Sabine's expression became conflicted. "A competition?" She asked, glancing between Meesei and Kaleeth. "I...I do not know. How would...?"

"It'll just be a friendly competition, no doubt," Janius said, picking up where Sabine trailed off. He looked to Meesei and itched at his ear, "Though I'm unsure exactly what you had in mind. Did you want to compare feats of magical power? Using training dummies?" He lowered his arm, "Or did you want to do a duel to the first to break the others' ward?"

Sabine seemed to tighten up her shoulders at the latter option.

[hr]
Gallus gave a sympathetic sigh and knelt down to place a hand on Peiter's shoulder. "Come now, Peiter. It is natural to worry, I understand. But I need you to be focussed for this. Sabine's a big girl. From what I've been told by Meesei and from what I've seen, she'll be as safe as she wills it. I trust her and her packmates to keep herself safe." He angled his head forward. "You, too, will have to learn to trust her to be safe. I know you are very fond of her but I won't have you being rash on the battlefield for the sake of protecting her life. I've seen it before in soldiers with years more experience than you, and my father many more. It's for your protection as much as hers."

Gallus was repeating a few of the points they had already talked about, but with the emotion running through Peiter's head, he felt they needed repeating. If Peiter still had problems, they would need to be sorted out there and then.

Though he didn't know how much it would help, Tzirret awkwardly reached out and put a hand on Peiter's other shoulder. He could understand how Peiter felt.