“Thank you, Luelle.”
“Elle is fine.” She smiled and rushed off.
I sorted through the cabinet, pulling out lemon, clove, and cinnamon oils, and soap. I poured the contents into the steaming water and took a moment just to breathe in the lovely scent. It was so pleasant I became acutely aware of just how unpleasant I likely smelled, and stripped out of my shoes and clothes, tossing them in a basket next to the bath.
The heat of the bath was downright sinful. This wasn’t a luxury you commonly got to indulge in with a life of seafaring. One toe in and I was already in ecstasy. Elle was going to have to pry my overheated, shriveled body from the water herself, because there was no way I was leaving of my own accord. I sunk down to my shoulders and lifted my head to the ceiling, closing my eyes and letting my long hair float in the water behind me. I’d lost track oftime floating like that, but I eventually heard the fast tapping of Elle’s shoes against the stone floor.
“Amazing, right?”
I sighed deeply. “I am regretting the life I have lived until now.”
I heard her sink down into the water next to me and opened my eyes. “Can we stay a while?”
She giggled and pulled her hair from the blue ribbon that had been tying it. It fell midway down her neck in a perfect bob. “Yes, of course. They gave me leave from training today to show you around.”
“From Alandris?”
She gave me a strange look. “The Grand Arch Magus, yes.”
Titles. Right. Noted.I was going to call him Alandris. “What do you think of him? Sorry, can I ask that? Is it treasonous to speak against him?”
“Treasonous?” She burst into a laughter so loud it didn’t sound like it could come from her body. “That isn’t how things work here. The Grand Arch Magus is the leader of the Consortium, but we do not answer to any kingdom, nor to any person. Decisions are made collectively by the upper ranking Mages. If at any time they were to determine he was not a capable leader, they have the power to remove him from his position. It ensures we maintain absolute neutrality.”
It wasn’t what I’d expected given the rumors I’d heard, especially based on my first impression of Alandris, but it was possible Elle wasn’t fully aware of the inner workings of the Consortium. She seemed the type to see everything through a rose-colored lens. If I wanted answers, I would need to seek them out myself. Regardless of Elle’s faith in the system, I wasn’t going to trust someone who’d threatened my crew and me before gathering more information.
Elle continued, “before the Grand Arch Magus took over, there was a different Elven Mage in power, Lyandril Varellia. He was an exceptional Mage, but he rarely taught, and he was gone from the Consortium for months on end at a time, taking Mages with him who would never return. If I am being transparent, there were whispers of corruption from outside kingdoms, and our current leader suffers the consequences of the reputation Lyandril created for himself. He has been doing his best to make the Consortium a place to be proud of once again. As far as what I think of him personally, I’m happy to call him a mentor.”
She was certainly singing high praises for the male, though that may have been why he’d assigned her to show me around in the first place. “What happened to Lyandril? Was he removed by the upper Mages?”
“He died.”
“Not of natural causes, then?”
She flicked the point of her ear. “Doesn’t make much sense that they call us immortal, does it? Ageless is a more befitting term, even for someone half-blooded like myself. That term isn’t perfect either. Closer—I suppose, when you consider the rate at which we age. Unfortunately, death is quite possible for our kind. We bleed the same as Humans.”
It wasn’t quite an answer to my question, but I got the feeling she didn’t want to speak on it further, and it would be suspicious to push her for more. Perhaps it was a point of the Consortium’s history that brought its students shame. “You consider yourself Elven, then? You speak of Humans as though they are something else.”
She hummed. “Well, I will live several hundred years. A true Elf will live a hundred times more than that. There’s no perfect fit for me. I envy you, in a sense. A shorter life is so full of meaning.”
It was always interesting to discuss mortality with an immortal—or ageless, as Elle preferred. They spoke of mortality with a wistful look in their eyes. Humans were the opposite, viewing eternal life as the ultimate blessing. Funny—a sad sort of funny—how beings always wanted what they do not have. Though, I couldn’t agree with my fellow Humans—the appeal of eternity was lost on me. Not all things were worth experiencing forever. My mind flashed to the dark room in my village. Not all things were worthrememberingforever.
Elle cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Nairu. That was morbid of me, wasn’t it? Usually people tell me to shut up by now.”
“I find your honesty refreshing,” I assured her. “I think you and I are going to get along just fine.”
There were countless things I would’ve rather been doing than embarrassing myself in front of Mages who’d been practicing the arcane arts for years, but here I was learning the ‘fundamentals’, which were far more advanced than they should have been. The best part of it all? Our teacher was none other than the Grand Arch Magus himself, Alandris Vi’Elissar, also known as the male I trusted as far as I could throw him.
They assigned Elle as my roommate and partner, a stroke of luck, or perhaps the intention of the male in question, which meant we’d attend all training together. I would have a blinding light of optimism at my side while I fell on my face in front of all the other students. I’d asked Elle what sort of magic she could do last night, and she’d sprouted a tree from a seed in the middle of our dorm room. The element suited her, but it confirmed my suspicions that I was seriously out of my league. And now we had a tree in our dorm room. She was still working out how toundoher magic.
Thank you to the unnecessarily high ceilings in this place.
“Our focus today will be forming a shield from your raw magic,” Alandris spoke, addressing our small group. “Regardless of your element or brand of magic, the concept is the same. Defending is more important to master than attacking. As Mages, your opponents will look for any opportunity to close the gap between you, and you need to be ready to push them back. You have the advantage. Magic against steel will always persevere, but you need to know when to bide your time and when to strike. Magic exhausts the body after so long. You need to be able to defend until the pivotal moment, and that is when you will expend the bulk of your energy and attack.”
A voice emerged from the back of our group. “Will defending not tire us, though?”
“Not if you learn it well. Not near as much as mindlessly attacking, hoping something will connect.” Alandris turned to me, eyes locked on mine. “Battle is like song and dance. There is only one crescendo. You must patiently wait for that perfect moment, the culmination of your efforts.”
I had to look away from the intensity of his stare. It was too much—felt too much like a wave of heat rolling down my body. “Poetic,” I mumbled.
