A sultry breeze blew past as he considered his options,bringing with it the soft murmur of voices. He recognized the deep timbre of Syrus immediately and turned to follow it, going down the steps of the schoolhouse and around the side, toward the back of the building.
A rudimentary play area for the children took up the land back here and it had always been his favorite part of going to school. Old wood from decommissioned ships formed climbing areas and swings to play on. The old sails stretched across wood frames to create a shaded space for when the heat became too oppressive, but he’d always ignored them, preferring to climb and run and lead the other kids in whatever games crossed his mind.
He found Syrus sitting in one of those shelters near the school, cross-legged on the ground, with a small child sitting in his lap. Eiri recognized him as one of the little boys who followed Syrus around, but couldn’t place his name. He couldn’t be older than six or seven years old, and right now he looked younger. Tears streaked his face and he clutched at his knee.
Concerned, Eiri hurried over to join them, kneeling in the dirt beside the little boy.
“Eiri.” Syrus smiled, warming him to the core of his being.
“Hi. Is everything alright here?” He smiled in return, then looked down at the little boy. On closer inspection, his knee looked faintly bloody, like he’d taken a fall and scraped it up. Not badly enough for the big tears on his cheeks, but it likely stung a bit.
“Minato here fell and hurt his knee. We were trying to patch it up before heading inside,” Syrus explained. “I think he’s fine now, right, Minato?”
In response, the boy started crying again, but no more tears fell, and Eiri had to bite back another smile. The injury was real enough, but the boy was clearly taking advantage ofit, probably trying to avoid going back in to school. Eiri could relate.
“Hey, Minato,” he said, settling down more comfortably on the ground beside them. “Do you know who I am?”
The little boy blinked, peering at him, and his fake cries immediately stopped, replaced by an excited grin. “Uh huh! You’re a raider!”
“Iwasa raider. We don’t do that anymore,” Eiri reminded him. “But do you know what else I am?”
Minato shook his head, turning in Syrus’ lap to face Eiri. Clearly, Syrus was still the more interesting of the two of them, and the little boy wasn’t going to give up his solo time with Syrus until he was good and ready.
“I’m also a mage.” Eiri whispered it like he was imparting a big secret, leaning in closer. The adults on the island all knew, of course. Mages were rare among their people, though, so Minato had likely never met another one before. He hoped that was the case, anyway.
The boy’s eyes went wide as saucers, his injury completely forgotten. “You can do magic?”
“I can. Do you want to see?”
“Yes!”
Syrus chuckled, smiling at Eiri over the boy’s shoulder when he realized what Eiri was doing. Eiri gave him a quick wink, then held up his hands over Minato’s knee. He’d been practicing using his magic since they’d returned, even reluctantly reading old tomes in the city’s library. Someday, he hoped to use his magic to help his people more effectively. He’d never found any record of another mage with water abilities, though, so he’d mostly been making it up as he went, experimenting to see what worked.
Reaching out with his magic, he pulled at the ambient water in the air, concentrating it into a ball in front of him. Thetiny globe grew larger as he fed more water into it until it was a little larger than his fist.
“Alright, you have to hold still for this part,” he said, looking up to find Minato staring at him with wonder in his dark eyes.
“Are you going to make it all better?” he whispered reverently.
“I can’t make it completely better, but this will help.”
When Minato nodded eagerly, he moved the ball of water, focusing his power and using the water to rinse the boy’s knee. He couldn’t heal the scrape, but he could at least make sure no dirt remained. It only took a few seconds, then he pulled his magic back, allowing the water to dissipate back into the air.
“Wow…” Minato stared down at his knee in awe. With the dirt and blood gone, the scrape was barely visible. To a little kid, it probably looked like Eiri really had healed him.
“We should probably get you back to school before Nazra comes looking for you,” Syrus said, easily hoisting Minato back to his feet.
“I don’t wanna go to school,” the boy pouted, his eyes immediately welling up with more tears. “I want to see more magic!”
“Did you know Nazra teaches all about magic in school?”
Minato immediately turned to Eiri again. “Really? Can she teach me how to do it?”
“Not a lot of us have magic, but you don’t have to have it to learn about it. And you know what?”
“What?”
“Even if you don’t have magic yourself, you can learn about it and help mages find ways to use their gifts.”
