Fort Sarken was the same as it always was, right down to the nervous soldier waiting to lead her to the meeting room. Entirely unnecessary after so many visits but Laurel didn't see a reason to complain. Instead she smiled at the girl and watched as she flinched just a bit before getting herself under control.

Mansfeln actually had her brought to his office this time, instead of one of the infinite bland meeting rooms around the complex. It was an unusual window into the gruff man's personality. Military honors decorated the wall, of course, but so too did artwork done by either a child's hand or an abstract genius. The rest was a mix of dark-stained woods and hard-backed chairs. This was not an area where one relaxed.

Laurel sprawled across from Mansfeln at his desk and waited for the man to break the silence. A few moments of waiting later, three more people in military uniforms walked in. From the grizzled appearance and the number of badges sewn into their vests she could only surmise these were the other senior officers stationed at the fort. After a round of introductions confirmed her suspicions, they moved on to the purpose of the meeting.

"I felt it would be prudent for more formal, regular check-ins about the military and in particular defense of the city, and how it pertains to cultivators. We would also," he seemed to struggle to get the words out, "like to commission several lessons or guides for further advancement. We are finding our Magician Corps progress too slow for practical purposes."

She nodded along. That was a wise choice. Training a new group from scratch was a long process, as she was well-aware. "I'm sure we can work something out. At a minimum, those soldiers stationed in or near a given Core will need to bind themselves to it, whenever possible. I will need commitments from the military and palace to continue to support the advancement of Verilia into a World Capital, which will entail building up other local Cores as well. A commitment to work with the cultivators from our neighboring countries as well, which I believe will not be a hardship. And of course, payment for my time and services via the guild, which is not insignificant."

Mansfeln's teeth ground together while his subordinates peppered Laurel with questions. Ultimately, they agreed. Not that they had much choice. She felt a little bad gouging them for money but she went through with it anyway. From the discussion she gathered that her guesses were correct. With Laskar forcing all of their cultivators into a military structure, whether they wanted to join or not, that left them at a distinct advantage over their less despotic counterparts around the globe. Very few of the Meristan magic users had any interest in signing on to the army, or even working with the government at all. That meant building a new group from scratch, which was difficult and expensive.

They got into the rest of the meeting after that. It was actually quite enjoyable, as formal meetings went. The best ways to defend against an attack, magical or mundane, was actually well within her area of expertise, unlike the normal logistics meetings to which she was invited. One of the officers was shocked she had something to say, while the others took detailed notes on the best ways to incorporate cultivators into attack or defense, and how to counter those same tactics. Two hours later she was released while they turned to training timelines and troop rotations, and she set out to see if she couldn't locate her erstwhile students.

A gentle brush of her spiritual senses made it easy, and she picked her way around buildings and training yards to arrive at the hangar dedicated to planes and their maintenance. Inside, she found Trip, Reina, and Reynard all together. Probing their cultivation, she was satisfied to note that none of them had neglected their advancement, though only Trip had aspected his mana.

"What have we here?" she announced her presence. All three spun around, Reina and Reynard instinctively reaching for weapons before controlling the reaction. Laurel grinned, that was good to see as well.

"Laurel! We didn't know you were visiting," Trip said.

"I'm not doing any more of those nightmare drills and you can't make me," Reynard added before she could get a word in edgewise.

She raised one eyebrow at the comment, she absolutely could if the mood struck her. "We'll see about that. I'm going to be doing some additional lessons for the military. But tell me what you all have been up to."

Reina straightened up and nodded definitively, like she was about to march to war. "Yes ma'am. Not much progress to report in cultivation, besides Trip here. We are all getting more proficient reinforcing our own bodies with mana. In addition, we have been able to reliably create small external effects, like moving a small projectile, in the area around our bodies. We believe Trip has gained a mana aspect, though we do not know how to confirm or test what that aspect would be. Reynard and I have not yet been allocated funds to purchase something to help our own aspecting process.

"While I cannot divulge all facets of our missions, we have spent much of the months since returning to the city traveling the country to work on City Cores in the smallest communities. Or encourage existing magic users to do so if they existed and we could identify them as being loyal to the crown."

Reina's hand flinched upward as though she was going to salute and caught herself at the last minute.

"You've been busy," Laurel said. Reaching over, she put a hand on Trip's shoulder and gently pushed a deeper scan of his mana. It was definitely aspected. "You're right. Hmm. Not one I've seen before. Something esoteric branching off from metal is the closest thing I can feel." Her eyes drifted over the biplane, and the tools and workbenches lining the hangar. "Maybe something with machines? Or engineering? You might have to poke around to figure it out."

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"That's exciting though, you should be proud. Not everyone can find a deep enough connection to an idea, especially at your age, to spontaneously aspect their mana without an existing source. It's a bit more common for folks who start older, but still rare.

"What have you been doing with it?"

The pilot tried to follow Reina's example but it wasn't quite as impressive a showing. Major Kat's attitude seeping in, perhaps.

"Mostly I've been working on the plane."

"I can tell," Laurel said. "What's the process you're using?"

"Oh. Mostly just push mana at the parts while thinking how they work. It's having an effect though. This girl here can go faster and farther on the same amount of charge. And it's never handled so well."

