Lark followed Shamira after hair braiding into the private gym they used to conduct some of the bio-bot tests. The room was huge, with harsh, bright lights in the ceiling. One side was just an open area with thick wrestling mats covering the floor. The other half was filled with gym equipment that Joshua and Raphael had hooked up to their tablets so they could keep an eye on her vitals and data. It always smelled faintly of sweat and cleaning chemicals.

She had arrived in Evren two weeks ago but had only been in Vusal for about a week. They had spent every afternoon exploring her physical skills. The bio-bots had significantly increased her strength, speed, and stamina. Her eyesight was clearer, sharper, and much better at night now. Her hearing was enhanced, but not nearly to the same degree as her strength, so it was easy to tune out most background noise. Her skin would apparently always remain this weird, flexible armor, but it only changed to an opaque black when she was injured or healing.

Lark was looking forward to today, because they were setting boring exercise aside and doing some light sparring to see how her abilities would be used in situations other than running away.

She and Shamira joined the group of people beside the mats. Joshua and Raphael seemed to be comparing something on their tablets. Conan and a couple other Spur Corps members grinned as they approached. They wore slightly bulky, brown, one-piece suits. Cushioned headgear with face masks sat on the ground next to their feet.

“All padded up and ready?” Lark laughed, tapping Conan’s suit. There was a thin, hard layer on the surface.

“Ready.” Conan nodded and glanced down at their suits. “Josh threw these together. They’re supposed to help absorb shock, so you don’t have to worry too much about how soft to throw your punches.”

“Ooh, good plan,” she said.

Raphael came up. “Lark, don’t forget these.” He stuck little black sensors on her forehead and just beneath her collarbone, then handed her one to put on her stomach. These would feed all of her vitals to Raphael and Joshua’s tablets.

After warming up, Lark and a guy with peach-colored hair in a buzz cut circled each other for some light sparring. She kept her chin down, watching Peach Buzz’s smooth movements. Forgetting for a moment about her enhanced abilities, she analyzed the situation like she was in a twenty-first century Earth gym.

Her strengths were kicks and elbows. She always tried to avoid being taken down, since she hated groundwork. Peach Buzz looked strong and had a good build for wrestling. After a couple inquisitive swipes at each other, Peach Buzz attempted a double leg takedown. She jumped back, ending up much farther than she anticipated.

She felt like an idiot.

I can’t believe I forgot. I’m stronger and faster now! It still wouldn’t do to get lazy, and I should probably ask for help with groundwork, but it will be easier to just muscle my way out of something. Okay! Let’s see what I can do.

Making sure to use very little force, Lark ran past Peach Buzz, slicing her elbow across his padded face. She spun back around to realize she had overshot her little sprint and was several yards away from her target. He was still in the midst of turning to face her.

She felt gloriously powerful. Perhaps she had been too stressed during her battle in the woods because it was only now that she really felt superhuman.

Grinning mischievously, she decided to try something fun, fancy, and totally unrealistic in a real fight. She launched forward. Peach Buzz didn’t even have time to blink before she leaped into a front flip, bringing her right foot down in an ax kick on his shoulder. She was careful to pull her power before making contact, but Peach Buzz was still sent to his knees.

Lark landed in front of him. “Oh my goodness, are you all right? I thought I kept it light. Did I mess up your shoulder?”

Peach Buzz stood up, moving his head and shoulder every which way, as if to test its mobility. “I think I’m fine.”

“Thank goodness,” she sighed. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have tried that last stunt. I got a little overexcited.”

“No, it was actually pretty neat!” Conan said, as the whole group came toward them. “He doesn’t get taken down very easily.”

“Easy for you to say,” Peach Buzz fake grumbled.

Lark could hear the teasing in his voice, but she still winced inwardly.

“Do you have any numbness or tingling down your arm or in your fingers?” Raphael asked, checking his collarbone. “Your data didn’t show signs of blacking out, but did you feel close to it?”

Peach Buzz shook his head. “Nothing like that. It’s a little sore, but Director Cynbel’s suit did its job.”

Joshua seemed satisfied. “How do you feel, your highness?”

Lark felt her cheeks heat up. “A little embarrassed, but oddly energized.”

Joshua’s eyes darkened in thought for a moment before turning to Conan. “Your turn. I want to try something.”

Conan glanced at Peach Buzz, but only nodded.

“Princess.” Joshua turned to Lark. “I’d like you to try this next part blindfolded.”

“What?” everyone gasped.

“You do need to learn what strength parameters to use, but that simply requires time and practice. I also want you to hone your other enhanced skills. You also mentioned you can sense energy. I want to explore that. See if you are ‘seeing’ electricity, or heat, or something else entirely.”

“O-okay.” Lark was excited about the possibility, but also nervous about accidentally hurting her friends.

As Joshua tied a cloth around her eyes, he said, “Remember to hold back your strength. This is also training for your control.”

“...Right.”

At first, the hammering of her own heart thundered over everything else. But as Lark took slow, calming breaths, she started picking out other sounds. A cough here, a rustling there. Now there were spots of color in the blackness. Small, wavering, but alluring. Some shone brighter than others, and most were white with different colored centers. Blues, browns, and reds. One was burnt orange.

“Are you ready?” Joshua’s voice came from the area where a group of three dots were.

“I think so,” she answered.

“For now, say what you’re thinking, feeling, hearing. We’ll walk through this together.”

