diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/mod.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/mod.rs
index 203bdb4f..70e0307d 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/mod.rs
@@ -217,7 +217,9 @@ fn resolve_service(
     TrainerService {
         spell_id: wire.spell,
         name: display.map(|d| d.name.clone()),
-        subtext: display.and_then(|d| d.rank.clone()),
+        // `0x4d8b50` answers the record's NameSubtext, "" for a rankless spell (`0x4d8b84`), and
+        // NULL without a Spell record (`0x4d8b58`), which `0x6f3890` pushes as nil.
+        subtext: display.map(|d| d.rank.clone().unwrap_or_default()),
         // Over the wire spell, like the name and subtext ([`service_icon`]).
         texture: service_icon(wire.spell, trainer_type, spells, icons, items, commands),
         // Empty: the 1.12 `GetTrainerServiceDescription` returns `Spell.dbc`'s Description with
diff --git a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/tests.rs b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/tests.rs
index 1bcb7c0f..6da6a27d 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-app/src/ui_trainer/tests.rs
@@ -328,7 +328,11 @@ fn display_name_is_the_wire_spell_not_the_taught_one() {
         &BTreeSet::new(),
     );
     assert_eq!(svc.name.as_deref(), Some("Apprentice Blacksmith"));
-    assert_eq!(svc.subtext.as_deref(), None);
+    assert_eq!(
+        svc.subtext.as_deref(),
+        Some(""),
+        "a rankless spell's NameSubtext is \"\" (0x4d8b84)"
+    );
     assert_ne!(
         spells.get(2020).map(|d| d.name.as_str()),
         spells.get(2018).map(|d| d.name.as_str()),
diff --git a/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/mod.rs b/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/mod.rs
index 91fb21aa..d875e97f 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/mod.rs
@@ -108,7 +108,12 @@ pub struct TrainerService {
     pub spell_id: u32,
     /// The wire spell's name; `None` (before `Spell.dbc` loads) answers nil, shown as `UNKNOWN`.
     pub name: Option<String>,
-    /// The wire spell's rank text, such as "Rank 2".
+    /// The wire spell's NameSubtext, such as "Rank 2", "" for a rankless spell.
+    ///
+    /// Deviation: `None` — no Spell record at all — answers `""` here, where the reference pushes
+    /// nil (`0x4d8b50` returns NULL at `0x4d8b58`, which `0x6f3890` pushes as nil). The getter's
+    /// own comment says why: the stock window formats this value unguarded, so a nil raises inside
+    /// `ClassTrainerFrame_Show` and the window then shows nothing and trains nothing.
     pub subtext: Option<String>,
     pub texture: Option<String>,
     pub description: String,
diff --git a/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/tests.rs b/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/tests.rs
index 8aab4236..5d4340ab 100644
--- a/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/benilla-ui/src/script/trainer/tests.rs
@@ -108,6 +108,44 @@ fn tree_interleaves_headers_and_ordered_services() {
     assert_eq!(info(&mut s, 5), ("Bloodrage".into(), "unavailable".into()));
 }
 
+/// A service row whose spell has no rank answers the empty string for its subText (the Spell
+/// record's `NameSubtext`, `0x4d8b84`), never nil: a client's FrameXML may `format` it before its
+/// nil guard, which throws on nil. Without a Spell record `0x4d8b50` returns NULL (`0x4d8b58`),
+/// which `0x6f3890` pushes as nil.
+#[test]
+fn a_rankless_service_answers_an_empty_string_for_its_subtext() {
+    let mut s = UiScript::new().unwrap();
+    let mut t = trainer();
+    t.services[0].subtext = Some(String::new()); // Heroic Strike, row 2
+    s.set_trainer(Some(t));
+
+    let (name, sub, ty) = s
+        .eval::<(String, mlua::Value, String)>(
+            "local n,s,t = GetTrainerServiceInfo(2) return n,s,t",
+        )
+        .unwrap();
+    assert_eq!((name.as_str(), ty.as_str()), ("Heroic Strike", "available"));
+    match sub {
+        mlua::Value::String(v) => assert_eq!(v.to_str().unwrap(), ""),
+        other => panic!("the rankless subText must be a string, got {other:?}"),
+    }
+    // A `format` over it must not throw.
+    assert_eq!(
+        s.eval::<String>("local _,sub = GetTrainerServiceInfo(2) return format(\"(%s)\", sub)")
+            .unwrap(),
+        "()"
+    );
+    // A ranked service is unchanged.
+    assert_eq!(
+        s.eval::<String>("local _,sub = GetTrainerServiceInfo(3) return sub")
+            .unwrap(),
+        "Rank 1"
+    );
+}
+
+
+
+
 #[test]
 fn service_getters_read_the_row_at_a_visible_index() {
     let mut s = UiScript::new().unwrap();