"I'm impressed," Laurel said. "And proud of you all."

That got them all dropping eye contact and shifting around in the timeless manner of the awkward young adult.

"I won't keep you too much longer. But I wanted to stop in and say hello. And let you know you'll be seeing more of me for training. Try to contain the excitement."

She winked and left the Fort. The afternoon was blessedly free of appointments, and she was taking every advantage. A few hours to herself to work on her own cultivation that wasn't the middle of the night was a luxury not to be missed.

**********

The initiates of the Eternal Archive stood in a proud line. Or most of them did. Gabrielle was slumping slightly on Rebecca's right, while Rian yawned further down, and Bridget looked like she was asleep standing up. While Laurel was still watching the horizon where the sun would eventually rise, Rebecca swayed to the side and nudged Gabrielle. Sleeping during training time was a good way to get extra chores. Or to run until they 'felt like participating'. The older girl jerked upright and sent an appreciative smile over to Rebecca. It had been a long few months, but she was now willing to call Gabrielle a friend. At least privately. Bridget was too far for her to reach but hopefully one of the others would get to her soon.

At some unseen signal, Laurel turned on her heel and walked towards them. Somehow she towered, despite being slightly shorter than Rebecca's own average height.

"I saw that," she said, stopping in front of Rebecca before finding her place in front of the initiates.

"Good morning everyone, I'm glad to see you all looking so excited." Laurel's smile had the whole line tensing in preparation. Usually that meant the drills were about to start. "We're doing something a bit different today. You've all gotten proficient at reinforcing your own bodies with mana. Now I want you to start using your external techniques while you spar."

She held up a hand to forestall any objections. It was unfair. Rebecca's external techniques were mostly making grass grow fast for a second or two. Not the most useful for a fight.

"I know most of you aren't at the point where you can use the techniques in a real fight. But trying to activate a technique quickly stretches your mind in different ways. It will make your regular cultivation practice more effective. And eventually, the transition from focused to instinctive use will be even easier. Any questions?"

Natalia raised her hand and waited to be called on before speaking. "What if our cultivation isn't focused around fighting?"

"Good try, but you're doing it anyway. The benefits are still there. And believe me, you don't want to figure it out for the first time when you have to defend against a raging spirit beast."

Next to her Gabrielle spoke. Without waiting to be called on. "What if we hurt each other?"

Laurel snorted a laugh. "I'll be impressed if you can do it at all, without giving your opponent time to dodge. But don't worry little firebird, I'll step in to prevent any burns. Anyone else?"

When no one moved, she told them to pair off and get fighting. They didn't stick so rigidly to the same sparring partners any more, but Rebecca and Leander paired off more often than not. Standing across from each other, Rebecca took a stance, while Leander did some weird bow before doing the same. She didn't even bother asking. 'A cultivator always shows an opponent respect' or something like that.

They fell into the rhythm of the long-familiar practice. Lashing out with practice weapons and limbs to try and land a strike. Neither went too fast or got too aggressive, but Rebecca would probably have a bruise or two to show in the next day or so.

When they were in a comfortable back and forth, she started to try and add in techniques, like Laurel instructed. It went poorly. Whenever she got a strand of concentration to reach out to the ambient mana, it was broken the moment Leander forced her to defend. At one point she thought she was being clever, and tried to force it to instinct. She just focused on the grass while leaking mana out from her body. That just got her a bigger bruise when she failed to notice the knee aiming for her ribs.

By the time Laurel came to their area of the training field, Rebecca was frustrated and angry at herself for being frustrated.

"This isn't doing anything!" she burst out to Laurel.

"Of course it isn't. You literally just started."

"Yeah. But…"

"Trust me, the practice of splitting focus between your techniques and your physical surroundings is something that takes time to work up to. You're already doing it by sending mana to your legs to run faster. But interacting outside of your own body is leagues harder. Keep going."

Their sectmaster stayed and watched for a few more minutes, offering advice on their cultivation and their fighting at the same time. When they were meeting whatever standard was in Laurel's head, she turned to Leander.

"Whatever happened to your friend?"

The boy scowled and put way more force than usual into his next kick.

"Hey!"

"Fine don't tell me. But he can come back to visit if you want."

They sparred for another hour, changing opponents twice, before Laurel released them to their regular exercises and cultivation practice. Rebecca was absolutely dripping with sweat, and forced herself past the aromas of breakfast coming from the dining hall, and into a shower first. When she made it back down, she flopped into a seat next to the others in her little group and began scarfing down the egg pie Esther had set out. She jostled Gabrielle while the girl was going on about the day's training, and got a firm elbow back.

"Hey, let's check out the concert in the Cartine district tonight. Dueling troubadour groups are putting on a show." Gabrielle said.

A round of assent and they made plans to go up the hill together after their chores and practice was finished for the day.

"Okay, but if you two make us sit through a singing competition we won't be friends anymore," Eric said with a straight face.

That set everyone off, with Gabrielle insisting she would win and Helene and Leander looking like they were forcing themselves through it. Rebecca would refute Gabrielle right when she could breathe again after laughing so hard.

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