The lesson continued, even with their new spectators. The practice yard had been cleared for their session, with dummies Kai had made from rudimentary magic to manipulate the soil and then bake it with fire magic. He created several of these humanoid targets and set them up along the far stone wall.
Kai stood at the centre, arms folded, watching Naia as she crouched over a small metal nail, her fingers glowing faintly with concentrated gravitational energy.
Across from him, the prince of the realm, barely twelve, dressed in fine noblewear with tailored gloves and a thin circlet resting above his brow, observed with hawk-like precision. A pair of palace guards and the brutish woman stood behind him, silent, but their hands never strayed far from their weapons.
Kai did his best to ignore their presence. He wasn't here to impress soldiers. Just teach a girl to weaponise gravity.
Naia flicked her hand.
