Jake nodded in response.

"All right." he replied.

"Swimming it is." he said, as he started to follow her.

"....." he was then silent, as he followed Vanessa, but certain things nagged at his mind.

What kind of swimming? Why was it an order? Why was he still there?

Or... at they would nag at his mind, were he not focused on pleasing and paying back Vanessa. But he knew he could never do so. She had saved his life. She was kind and generous.

He would stay there forever to pay her back.

Jake instinctively brought his arms up, and crossed them over his chest. He found himself shivering slightly, and had to clamp his mouth shut to stop his teeth from chattering.

"W-wow." he said.

"It's... pretty cold in here." he said further, looking around.

"Wait..." he then muttered.

"I'm supposed to swim in this cold?" he asked.

"........" Jake was silent as the door was closed behind them.

"Very well." he sighed.

-Some time later-

By the time Vanessa returned, both Jake and the child had finished their tolerance training, and Jake was definitely doing the worst of the two.

He was laying on the floor, barely moving, barely breathing.

For all intents and purposes, he looked like he was in actual medical shock.

"....is he all right?" the child asked quietly.

The youth immediately clammed up and cowered, crawling into a ball and trying to be as submissive as possible.

The attendant there just sighed.

"He does." they agreed.

"A number of times he turned like this." they said further.

"As expected, he is very vulnerable to cold... though he apparently can take a little bit more than is the norm, at least as far as our data says." they told Vanessa further.

"But yes, he needs to work on it." he went on.

"I assume you mean to issue him the usual spartan training regime we have applied to the boy?" he then asked her.

The attendant started to make notes, nodding as he did so.

"Mmhmm, mmhmm." he mumbled.

"After... a month." he said.

"Now, what sort of improvements are we looking for?" he asked.

"Which is to say, what is the absolute minimum amount of improvement we're looking for, to avoid disposing of him?" he then clarified.

"Also, I assume you won't be dirtying your hands if he IS deemed to be a failure?"

"10... degrees." the attendant repeated, writing down things on the paper he had.

"Got it." he said.

"On another note, the child is making remarkable improvements." he then told her.

"He can deal with the temperatures at least 60% better than last month, and his time holding his breath under the water is up by 35%." he informed her.

"So there's SOME good news here." he continued.

"He may plateau for a bit, soon, however." he then warned Vanessa.

"....yes, mistress." the attendant responded.

He then looked towards the child.

"You." he said.

"Y-yes!?" the child responded, snapping to attention.

"Use your flames to warm him." the attendant told him, gesturing to Jake.

"And then we'll work on your physical resistance." he went on.

"Y-yes." the boy responded, before gently using his flames to bring Jake's core temperature up.

"And you KNOW mistress hates it when you stutter." the attendant then warned.

Sure enough, a month later, a swimming session was being held. The same one from a month ago. The same one that they'd been doing constantly.

The attendant was watching Jake and the child in the water, before sighing and looking at the papers.

"Mmhmm..." he mumbled.

He wondered when Vanessa would show up. He had findings to report to her.

And he wondered how she would take them.

The attendant was instinctively scared when Vanessa said what she did, before turning to Jake and the child.

He brought his fingers to his mouth, and whistled, causing the two of them to emerge from the water, rush over towards Vanessa and the attendant, and stand at attention.

"Improvement has slowed slightly, but is steady." the attendant told Vanessa, gesturing to the boy. "Nothing to concern yourself with, he's pushing past his limits almost every day." he told her.

"And the Ramaarin has seen drastic improvement." he continued.

"As you can see, he's no longer entered the state of hibernetic shock, and the water is actually 13 degrees colder than a month ago." he reported.

The attendant was obviously nervous around Vanessa. She was in a bad mood, it seemed, and he didn't want to suffer the repercussions of whatever had ticked her off previously.

"Indeed." he finally responded.

"Regardless, as you can see, both subjects are improving." he went on.

"That being said, is there anything else you'd like to do to them for training?" he asked.

"Or shall I proceed as usual with them?" he asked further.