“Somas who have completed their training will file across the stage and brush fingers with you. If any of you feel so much as a tingle from that touch, we ask you to alert one of the proctors on the stage. They will bring the fortunate Soma to a separate area where you will have the opportunity to begin to get to know each other. Once you feel confident in your decision we can talk more about the Bonding ceremony.”
“Decision?” I heard Tik ask, confusion evident in his voice. “Weget to decide?”
I saw many of my fellow Mageians shift nervously. Having choices was not something we were familiar with, and many had struggled with even the limited freedom we had experienced on Heraklion. Everything in our lives had been dictated by the Elusians who ran the Legion.
“Yes, dear,” she said, smiling gently at him. “During the Touchpoint some Mageians will react to more than one Soma. Bonding is a very personal decision. The choice to Bond or not is up to the Mageian. We treasure our Mageians and do everything we can to make them comfortable and at home. Toward that end, I’d like to introduce you to someone else.”
Tik sagged next to me.
“Can’t we just, you know, sleep for a bit, first?” he asked.
Lottie smiled understandingly at him.
“We will get you quarters as quickly as possible. It’s a bit of a scheduling nightmare to hold a Touchpoint, and we have a newly graduated class of Somas who were about to be deployed. We need to see if any of them find their match with you before we can send them out. I’m sorry. I know you are all exhausted, but the Touchpoint shouldn’t take more than an hour.”
A man walked up from behind Lottie. He was older than us by several years, but his face was familiar to me.
“Hello everyone! My name is Octavius, primary Water Mageia, formerly of the Alexandrian Legion, and I am one of the Mentors who will be helping you adjust to life in Illyria.”
I heard several sharp intakes of breath as he introduced himself. Octavius had been in a Machi about two years previously. I remembered him and it sounded like several others did too. Seeing him here in Illyria was a nice surprise.
“Primary Water? What does that mean?” I heard myself asking. I had never heard the term before.
“Vlakas! Good to see you made it!” he said, stepping forward and shaking my hand.
“It’s Luke now,” I said, a little embarrassed. Vlakas meant “idiot” and had been the name I had been stuck with in the Legion.
“Good for you, Luke! Taking back your own name is one of the first steps we encourage everyone to do here. A Primary is the power you held before you Bonded. You’re Earth, right?” he asked.
I nodded, blushing at the compliment.
“So if you find your Soma here today and decide to Bond, it will unlock other elements for you. Some of you will have dual powers, triple powers, or even all four elements.” He held his hand out and a petite woman stepped forward and wrapped her arm around his waist. “I was fortunate to meet my Soma about eighteen months ago. Her name is Gretia, and we’ve been Bonded for a year now.”
Gretia waved at us, then Octavius held his right hand up and water pooled around it. He put his left hand up and air began swirling around it, swirling bits of dust around his hand. He brought both hands together and the water and air merged, creating bubbles that danced around us. We all stared in awe at the display of a DualMageia’s power for several moments, then Gretia broke the silence by poking Octavius in the ribs and the bubbles popped as he laughed, splattering water over all of us. Several of the Mageia began chuckling as the Dual Mageia laughed as his mate continued to tickle him.
“Octavius likes to make a big show for all the new Mageia, but we really are happy to have you all here, and hope that you, too, find your match today,” Gretia said to the group. “We will get you our phone numbers after the Touchpoint so that if you have any questions, you’ll be able to reach us or one of the other Mentors.”
“Okay, folks! There are a lot of excited Somas waiting out there to come in and meet you! Let’s get you lined up on the stage,” Lottie said, directing us up the stairs.
I saw Tik hanging back, obviously unsure of himself.
“You okay, Tik?” I asked. He nodded, but worry was still evident on his face.
“What if we don’t find a match?” he asked. “What happens then?”
I shrugged.
“I don’t know, but it’s not like they are going to kick you out. It just means you haven’t found them yet.”
“But will they even want us if we don’t make a match?” he asked.
“Of course they will want us!” I said, with a confidence I didn’t really feel. I didn’t know for sure what the Illyrians would do, but I knew we were too valuable of a resource for them to kick us out. “They need us for the war effort, if nothing else. Besides, I heard Hel say they needed more Earth Mageia to assist with their metal workers. With your skill, you would be a good fit for that.”
Tik’s face brightened. His Legion had discounted his skills because he didn’t have a large amount of power at his disposal. Elex and I had been teaching him how to make the most of the power he did have. He had an extremely light touch: I had seen him pull a bullet out of the arm of a Mageian who had been shot on Heraklion. I was confident he would do well.
“You’ve got this, Tik,” I said, trying to share that confidence.
I gravitated toward the end of the line, stopping here and there to check on the Mageians lining up. I spoke to a few, just like I had Tik. Some just needed reassured, some needed a kind word. Some were just exhausted. I did what I could to relieve their fears while trying to quell my own.
