Ami did a strange thing, then. Something that most, if not all of her Academy classmates might have claimed was impossible. Adela, who had seen her weak and bawling as she clutched at her instructor, however, likely found it less surreal.

She beamed.

Well, it wasn't a huge grin, but it was a smile, sweet and bright and altogether prettier than her normal blank glare of careful disinterest. "They were a gift," she said, dropping one hand to trace over the leather holsters her uncle had helped her design for the blades. "From...from a friend. Outside the village." She sighed in a decidedly happy way. "I love them."