"What're you doing there, buddy?" Zephyr's lilting accented voice rang out.
Laine whipped his head around with a snarl and glared at Zephyr, who was now visible floating a few feet away. Ro too turned her head to look at him in surprise and fear. She had instantly recognized his voice and identified him as the male from the locker incident.
Laine shifted his body to block Zephyr's view of Ro and lowered his mouth to her ear.
"Ro, can you hide the necklace with the magic you used on your glasses?" He asked in a whisper. There was an edge in his voice that Ro didn't like.
"I think so." She whispered back.
"Then do it now." He told her. She closed her eyes in concentration. After a few seconds she reopened them.
"It should be done, now." She said. Laine pushed himself back off her and stood. Facing Zephyr he asked,
"What are you doing here?" He forgot to release Ro's wrist from the root.
Ro tugged at it for a while, then she finally remembered she had magic. She concentrated on the tiny shadows inside the root and pushed them apart. The root exploded into pieces, freeing her hand. She stood, flexing her fingers as she did so and found both males looking at her with mirror expressions of hunger. Ro shrank back.
"What?" she asked.
"You just smell really delicious." Zephyr said with a puzzled expression replacing the hungry one. "And familiar. You'd think I'd remember, but have we met before?" Ro's eyes widened, and she shivered as she remembered the feel of his tongue on her neck.
"Nope." She said quickly and flatly not wanting him to know who she was. He looked at her more intently.
"Really? I could have sworn-" Zephyr started but Laine cut him off.
"What are you doing here, Zephyr?" he repeated. Zephyr looked at him and shrugged.
"I was curious what you've been up to, so I was waiting outside for you and I just slipped in. But more importantly what were you doing? She is not your usual, uh, type." He said this significantly, implying that Ro was ugly. She had to try hard to stifle a laugh at his comment. Laine frowned.
"We were having a discussion." Zephyr looked skeptical. "Now if your curiosity has been sated feel free to leave. I'll lower the barrier."
"But it hasn't. I want to know who she is, and what she is doing here." Zephyr said with a big smile.
He was getting enjoyment from pushing Laine's buttons and he rarely had such an opportunity. Laine was usually so calm and reserved, nothing upset him. However right now Laine was showing more feeling than Zephyr had ever seen in him.
"She is the Nug. I am her combat tutor and we have delayed starting her practice long enough. Stay, if you're so interested." Laine said with a sigh.
He didn't want Zephyr to stay of course. He wanted to be alone with Ro but if he kicked Zephyr out, Zephyr would only become more interested. That would mean more interference. Zephyr smiled knowing he was annoying Laine.
"She's the Nug from that rumor? No wonder it died so fast. No one would believe it after seeing her." Then he mused on Laine's offer. "I think I will stay. This may prove interesting." He said smiling again and wiggled his ears. Laine shrugged hiding his irritation and Ro who had watched this exchange now came over. Laine walked to the edge of the pond and withdrew two seeds from his pocket. He placed them on the ground. Almost instantly they grew into the shape of the dummy.
"Practice your accuracy for a while." Laine ordered Ro, completely ignoring that anything had happened between them. He then found a shady spot beneath one of the trees and laid down on his side. Ro too put the incident from her mind and did as she was told.
Zephyr watched her for a while and felt a headache bloom behind his eyes. He rubbed them and looked at Laine. His eyes were fixed on the Nug as she sliced and stabbed at the wooden dummy. He wore a small smile and a dreamy expression.
Zephyr turned back to the Nug. Watching her again as he puzzled over Laine's expression. The only thing special about this girl was that scent of hers and how ugly she was. He felt the headache coming on stronger as movement made her shorts flap. He rubbed his eyes. For a moment it was like he had seen two different images. He made an inarticulate noise to express his bored and confusion.
"Laine," Zephyr said loudly. Laine slowly looked at him. In Laine's eyes was a look of pure irritation as if he resented being torn from watching the Nug. "Her accuracy is fine. If she wants to get better, she needs to spar." Zephyr continued.
"She doesn't know how to block." Laine said calmly and made as if to turn back to watching her.
"Then teach her." Zephyr said flatly.
"Ooh! Yes please! Teach me!" The Nug squealed in excitement. Zephyr looked at her. Her excited face was worse than her pained one. It made her look like a hippo. Zephyr couldn't help laughing at her. Laine, caught by the hopeful expression on Ro's face, sighed resignedly and stood.
He took the daggers and demonstrated how to block. Then he made Ro repeat the motion. Laine adjusted her form. He had her practice holding this form until her arms shook. Then he made her make the block again and again until she could do it right immediately. This took an hour for her to learn.
"That's all well and good but you should also teach her how to deflect blows as well." Zephyr said hovering closer. Laine snarled but he once more took the daggers. He had Zephyr attack him with a sword and demonstrated how to deflect the blow using both daggers. Ro asked him to repeat it three times before she tried it. It felt weird and was hard, so it took her a while to get it right, but she persevered in the end. Laine made her repeat this exercise for another hour.
Then Laine combined everything they had been working on. He made her dodge his attacks while looking for openings. When she found one, she was supposed to charge. Laine had Zephyr help here. While Laine used his magic, Zephyr would attack her with his sword when she got close enough. This was to practice her new skill of blocking.
Zephyr found himself surprised at how agile the Nug was given her size and shape. She could move more quickly than he thought she'd be able to as well and when he caught glances of her from the corner of his eyes, the fuzzy images he saw were always different than he was expecting. The more he watched her too the more his headache grew worse.
When Laine called an end to practice, Zephyr found himself with a massive headache and an even greater level of curiosity. As the Nug and Laine set a time to meet for the next day, Zephyr resolved to be there too. This was too much of a mystery for him to resist.
After practice, Ro met up with her friends and over lunch told them about Zephyr being the male from the locker room. She had expected more of a reaction, but they told her that they had already expected this.
Ro did not tell them about the "discussion" she had had with Laine because they'd probably tell Sarge again and he might replace Laine with someone less skilled. After lunch, they spent the rest of her Saturday doing enjoyable activities. She went to bed happy with herself and early to prepare for the next day's training.
Sunday came, and it was more of the same. Zephyr managed to sneak into Laine's domain again which annoyed Laine to no end. Ro was still reserved around him, not wanting to be found out. The training went well again. She did an hour of accuracy training then the rest of the time was spent on the combination practice of dodging, looking for openings, and blocking. She felt good when practice ended even though Laine was too annoyed to compliment her this time.