Norman let out a chuckle as he loaded the next munitions, amused by Cecil's concerns. How peculiar that a Machina was worried about a living thing, but then Cecil always displayed an unusual level of empathy didn't he? These tests were as much a trial run for the barrier as it was an opportunity to watch Cecil in action. Partaking in combat was not his forte - a sharp mind and some tools did little against Magi or trained soldiers - so this was as close to a field test as the engineer could hope for. Rather than dissuade Cecil from backing out of these tests or console him and his concerns Norman loaded the ballista, pausing only when he requested some warning for the projectiles.

"I'm more than happy to if it helps. Though you do know of course that doesn't make this a legitimate test," Norman pointed out, resting his arm on the table as he leaned against it, "Your enemy won't stop and say, "Excuse me but I'm going to strike you now!" You won't have the luxury of knowing when an attack is coming, its impractical. But then I suppose we're not testing your reaction time but the feasibility of the shield. I digress then, I'll tell you when the shots are coming, let's resume shall we?" The next step up was a small rock, or at least small comparative to a boulder. Certainly denser than the hollow wooden round he'd just unleashed. This time he waited for the barrier to be erected and made certain it wouldn't flick out before releasing the latch and firing off the stone. As with the other munitions it hit the barrier and failed to penetrate, causing ripples to scatter from the point of impact and the stone fell harmlessly to the floor. "So it seems like you're able to defend against stone as well! Though that certainly registered on the barrier, I have to wonder how well it can take a metal or cast weight. Do you feel ready?"

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Nymira stared at her dagger intently as the blade's temperature fluctuated, ebbing and flowing like the waters upon the shore of a river. She could create the heat, that wasn't the issue, it was keeping it steady. With patience already thin she glanced to Kensen to ask for a suggestion and bit her tongue seeing Amuné touching Kensen's wing. Why was the child here pestering her instructor? Shouldn't she be training with Gage? And why was Ethan still sat upon the grass neither working or even attempting to practice magic? Was she the only one actually doing anything? Growling lowly she turned towards one of the wooden striking dummies and heated her blade, slicing at its neck and burying her weapon halfway before the blade abruptly cooled and became lodged in the dummy. Pulling at it and finding it stuck she cursed lowly and let it go, reaching up and placing her hand upon its head before setting it alight. 

"Hey, don't burn down the dummies!" Taliya would kill them if they ruined the training grounds! Ethan was already nervous enough about angering the woman without them setting fire to everything. The Dimuran didn't look to care much as she simply glowered at him before moving to a new dummy, leaving her dagger nested in the neck of her victim. Looking to the flames and the princess fitfully, Ethan groaned before hastily approaching it and throwing a gust of wind at the flames in hopes of snuffing them out. Only they failed to do so and instead broke apart the charred head of the dummy, sending a piece flying and setting a nearby crate on fire instead. Yelping in panic he went to the container and - having no other ideas - began to kick at the crate to try and put it out. "N-Nymira! Help!"

What was that clown fussing about now? Ah, he'd spread her flames about like a fool instead of letting them die off on their own. Rolling her eyes the Dimuran made a sweeping motion and at once her fire died off, much to the relief of a very panicked Ethan. Taking a moment then to retrieve her dagger from the first dummy she wriggled it free by popping off the head of the mannequin, kicking it aside and moving to the second. "If you're through with playing with Amuné, there's something I wished to ask you Kensen," the Dimuran pressed as she examined her dagger. The edge was dulled and chipped from forcibly freeing it, damn it all. An easy fix but even minor annoyances were a headache right now, Amuné included. "If I heat the blade any more than I have I'll melt it, but I can't figure out how to maintain a steady heat. I'm tired of, what is it... Stumbling in the shadows. How do I do it?"

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Lionel had meant every word of it when he'd demanded the man to apologize. Perhaps he'd been a little overzealous in expecting the entire forest to be apologized to though: they'd drop dead long before the man every finished his task. So a few trees would suffice, and even with the skeptical looks and Adrianna questioning him he stood firm in his decision. These people had been headaches the entire trip - both literally and figuratively - so this was at least a small bit of payback. After the man had properly appeased the wrath of the woods, or rather Lionel, they were on the move again. Complaints were mercifully far and few between now that Adrianna was present; the members spoke among themselves now as opposed to questioning their leader every waking moment. Things were finally looking up!

And then Adrianna decided to try and play scout. From what Lionel knew of her she had very little in the means of combat ability - which was to say none - so letting her risk getting in a fight was tantamount to letting her get herself killed. He'd have chased after her too were he not in charge of the group behind him, and he weighed their collective lives over her own. Whatever concern he might have had was quickly washed away when Adrianna returned not long after and revealed the travelers were traders from Mutebo. So they had said anyways, not to be paranoid but you should take what people on the roads said with a grain of salt nowadays. When she mentioned they should expect him and the others he didn't know whether to laugh or dopeslap her, so he went with the former and smacked his own forehead.

"Well then here's to hoping they don't decide to kill us, or turn out to be hunters!" Lionel spared Adrianna further ridicule and instead motioned for the group to keep on: they were nearly there anyways. Once they did arrive in town he'd hand them over to whoever was waiting at the gates and be done with them from there, if he was so fortunate. Or since Adrianna was here now maybe he'd just let her take them the rest of the way and be done with it entirely. Taliya would probably love that.

"Bunch of nobodies really, just a few folks trying to avoid losing their heads on a chopping block." It came out casually and with such little interest one might think Lionel was discussing the weather, not someone's life. "The woman at the back was a healer, she's accused of poisoning troops. Dumbest thing really, she near got sick eating a poison flower, she wouldn't know the first thing about killing someone. Intentionally anyways. The tree-hugger is a former guard from one of the cities, got in a fight with some of his mates and used unsanctioned magic, was going to be thrown in a cell. The older guy's some teacher in a school... I forget where, but he was using his magic to manipulate things. And the other one with the scruffy beard is some washed up Magi that's been on the run for a while apparently. Real useful bunch, don't you think?" Grinning to himself Lionel chanced a glance over his shoulder and saw all four glowering a him, giving them a wink before putting his hands up and shrugging his shoulders. "Taliya's not excluding anyone. 'Magic's not something you can put laws on, it ought to be as free as living' or something like that. Though depending on who you ask we aren't exactly living free either. Not since the Church started its little crusade."