To any other species, as far as they knew, the utter pressing heat of the Vior'la sun would have been nearly lethal' it pressed on one as if a physical manifestation of the planet and those that dwelt upon it - home to some of the most feared and revered members of the Fire Caste that the T'au Empire had ever produced – the white and red armoured warriors of the Sept ever at the forefront of conflict and expansion in the name of the Tau'va – the Greater Good.

The military academy of Shi'vak was a prestigious military training school among military training schools, the aggressive and obviously hot-blooded nature of the Vior'la Fire Warriors harnessed and forged in the same way that one might forge a blade or cast a bullet. In other academies of the Empire one might find air filtration units designed to relieve some of the heat, such things were never found on Vior'la. On other worlds the Fire Warriors worked as part of the Septs system, a cog in the machine of other T'au colonies, but on Vior'la they were the system.

As Shas'aal Vior'la Ge'lar took her place in the circle of her comrades, preparing herself bodily and mentally for the bonding they were about to undertake, a bond that went far beyond anything that the other species of the galaxy would comprehend, she relished the feeling of perspiration running over her blue flesh.

It was not just outside of her however, but in her very blood she felt the fire. Oh how she longed to get into combat and engage the enemies of the Empire...

Eagerly she relieved herself of her armour, stripping down her torso to an under layer that allowed access to her body but also kept modesty (as much as it was known amongst a race as alien as the T'au) to the allotted level. It was a very Gue'la thing to be ashamed of ones naked form and, although the T'au did not share what amounted to collective guilt over it, the T'au did accept that some propriety was needed unless a pair were to mate and expand the T'au through breeding.

It would be moments before a senior officer arrived with the ritual blade that would bind them, and would then be carried into battle by the one they chose to 'lead' them, her eyes roving over the calm and sterile architecture of the academies primary training hall while she waited for the others to take their places on either side and opposite her.