"It's not for sale." I turned away from their gazes and walked back toward the rest of the class.
That was the end of that conversation as far as I was concerned.
Carla looked like she wanted to say something else, but the dirt still caked in Ivy's hair probably caught her attention enough to let it go in that moment.
Cid called the next match before anyone could follow up on it.
I watched the remaining team fights from the edge of the arena with the specific attention of someone trying to extract a lesson from something they'd never been taught. The structure repeated itself across every match. Shield at the front, staffs behind it feeding buffs or launching projectiles, swords applying pressure at angles the shield couldn't cover, bows working the distance.
The people in pure spellwork roles were the most interesting to me. No weapon, no fixed position, their role shifting with the shape of the fight. They moved to fill whatever gap opened up. That was the part I recognized.
