Verity tugged fruitlessly as her heavy breastplate. "I'm really regretting going for heavy armour right now. Do you think I'd be allowed to strip it off for the first few runs?"
"Keep it on," Olzenya said, though not unsympathetically. "It's what you'll be using going forward so it's better to get used to the added weight from the outset."
Unlike their refined aether capacity, a mage's raw aether output didn't increase with time and practice. Sure, their stamina could increase, allowing them to output more of the substance for longer, but the throughput would remain the same. With that in mind, it was universally agreed that it was better for cadets to learn to develop their muscle memory with the weight they'd be expected to use in actual combat rather than start light and slowly move up.
"Easy for you to say," Bonnlyn muttered, utterly ignorant or uncaring of the fact that she was wearing the exact same kit.
Before Olzenya could scathingly point that out, William interrupted. "Olzenya's right, so don't cause trouble."
For some reason, the high elf felt her mood buoy a little at the human's words – even if she'd have been perfectly capable of defending herself.
Though the moment passed quickly as he returned his attention to the orc. "I know it sucks, Verity, but you'll get used to it quickly enough. All suits, from light to heavy were designed to be capable of flight. The only real difference is how much each can afford to maneuver in the air."
Off in the distance, a series of low shrieks rang out, sand and blue-green aether billowing forth as the first few cadets took to the skies on plumes of aether.
Olzenya watched one of her fellows – species unknown given her goggles and flightmask – rocketed out to sea, the tank on her back blasting aether, while her hands and feet occasionally did the same as she made minor course corrections.
She's burning too much, Olzenya thought as the girl realized her initial angle was off target for the first hoop. Short bursts to retain buoyancy for as long as possible. Not a continuous burn.
Likely a plebian then, she thought as the girl cleared the first hoop, but slowly started to sink in the air. In the end, she splashed down into the ocean way short of her third hoop. A move imitated by plenty of other cadets moments later.
With that said, there were at least three that the high elf could see were well on track to reaching the final hoop.
Nobles like her, with plenty of experience using a maneuver-suit under their belt.
Behind her, Marline was still talking.
"Like that. Aether fades from our reality after about two minutes, so you'll need to keep filling the tank regardless, but you don't want to expend your reserves needlessly. So use-"
"Short bursts." Bonnlyn cut in. "I heard you both the first dozen times." With that said, she pulled her padded skintight mask up over her head, settling the goggles in place. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm about to show these varlets how it's done."
She shot up into the air, blasting all of them with sand and aether as she tore off overhead.
Cursing the little addlepate as she rubbed sand from her face, the high elf blearily looked up to watch as the dwarf tore through the first hoop.
Much too fast, she thought with some vindictively glee.
Indeed, in the name of speed, the dwarf was burning through her tank's supply much too fast, rather than using her own aether output to maneuver. Sure, she was using short bursts, but she was using too many.
The blonde could almost see the moment the panic set in, as the dwarf was forced to dodge around another incoming cadet, gravity slowly started to reassert its insidious hold on the dwarf. The gaps between plumes of aether started to grow shorter and shorter, while the burn time grew longer and longer.
In the end, like a stone reaching the apex of its arc, the dwarf started to plummet from the air.
"Think she'll remember to stick her feet out?" Marline asked conversationally.
William sighed. "I doubt it. She's probably in full panic mode right now."
Olzenya didn't doubt it. She'd had plenty of practice with a maneuver-suit these days, but she still remembered those first few outings. The sheer terror as suddenly the freedom of flight was wrenched from her. The looming surface of her family's lake. The rather jarring feeling of impact with the water.
Anyone that thought crash landing into water was soft had obviously never performed a belly flop. So it was that she almost felt a little pity for the dwarf as her hunched form dive-bombed into the ocean.
"Well, now she'll learn to-" Olzenya's words were cut off as a blast of sand and aether impacted her face. "Oh, come on!"
Uncaring of her ire, William – for Verity and an unimpressed Marline were still on the ground with her – tore off into the sky.
And as much as she hated to admit it, considering the fact that she was still spitting out sand, he flew well.
Body straight. Not a wasted movement. Only the briefest bursts from his hands or feet to change course as he shot through the first hoop, nimbly sliding past another cadet with just inches to spare. She'd have said he looked like a bird in flight, but to be honest the more apt comparison was a fish.
And now he's through the second hoop, she thought.
