Nadia
I arrived at my combat training class the next morning feeling exhausted and emotionally worn out. Students stared and whispered when I walked onto the field. Professor Orion, as muscular and scruffy-jawed as ever, wasn’t much better.
“All healed up, then?” he said to me with an awkward joviality. He clapped one of my shoulders with his thick hands. The move would’ve made me stumble a month ago, but now, I stood firm.
“Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t,” I said as politely as I could. I didn’t have the energy to make up a cleverer response to his inane statement. Since when had he cared about my health?
“Good, good,” Orion said, forcing a smile. “And Professor Voss’s back today too, I heard. Well, then, just be sure you don’t, er, overdo it. Don’t want any trips to the medical hal
