*Tamara*

I looked up from my laptop. Li hadn't gotten up from her bed since the battle with her cousin. The guy really was strong. Hopefully, I would get the opportunity to fight him. Although, if Shuai was that strong, was Enkai at the same level? Shuai did call Nat, Enkai, himself, and me the 'Elite Four' of our class. Argh! Hopefully I would get the chance to see Enkai in action soon!

Putting away my laptop, I stood up and poked Ling.

"Sorry, Tammy. But I'm not in the mood to do anything," she whispered. There were no tears, but her tone told me she was crying within.

I crossed my arms and pouted. Everyone was so moody. It reminded me of Benny after he had lost a few events in the games earlier this year. 

Grabbing Ling's arm, I yanked her off the bed.

"H-hey!" Ling said, grabbing her bed. "Stop that! You're being ridiculous, Tammy."

No, she was! Losing should be getting her pumped to train more, not cry!

"Alright! I'll go! Just stop yanking my arm."

I let go of her and raised a hand forward, flashing my signature victory pose.

Ling sighed as she dusted her white blouse off. She had switched to the same clothes she had when we met. Our uniforms might've been made out of magical fibers, but when damaged a lot, they didn't instantly fix themselves.

"So, what do you want to do?"

I punched and kicked the air.

She took a deep breath. "Maybe something else? I am a bit burned out from earlier. Even Carter and Aurelius are."

True. I smiled and opened the door. Then, I had to cheer them up too!

"Hey!" Ling snapped as I dragged her out of the room.

"You seem hyper," Vermeil said, giggling as she passed us in the hall.

I nodded and made several signs.

She hummed. "You're looking for your friends?"

I nodded.

"Lidi is outside, training with the princess, Xue, Ari, Kanja, and Mira."

Ling lowered her gaze.

"You're always free to join them," Vermeil said with a slight smile. She patted her head. "You know, you remind me a lot of Sa. That girl really had a hard time depending on others. She wanted to do things her own way, alone."

Ling closed her eyes.

Vermeil let go of her and waved at me. Did she want me to follow?

I nudged Ling forward.

"You want to go with her? Thought we were going to find the others?"

Ver giggled. "That's where I am taking you ladies."

"Why not just say so?" Li asked, sighing.

I smiled as I spotted Carter once we reached the plaza between the dorms.

"Looks like Tamara wants to say something," Li's brother said as he spotted me jumping up and down and waving my arms.

"Tammy?" Carter asked, turning to look at me. "Oh, Ling's here too?"

Renshu walked over to Li. "Done moping?"

Ling turned away and scoffed. "Like you didn't mope even longer during your first year."

He sighed. "You're always so defensive."

"Again, like the princess," Ver whispered.

"You know, it's not good manners to talk about people who aren't present," Huo said as he emerged from behind some bushes.

"Woah! You actually came out!"

Huo gasped. "Wait, it was a trick?!"

Vermeil put her hands on her hips and chuckled. "Not exactly. But at least me mentioning your liege got you to come out and play."

"Huo and play don't mix," Carter said, blinking.

Huoyin narrowed his eyes at him. "Like you and studying."

Carter grumbled. "You saw me studying!"

"Hence my point!"

"Are these two like this even in class?" Ver whispered.

I nodded.

"Yes," Ling said, shaking her head.

Renshu chuckled as he walked over to Huo. "Regardless, I'm glad you could join us today, Huo."

Huoyin took a deep breath. "I wish to get stronger is all." He scratched his head. "Thus far, I've been trying out everything you've taught Carter on my own."

"I knew your movements were familiar!" Carter exclaimed.

Huo rubbed his ears. "You really have no indoor voice, do you?"

"Hmph! We're outside! But that's besides the point. How did you figure out how to do that by merely watching?"

He walked over to where he was hiding and picked up a notebook. "I wrote everything down."

"How very Lei-like," Vermeil mumbled.

"Are you going to compare us to all your friends?" Ling asked, sighing.

Ver chuckled. "I like observing in my own way too."

Ling actually smiled back. "Likewise." She walked over to Huoyin. "May I?"

He nodded and handed her the notebook.

She flipped through the pages. Occasionally, he eyes would widen.

"Are they bad?" Huo asked. "I try to be as meticulous as possible, but I am human."

"Really? I thought you were a robo," Carter said, chuckling as he moved his hands and body strangely.

The red-haired boy glared at Cart. "Must you always give your two cents?"

"I was being sarcastic!"

Huo scoffed. "Even if so, it's still annoying."

Carter grumbled. "This why I say you and play don't mix."

Tammy ran over and jumped up and down.

"What are you doing?" Huoyin asked.

Carter giggled and joined me in my strange dance.

Huo covered his mouth. "You are so random, Tamara."

I turned toward him and grinned. As his teammate and classmate, I had to learn ways to cheer him up. Thankfully, this worked. It could've easily annoyed him.

"These notes are actually good. No, better than good," Ling muttered as she closed them. Had she been that taken in by them?

Huoyin blushed a little as he took the notebook back. "Really?"

"Everything is written step by step. Even comments made by Sir Zhuang, brother, and Pinkie are in there."

Carter grumbled. "Did Shuai get that nickname from you?"

She smiled. "The opposite. I liked it, so thought I would run with it from now on."

He blushed. "O-okay!"

Li turned back to look at Huo. "I take it you write the commentary to garner nuggets of wisdom?"

He nodded. "Stuff those three say can seem meaningless at first, but gradually, I've begun to understand."

Cart chuckled. "That's because me and our tutors are at a whole other level of wisdom!"