Relying on the lightweight of his suit supplementing the buoyancy of his tank, he then soared through the third, fourth and then fifth hoops. Sure, he wasn't the first to do so, but Olzenya would admit that he'd definitely done it the fastest.
"Bonnlyn's still not surfaced."
Ozleyna nearly missed Verity's words, so quietly were they spoken, but as she tore her gaze away from her male teammate's return flight, she saw that they were correct.
The dwarf still hadn't surfaced.
Please don't tell me she knocked herself out, Olzenya thought with a small thrill of panic.
Yet even as she glanced up, she saw that Instructor Griffith had clearly noticed as well, despite the fact that she was observing the whole class, and was pulling her goggles up over her face – glasses discarded.
Yet she paused, just before taking off…
Glancing back to see why, expecting to see the dwarf break the surface of the waves, Olzenya watched as William shot down, burning aether to gain speed even with gravity assisting him.
For just a moment, the high elf was reminded of the birds of prey that used to catch salmon in the rivers near her home, as the human didn't hit the water, but practically slid into, like a spear with nary a splash to be seen.
…Though the same could not be said for when he emerged.
Like a whale breaching the surface of the ocean – or perhaps a kraken, given the man's oft-disdained moniker – he shot from the water with a much smaller figure in his arms.
It was not a princess carry.
The dwarf was slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. A sight that actually made the high elf suppress a smirk, despite her recent ire at the man.
The pair didn't make it all the way back, which wasn't unexpected given the additional weight the dwarf represented. The pair slid into the water just short of the beach, almost gliding along the surface to come to a stop in the shallows.
And before she knew what she was doing, Olzenya was following Marline and Verity as they hurried over to where the human was now dragging his reluctant passenger up onto the sand. As they got closer, they could hear the man… not quite yelling, but the chiding tone was impossible to miss.
"-on't know how to swim!? And you thought you'd go first!?"
"It's not 'don't know'," the dwarf – who was apparently conscious rather than half-drowned – was feebly arguing back. "Can't. I'm a dwarf. We have dense bones."
"Which means you don't know how to swim." The man said as he attempted to strain water out of his soaked suit. "Because if you did, you'd realize that the giant flotation device on your back would have served as a decent counter to any amount of bone density. Just because it won't float in air anymore doesn't mean it doesn't still float great in water - if you bother to refill the aether a little."
Bonnlyn opened her mouth to say something, before pausing. "Ah, I didn't think of that."
That there wasn't quite the same amount of fire in her voice as she sat in the sand, almost clutching at it. If Olzenya didn't know better, she'd say the red-head's recent experience with nearly drowning had taken some of the wind out of her sails.
"Because you don't know how to swim," William repeated, though not unkindly.
The dwarf drooped. "I guess."
The man crouched down, clothes squelching as he did. "Just… think a little next time. Maybe inform your team, so we could have someone on standby in the event of… what happened. It's not like Marline, Olzenya or me actually need the practice."
He glanced up at them as they came to a stop. "I don't think?"
Olzenya scoffed, while Marline shook her head. "I could have gone first and then watched out for the other two. I was actually planning on doing that for Verity, given the weight of her suit, before Bonnlyn took off."
The dwarf sagged further. "Griffith was here."
This time, they were all surprised as Verity spoke. "The Instructor should be your last port of call for help. The team should be your first. We're all in this together. We need to rely on each other."
The orc's voice was the firmest she'd ever spoken, a hint of her disappointment in her brown eyes.
"Ugh!" That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as the dwarf threw two clumps of wet sand to the side. "Fine! My ego tried to cash a debt I couldn't actually back up. I was reckless. I should have told you all I couldn't swim. I should have asked for someone to keep an eye out for me."
"I'm sorry." She glared at all of them, before turning back to William. "There, you happy now? Can you quit doing the disappointed dad routine?"
Ah, so that was what it was. Olzenya had thought the man's general demeanour seemed… vaguely uncomfortably familiar.
"Sure," the man laughed, returning to his usual personality as he leaned down to help the dwarf up. "Now, give me two seconds to retry the course and I'll be back to play lookout for you when you go for your second attempt."
Out of the corner of her eye, Olzenya saw Marline hashing out similar terms with Verity.
Sighing, the high elf couldn't help but feel a little left out.
…Fortunately, she managed to make herself feel better by pelting all of them with sand as she took off to make her own attempt at the mini-gauntlet.
Ah, revenge is sweet, the blonde thought as she tore off through the air.