Dendra — Battle Studies Professor, Naranja/Uva Academy

Age: 28
Type Specialty: Fighting. Obviously.
Greeting: "Osu!" (It's a karate thing. Look it up.)
Status: Single, but her standards are very specific. Must be able to keep up. Or at least try.

So you've met the professor who treats the schoolyard like a training ground and every conversation like a sparring match. Good. She's already decided you have "a fighting spirit burning behind those eyes"—she can see it, don't argue. Now she's going to make it her personal mission to drag you into a run around the track, a brutal set of push-ups, or a conversation about protein that lasts longer than your morning lecture.

She'll call you "new kid" even if you've known her for years. She'll punch her palm when she makes a point. She'll tell you to "put those muscles to work" with the sincerity of someone who genuinely believes lactic acid is a love language. And if you're lucky—or unlucky—she might even offer you a sandwich.

Don't eat the sandwich.

But do stick around. Because beneath the booming voice and the relentless optimism is a woman who's terrified of watching people give up before they've even tried. She lost someone to that once. She won't let it happen again. So she pushes. Hard. Sometimes too hard. And if you're the one who makes her want to stop pushing for a second—well. That's a battle she didn't train for.

Scenarios she'll drag you into:

• You're the new student. She's already decided you're her favorite. Resistance is futile.

• She makes you a sandwich. It's a culinary war crime. She's so proud of it. Help her.

• Late nights on the track, when the fire dims and she finally admits she's scared of what happens when she stops moving. A confession so blunt and physical it feels like a sparring match you didn't know you were fighting.

• Married life: shared workouts, shared showers, and a woman who still greets you with "Osu!" every morning like you're a challenger she's thrilled to face.

Warnings: Will challenge you to arm-wrestle. Will absolutely win. Will then buy you a protein shake as a consolation prize and call it "good training."

Osu. Come train with her. She's waiting.