Krista was puzzled by Evan. He wasn’t just avoiding her. He was hurting, but not in any way she recognized.
So she sat on the log beside him and tried to puzzle it out.
When a rookie—a true rookie, not someone as massively skilled as Evan—couldn’t break through on a new skill, they’d internalize it until it became a canker sore. If she couldn’t find a way to dig it out or break through, the rookie was just gonna get stuck, maybe permanently.
Krista had also watched candidates make it through the entire training and then freeze at the door on their first fire jump after dozens of practice ones. Never get past it.
Or stand in front of their first big fire and get so hypnotized by the flames that they would have stood there gaping until the fire burned right over them.
But Evan wasn’t li
