Page 5 of Elemental Hall: Nautica (Elemental Hall #1)

Summoning a seraphin is more than enough to make me a part of Orion’s cluster of friends, although frankly, I suspect that just his word would have been sufficient. It’s obvious from the start that they look to him like some kind of leader.

There are routines on Nautica. We sleep in our dormitory, we eat in the large refectory, where the food is simple but filling enough that I can’t believe some of the wealthier students complain about it.

There are classes given every morning in a vast amphitheater, hemmed in on three sides by rows of stone steps and open to the sea on the fourth.

Those classes cover the basics of fighting, the basic theory of the elements, history, politics.

The rest of the time, though, we are free to do as we wish.

It’s a combination that should make for a simple, easy life.

It would be so easy to take a day or two simply to relax on one of the beaches.

Except that we all know that none of us can afford to relax like that.

I have seen firsthand how the elemental teachers here like to teach and test us: by setting us challenges where our skills are the only things standing between life and death.

Anyone who lazes on a beach isn’t likely to last long before being hurt or worse.

“Don’t you think it’s strange that they train us this way?” I ask Aria as we head down from our rooms for another day. “If we’re meant to defend Lumina, shouldn’t they be training us to fight in disciplined ranks or something?”

Aria laughs at that idea. “Elementalists, marching neatly and fighting like some well-ordered machine? Oh, we have to obey instructions, and they’re not above disciplining anyone who steps too out of line, but they’re more interested in ensuring that we all reach our individual potential.

Not every elementalist will join the army.

Some will be diplomats, advisors, explorers. ”

She pauses for a moment, seeming to relish the last option.

“Besides, could you imagine how someone like Orion would react to being ordered around like some kind of peasant spearman?”

“Just how noble is he?” I ask. It’s a stupid question. It doesn’t matter how noble he is, only that he, like so many of the others here, is, and I am not.

“His family is on the ruling council that advises Queen Niann of Lumina,” Aria explains. “They have a grand home on an island not so far from Nautica. They say his family donated the land for this house of the Elemental Hall to be built generations ago.”

That’s impressive. After all, Lumina has several smaller regions within its federation.

To be on the council that decides matters connected to all of those places, to advise Queen Niann…

that’s real power. And yet, his family sent their son to a place where he’s potentially in danger every day.

I’m here because what other life is there for me?

Someone like Orion, though… he could have anything he wants in life, and he’s still here. I’m not sure I understand that.

“Come on,” Aria says. “We need to get to the others. The undertow challenge is today.”

Instantly, I’m nervous. I’ve been training with the others in the class for only a short time now. I’m only too aware that there is still plenty I don’t know. My affinity for water gives me a head start, but if we’re being pitted against one another, I’m at a disadvantage.

“You want to team up for the challenge?” I ask Aria.

She smiles but shakes her head. “I don’t think we get to choose who we work with on this.”

Which meant that I wouldn’t even have the advantage of teaming up with a friend for the challenge. I’ll be stuck with whoever I’m given. I half expect it to be someone like Ash or Sybil, someone who obviously dislikes me.

We make our way down to a beach, where most of the others in the class are already waiting. Elemental Mistress Halan is there, along with several other elemental masters. It seems that they want plenty of people to watch us for this.

It’s Halan who speaks, though. She seems to be the one who sets the challenges here, although I have yet to see her teach a class.

“The elementalists of Lumina are often called on to oppose renegade elementalists, raiders from Umbrae, even their military, testing its strength. That means that you must be prepared to take on other foes who have mastery over the elements. Today, we’ll be seeing what you can do against an enemy as skilled, as ruthless, and as well trained as you are: your fellow classmates. ”

She pauses as if we’ll all be shocked by that.

As if we haven’t all been preparing as much as we can for this next challenge in our training.

Most of the others have been working on water control, while I…

well, I’ve at least picked up the smallest hints of other elements.

I can summon a breath of air now and make an ember glow bright if I need to. Tiny things, but they are a beginning.

