(Resumed) Solstice

[Emmett]

I opened the doors to the grey stone fortress called the Student Centre, and was greeted by the sight of multiple students arranged at tables conversing and studying. The place really was as vast as the other Colleges, but the layout was much more spacious, instead of smaller rooms and hallways there were bigger lobbies, lounging areas, with wide stores, and private rooms available to be leased to groups for study. Rumor had it there was also a small track in the building for running or jogging. I walked toward a glass-walled chamber in the middle of the ground floor, a store for clothing, some textbooks, writing instruments, bags, blank books, slide rules, astronomical instruments, really the vast majority of anything a student could need. Including, as it turned out, light outfits designed for working out in.

I walked to a counter near the entrance gate while other students were browsing around, and I waved toward the seeming-merchant. "Hello!"

"Welcome to the General Store. How may I assist?"

"I'm looking for a way to obtain or borrow an outfit for Physical Fitness at 10AM."

"Are you a remedial student?"

"Yes-"

"You will be given an outfit when you first report. You will need to take care of that outfit, including bringing it to your dormitory and bringing it back with you for any PT sessions."

"PT?"

"Physical Training, the other, and arguably more real name for the course. Really that's all it is: imposed exercise."

"I can see how it would be helpful. Thank you so much for your assistance."

"You're welcome. Have a wonderful day!"

Pants and shirt in hand, I checked my schedule and found that I would be reporting to the Barracks in the North Outer Ring. I meandered through the bustle of students, and passed between the Colleges of Air and Water. The Inner North Gate ahead was a simple thin iron fence, pulled all the way open. Passing through, I wondered whether the gates were always open normally but just closed on emergencies, and whether the South Inner Gate was similar.

I had arrived at Auxiliary Barracks F, near me eastern half of the ring segment. The barracks itself stood plain, a wooden shack in comparison to the furnished buildings of the inner campus. Stepping inside, the warmth in the air nearly doubled, and a silent pall of perspiration clung to my skin. I had experienced this sensation now and again when I would help with standing up houses with Draco and Stephen, but it was never quite this bad. A few other students were entering and exiting from doors, some in robes, some in outfits, and others yet in smallclothes. Some were dry and others not. I noticed one tan-skinned man, standing tall, wearing a deep blue robe of a much thicker material than my study robes, with some dusted dark blue pants, in the middle of the room. I approached him, figuring he was some kind of authority.

"Hello," I said, "This Physical Training?"

"It is," he said gruffly, "I'm Ser Larsen, your instructor. You are?"

"Emmett Sinclair."

"Ah, the remedial." He handed me another small key. "Locker 33, second door from the left, will have towel and an outfit. Change and report here in five."

"Yes Ser." I walked into the room, open wooden space morphed to closed cobbled corridors, and the humidity redoubled to saturation. I kept by breaths short as a dark-skinned man bumped into me with a smile.

"Hey, Emmett! You made it in?!" I recognized the voice and smiled.

"Oh hi Ansel! Yeah I did. I'm a remedial student though."

"Oh man, that's rough." He stepped toward the exit after giving my shoulder one last pat. "I'll be rooting for ya, but your battle's uphill as all get-all."

I smiled and made my way to the locker labeled 33, and slid the key in. The grate opened, and I found a plain, thin shirt, and some pants. I tuned out my surroundings and got to work changing out of my robes and formal clothes and transitioning into a simple outfit for the workout I'd soon be undergoing.

I closed my locker, placed the key in the relatively deep pocket of the pants, and jogged to formation.

"Alright students!" Ser Larsen called. "Welcome to Physical Training, or Physical Fitness as your little schedules say these days! This is a required class for all you hoity-toity spoilt children for one simple reason. Look around! We are in a barracks! We are a target of multiple invasions by hostile nations and even other provinces! Sometimes it can even be from opposing magickal guilds! Just two years ago we have withstood an early attempt at takeover from the Emissaries! In short, the more of you that are in basic fighting shape, the less of you die when some jackass from outside decides to fuck us over! Now that we've gone over basic history, twenty push-ups! twenty sit-ups! Move!"

I dropped to the floor when everyone else did, then scrambled into position when it was apparent what a push-up was. I pushed down-up, down-up, down-up, quickly to catch up, before noticing that everyone else was significantly slower.

"Come on! Have any of you worked a day in your lives?! Except for Bauer over here, he's already on sit-ups!"

I pushed through the rest of my push-up sets and pivoted onto my back to throw myself forward.

"Only your core muscles Sinclair! Start over!"

"Y-Yes Ser!" I folded my stomach in to pull the rest of my body up. I certainly felt a pulsing sore deep in my gut, but I crunched on, trying my best. Sadly Ansel shot up and stood at attention when I was on my twelfth rep.

Wait. Sad? Why was I sad? Of course others would be better than me. Why was I so competitive?

