Night did not bring rest.
It brought assessment.
The trainees were summoned back to the lower yard long after the sun had vanished behind the ridge. Torches burned low, casting uneven light that made every face look sharper, more suspicious. Sleep-deprived bodies shuffled into loose formation, bruised and sore, tempers already thin.
Kael rolled his shoulders slowly, feeling every pull of muscle from hours at the bow. His fingers were raw despite the wraps Serah had given him. She'd said nothing—just watched him bind them with the kind of expression that suggested pain was a teacher, not a problem.
Nyx stood a few paces away, leaning casually against a post. She looked unaffected, which Kael had learned meant the opposite.
Borin sat on the edge of the stone well, elbows on his knees, breathing steadily. His hammer rested beside him, the stone beneath it faintly cracked.
Elyra arrived last, eyes distant, lips moving faintly as if finishing a conversation that had followed her from somewhere else.
Captain Maelor stepped forward.
"Good," she said. "You're tired."
A few trainees muttered under their breath.
Maelor's gaze snapped toward them. "If you still have the energy to complain, you weren't pushed hard enough."
She gestured to the mentors, who stood scattered around the yard like wolves pretending not to circle.
"Tonight," Maelor continued, "you learn who you train with."
A ripple of unease passed through the group.
Grend Hollowfist stepped forward first, hammer resting on his shoulder.
"Pairings," he said simply. "Temporary. Necessary."
Serah Vale crossed her arms. "And revealing."
Maelor nodded. "Exactly."
Names were called.
Some pairings were obvious—similar builds, shared weapons. Others were clearly designed to irritate.
Kael's jaw tightened when he heard his.
"Kael Thorn," Maelor said. "With Renn Varn."
Renn smiled like he'd won something.
Nyx's eyes flicked toward Kael. "That's intentional."
Kael exhaled slowly. "Of course it is."
Borin was paired with a massive trainee named Halvek, whose shoulders looked carved from the same quarry as the keep walls.
Elyra was placed with a sharp-eyed woman who radiated quiet hostility.
Nyx, unsurprisingly, was assigned two opponents.
Her mentor chuckled. "If she disappears, you failed."
The exercises began immediately.
Not sparring.
Not yet.
Coordination drills.
"You hunt in groups," Maelor barked. "Even lone contracts ripple outward. If you can't move together, you die separately."
Kael and Renn were ordered to clear a simulated ravine—wooden structures, uneven terrain, weighted targets hidden among shadows.
Renn rushed ahead.
"Slow down," Kael said.
Renn scoffed. "Don't tell me how to move."
He triggered a trap.
A weighted log swung down, missing Renn by inches and smashing into the dirt behind him.
Kael didn't comment. He adjusted his path, loosed an arrow to disable the next trigger.
Renn noticed.
"Don't correct me," Renn snapped.
"I just did," Kael replied evenly.
Renn's blade flashed suddenly, stopping a finger's width from Kael's throat.
Serah's voice rang out cold. "Touch him again and you're done here."
Renn froze.
Kael didn't move.
The moment passed—but it stayed.
Across the yard, Borin struggled with Halvek.
"Move," Halvek growled, trying to shoulder past him.
"There's a sinkhole," Borin warned.
Halvek ignored him.
The ground gave way.
Halvek shouted as one leg plunged into collapsing earth. Borin reacted instantly, grabbing him and hauling him back with a grunt, the strain sending visible cracks spidering across the ground beneath his boots.
Halvek stared at Borin, shaken. "You felt that?"
Borin nodded. "I always do."
Halvek swallowed. "Thank you."
Nearby, Elyra's partner snapped, "Stop whispering!"
"I'm not," Elyra replied softly.
The torch flames bent toward her.
Her partner stepped back involuntarily.
Nyx reappeared behind one trainee and swept his legs out from under him, only to be slammed into the dirt by the second. She rolled, vanished, and reappeared again—breathing harder this time.
Her mentor watched closely.
"You fade when pressured," he said. "Dangerous."
Nyx wiped blood from her lip. "Still alive."
"For now," he replied.
The final exercise was judgment.
Maelor gestured toward a penned enclosure where a restrained beast snarled—low-level, scarred, eyes dull with hunger and pain.
"A simulated hunt," she said. "One beast. One group."
Murmurs broke out.
"Kill it?" someone asked.
Maelor's smile was thin. "Decide."
The beast lunged against its restraints, chains rattling.
Kael felt the warmth between his shoulders stir faintly.
Serah noticed.
Her eyes narrowed—but she said nothing.
Arguments broke out instantly.
"It's injured."
"It's still dangerous."
"We're being watched."
Renn drew his blade halfway. "End it."
Borin hesitated. "It's starving."
Nyx crouched, studying the chains. "It's been here a while."
Elyra closed her eyes briefly. "It's afraid."
Silence followed.
Maelor's voice cut through it. "Hunters don't get perfect answers."
Kael stepped forward.
"Release it," he said.
Renn snapped, "Are you insane?"
Kael didn't look back. "If we can't handle this, we shouldn't be here."
The chains were released.
The beast charged.
They moved.
Borin blocked. Kael loosed arrows—not to kill, but to guide. Nyx struck tendons, precise and controlled. Elyra whispered, calming, slowing.
The beast collapsed, alive.
Breathing.
The yard was silent.
Maelor studied them.
"Why not kill it?" she asked.
Kael met her gaze. "It wasn't the threat. Hunger was."
Maelor nodded once.
Serah exhaled quietly.
Hadrik watched Kael longer than necessary.
When the trainees were dismissed, exhaustion settled deep.
As Kael walked toward the quarters, Serah fell into step beside him.
"That warmth," she said quietly. "You feel it, don't you?"
Kael hesitated. "Sometimes."
Serah stopped him.
Her eyes were serious now. Afraid, maybe.
"Whatever it is," she said, "don't let it define you."
Kael nodded.
Behind them, Renn watched.
And hatred, like steel, was being tempered.