Page 18 of Elemental Hall: Nautica (Elemental Hall #1)

Whatever Darius’s concerns about the presence of his people, training goes on as it usually would, building up to the last major challenges of this intake. Already, there are whisperings along the island paths about what they will be.

“They say that last year, they had everyone fight a colossal sea wyrm,” Aria says.

“Where did you hear that?” I ask.

Aria shrugs. “It’s just something everyone knows.”

Aria is good at finding out the things everyone knows, the rumors and the gossip, the things that spread like wildfire around the island. Or at least, like wildfire would spread if there weren’t a whole academy’s worth of trained water initiates able to put it out.

“What are people saying about Orion and me?” I ask, not because I’m so self-interested, but because I need to know if our efforts are working.

Aria looks a little uncomfortable. “Well… they’re mostly talking about you and Darius. They’re saying the two of you are cheating on Orion and… look, I know none of this is true. It’s just what people are saying. I know you would never cheat on Orion.”

“Especially not with an Umbran?” I say, guessing at least part of the prejudices running through Nautica.

“Darius seems… well, it’s hard to tell what he’s like when you’re the only one he seems to be friends with,” Aria says. “Maybe if he tried harder to be friendly, people here would like him more. Even the ambassadors are more friendly than he is.”

That’s true. For now, Mereth, Jeon, and Gnast seem to be free to walk around Nautica as they wish, although their ship stays moored in the harbor, away from the shore.

Whatever discussions they’re having with Elemental Mistress Halan and the rest, it’s taking time, and they seem to be using that time to talk with students, almost at random.

Although maybe there’s nothing random about it.

“We need to be careful with them,” I say. “Maybe they’re friendly, but Darius seems convinced that this is all some huge trick.”

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 can feel the 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 this land. 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. ”

I do imagine 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?”

Mereth doesn’t seem perturbed. “That the Luminan way of training is weak, if you can’t protect yourself from the most basic workings of the spirit. That, ultimately, Lumina must fall to Umbrae. Wouldn’t it be better to be on the winning side when that inevitably happens?”

“So that’s your sales pitch?” I snap at her. “Join you, because it will be worse for me if I don’t?”

“I’m simply saying that eventually, everyone will serve the emperor,” Mereth says. “Trust me when I tell you that it is so much easier for those who do not fight that truth. But I can see you are not convinced. Perhaps in time.”

“Darius didn’t think it was so good to serve your emperor,” I point out.

This time, there’s a cruel edge to Mereth’s smile. “He thinks he has fled. He thinks the emperor cannot touch him. Seraphina, tell me, when was the last time you saw dear Darius?”

I look at her, trying to fathom her meaning. Has she done something to Darius? Has she hurt him in some way? I don’t know, but I know I have to find him. I have to make sure that he’s okay.

“If you’ve hurt him—” I begin.

“Me? I have been here, talking to you. But yes, Seraphina, rush to him. It will be interesting to see how powerful you truly are.”