Chapter 101: Learning to Follow

They moved into the training area.

Caelus proposed a preliminary exercise. They would begin with a simple formation drill, moving across the field while maintaining their positions and responding to changes in the movement around them. Seren would observe and direct them, identifying openings and warning them when their positioning became vulnerable.

It was a modest test, but that was the point. They didn’t need to begin with an elaborate battle simulation when they had barely established how their abilities fit together.

Anna immediately objected when Caelus began explaining the exercise.

"Why are you deciding what we do? She’s the leader."

Caelus turned toward her.

"I’m proposing an exercise."

"Then let her decide whether we do it."

He took a deep, slow breath.

"Seren, do you think this would be useful?"

She looked between them.

"I... yes. I think so."

"Then we’ll begin."

Anna opened her mouth, but Seren spoke again, more quickly this time.

"P-please. I’d like to try."

Anna stopped.

After a moment, she nodded and stepped into position.

Caelus said nothing. He had no intention of commenting on the fact that it had taken two rounds of argument for them to agree on a basic training exercise.

They began.

Ruven took the forward position, with Anna moving along one side and Caelus keeping to the other. Their task was to advance while protecting a marked point behind their formation. Seren remained far enough back to maintain a clear view of their movements, watching closely as they crossed the marked ground.

At first, the exercise went reasonably well. Seren could identify when Ruven’s movement carried him too far forward, and she warned Anna when her position left an opening between them. Her observations were useful, even if her delivery was hesitant.

Then Caelus deliberately changed his direction.

The movement was simple, a shift in position that forced the others to react. Ruven adjusted his approach, but Anna moved to compensate for him, leaving the opposite side of the formation exposed. Seren noticed the opening and tried to call it out.

"On t-the left..."

Her voice was too quiet.

Anna had already moved, while Ruven continued forward. Caelus stepped through the gap and reached the point they had been trying to defend.

The exercise ended.

No one had been hurt, but the mistake was obvious. Correcting it would have been simple under ordinary circumstances.

Caelus, however, wasn’t satisfied.

"We h-had an opening on the left," Seren said, looking at the ground. "I saw it, b-but I didn’t tell you in time."

"Why not?" Caelus asked.

She hesitated.

"I...wasn’t sure if I should interrupt."

Caelus looked at her.

"If you see an opening, you tell us. It doesn’t matter whether someone else is speaking."

Seren nodded.

"U-understood."

Anna frowned.

"She was trying to tell us. We should have been paying attention."

"That would certainly have helped," Caelus replied.

"Then don’t make it sound like it’s her fault."

"I didn’t. I asked what happened."

Anna’s expression tightened, but she held her response back. Perhaps she had finally recognized that another argument would accomplish nothing.

They repeated the exercise.

This time, Seren called out the opening more clearly. Anna adjusted her position, Ruven moved to cover the gap, and Caelus was forced to change his approach rather than simply walking through their formation.

It was a small improvement.

They tried again, and a different mistake emerged. Ruven committed too heavily to his forward position, leaving Anna to compensate. Caelus recognized the opening and adjusted accordingly, but doing so pulled him away from the position where he could have supported the others.

Once again, they managed to recover because Anna and Caelus were capable of correcting mistakes quickly.

Once again, Caelus found himself dissatisfied.

They could compensate for each other during a controlled exercise. Anna’s strength and his ability to adapt made up for several shortcomings, while Seren’s observations gave them information they might otherwise have missed.

Against an ordinary team, that might have been enough.

They weren’t facing an ordinary team.

Lucian and Eve were both dangerous opponents in their own right. Neither would need much time to recognize the gaps in their formation, and once they did, the team might not have an opportunity to recover. Caelus could compensate for one mistake, perhaps two, but he couldn’t build an entire strategy around assuming that every failure would happen somewhere he could reach.

If they were to win, they needed to stop creating those openings in the first place.

"Let’s stop here for a moment," he said.

Anna lowered her hands.

"What is it?"

"Our coordination is poor."

"That’s obvious."

"Then you understand the problem."

"I understand that you’re about to tell us how to fix it."

Caelus looked at her.

"Would you prefer that I leave you to fix it yourself?"

"I would prefer that you stop acting like you’re the only person who can think."

"And I would prefer to have a team that can get through a basic formation exercise without leaving an opening large enough to walk through."

Anna’s eyes narrowed.

Seren shrank back slightly.

Caelus noticed and closed his eyes for a brief moment.

This is going to be a long three days.

When he looked at Seren again, he made a deliberate effort to keep his tone even.

"The exercise isn’t about performing perfectly. It’s meant to show us where the problems are. We’ve found several. Now we need to decide what to address first."

He paused.

"Seren, what do you think?"

She looked startled that he had asked her directly.

"I..."

Anna seemed about to intervene, but caught herself. She folded her arms and remained silent.

Seren glanced at each of them before looking toward the training ground.

"Maybe... we should do it again, b-but slower. So I...can tell everyone where the openings are b-before they happen again."

Caelus studied her.

It was a reasonable suggestion. Repeating the same exercise at a slower pace would give Seren time to practice communicating what she saw while allowing the others to become familiar with her observations. Once they understood the information she could provide, they could gradually increase the speed.

"That would work," he said. "We’ll start there."

Seren nodded, looking a little less uncertain.

They resumed the exercise at a slower pace. This time, Caelus and Anna followed the instructions without interruption, and Ruven adjusted his position when Seren identified a gap.

The result was better.

By the end of the exercise, she had begun giving instructions with less hesitation.

It wasn’t enough to make her a capable leader overnight, and Caelus had no intention of pretending otherwise. But it was progress, and progress was something he could work with.

Anna appeared to have noticed it as well. She offered Seren a brief word of encouragement, then turned toward Caelus.

"See? She just needed time."

Caelus wiped the moisture from his palm.

"She needed time, and she needed to practice. Both can be true."

Anna looked as though she wanted to argue, but ultimately said nothing.

For once, he appreciated the decision.

When they finally stopped the exercise, Caelus remained in the training area for a while, considering what they had accomplished.

Anna was unquestionably powerful. Ruven had the experience to contribute, provided his injuries didn’t interfere with his performance. Seren possessed an ability that could give the team a valuable tactical advantage, while Caelus had enough versatility to adapt when a plan failed.

There was potential here.

But potential wasn’t the same as readiness.

They had three days to prepare, and the first had barely begun. Against a team led by Lucian, who had the ability and discipline to perform under public scrutiny, they couldn’t rely on individual strength alone. Eve would be quick to exploit any weakness, and the remaining members were unknown quantities.

Caelus gathered his thoughts as the others prepared to leave the training area.

He needed to improve his own capabilities as well. The duel with Ruven had made the limits of his current foundation painfully clear. He couldn’t afford to keep relying on tactical solutions to compensate for shortcomings that would eventually catch up with him.

That brought him back to Veyra.

Their negotiation remained unresolved, and the skill book she possessed could offer another avenue for developing his capabilities. The Tear of Aetheris was another possibility. If his foundation could withstand its assimilation, it might improve his physical condition severalfold.

After the duel, neither prospect felt any less urgent.

There was still room in his schedule to visit Veyra and ask whether she had reached a decision.

Caelus let out a quiet breath.

Perhaps it was time to see Veyra again.