

There was another burst of laughter, and Slate’s scowl got uglier. “Come on,” Caldera said. “Let’s go again.”

“Fuck that.”

“Wussing out already?”

“You know what?” Slate jerked his head in my direction. “You want to do shit like that, why don’t you try it on your friend?”

The laughter died away at that. Heads turned in my direction. Caldera gave me a glance, then shrugged. “Fine with me.”

All of a sudden everyone was looking at me. There were still a few Keepers grinning, but most of them looked expectant.

I hesitated. I really wasn’t sure I wanted to take on Caldera—doing it alone might have been fun, but having her mop the floor with me in front of an audience didn’t appeal. Unfortunately, that same audience was waiting for my answer, and from the looks in their eyes I knew I was on trial. They wouldn’t pressure me into it if I said no, but the Keepers already thought I was morally suspect. Backing down now would also make them think I was a wimp. Not a good combination.