•••

-Later that day-

School was over and while the rest of their classmates were off to their Dormitories, Caius and the ladies were in the Mage-Knight Training Classroom.

Aylin eventually got the location for this 'meeting' during Break and now stood at Eloise's side, not knowing what to make of what was happening on the stage.

At Break, despite Kaya's occasional hissing and overall air of unwelcome, Aylin had learned that Caius and Delia would be doing some after-school Mage-Knight Training but she had not expected it to be so… intense.

"Is it always like this?" She asked after flinching once at Delia's knuckles and knees hitting the concrete ground, not by accident but rather a deliberate part of the regimen.

Eloise blinked then.

"What?" She asked, looking like she hadn't quite caught the question.

Aylin opened her mouth to repeat herself and then paused while looking to the side at the golden-brown haired beauty.

"Are you alright?" She asked with a level of concern that took even her by surprise. When did she start to genuinely care about the well-being of this lot? When did they become more than a means to an end to get closer to Caius?

"I'm great," Eloise said and while she definitely meant it, her tone was just a little deadpan and thus, unconvincing.

You see, a while ago, before they came to the Mage-Knight Training Classroom, Caius had pulled Eloise aside and tapped her on the forehead after telling her to 'relax her mind'.

"Meditate on it," he had said.

Eloise would have questioned why right then had she not gotten sucked into the intricacies of the Arcane Circle now in her head, the connection to him she could feel within it, and that inexplicable sliver of power within it.

"That—" she had started.

"A Divine seed," Caius had said, "You can nurture it by meditating on that circle."

Even as he was saying that again for what was his third explanation of the Arcane Circle and the piece of Divine energy it carried, Caius realized it might do to include an explanation within the information transfer. Cut out the need to vocally repeat himself over and over again.

Case in point, he hadn't even been able to address the questions Eloise must have had because they had to join the others.

So now Eloise stood here, unable to stop herself from bringing the Arcane Circle to the front of her mind, studying it. And studying what it said about Caius. She was indeed 'great' as she had told Aylin because Caius had given her an incredible gift with the Arcane Circle. She was just far too preoccupied to add the flair of excitement her response should have had.

"Huh," Aylin said and nodded but didn't push it.

You see, following what she had observed Caius doing with Kaya earlier that day during Anatomy and Physiology class, Aylin had been paying close attention. It was a testament to how sleuthy she could be that she hadn't given anything away. Though Caius wouldn't have cared, Kaya would have surely been up in arms about her sticking her prissy nose where it didn't belong.

Anyway, when Caius and Eloise pulled away from their walking group for a short while earlier, Aylin had grown curious and so she spied on them. She didn't hear what they said very clearly because they were speaking in low voices and getting closer to them would have likely caught their attention. But she did see Caius tap on Eloise's forehead as he had done with Kaya earlier that day and Magic was involved in whatever he did.

She also heard him say 'Meditate on it' and that had her feeling so intrigued. Even now, as much as she paid attention to what was happening on the stage, that remained at the back of her mind.

And speaking of what was happening on the stage; While it packed more intensity than she had known to expect, it was nothing short of entertaining.

It went on for an hour with not a single dull moment until Caius announced,

"That's enough for the day, I think."

"No, no, I can keep going," Delia insisted.

"I'm sure you can, but time passes quickly and I have one other agenda to have us all gathered here," Caius said and raised his hand to show off one extra ring he was wearing on his index finger. It was the ring Arlette had handed him earlier filled with the things he had asked her to get for him last week.

Caius curled his index finger then in a 'come on' gesture to ask the others to step up on the stage.

"I have presents," he said and began to retrieve what looked like a gnarly collection of branches in a clump that soon tapered into a long stem.

When the whole thing was out of the ring, it was revealed to be a long staff etched with Arcane symbols that glowed faintly, packed with their own magical might to better aid their wielder.

"For you," he said and held the staff out to Kaya who looked taken aback but reached out and received it.

"For me?" She asked in disbelief.

"For you," Caius reiterated.

Kaya cradled the staff then, rubbing her pretty and delicate fingers gently across the stem, feeling the symbols react to her touch. The sheer amount of Arming and Magic-aiding enchantments baked into the staff felt mind-blowing. Its creation had sacrificed its flexibility and maneuverability to be a huge, sturdy Arcane Tool but as had been discussed when she and Eloise had argued about it, that was why she preferred a Staff to a wand.

And speaking of wands, Caius retrieved one from the storage ring on his finger then. It was a thin thing about 14 inches long, with enchanting symbols etched onto it as well.

There was less surface area on the wand for the enchantments to cover but that made it light, maneuverable, and whippy. In terms of combat specialization—if the wielder were so inclined—it can be said that Wands excel at whipping out attacking spells as opposed to defensive spells.

"For Eloise," Caius said as he held the wand out to her.

"I—" Eloise said as she received it. Still in the midst of appreciating and adoring the gift of the Arcane Circle Caius had given her earlier, this further show of generosity left her speechless.

Caius held up a finger then,

"And because they are so prone to snapping," he said, and retrieved a near identical wand that he handed to her, "A spare. Or another to combo with. Your choice really."

Eloise opened and closed her mouth a couple of times like she didn't even know what to say but Caius was already turning away, while pulling out a long metal pole wrapped with the finest leather though in this world that was really just the bare minimum.

Delia wasn't sure what to make of it when Caius turned to her as he pulled out the pole. Surely he wasn't about to offer an Arcane tool right? She wasn't a Mage and had no interest in one.

And then a massive block of metal appeared at the end of the pole. The metal block was about six inches thick and 8 inches wide. It had flattened sort of edges that made it not look like just a cuboid and those flattened edges were particularly etched with symbols. As were certain faces of the Hammer head.

"Get out," Delia said as her mouth fell open.

"For you," Caius said and held the war hammer out to Delia by its leather-wrapped handle.

Delia looked from the hammer to Caius's face and then at the other two ladies he had gifted so far and shook her head.

"I can't— I can't accept this," she said.

"And why not?" Caius asked gently.

"I just— can't," Delia said but the fact that her eyes were glancing at Eloise and Kaya revealed a lot of what her reservation was.

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