Lark was shocked. That was exactly what she had been wishing for all this time. It may have been her imagination, but even his voice had sounded softer, warmer. Not exactly friendly, but supportive.

Maybe we’re finally getting somewhere!

“Are you okay?” Joshua sounded impatient. “Do you need a few more moments?”

Okay, maybe not.

“I’m good. Sorry.” Lark shook herself mentally. “Who’s with you?”

“It’s me, Conan,” Conan’s deep voice said.

“I’m going to have him move around,” Joshua said. “See if you can tell where he is.”

“Okay.”

The dot of light with brown and orange swirls in it started moving to her right. She could hear soft footsteps but concentrated on the light.

“Shall I just face where I hear him? Or do you want me to point in his direction?” Lark asked.

“Whichever you prefer,” Joshua said.

Lark decided to do a bit of both. Keeping her body facing the wavering light, she waited until it paused before lifting her hand. “He’s there?”

“Very good,” Joshua said. His voice was now to her left.

Lark realized with a start that two other dots–one with a dark blue center, one with yellow and green swirls–had joined Joshua’s solid white dot. Being so focused on Conan had caused her to miss everything else around her.

There’s a lot for me to improve.

Conan’s voice cut into her thoughts. “I’m going to move again.”

Lark watched his light move back toward the left a few steps. She frowned. She could hear light footsteps, but his dot didn’t seem to be moving. The light was growing a little stronger. Before she could work out what was going on, Conan spoke up again, much closer than before.

“Are you okay Lark?” he asked.

Startled, Lark felt a momentary wave of heat through her body, gave a breathless shriek, jumped back, and flung her arms out blindly as a block.

“Whoa!”

“Watch out!”

“Careful!”

“Ahh!”

Multiple voices rang from around the room, followed by the sound of something being hit. Lark tore her blindfold off to see Conan on his back, a tiny trail of smoke floating from a scorch mark on the suit in the middle of his chest. Raphael ran up to him, first aid kit in hand. Everyone soon surrounded him.

“Are you okay? What happened?” Lark asked, a sickening feeling of deja vu coming over her.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine,” Conan assured her with a shaky smile. “I was just startled. Well, honestly, I was scared witless for a second.”

Lark stiffened. “What did I do?”

“Some lightning flew from your hands for a second,” Shamira said gently. “It’s okay; everything seems fine.”

Lark took a step away and hid her hands behind her back when her friend seemed about to come over and comfort her. She wanted to cry, but firmly stamped down the tears. Conan was fine. It was going to be okay.

After assuring himself Conan was perfectly fine, Joshua ran through the data quickly, looking for answers. When he glanced back up, Princess Larkspur had backed up to the wall and was staring at her trembling hands.

“Your highness?” Joshua slowly walked toward her. “Princess Larkspur?” No response. “Princess?” He stopped right in front of her. “Princess Lark!”

She finally looked at him, blinking hard.

“Larkspur.” He tried to keep his voice softer. Just because he needed to be firm didn’t mean he needed to be harsh. Larkspur’s eyes widened slightly, but she was focusing on him. “Conan is fine. He will continue to be fine. We’re learning together. You need to acknowledge the inherent dangers and subsequent consequences of what we are doing and not let it freeze you up.”

Shamira came up beside him. “We all knew–well, had an idea–of what we were getting into. We signed up for this, Lark.”

“But you didn’t,” Joshua said to Princess Larkspur. Her eyes watered. Shamira and Conan gave him a sharp look, but Joshua ignored them. “You should take the rest of today off and think about what you want to do.”

Shamira followed the princess, who barely mumbled something to Conan before fleeing the room.

“Josh–” Conan started.

“Conan,” Joshua interrupted, “she is not going to be able to keep everyone safe and happy all the time. As a queen, she will have to make terrible decisions at times. She will be responsible for many lives, and she won’t be able to save them all. Her life is only going to get more complicated from here. I don’t think that really occurred to her until now.”

Lark didn’t exactly run back to her rooms, but it was close. Thankfully, Shamira didn’t try to talk on the way, but Lark didn’t have the courage to see if there was rejection, pity, or understanding in her eyes when she shut Shamira out in the hallway. Right now, Lark wasn’t sure which emotion would hurt more.

She hadn’t forgotten that her powers were dangerous, but the last few weeks had been focused on the less deadly aspects of her new life.

She could hurt and kill if the need arose, but that was only ever in protection of another life. If she had lifted her hand a little higher, she could have hit her friend’s face with some sort of lightning bolt, or whatever she shot from her hands. At the very least, it could have scarred him for life, if it didn’t outright kill him.

She hadn’t had people she cared about this much in over two years. She didn’t realize she could be this paralyzed by fear of hurting them. Or by the fear of them rejecting her because she was too dangerous. Her head knew that was very unlikely since they were not only great people, but also military personnel who knew the risks they were signing up for. But that didn’t stop her heart from freezing with the illogical fear.

Snowy came gliding out from the bedroom, making a beeline for Lark who was still leaning against the sitting room door. Snowy always seemed to know what Lark was feeling.

Scooping the cub up, Lark burrowed her face in Snowy’s soft fur.

Why did I even agree to this whole thing?

That question had her standing up straight.

Why did I agree? Stupid Lark! How could you lose sight of the most important thing?

Lark ran into her room, looking for her tablet. She caught sight of it on the bedside table. Snatching it up, she started the particle tracking software Joshua installed.

Time to make some plans!