Page 35 of Elemental Hall: Nautica
Aria nods. “It’s possible, but maybe he’s just worried that they’re going to try to drag him back to Umbrae.”
Could they do that? Could they demand Darius’s return? If so, would the Elemental Hall give in to the request? Would they hand over a student, knowing that he would likely be punished for fleeing Umbrae? It’s a worrying thought.
“I’m sure it will all be fine,” Aria says. “From what I’ve heard, emissaries come through the veil of storms every so often on merchant ships. We all talk for a while, and then they go back to Umbrae. We send ambassadors too.”
Only this isn’t the same. These three didn’t arrive on a merchant ship passing through one of the usual channels. They didn’t go to the grand council of Lumina. They came directly to Nautica. It’s something that makes no sense.
“We should probably leave this kind of thing to the elementalists,” Aria says. “They’re the ones with connections to the army and the council. They’ll know what’s going on better than we do.”
She has a point. I’m not here on Nautica to try to meddle in the affairs of the great coalitions of our world. I’m just here to try to master the elements enough to be able to become a full-fledged elementalist.
“All right,” I say. “See you later for the lecture on irrigation systems?”
Aria yawns pointedly. “Sure. Just don’t expect me to stay awake for it. We’re meant to be learning to be grand elemental masters, not farmers.”
She runs off, because she runs everywhere, leaving me to contemplate what I want to do next. I head down to the small bay where I usually see the seraphin. I stand at the edge of the water and call it to me.
It’s almost a surprise that it comes, rising from the water so that I can feel its scales under my hand. I can feel the connection there, but now, through the seraphin, I can feel a connection to other creatures of the sea. I can see the way the seraphin hunt for small fish, summoning them, controlling the fish with their power over water, forming them into swirling bait balls that they can dart through at will to feed.
For a moment, I’m confused about why the seraphin is showing me this, but then I understand: it’s trying to teach me the way it might teach one of its young. I canfeelthe way it summons the fish, the way it gains control over fellow creatures of the deep. I can feel what it wants me to do.
I reach out into the water with my talent and feel for the fish there. I coax them with magic, sending whispers of power through the currents, drawing them up to the surface until they leap from it in a glittering rainbow. The seraphin clicks its pleasure at my efforts.
Then it looks past me, turns, and dives.
“A bond with a seraphin, most impressive.”
I look around to see one of the Umbran emissaries, Mereth, walking toward me along the beach, her dark robe sweeping the sand. I step up to the edge of the water to meet her, but I do not leave it. The water is the one place I feel safe.
“You do not need to fear me, Seraphina,” Mereth says.
“You know my name?”
“I know many things,” she says with a faint smile. “I know that you did not fit in here at first. I know that you have an… understanding with the son of two of the great nobles of thisland. I know that you are friends with one who has fled Umbrae’s embrace.”
“You’re here to talk about Darius?” I ask.
Mereth shakes her head. “I’m here to talk about you, Seraphina, and your future. In my discussions with your teachers, we have agreed that there should be an exchange of students between our kingdoms. That if elementalists from both sides can learn from one another, there is a greater chance for peace.”
“So Umbran students are coming here?” I ask.
Mereth spreads her hands. “One already studies here. Why not more? We have brought a half dozen candidates with us on our ship, and they will begin their studies tomorrow. But we are also offering the chance for certain… talented students to come back with us.”
It takes me a moment to realize what she’s implying.
“Me? You want me to go study in some academy in Umbrae?”
“Hardly just ‘some academy,’” Mereth says, sounding amused. “The emperor’s college for the elements produces the finest elemental masters. We go on to have positions of influence and power throughout the empire. Imagine it, Seraphina. Imagine what it would be like to learn a whole new way of controlling the elements. Not just pushing at them here and there, hoping they respond, but truly mastering them. Imagine learning in a place where you are not some common girl to be disliked, but where you are valued for your talents.”
Idoimagine it. I can see myself there, in an academy that is larger and grander than this one, not with separated schools, but with one huge complex, all the elements taught intermingled. A place where I might rise quickly, learning new things, maybe even researching elemental applications that have never been thought of before. I could be someone important there. I could have a place in the emperor’s armies. I could…
I feel the seraphin’s scales beneath my hands as it returns and the compulsion breaks. I glare at Mereth.
“You had no right to do that.”
“It was the easiest way to show you the truth.”
“What truth? That you’re prepared to manipulate my mind to get what you want?”
