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The side door opened before she could answer, and the Illusion Master entered with a narrow control case tucked beneath one arm. His uniform bore the silver simulation insignia at the collar, and he gave me a brief nod before setting the case beside the crystal console. While Jade moved toward the equipment rack, I crossed to him and explained that the first section would stay physical, with moving walls and targets but no illusion layer until I signaled. After that I wanted Fire Rift terrain, variable visibility, shifting routes and standard hazards, with the environment reacting rather than cycling predictably.

The Master glanced toward Halver when I told him he'd provide the primary creature threat later. "Poor recruit."

"She'll survive."

"Halver?"

"Probably."

From across the hall Halver said, "I hate both of you."

Jade glanced over as the Illusion Master laughed under his breath and turned back to the console.

Alex and Nykos arrived several minutes later. Alex spotted Jade and changed direction toward her. "You're alive. After yesterday I thought there was a chance you'd decide freedom was too complicated and climb back through a Citadel window."

Jade's eyes narrowed. "Were you expecting something different overnight?"

Nykos passed Alex without slowing. "Whatever you're about to say next, don't."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"You always are."

There was clearly more to the comment about the window than I understood. I noticed it and said nothing, the same as I would have with any of them. Jade's mouth shifted faintly at whatever Alex muttered next. Yesterday she had watched him as though every joke might become another question she needed to defend herself against, while this morning she knew what to expect from him. Whatever had happened during those hours in Gledhi had done something useful.

"Equipment on. Floor in five."

Nephrite moved automatically, and that was our first real problem.

For years there had been four of us, and our habits had become so ingrained that we barely noticed them. Alex knew where my shields would appear without looking. Halver understood our spacing well enough to move before I called him. Nykos's telepathy ran beneath everything when we allowed it, passing warnings and directional intent faster than speech ever could. Jade had none of that history, and Nykos couldn't reach her at all.

I wasn't asking her to undo whatever she'd altered in herself, which meant Nephrite adapted instead.

When everyone took position, I placed Jade between the rear line and Alex's usual space. "Verbal calls today. If something through Nykos's link changes movement, it gets repeated aloud."

Alex groaned. "All of it? We know what we're doing."

"Jade doesn't know what you're doing."

She glanced toward him. "Thanks."

Alex smiled. "You'll learn."

Nykos looked particularly irritated with the arrangement, which Jade caught right away. "Still driving you insane?"

He scowled at her, and Alex laughed. I let out a slow breath and called them into position before the morning disappeared beneath another argument.

The first passes were deliberately simple. Jade made mistakes, but most came from timing rather than poor judgment, and each disappeared quickly. By the third run she'd stopped watching where our feet were and started reading shoulders and weight shifts instead. When Halver moved to clear an obstruction, she adjusted before he entered her space, leaving enough room without crossing the line where my shield would form. When two suspended targets dropped from the ceiling, her knives struck both marked zones before Alex had finished turning toward the first.

He looked at the target and then at her. "Rude."

"You were slow."

"I was positioning."

Nykos made a quiet sound of agreement, and I increased the speed.

Jade didn't push forward simply because she was capable. She watched first. When Alex shifted his weight before pulling Air, she moved out of the pressure line without being told. When Halver changed direction, she adjusted around him rather than expecting him to give way, and she learned where my shields normally formed quickly enough that I stopped needing to warn her away from those spaces. There were still mistakes, but most of them came down to one obvious fact. She didn't know us yet.