They fought for what seemed like hours. Veeza was more powerful than she could imagine, drawing power from reserves she didn’t even know she had. She threw spell after spell, took blow after blow, staggering forward with each new spell.

But someone had to lose, and Veeza was surrounded by fire as she finally slumped to the ground. Tears ran down her face and even her ears flopped defeated over her big brown eyes. She hadn’t realised how strongly she wanted to beat him. A pair of arms gripped under her arms and dragged her to her feet.

Cid now stood five feet from her bedraggled form. “Congratulations,” he said.
“What?”
“That was some fight. You’re a good fighter.”
“But I lost—”
“Why don’t you create a clan. You could be great.”

With that Cid walked into the shadow of the trees, leaving Veeza staring bemused after him.
“He has a point,” said Kieru behind her. “I’ll be your second in command.”

“Yeah,” Veeza whispered, newly affirmed. “We could be amazing!”