"This is gonna be a bloodbath." One student said.
'Great,' Zaeryn thought to himself, his jaw tightening. 'They can't wait to see me suffer.'
"Go easy on him, Leia!" Yuna called out, her voice laced with genuine concern.
"Yeah, he's still a nascent!" Jyn added, standing up for him.
Leia just scoffed at their concern. Hearing those two defending him brought a genuine, if fleeting, smile to Zaeryn's face. But still, the knot of unease tightened in his gut as he turned to Zelda and raised a hand. "Hey…."
Before he could even say what he wanted to say, Zelda's eyebrow arched. "No backing out of this Zaeryn. Don't act like you're afraid you'll break a nail."
"Something like that," Zaeryn admitted. "My Vitae abilities are nascent. Uncontrolled. Last time I tried something fancy, I knocked myself out cold. I've got my strength, but that's about it. The rest is... a work in progress."
The instructor watched him for a long, silent moment, her steel-gray eyes dissecting him.
