Ladies' Day Out

Fully titled “An Examination of Collegial Dynamics as Expressed Through Marksmanship, or, LADIES’ DAY OUT: A Cas Russell Short Story,” this follows as Cas teaches Pilar to shoot a gun. Cas starts out in the middle of a retrieval job, struggling with her don't-kill-anyone challenge, and toward the end Pilar's roommate has some problems with a stalker. The story is told from Cas's perspective, but gives a good look into how Pilar is learning to handle herself, what with being the office manager of a private investigator who gets shot at unfortunately often. The story takes place between Half Life and Root of Unity; according to SL Huang, "The best time in the series to read it is between books 2 and 3 or directly following book 3." It is available to read for free online.