"Someone's grown too big for his britches," Li muttered.

He tugged on his pants. "No, they fit me well."

She sighed. "Shuai was right. One shouldn't bother saying expressions around you."

He blinked.

"He's like my sister," Huo said, drily.

"And that already makes her the cuter twin!" Carter said, pouting and turning away.

"I am starting to understand why Huo is not fond of him," Ver whispered as she walked up to me.

Cart was nice, but he was prone to getting carried away.

I patted him on the back. Robbie probably would too if he were here.

His pout subsided, replaced by a gentle smile.

"Well, keep up the good work, the both of you. Seems you're making progress in your own way." She smiled at her older brother. "Which is shocking, given your tutor."

Renshu scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. Go tease Shuai or somebody else, will ya? I got too newbies to train."

"Technically, I'm not a newbie," Carter whispered.

"Oh, right. Sorry."

He rubbed the back of his head and sighed. "It's alright. I know that my magic is at the same level as one."

"Is it truly?" Ling said as she turned around.

Cart blinked. "W-what do you mean?"

Li closed her eyes as she walked away. "You truly are unaware of your power, huh?"

"Hmm, Alto did say that I had a lot of potential. More so than him." He stared at his bandaged hands. Had he gotten burned during that final bout with Shuai? "But my control needs a lot more work."

"So it was that guy who helped you."

Ver snickered. "Alto's a very helpful guy. I would say he and Ari make up the core of our group."

Oh, right. She was paired up with those two and Uli. But what was the point of groups? Thus far, we had done little involving them. We didn't even have group matches like her class and the others before it did for the entrance exam. In that regard, Mr. Obi might've been right about the exam officials simplifying it.

"You're interested in teams?" Vermeil asked, smiling as she stared at me. It felt as if she could see right through me. Hopefully, she couldn't. Else, I was in a lot of trouble.

I nodded.

"Teams are used for group events and exams. Such as sporting events or the Novus Secundus exam that you'll be taking in a few months."

"Wait, we have an exam in a few months?" Cart exclaimed.

"Yeah. You need to know things such as pill cultivation and how to care for others."

"I am not good at the former, but I would surely pass the people part with flying colors!"

Yeah, he would!

Huo and Li sighed. They weren't good with people at all?

"Although, I did hear this year's will be a tad different."

"Let me guess, you heard it from Hal?" Shu asked.

Ver pressed a finger against her lips and smiled. "Sorry, that's classified."

"I'll take that as a yes."

"So what do you know about it?" Ling asked, turning around.

Vermeil crossed her arms and continued giving us a sly grin. If she told me she was a kitsune, I would've believed her. "It involves us upperclassman." She pushed back her golden locks. "According to my informant, it's akin to a mentorship."

"Well, we're already doing that to some extent," Shu said, laughing.

She nodded. "True. If anything, the exam will show how much they've grown."

Carter jumped up and down like he had when getting pumped for his exam earlier today. "Alright, I'm going to double my training!" He punched the kicked the air repeated, spinning occasionally.

"How flashy," Ling muttered.

I nudged her.

"Hey! I thought we stopped doing that!"

"Thinks she wants to hurry up and join the girls to begin your training," Vermeil said as she followed us.

I nodded. Ver totally got me! Which was both nice and frightening.

"I'll lead the way," Vermeil said, dashing forward. She came to a stop as soon as we reached a meadow. It seemed the be the same one that Ari had found Mi in a couple days ago.

"So, you finally decided to join us, huh?" Kanja said, smirking at Ling.

"It took some nudging," Ver said. She glanced at me and giggled. "Both figuratively and literally."

Sarah narrowed her eyes at her the same way Huo did to Carter.

Ver faked a pout. "What? Can't I join?"

"Of course you can," Arima said, walking over. 

Lidi and Xue were sparring in the background. Poor Lidi was on the defensive. Strange, though. Did Xue know a different fighting style? It didn't appear she was using the same one she had in her tournament matches.

"Xue switched up fighting styles," Arima said, turning around. "She wanted to fight Lidi with the same style."

"So, it's the one Lidia knows," Li said.

Sarah nodded and wrote something on her tablet. 'Xue's pretty good at it, although, this isn't her first time using it. It's more popular in her home country than the kind she usually does.'

"So, Xue likes being unorthodox," Ling said, grinning appreciatively.

"So, what were the rest of you doing?" Ver asked, glancing at her fellow classmates.

"I was helping Mira polish up her darkness magic," Ari said, glancing at a black barrier. It was hard to even see Mira inside of it. "She's been at it for a while now."

Ver smirked. "Interesting. Alto took Cart under his wing, and you took Mira. Too bad An took adorable Jude, else I might've offered to train him myself. Although, I know he's in good hands with him." She glanced at Kanja. "I'll just have to train her."

Kanja smiled. "I'll appreciate it. Your teammates have helped mine a lot."

"Indeed. I would've liked it if Uli could've trained one of your teammates too."

Why did it sound like she was setting up Kan's group to be mentored by hers? Was it for the test? If so, would I get paired up with the princess's team? Xue and her were both mentoring Lidi. Although, neither Huo nor I were learning under An or Hal. 

Ver clapped her hands. "Well, let's get to training!"

Ling turned around.

"Hmm? Where are you going?"

"To find Lady Adela. As fellow plant mages, I can learn a lot from her."

I followed after her. Adela, of course! If I could get my group mentored by hers, that'll make it easier for me to get closer to Core Alpha Tau's host!

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the update ^^. Thoughts? Theories? Predictions?**