“Your objective is to get to that island and capture this orb.” Elemental Mistress Halan waves a hand and a shimmering image appears in the air, of an orb ringed with jewels, divided into light and dark halves.

It takes me a second to realize that it’s meant to be a representation of Lumina and Umbrae.

“You may do this in any way you wish, but your classmates will be competing for the same goal. The first pair to hold it between them will be the victors, and the others… well, I think a hundred laps of the bay on foot should be sufficient to encourage you to do better.”

“What may we do to gain the orb?” Sybil asks.

“Anything you wish,” Elemental Mistress Halan replies. “I and my fellow masters will be on hand to provide healing as required. Although anything that permanently deprives Lumina of a potential elementalist will be judged harshly.”

So, anything short of killing one another is fair game. I’m not sure how I feel about that. It seems harsh in the extreme. But then, I already know that Nautica is harsh.

“Step forward when I call your name and that of your partner.”

Already, I’m trying to assess the best way to the orb.

The island is a relatively short swim away, but I can see that there are powerful currents there that will make it a difficult swim for many.

There are small rocks that might serve as stepping stones, but they are wide apart and slick with salt water.

It is possible that we might be able to find a boat or run around to what appears to be a bridge on the far side of the bay, but that will take time.

“Sera.”

I’m snapped out of my thoughts by the elemental mistress calling my name.

“You will partner with Orion.”

I can see the glare of jealousy Sybil shoots me as I step forward. I don’t know why. It isn’t as if I have a choice in this. Orion seems pleased as he steps up next to me at a line in the sand intended to serve as a starting line.

“How do you want to do this?” he asks.

That’s a surprise. A part of me assumed that he would want to make the decisions, but I guess a big part of this exercise is about taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of your partner.

“Can you make the swim?” I ask.

He nods calmly. “It shouldn’t be a problem. Especially not if you’re helping.”

There’s no time for any more planning. Elemental Mistress Halan takes out a horn and blows a single blast on it, the sound filling the air of the bay.

Around Orion and me, students burst into motion, some plunging into the waves, some making for the rocks, a few hurrying toward the distant bridge as if hoping that speed will be enough to make up for distance. I glance over at Orion, then jump into the surf.

The currents are treacherously strong, threatening to dash both of us against the shore.

Already, I can see students being thrown back onto the beach, some of them jumping into the water again, others giving up to try another route.

I can see Orion shaping the water, using the elemental basics he’s learned to let himself breathe while I do the same.

I reach out for the currents, tapping into them, feeling their power.

I can’t change all of the currents of the bay, but I can at least push back those trying to toss the two of us around, giving us a chance to swim freely and quickly through the water.

Orion pulls through the bay with powerful strokes.

It would be easy for my attention to be solely on him, but I know enough to look around for danger.

It’s just as well, because I see Sybil concentrating a little way away, and I see the water ahead of me bubble with sudden heat.

I change direction at the last moment and manage to flick the current toward her, sending her reeling away.

In an instant, the water in the bay is a free-for-all, and I get to see all the things my classmates have been working on.

Some are brawling in the water, pulling one another back, trying to slow each other down with blows.

One is caught in tangling weeds beneath the waves, another pummeled by rocks that rise up from the seabed at the command of one of the others.

A few are knocked left and right by small bursts of the current.

It’s a reminder that I’m a long way from being the only one with power here.

Orion and I are forced to defend ourselves on the way across.

I’m surprised by what a good team we make.

He’s large and he knows how to fight, so he’s able to knock aside a couple of the others who try to grab us.

I’m able to use the water around us to push back any aggression using the other elements, allowing us to keep moving, keep swimming toward the island’s shore.

We come up onto it, the first to emerge from the waves. It feels strange to be breathing air again after several minutes underwater, the first gasp of it into my lungs almost unnatural.

“Are you okay?” Orion asks.

“I’m fine,” I assure him. “We need to keep moving.”

