The next day before practice, Ro got a surprise letter from her mother, telling her that her uncle's farm had been bought by a new creature and he was offering even better terms than the old landlord. The new landlord's name was Arzandia like her teacher. And did she know if they were related? Ro got a sinking feeling at this. Then her mother hinted that she knew that Ro had a boyfriend and that whatever happened soon, she was more than okay with it. Ro felt strongly confused by this and thought of Ky. Her mother would not be okay with her having a thing with her teacher and guardian, so who was she talking about?
Over the course of practice however, Ro promptly forgot about this mystery. Zephyr gave her a new chain to do. This one consisted of four downward slashes and a spin and middle slice. She worked on this for an hour. Then she sparred with Zephyr for another hour. Then came the usual combo practice of dodging, charging, blocking and if she could manage it, attacking. Laine watched her the whole time with what appeared to be an angry gaze. It made Ro feel uncomfortable like she was doing something wrong. Practice ended, and Ro realized that Laine hadn't said one word to her. She thought longingly back to when he would compliment her. That had made her feel like she was making progress.
Sunday was similar. Except that instead of making angry eyes at Ro, Laine glared at Zephyr the whole time. When he spoke to him it was always with irritation and anger. Ro didn't understand but Zephyr didn't seem to care. He was always near her, watching her intently, or touching her to make some small adjustments to her form. Zephyr was, of course, doing this to irritate Laine, but he had also found that the Nug always seemed to be just a little smaller than he was expecting. So, that he'd have to reach farther than he thought to reposition her hips or move her arm. Zephyr hadn't given up on finding out what was so special about her. On the contrary, he thought he had figured out that she wore an illusion of some sort. Now the trick was separating it from her without Laine seeing.
***
Week 14
Monday came around and marked the start of another week of air magic. Shiki appeared in class again, after meditation. Although this time it was to request that the Nug come with him. Both Momo and Aerie looked startled by this. To their knowledge Rin still thought that Momo was the student Ky had changed for. However, Ro had no choice but to follow him as Ky glowered silently after them.
"What's this about?" Ro asked as they began walking to the grad student's room.
"Rin wanted to talk with you further after your meeting on Friday. I tried to find you over the weekend, but you were nowhere." Shiki looked at her with curiosity. It was true that he had spent the mornings and part of the afternoons on both days searching for her. He had checked at the movie theater, the shopping villa, the cafeterias, restaurants, gyms, and both sets of practice courts. "Where were you?" Ro put on her most coy expression.
"A lady never tells." He laughed outright at this and her expression. She looked hideously ridiculous.
"Fair enough. I think I should warn you Rin wasn't pleased that you couldn't be found." They turned a corner.
"Do you always do his errands like this?" Ro asked blatantly ignoring his statement.
"Yeah, I suppose I do."
"Well that has got to be annoying. From all I've heard Rin isn't a pleasant fellow, though I've never met him, so I really wouldn't know." Shiki looked at her in disbelief. It couldn't be possible that there were two women could be so ugly that they would both be called the Nug. Rin had definitely said he had had a run in with the Nug on Friday, though he was vague on the particulars. They turned another corner.
"Here we are." Shiki stopped in front of two large wooden doors. He pushed one massive leaf open and gestured for Ro to enter. She did, wondering at what kind of strength it took to hold that door open.
Ro observed the room she entered. It was large and well-lit from a wall of high arched windows. In the center of that wall was a fireplace which was burning ferociously despite the warmth in the air. In front of the fireplace was a circle of wooden chairs. There was a large opening between them on the end farthest away from the fire. There were other comfier chairs and tables littered around the room, so people could gather. It all seemed very comfortable except for the male sitting in the chair dead center in front of the fireplace. He was glaring viciously at her. Ro recognized him immediately as the male who had choked her for practicing fire magic.
"You!" She yelled and pointed. "I'm out of here." She turned to go when a massive pull at her middle had her shooting across the room. She stopped in the center of the circle of chairs.
"That was rude." The male told her, "I just wanted to have a friendly discussion." His smile was anything but friendly. "Sit" With magic he flung Ro into the chair on the left side of the opening. The force caused the chair to rock back dangerously like it was going to fall but then it righted itself.
"What do you want?" Ro asked dryly, meeting his direct gaze.
"I wanted to talk about your situation here." The male, Rin, smiled. "How does your uncle like his new situation?" His smile turned malicious. Ro's mouth opened in surprise.
"That was you? I suppose I should say thank you. My mother was very excited when she told me about it."
"No thanks needed. I just wanted to demonstrate that his future was now in my hands."
"So what?"
"I want you to leave this school. To drop out. If you don't, your uncle can kiss his farm goodbye."
"Not going to happen. He has been looking for a reason to retire for years now. Getting fired would be the perfect excuse." Rin's eyes narrowed.
"Well what about your mother and brothers? They probably aren't in positions to retire. I could make their lives harder and more painful as well." Ro's temper flared at his words.
"Leave them out of this."
"And your uncle. He probably wouldn't be able to retire if his savings just vanished. I can make that happen."
"Why? Why go to the trouble?" Ro asked feeling numbness settling in. If he could actually do that then she'd really have to leave the school. There was no way she'd put her family through that.
"Because I find that I'd rather not have you here, polluting the air I breath with your humanity." Ro's blood ran cold. Rin was one of the human haters.
"Fine." She said at last. "I'll leave but under one condition. My uncle keeps his farm for as long as he wants it." She recognized that Rin would probably make his life hell, but she wanted to get something out of this raw deal. Rin looked at her and smiled magnanimously.
"Very well. You have until the end of the day to submit your withdrawal. I want you gone by tomorrow." Ro stood and began walking away.
"I didn't dismiss you yet." Rin called to her. Ro waved the finger at him over her shoulder as she kept going. She heard him laugh as the door slammed shut behind her.