Mira glided with Stephen through the hallways, her arms crossed, occasionally looking up through the starward windows to look at the dark blue nebula that they called home. The white dwarf star Helyx stood center, its ominous gray glow distorted blue through the dust.

“I think I really f**ked it,” she said with a groan, drooping her head.

“It's probably just how he is,” Stephen replied. “No point getting upset over it.”

“How could he not be interested? I’m the only person with a purple flame, the only one, Stephen.”

“No way, really!? Why haven’t you ever told me?” Stephen replied in his own way of lightening the mood. 

She rolled her eyes at him. “Whatever, I'm going back to the training hall.”

“Huh?” Stephen questioned. “We were just there.”

“I need more practice,” she said. “Without the old man looking over my shoulder.” 

Stephen sighed. “You do you. I think I’m headed to the library. I kind of want to read something.” 

Mira raised an eyebrow. “Ok, you do you,” she mimicked him.

Mira flew back to the left wing training hall, landing at the dock. The doors slid open, revealing the large gallery of training outlets. Outside of the six large pits that lined the central region of the room were several matted arenas enhanced with gravity training, and along the walls were long and short corridors used for a variety of range-based plasma training. 

She walked into the large room and tried to find an open pit. Of the six in the room, they all appeared to be taken. Mira pouted. Scheduling had seemed to get more and more hectic over the years, and Helyx had not grown to accommodate it quickly enough. It used to be common to have a full pit to yourself for hours; now they were never not full. Mira was of the opinion that Helyx needed to cut back on recruitment. Most of these stars wouldn’t last a day on a battlefield full of the Ruber anyway. Focus should’ve been on the ones that counted, like herself. She had no plans as to what she would do, but she was just hoping to get noticed next time Castor paid a visit. 

She decided on one of the gravity arenas, floating over to an empty mat in the back left of the room. Hanging from a rack beside it, she removed one of the gravity suits and strapped it over her baggy training clothes. She pressed down onto the mat. The foam compressed under her feet. With a soft beep in her earpiece, she was pulled with the strength of a planet. She stabilized herself as she accommodated the magnetic tug between her suit and the mat. The technology was pioneered by Helyx and still remained fairly exclusive across the Greater Systems.

She posed in a battle-ready stance and let flames sprout through the mesh of the suit’s gloves, coating them in the liquid purple flame. Twirling in the arena, she tried to repeat maneuvers she had learned in the past, landing kicks and hits in the open space, pretending her opponent was just opposite her. 

Through the hour she trained, she continued to look back at the doorway, hoping she’d see Castor walk in. She hit in front of her, leaving a colorful streak of purple that quickly dissipated. She gritted her teeth. 

A girl walked past her arena on her way towards the exit, her put-up, almost black hair bobbing with each step.

“You!” Mira motioned to her. “Get up here.” The girl looked up to her, startled.

“Sorry?” she questioned.

“Choose a weapon, fight me!”

“Oh,” the girl responded, a hint of nervousness in her tone. "I was actually just leaving.”

“A quick one,” Mira replied. "Come on, that’s what we’re here for, right?” Mira looked at her in a way to arouse intimidation. 

The girl gulped. Most people in the academy knew who Mira was and usually weren’t keen on initiating any kind of duel with her, aware of her strength.

 “Don’t cower. What’s the point of training if you’re not going to use it? I’ll let you choose a weapon.”

“A quick one, I guess,” the girl replied, feeling she had no choice in the matter. Shaking, she put on the gravity suit and took a weapon from the adjacent rack, picking up a staff. She glided into the arena, a light blue, almost white flame emitting from her, the same color as her eyes. 

Mira smiled, an easy opponent for her. 

The girl stood at the other end of the arena with her staff held upwards, crackling in her blue-white flame. 

Mira positioned herself. “Ready—go,” she said, not giving her opponent much time to process that the battle had started. Mira dashed towards her, and the girl was successfully able to fend off the first slashes with her staff. Mira rolled back and up. She dove forward, fist first towards the girl, knocking her staff almost out of her hands, but she managed to keep her grip. 

The girl was too frightened to respond and still stood there cowering. 

Mira extended her leg and kicked the staff, finally knocking it out of the girl's hands. Mira landed down with a pose and dropped her flames. “Good battle, try to be less defensive next time.” 

The girl nodded. 

Mira thought it kind to not mention she had restrained her strength to give her a chance.

“Yeah, good battle,” she muttered, clearly shaken up, her eyes wide. 

Mira leaned towards her and went in for a handshake. The girl jumped. “I don’t bite,” she said. The girl hesitantly took her hand. “What’s your name?”

“Sola."

“Mira. You probably knew that though.” 

The girl nodded. 

Mira dropped the handshake and stretched her neck. As she did, she caught a glimpse of the sliding door to see the man enter. Castor. He was walking up to one of the pits, locating an instructor. Two dark blue stars were dueling in it. It was evident to her now that Castor was at Helyx with the intention of finding strong stars, maybe to recruit for the next offensive on the Red Star Alliance, the Ruber. 

“One more battle,” Mira blurted, pointing to the girl, arm extended. She had already exited the arena, hoping to get out of there. 

“What?” The girl questioned as she was putting away the staff.

“One more,” Mira said. "I’m giving you another shot.” The girl gulped but still felt obligated to nod in acceptance. She removed the staff once again from the rack and reentered the arena. 

They both took their positions.

“Go!” Mira shouted. She punched at the girl with more force in her fists than before. The staff in her hands just about broke in two, but she held it firm for the moment, until Mira made one final slash, knocking both the staff and the girl to the ground. Mira looked back to Castor, who was still preoccupied with the other pit. Mira shook her head. She held up her hand to pick the girl off the ground. She lifted her up and motioned for her to ready up again. 

Sola did so, shivering, and Mira took a few steps up, readying an attack. She moved forward, and with just one slash, she hit the staff out of the girl’s hands. Caught up in the moment, eyes closed, Mira didn’t forfeit her next move and went in for another attack. Firing up her left leg, she extended it forward, hitting the girl square in the chest. 

With a flash through the air, the girl sped upwards from the force of the kick. She hit the back gray metal wall. The sound of metal warping rattled Mira’s earpiece. 

 Mira opened her eyes to see the remnant flames from where the girl had stood. She looked up to see the girl compressed into the back wall, lying numb inside it. The area around where she landed had deep cracks, and the metal was indented outward. Sola's flame fizzled in agony.

“Oh shit,” Mira whispered. Mira looked back at Castor. She couldn’t make out his reaction, but the other instructor was making her way towards her, understandably frightened. Castor turned to leave and walked out of the training room, the door sliding closed behind him. 

“Shit,” she said again, a little louder.