We might be the first there, but it won’t be long before the others reach the shore. We hurry toward the interior of the island. There are stone steps running up a small hillside. We set off up them. Too late, I see the tripwire stretched across them.

“Orion, look out!” I call. It’s too late.

He trips over the wire, and I hear a rumble as above us, rocks start to tumble down the side of the hill toward us.

I throw myself at Orion, pushing him aside, but all that means is that I fall with him, lying there on the steps, looking up at the approaching boulders with terror.

There’s nothing that control over water will do about this threat.

Then Orion throws up a hand and they twist from their paths, rolling around us rather than over us, missing us in a shower of rock dust as we lie there.

Abruptly, I’m aware that I’m lying atop Orion, where I’ve tackled him out of the way. I get up hurriedly.

“Thank you,” he says.

“For what? You’re the one who saved us.”

“But I guess you didn’t know that I could. You risked your life, Sera.”

I shrug that off. “We were hardly going to win this if I had to carry you back with a broken leg.”

“Of course,” Orion says, although his smile suggests that he doesn’t believe my reason any more than I do.

I stand there for a moment with my hands on my hips. “Let’s get one thing clear, Orion. I’m not interested in you.”

He looks puzzled. “I never suggested…”

“You might not, but everyone else seems to assume it,” I say. “I can see the jealous looks Sybil gives me. And I bet a young nobleman like you is used to having women just throw themselves at his feet.”

Orion laughs. “Is that what you think happens in noble circles?”

“And here… I can see the way half the girls here look at you. And I bet you enjoy that, but I’m here because I want to be an elementalist, not to throw myself at the first handsome noble I meet.”

“So, you think I’m handsome?” Orion quips.

I roll my eyes. “As if you didn’t already know that. Look—”

“Sera, I understand,” he says. “And if anything, it’s a relief.

You’re just about the first person here who doesn’t seem to want anything from me.

Everyone around me looks at me like they’re calculating whether they can get me into bed, whether my parents might be able to do their family a favor, whether I’ll eventually be their commander and they should suck up to me now. ”

“And you don’t sound full of yourself at all?” I say, but I smile as I say it.

“All I’m saying is that it would be nice to have a friend who isn’t trying to push me for something else all the time.”

I hadn’t expected this talk to be so easy. I’d thought that an entitled young nobleman like Orion might try to push me on the subject. Instead, it seems he’s determined to be the perfect gentleman.

It’s almost a little disappointing. Almost.

We need to keep moving. We set off up the track again, and now it leads to a bare hilltop on which there is a single raised dais with five points, one for each of the elements.

A plinth stands atop it, and on that plinth is the sphere.

Only it isn’t as simple as just walking up to it and taking it.

There are bands of power wrapped around it, composed of all of the elements.

Reaching out to touch it… well, that would be a quick way to lose a hand.

“It looks impossible,” Orion says, staring at it. “Five elements, but there are only two of us. What are we meant to do? Wait for the others and then try to persuade three more of them to help us?”

Is that the point of this exercise? To teach us that even in our competition, we need to learn to work together? It’s possible, but I’m not sure that I entirely believe it. Looking at the web of elements around the orb, I wonder if there might be another solution.

“Back in the village, we would weave fishing nets,” I say. “They would look tough, but if the wrong knot came apart in the wrong place, they would unravel completely.” I stare more at the web of elements. “Here and here,” I say, pointing to a band of stone and a band of water.

Ignoring the sounds of other teams approaching, I focus on the water, and I see Orion doing the same with the stone. I will the water to shift and change, to move aside, to dissipate into vapor. Even as it does so, the stone crumbles, dust falling onto the plinth.

The other bands fall away a moment later, leaving the orb still hanging there above the plinth.

I reach out for it and Orion does so at the same moment. We touch it together, and it seems to expand, bursting like a soap bubble, a bright flash of light flickering out across the island to leave my fingers entangled with Orion’s.

“We did it!” he exclaims. “We won!”