Page 39 of Elemental Affections

“Sorry, I—” Dae turned back to see Ezzyn with a knowing smile on his face. “What?”

“The Valley made up its mind about you.”

Dae stared at him, at her hands. Held them out to catch the raindrops falling. “I thought for a second—but it doesn’t feel different now.”

Ezzyn shrugged, gesturing toward the road back to the school once again. “It’s subtle. Rite of passage.”

Dae stepped onto the road, mindful of the neutral amount of distance between them. She mulled over his words. The Valley had acceptedher.She held back the urge to skip. Maybe had a bounce for just a step or two.

She could’ve sworn Ezzyn hid a snort under the guise of clearing his throat.

Chapter 15

Ithadtobea milestone of some kind that she could go from eating lunch to collecting dead bugs for analysis without batting an eye. Dae reflected with wry humor that she’d leveled up. Even the smell of scorched plague soil rarely tickled her gag reflex. Though, credit where it was due, Ezzyn was much better about airing out the lab after he went on a rampage setting fire to the samples.

She went through the row of jars on the shelf, notebook in hand to record her findings. The detritivores had survived the longest under this most recent configuration of soil treatment, with measurable levels of biodegradation of the poison. Notlargelevels, but Dae leaned into the positive. The bioremediation efforts didn’t have enough impact in the end when the poison was merely put into a brief remission. It still recurred, undoing any restorative work achieved.

Dae perused her notes. Ice was also effective at dealing with the poison in that it aided containment, slowing the creep of the blight, though it couldn’t fully eradicate it, nor was keeping vast swathes of Rhell frozen a viable option. It also required much colder temperatures than merely reaching the freezing point, and while she was playing with the idea of layering spells to save herself some energy, the technique was still new to her and thus slow-going.

The sound of Ezzyn entering his office drew her from her thoughts. He came into the lab, perking up when he saw her. It sent a gleeful bubble of emotions through Dae to know that she had that effect. A reaction she was careful to keep under wraps. They were finally comfortable working around one another; she couldn’t jeopardize it by havingfeelings.She’d been the one to insist that they move on from the masquerade night. Whatever had passed between them at the lake, that tiny moment and the things the memory of it did to her insides, all of it was best left alone.

Didn’t mean she couldn’t get a little rush from him being pleased to see her. She just wouldn’t make a fool of herself about it.

“It might be too soon for these bugs,” she said. “They work, just not fast enough.”

Ezzyn stopped beside her, leaning down as she offered up the logbook. “Damn. I’ll see if the Grove can do anything for building up their heat tolerances.”

Dae set the logbook back in its place at the end of the shelf. “Did you have anything else for me? I’m sorry to run off, but my sister is coming by for the evening.”

She thought there was a flicker of disappointment in his eyes upon hearing of her plans, but it was too brief for her to be sure.

“No, I can take care of the rest of this. If you can wait just a moment, I’ll have the note for you to drop by the Grove.” He began digging through his drawers for a spare piece of paper. “I want to start the slow-release trials next week.”

“I’m happy to take the note, but have you considered waiting?” she said, leaning against the edge of his workstation. At his defensive look, she held up her hands to placate him. “I’m not against the delayed release—it’s the next logical step for your research. But you could wait a little while and maybe consult with the grovetenders about mutual changes that best suit the work.”

Ezzyn scoffed. “I feel like you’re trying to imply something here.”

“Collaboration, Ez. You can actually work well with others when you make the effort.” Her mouth twisted up in thought. “Or rather, your work plays well with others. Can’t really speak for you.”

He looked back at his records, his expression dubious. “I guess I can hold off for another week or so. You think that’ll be enough time for the Grove to work something up?” He drummed his fingers against the top of his desk. “Maybe I should work on new—”

“I think you don’t need to doeverythingyourself,” Dae said in a dry tone. “We may not all be from Rhell, but a lot of people here are committed to the work, too.”

Ezzyn inhaled, poised to counter. Instead, he let the breath out in a sigh, something like chagrin on his face. “I know. I do know that, it’s just … difficult, sometimes.”

“I can only imagine.” Dae relented, humor filtering back into her tone as she straightened from his desk. “Let me draft the memo for the trial.” She grabbed the assortment of notes scattered across two notebooks and a cluster of random paper scraps clipped together that comprised his thought process.

“I can—it’s your weekend, Anadae.” Ezzyn made a failed attempt to reclaim his notes.

Dae stepped beyond reach. “I hate to tell you this, but your handwriting is atrocious.”

“The notes, yes, but I clean it up for the records.”

Dae sucked on her teeth and shook her head. “You really don’t.”

He scoffed, arms crossing over his chest. “Somehow, I managed before you came along.”

“Truly, a miracle.” Dae forced her eyes away from the line of muscle on his exposed forearms. The man was allergic to wearing his sleeves unrolled.

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