The rest of meditation and magic classes went fine. They were still practicing partner meditation as a precursor to telepathy. Today, Ro was partnered with Aerie. They were successfully able to complete the meditation on the first try. Aerie said that her practice with Brawn the week before had helped a lot. Momo was still unable to be partner two.
The first two hours of combat training went the same for Ro. It was now normal for her not to miss at all, but she still wasn't partnered up. At the end of class, Sarge came over, looked at her work, said nothing as usual and left. Then she waited alone, while doing stretches, for Laine to arrive. He never entered the gym until it was completely empty, she realized. She wondered if he did that because he was so popular. Maybe he didn't want anyone to see him.
He appeared as she was thinking this.
"Are you ready?" He asked. She nodded and took her place in the ring.
The rocks appeared and the first one flew at her. Her muscles tensed, and she jumped right acting on pure impulse. Another one came, aiming for her middle. She dropped to a crouched. It flew over her head. She rolled left and charged to her feet. Back and forth she went, never staying still for a moment as she dodged ball after ball. Then suddenly, her right leg gave out. A ball landed across her shoulder and chest with a crack. "That was very good." Laine said as she stood, recovering from the pain. They kept going for the two hours.
That day, even with the weights, she was able to dodge more than she got hit. Her body felt strong and her breathing was clean. When practice ended, she was panting only slightly. Laine wore a slight smile and she felt elated.
Over the course of the rest of the week she got better still, although she didn't realize it. Laine kept increasing the speed of his attacks to force her to move faster. She kept getting hit the same amount of times, but the blows were harder to doge. On Friday, Laine stopped early.
"That's it for today. You may have the next hour off as a reward for good work."
"Thanks, I've been falling behind on my magic practice. I can use the time to catch up." She said smiling happily. She loved to practice magic.
"We're going to be beginning something new on Monday." Laine said as she gathered her belongings.
"It's not more weights, right?" She asked remembering the last time he said something like that.
"No, the ranking matches for this month are coming up and you can't win if you don't attack. So, we will spend a little time working on that."
Ro was so happy that she dropped her water bottle and threw her arms around him. He stiffened in surprise. His hands clenched into fists at his side. Dropping his head to her neck, he breathed deeply. She froze, realizing what she had done was inappropriate and contrary to what Momo had said about arm's length. He placed both hands on her shoulders and pushed her back, away from his body. His head was still bent so she couldn't see his face. She blushed deeply and felt a little rejected.
"Sor-" she began. He cut her off by tightening his hands on her shoulders painfully.
"Don't speak." He ordered. His voice was rough, and his shoulders were tense. He appeared to be struggling with something. She ducked her head even more embarrassed and waited.
After what seemed like forever, his hands loosened their tension on her shoulders, and he let out a deep breath. He dropped his hands. Lifting his head, he met Ro's eyes. Maybe it was her imagination, but the green looked more like yellow at this moment. "Sorry you just caught me by surprise." He said the rough edge to his voice was almost gone. "I'll see you next week." He turned and left. Ro watched him go, confused.
As he left, Laine thought about the herculean it took to release her, how his body had almost shifted right then when she hugged him. Her miraculous scent had enveloped him clouding his mind, making it harder for him to think rationally. Even now he could still feel the heat from her body through his clothes and he could see the radiance of her smile. One day, he thought, that smile would be just for him. His mind immediately recoiled from this covetous thought. He didn't want to want her like that. She was weak, and she was human.
***
By the time Ro got back to her rooms she had put all thoughts of the ill-thought out hug from her mind. She was determined to be thrilled again, so she was. Laine complimented her dodging. They were even going start something new on Monday. She shared her jubilance with Momo and Aerie as they stayed up watching tv late into the night.
The weekend came and went faster than Ro could blink. She knew she had had fun, paling around the campus with Momo and Aerie. Students weren't allowed off campus except at the end of the year and for holidays. But she felt it was over too quickly. Two days of fun were not enough of a break from combat training.