“So where’re you from, Daimona?” Frode asked, his back to the trail ahead of them. His tone was slow and sweet like a thick glob of honey. Daimona felt that if she let him talk long enough, he'd put her to sleep.

  “Around,” she responded shortly. She tried to focus on the sounds around her, the bristling of the trees and the quiet hum of the night. Someone in the distance was whistling, shaky and stilted-- Bash, maybe?

  “Don't think I've ever seen a girl like you from around here,” Frode said, leaning his head back to look up at the sky. “With all the pink, I mean.”

  Daimona groaned. “You guys are all really hung up on that. I just look how I look!!”

  Frode quickly raised his hands up, waiving them like a pair of white flags. “Hey, hey, I didn't mean to offend you. Everyone's dying to know what the deal is with the mystery rookies. Myself included.”

  “Yeah well,” Daimona paused, eyeing Frode. Even in the dark, his yellow eyes seemed to glow, boring into her unnervingly. “You’re a pretty big mystery too. Maybe you shouldn't ask so many questions if you're just gonna raise more yourself.”

  “Aw c’mon, I'm an open book!” Frode laughed. “Look, we'll trade. I'll tell you about me, and you tell me about you.”

  “You’d just lie to me,” Daimona replied.

  Frode placed a hand over his heart. It was a noble, exaggerated motion, the same kind Daimona saw Rik do. Reverently and dramatically, he whispered, “By the blade, I'd never lie to a pretty face like yours.”

  Daimona scoffed. She had heard Norok try this sort of stunt before, chatting up whoever he needed to in order to get whatever he wanted. But Frode looked deathly serious as he spoke. Even Norok couldn't hold a face for that long, he'd always break and impatiently demand his reward.

  “Okay…” Daimona started skeptically. “What's with the whistling? That's your boss, right?”

  “It's our code,” Frode replied casually. “It's amplified with sound magic so it can reach all of us. You must be a pretty avid user if you can hear it too. Most people outside the squad can't.”

  Frode whistled in demonstration, letting out four methodic notes. After he finished, three responses echoed him back, each calling out from different places in the forest. The last played out longer, ending in a furious flurry of short bursts.

  “Leka says your brother's driving her crazy,” Frode explained lightly, then after another melody rang out from further off he added, “And Rik’s calling for backup.”

  “Why?”

  Bash's long whistle seemed to query with Daimona, concern filling the air. Rik’s short reply caused Frode to erupt with laughter.

  “What is it?” Daimona asked impatiently. “Did they find the sergeants?”

  “No,” Frode answered, wiping a tear from his eye as he caught his breath. “He just wants witnesses around, cause he thinks Irina's trying to kill him.”

  Daimona recalled Irina’s devious grin after they had all paired up. She regarded Frode with a thoughtful nod. “Probably. That makes sense.”

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  The wind changed, growing colder the further they traipsed through the woods. The ground began to shake as they entered a wide clearing, a geyser of water shooting up from the center.

  In an instant, Frode whirled around, pulling Daimona close to him. Before she could react, he held her hand in his and spun, and suddenly they were on the other side.

  Looking to where they once saw, Daimona watched in awe as a great meteor of ice came hurtling down on the spot. “How did you know--?”

  They spun again, this time to the right of the geyser. Frode’s gaze was raised up, and as Daimona followed it, she saw an ice imp riding atop the water. With a pitch fork in one hand, it summoned another meteor of ice, and flung it down at their previous spot.

  Frode and Daimona locked eyes. In a moment of unspoken determination, he gracefully dipped Daimona, and as she leaned back, she felt herself falling out of his grasp and into thin air. She hugged her knees to her chest, pulling herself into a ball to maneuver her feet back under her. Below, she could see the ice imp dancing, a small ice float beneath its feet. Quickly, she straightened her legs out, diving feet-first down the middle of the imp. It shattered as soon as she made contact.

  Daimona leapt off the ice float, feeling the geyser beginning to receed into the ground. Frode clapped approvingly as she landed.

  “You are incredible,” he remarked.

  She grinned with pride. “Thanks. Your teleportation stuff did most of the work though,” she said, then thought back to Will’s comments from earlier. “You saw the imp way before I did.”

  “I'm just a pretty attentive guy,” Frode replied. But his stance changed as Daimona narrowed her eyes on him.

  “Pretty fast too,” Daimona added, placing her hands on her hips. “Way faster than Will.”

  “Ah, you gotta give your captain some credit--”

  Daimona stepped forward, their faces mere inches apart as she examined him. He was still smiling, but she could see his casual facade beginning to waiver. She reached up, clamping her fingers and thumb on his cheeks to keep him close. “You could beat Will in your sleep. So how'd you manage to lose to him?”

  For a moment, Frode appeared nervous, eyes wide and mouth closed in a firm line. Then, he swallowed, lowering his tone as he leaned into her touch with a mocking look. “Sorry, but I'm pretty sure the next question was mine, actually.”

  Daimona was about to respond when a soft clawing noise came from the hole left by the geyser. An ice imp crawled out, this one larger than the last. It drove its hands into its chest with a violent crack, startling Frode. Before he could turn around, the imp exploded, sending shards of ice everywhere. Wherever the ice shards landed, pillars began to sprout, the ice spreading across the ground rapidly.

  Daimona jumped, launching herself far enough away to avoid being frozen to the spot. She expected to see Frode already next to her, but as she landed, she realized he hadn't moved from the spot she left him in. Instead, he was blocked in by four ice pillars, his arms and legs sticking out between their sharply forming branches. His face was obscured by the ice, but Daimona could just barely make out the top of his head when she finally approached.

  “Nevermind, I think I get it,” she said with a smile. “Your reaction time is garbage. That's how he got you.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Frode sighed, his voice muffled by the pillar. “Could you just… Get me out of this, please?”

  “What, you can’t teleport out of it?” Daimona replied. She reached out, wrapping her hand around the top of the front pillar and prying it up from the ground. She threw it aside with a crash, looking back to see Frode's embarrassed face.

  Once his legs and arms were free, a burst of light emerged in the east part of the woods. It startled Daimona, but Frode seemed unsurprised. He rubbed his previously restrained arms, giving Daimona an earnest look.

  “We'll have to continue this some other time. Remember, my turn, okay?”

  “What?” But Daimona blinked, and he was gone. A pebble dropped where he once stood. Daimona picked it up, frowning at it before tossing it behind her. The bright ball of light was still rising overhead. With no better lead, Daimona began to make her way towards it, cautiously keeping one eye out for Frode along the way.