I didn't have time to contemplate the answer to that before I climbed back up to standing.

"Well maybe you aren't worthless after all Sinclair!" Larsen called. "Everyone else get a move on!! Only four of you have completed the basic set! Those of you that have, stretch your legs; we're running today!"

I took a moment to watch the other three lean into leg stretches, and tried to do the same myself, requiring a brief correction by the instructor.

"How are you as fit as you are and knowing nothing of proper training Sinclair?" barked Larsen.

"I was an errand boy in a rural village!" I replied, "Ser!"

"Well that'll certainly do it. Some required reading will be the Fitness handbook!" Larsen returned to the front, and watched over everyone stretching, sometimes giving demonstrations, and yelling at people to keep going.

"Alright, now that you're warmed up, today is running day! Tomorrow will be lifting day! So, everyone move out, and I want laps around the building!"

We moved out, and started our sprints. This was something I had a bit of an advantage in, from having to deliver parcels back and forth before we got a functional mail system organized again. I was yelled at for not going fast enough, and I was desperate to stay on people's good sides, so I gave it my all. Initially almost the whole class kept pace with me, but pretty soon a good number of them dropped off. I had looked to see who was ahead, and Ansel glanced back.

"Let's see what ya got!" Ansel called.

"Alright then!" I cheered back and kicked harder in my steps to catch up.

Seriously, why was I competing? Why was this... fun? I drove my pace harder and harder, but Ansel just seemed out of reach.

"Alright, now keep it up!" Ansel called, before focusing on his own running. At this moment, we were unquestionably ahead, even lapping some of the slower students. The familiar sting in my lungs started coming to in, but I wouldn't let some stitch get the better of me. I drove my next step harder, and the next, closing the distance little by little. My eyes stung from the sweat bearing down on them, but I held fast, my voice reduced to a guttural growl.

"You're not used to sustained running like this are ya?!" Ansel called back, "Took me a while to get used to it too, but you're doing real great! Unfortunately, today's win is mine!"

I staggered forward, trying to overtake, but lost my footing and had to slow a bit down to correct. My breaths rasped harder at this point, my single-focused desire to defeat the impossible masked by Larsen's yell:

"Alright, cooldown time! Start winding down, 3 laps of light jogging each, then report in!"

I brought my jagged running down to a fast walk, panting for breath, clothes nearly soaked with sweat, mired in my defeat at the hands of a guy I'd never met until now, and yet, I felt a sense of... respect, from the guy. I had remembered everyone who beat me in a contest rubbing it in, especially Peter. But something about Ansel made me... it made me want to try again, and genuinely improve. By the second lap, I had mostly calmed down, and by the third lap, I entered the gym slightly invigorated.

"Alright, twenty push-ups and sit-ups to close, then you're dismissed! Grab your towels and rinse yourselves off!"

After the closing exercises I went to my locker to grab the towel, locking up.

"Hey," Ansel said, "After you wash and dry off, when you change back into robes, leave the key and take everything. In future sessions you'll pick a locker that still has its key and use that."

I thanked him and stepped into another chamber full of bathing tubs, fresh with water, each with a spell circle underneath, or something glowing a soft orange. Intriguing. Was it a work of Magick? Who was the caster?

I dressed down to smallclothes and stepped into the staggeringly-hot bath. I let my body sink into it, and the heat almost drove my vision white, but my limbs, my back, my torso, My head when I dipped it into the water once or twice. All loosened up, and I felt almost healed. I sat in the bath for several minutes, wiping off any residual sweat with a towel, and running my hand across my torso. Relatively flat, but the muscles were there underneath. Several of the people I saw had several hard blocks where their stomachs were, and while they were certainly stronger for it, I felt it didn't quite look as good.

I spent a minute pondering why I started caring about my appearance when the instructor's voice rang, "Time's up! Get dry and get out!" I leapt out of the bath and brushed the long cloth over myself to stop from dripping water everywhere.

"Out of the baths!"

"C-Coming!" I picked up my clothes and towel and darted into the locker room, finished drying off, opened my locker, changed into my robes, and left the locker empty and with its key.

I had several hours to do as I wished, so I retreated all the way back to my dorm room, placed my workout clothes in a drawer, took a meal ticket, and grabbed lunch early.

Today I had an arrangement of mushrooms, alongside a lettuce and tomato salad. I had asked for the dressings to be held on the salad. I did not recognize anyone or have any particular conversations. The variety of the food available was quite a delight. I had a pretty wide selection back home, but I also couldn't grow anything particularly novel, as I was literally feeding the village back home.

Hopefully Jacqueline didn't miss me too badly. I wondered if she had teamed up with Barbara in my absence. probably not; Barbara's encouragement probably pissed Jacqueline off beyond reason.

With a full meal, I had returned home to gather my supplies, and set forth to figure out what to do with my hour of free time before I was due to attend my next class in the College of Water.