Ish, however, had trained recruits before, and knew the difference between faking and honest exhaustion.

"I think that will be enough for today," he said, calling training to a halt.

"Giving up already?" Maggie taunted, though her heart wasn't in it. She moved over to her water bottle, still being careful of a nice, colorful bruise she'd gotten earlier.

"Not at all," Ish replied, picking up a towel and handing it to her. "I just happen to know when to break for a little while."

Maggie snorted but took the towel. "Sure," she mumbled, wiping off her face.

She was quiet for a few moments before she looked at him. "How much did you tell Caliban?" She made a vague gesture between the two of them, so he'd know what she was referring to.

Ish was quiet for a moment.

"Very little," he finally said. "It is not mine to tell, after all."

Maggie eyed him for a moment before she nodded. "Fair enough," she agreed. Then she smirked. "Although you might want to tell them. Caliban keeps giving me these looks like he's trying to figure out which hole I crawled out of and how to make me go back."

Ish snorted.

"Caliban will adjust," he replied. "If you feel so inclined to tell him, it is not my place to stop you. But it is your story to tell."

Maggie snorted but nodded. That sounded fair to her, after all.

"Fair warning, though, I will stab him if he tries anything."

"I would advise against it," Ishiah replied, raising an eyebrow. "He keeps blades of his own, and is rather liberal as to their use." Not that he wasn't certain that Maggie could look after herself, but he still had to put the caution out there.

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll smite him from across the bar," she said with a little shrug. Clearly, her own health and safety was not her top priority here.

Ishiah sighed.

"It would be best for all involved if you and Caliban would stop baiting one another," he said.

"He started it," Maggie said with a shrug. "I was going to leave him alone, but then he started shit."

"He does that," Ishiah replied, nodding a little. "He will stop relatively quickly if you ignore it." He quirked the smallest of grins. "It sounds trite, but I have witnessed it myself."

"So, what, ignore him and he deflates?" Maggie raised her eyebrows, clearly skeptical. "That's too easy."

"He baits you to gain the upper hand," Ishiah replied. "The same way you do."

Maggie shrugged uncomfortably. "Yeah, well, people tend to underestimate me," she muttered, only a little defensive.

"And they soon realize their mistake," Ishiah allowed. "But perhaps baiting Caliban is not the best idea all of the time."

Maggie made a face at him, because she could, but she did internally agree to stop baiting Cal. As long as he didn't start anything, she wouldn't either.

Fortunately for Maggie, she didn't have to deal with Cal for very much longer. He and Niko ended up getting a call about a job, and left in a hurry to go take care of the problem.

The job wasn't bad, as their jobs went, but Nik was careless, and he did get himself a little banged up. But only a little.

As far as he was concerned, anyway.

"I told you, I'm fine," he said, not quite snapping at Cal, because he knew Cal was just worried.

"You are not, Cyrano, stop lying to me," Cal snarled as he helped his brother back into the apartment. "I heard the bone snap. I had to help you set the damn thing. You're not fine."

"Alright, I will be fine, in a few days, once it's stabilized a bit." Niko limped into the living room, holding back his grimace.

"Sit down on the couch before I shoot you in the foot and make you sit down," Cal said. "And don't get up again." Once he was relatively sure his brother was at least near the couch, he went into the kitchen to see if there was anything edible.

Nik sank onto the couch, glowering at the wall. "I should still have tea," he said, without looking over at Cal.

"If you think I can make it without somehow poisoning you, you thought wrong," Cal called back. He was only partially joking, though, and he managed to put together a mug of tea for Niko. It smelled a bit more bitter than when Niko usually made it, and it was a little dark, but it was still okay.