Page 17 of Elemental Hall: Nautica (Elemental Hall #1)

Not all of the challenges at Nautica are for the whole class now.

In the mornings, some of us arrive at the refectory to find sealed instructions with our names written on them.

Aria gets one, then spends the whole day running between different points of the island, following some kind of treasure hunt.

Nissa is called to Nautica’s small infirmary.

Orion is summoned for some kind of secretive meeting with the elemental masters, in which he says they made him set out how he would go about conquering a kingdom.

I wait, assuming that it will be my turn soon.

It seems obvious that the challenges are preparing us for the kinds of roles the elementalists running the Elemental Hall think we will have in the world beyond.

Aria is being prepared to be a messenger or a scout.

Everyone knows that Nissa will be a healer.

Orion… well, maybe he’ll be a general after all.

But there is no task for me, not yet, as if they haven’t decided what my place in all of this is likely to be, or maybe they’re trying to tell me that there isn’t a place for me after my training, no matter what I do.

No, I can’t think like that. I have to believe that if I only do well enough here, I’ll be able to find a place in the ranks of Lumina’s elementalists.

Maybe I’ll be one of the ones Orion commands when he’s a general.

Maybe I’ll be aboard a ship instead, helping to guide it and keeping it safe from storms. There are plenty of things I could do, and I have to believe that Lumina will need me for at least one of them.

I head to the library, finding a couple of tomes on the creatures of the deep, wanting to match them to the things the seraphin has shown me.

I ache with not having seen it in a few days, but I’m worried now that every time I see it, I’m driving it further from me.

In one way, Sybil is right: I do have to make a choice.

But not yet. For now, I focus on my studies.

I read about the merfolk of the far oceans, the sharks, the eels, the seraphin with their strange, unknowable ways.

There is a whole section of the book devoted to the kraken, those giant, squid-like creatures that hunt and kill those who venture into their realms. There are a dozen accounts of them attacking ships, each powerful enough that the skills of an elementalist are barely enough to hold them off.

It is a reminder that, even with all the power we are gaining here, there are still things in the world that are a danger to us.

Past the section on the kraken, there is a shorter section on leviathans, huge, whale-like beasts that some speculate are related to the seraphin.

They are vast, and they are powerful, but the section on them is brief because no elementalist has truly been able to study them.

I put aside the bestiaries, making more notes on the fundamentals of air, earth, fire, and spirit.

Spirit is the hardest to grasp, potentially giving those who master it influence over others, or the ability to send themselves beyond their physical bodies.

Where I now have the ability to produce a small flame or a breath of air, to help rock crumble, or to focus the light of the sun on a single point, I can’t do anything with spirit so far.

I’m in the middle of reading more about it when I hear a commotion from outside. Several students are shouting, while a warning bell starts tolling an alarm. I head out of the library, trying to work out what is going on, and find my fellow students heading down toward the docks.

So are the elementalists, and they look ready for a fight.

I spot Darius in the rushing crowd. He looks wary, even frightened.

“Darius, what is it? What’s going on?” I demand.

“An Umbran ship has been sighted,” Darius says.

Now I understand everyone’s alarm. Is Nautica under attack? Are we going to be called upon to defend it? I think of all I might be able to do to protect the island chain from invaders. Will I be able to make the sea rise up against them? To make the creatures of the ocean strike out at them?

I have no idea, but I also know that I can’t just stand here. I have to get to the docks. I have to see what is going on for myself.

I rush along with everyone else. I see Orion there, a sword clutched in his hand as if he’s ready to take on an army. I see Aria flitting from one master to another, obviously carrying messages. Ash is buckling on a sword of his own.

I follow the flow of people down to the docks. A ship is indeed approaching. It is so obviously not a ship of Luminan design that for several seconds, I can only stare at it.

It is made of aged, dark wood, which flows together in a sleek design.

Oars cut through the water on either side, while a single square sail depicting a half-full moon is open above.

There is a great bronze ram at the prow, and I can see several ballistae on the deck, the giant crossbows obviously there to attack any enemy ship that comes too close.

I feel fear in that moment. Fear of what might be about to happen. Fear for my friends. Fear for myself. Fear that I’m not prepared for this. The Elemental Hall has supposedly been training us to deal with any threat from Umbrae, but now that one is here, I have no idea what to do.

“Hold fast!” Elemental Mistress Halan orders, her voice carrying above everyone there. “Do not act unless commanded.”

Is she worried that some student will lash out with elemental power? I look over to where Darius is standing and see lightning crackling around his fists. It’s obvious that he will throw it at the least provocation.

I go to stand near him and put a hand on his arm, feeling the sharp tingle as sparks of electricity jump to me.

“Wait,” I say softly to him. “This might not come to violence.”

Darius smiles bitterly. “It’s Umbrae, Sera. Everything comes to violence eventually.”

He doesn’t discharge the power he’s been building up, though. He stands there beside me, watching with me as the great ship in the harbor pulls to a halt well clear of the shore.

A smaller boat is lowered from the side, three figures descending into it, all wearing long, dark robes.

They stand in the boat rather than sitting in it, and none of them makes any move to row.

Even so, the boat comes forward, the waves themselves pushing it in the direction of the shore as their magic compels the sea.

They step out onto the docks, two men and a woman.

One of the men is a head taller than anyone else there, completely bald, with tattoos running over his skull.

His skin is almost deathly pale. The other man is slender and looks only a year or two older than I am.

He has short dark hair, deep bronze skin, and dark eyes.

The woman looks to be in her thirties, with raven black hair down to her waist, ornamented here and there with silver charms. She is the one who speaks, and as she does so, I can hear the power in her words.

“We come as representatives from the great emperor of Umbrae,” she says. “We come in peace, to speak with the leaders of Nautica.”

I can feel that everything she says is true. That we should do everything she says.

“That would be more convincing without the magical compulsion,” Elemental Mistress Halan says, stepping forward.

“Forgive me,” the woman replies, and now her words are more normal. “I only wished my intent to be known. I am Mereth. These two are Jeon and Gnast. The emperor has sent us to speak with you, to try to forge better relations between Lumina and Umbrae.”

“Then why come here?” Elemental Mistress Halan asks.

“Representatives have been sent to others as well,” Mereth says, “but we know as well as you that elemental power is what counts. We need to speak to those who might decide on behalf of Lumina’s elementalists.”

Elemental Mistress Halan hesitates. For a moment, I think she might order the three back to their ship, or even command us to attack. Then she nods.

“Very well. Accommodations will be found for you, and I will see that you get a chance to speak.”

I breathe a sigh of relief, realizing that there isn’t about to be a fight. Beside me, though, Darius doesn’t look relaxed at all.

“We cannot trust them,” he murmurs.

“They’re ambassadors,” I point out. “They’re here to talk.”

“With the elementalists here?” he counters. “They are Umbran magi. They serve the will of the emperor, and they do nothing without a purpose. If they are here, there is a reason for it, and it will not end well for any of us.”