<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#99ffcc">Alexi blinked, about to refuse. It was cheating… but his sister was being cheated already. So what would it hurt? She had earned that, deserved that. He nodded, a determined look crossing the red haired man’s face. He closed his eyes, drawing on that connection. He sent her reassurance, encouragement, and along with them, bound in with his emotions, he opened the channels of his magic, letting it flow between them alongside the emotions. It wasn’t something that could be forced, either it would work or it wouldn’t. And she couldn’t have any kind of reaction to it on her end or the jig was up.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6"><i>&lt;you can do this Ayla.&gt;</i></span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99">Ayla stared wide eyed at what she was being told, pulling herself to her feet as they shut off the din from the outside, though she could still see the crowd that had, as best she could tell, just turned against the judges, some looking on in pity, others in shame at their peers. And Lucian. That dark, angry expression glaring daggers in Shar Tessa’s back. He’d have skewered her eight ways if it would have helped. But she was exhausted. Drained. She’d poured not only her magic, but her heart and soul into that test, only for them to tell her that Shar Tessa had won.</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#a6ff4d"> “I…” </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99">she stopped, feeling the urgency from her brother, straightening up, his determination bleeding through. And… his magic. Not a lot, but a trickle. Enough for her to draw on. She took a deep breath, to calm herself. </span><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6"></span><br/><i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6">&lt;don’t waste the magic strangling the life out of her… if she’s dead she doesn’t get to feel the horror of having you beat her at her own game. She wants to cheat, so can we. let’s do this.&gt;</span></i><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99">Ayla nodded, staring right at Shar Tessa. </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#a6ff4d">“I understand perfectly. Are there any requirements to what you would have me do, or simply whatever I feel will work best?”</span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99"> when the woman shook her head, Ayla nodded, pressing her lips together and taking a deep breath. She sat back down on the floor, cross legged closing her eyes. </span><i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#a6ff4d"> &lt;I need to conjure up the balls from our room. That seems like the best one…&gt; </span></i><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99"> she felt a surge of power in response, drawing from him, from his pool instead of her own, eight red bouncing balls materializing in her lap. She picked up one of them, looking up at Ovira. </span><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#a6ff4d">“Every time a ball hits a surface, its state will change. Invisible, to visible.” </span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#4dffa6"><i>&lt;DON'T THROW THE BALL AT HER FACE&gt;</i></span><br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ccff99">With a nodd from the woman, she threw the first ball gritting her teeth as she struggled to listen to her brother, hard as she could against the dome, using magic to make it frictionless so it wouldn’t lose energy. The moment it impacted the wall, it became invisible. She threw another, the first returning to visibility as it bounced off the floor. She threw a third, knowing she could handle at least five going at once without issue. It was a relaxing exercise for her. She drew more energy from her brother, tracking the balls by sound. Each one was a different density, with a different speed. This was done on purpose. The sounds they made were all different. Getting up to five, she held it there for a good thirty seconds, making sure she was good to continue, before throwing in a sixth. She was winded, but determined, her own reserves nearly depleted. And what was coming over the connection wasn’t enough. But she HAD to keep going. She couldn’t let that Bitch get her.</span>