Tolan stepped away, sending his gaze skimming along the portraits. Ferrah looked at the portrait where he had just been standing, pausing in front of it. “What do you see?” he asked.
“I don’t see anything. Just a blank canvas.”
“I see darkness. I see the hint of an elemental here.” He looked down the row of portraits. “I suspect when I come back, there will be even more detail.”
“Why can’t I see anything?”
“There are many who never learn to see anything within these portraits,” Master Minden said. “It’s a shaping on them that determines it, though it’s one even I don’t understand. I’ve studied it the better part of my entire life, and despite that, I am not any closer to answers than I was when I first started coming here. I see more than I did then, but there are no more answers.”
Tolan pushed out with a shaping before hesitating. He was tired and weak, and drawing upon shaping energy now when he was in that state was potentially dangerous. He didn’t want to damage the portraits, if there was any way of damaging them.
He withdrew his sense of shaping and followed Master Minden as she made her way through the halls.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, and once there, they continued down. Tolan had come to this location many times recently. Now he was a member of the Circle, he had visited this hidden location enough times he had come to feel a certain comfort here. It was still strange to him, though. Partly, it was because the room was almost formal. There was a massive table with thirteen chairs surrounding it, most of them empty at any given time, even more so now the Circle hadn’t been rebuilt. Tolan wondered if he would ever see it rebuilt.
Master Minden followed him into the room, closing the door around them.
Ferrah stood in the doorway, sweeping her gaze around everything.
“You may join us, Master Changen,” Master Minden said.
“I’m uncertain about what’s going on,” she said.
“As you should be. There has been more uncertainty these days. Ever since Master Ethar has revealed the depths of what’s been taking place, there has been more uncertainty than there ever has been before.”
Ferrah stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. When it sealed shut, a sense of energy built as Master Minden used a shaping. She closed them inside, sealing them once more within the room.
Tolan let out a breath. “Why are you shaping like that?”
“It’s necessary. Unfortunately.”
“Are there others within the Academy we have to worry about again?”
Master Minden leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. She looked from Tolan to Ferrah, her pale milky eyes taking them in. There was something unsettling about how she looked at them, and it was something Tolan had never fully gotten used to. She leveled her gaze first on Tolan, then on Ferrah, and in doing so, there was a sense of shaping energy, spirit primarily, that washed away from her, toward Tolan, and likely toward Ferrah as well.
Instinctively, he rebelled as he often did when someone was shaping toward him, putting up a barrier to protect himself.
Master Minden smiled.
“Very good,” she said.
“You wanted me to do that?”
“I wanted to ensure you are able to place protections if it comes down to it. You shouldn’t be shaped by anyone without knowing it is happening.”
Tolan glanced over at Ferrah. She was equally tense. She had noticed the same thing. Had she avoided the spirit shaping? Ferrah didn’t have a connection to spirit, but she did have a highly attuned sense of shaping, and with something like that, he had to believe she would be able to use it and protect herself.
“There is no presence within the Academy. At least, not we know of.” Master Minden took a deep breath, letting out slowly. “Unfortunately, we still fear there are others within the Academy who will not understand what we’re doing.”
“The elementals,” Tolan said.
Master Minden nodded. “We’ve taught everyone over the years to fear the elementals, and to fear our connection to them. By bringing others here and now making them believe the elementals are something to be regarded in a different light, it changes the dynamic.”
Tolan glanced at Ferrah. “I’m aware of that.”
“Then you would be aware of how difficult that can be for those who struggle to understand. It will take time, Master Ethar.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have that time,” Tolan said.
“I think we do.” Master Minden forced a smile. When she did, she looked so very old. She was possibly the oldest person within the Academy, though Tolan didn’t have a sense of her actual age. She was powerful, and she spoke of that power, her age in regard to that power, in a way that left him thinking she had seen far more than she had ever let on to even the Grand Master.
As he looked around the table at the empty chairs, knowing the Circle didn’t have any real head to it, he thought he understood Master Minden played a vital role here.
“If you were successful in placing the bondars upon the Guardians, the waste is once again secured. Very few people would ever believe anyone could shape upon the waste. How could they?” She pulled one of the orb bondars out of her pocket, setting it on the table. “And these bondars are rare enough still because the shapers who made them are not from Terndahl. It allows our master shapers to keep them to themselves. It allows us to be able to study without having to fear the intervention of those who don’t understand the necessity of the waste and don’t understand the necessity of the elementals.”
“I’m not sure what they would even do,” Tolan said.
“Think about the students you know. Even those that are closed do struggle.” Master Minden looked over at Ferrah, and something about her expression softened a little bit. “That is no insult to you, Master Changen. It’s a statement of fact. You have struggled with the purpose of the elementals.”
“Tolan is helping me understand them,” Ferrah said.
“As he should. As a champion of the elementals, I would expect him to take on a considerable role with trying to help ensure they are treated the way they must be.”
“And what way must they be treated?” Tolan asked.
“If you wonder whether I think they need to be freed, that’s a difficult question. There’s a need for a better understanding of the implications of freedom like that. There is a need for a better understanding of just what the elementals might do.”
“You know what they would do.”
“I do, but others… Others do not. Those are the people who need to study. Those are the people who need to grasp just what the elementals might do. They need to recognize the nature and power of the elementals, much like they need to grasp the nature and power of that connection.”
She leaned back in the chair. “You did well, Master Ethar. I don’t think the Grand Master expected you to be successful with placing the bondars back upon the Guardians. I don’t think he even recognized the overall need for it, but there are those who do.”
Tolan studied Master Minden, looking her over as he tried to consider just what they might need to do. He had restored the bondars for the Guardians. Now he had, it meant he had options about what he was going to do. It meant he no longer had to keep working and worrying about them. They could study the Guardians, get a sense of the purpose behind them, and from there, he thought they might be able to better understand just what the ancient shapers had done in placing the Guardians there.
In the meantime, he needed to answer a different question.
It was the question about why they needed to fear the space beyond.
It required he go to the Draasin Lord, find him and ask the Draasin Lord to work with him. It would be far easier to fly with the Draasin Lord than to attempt to shape. Within the waste, there was the progressive danger of attempting to shape, of losing that power, and gradually finding himself weakened.
Ferrah watched him, and he wondered if she was aware of what he was thin
king.
She likely knew what was next on his list of things he needed to do.
“What else did you bring us here to discuss?” Tolan asked, looking at Master Minden.
“We need to rebuild the Circle,” she said.
“I don’t know we are the right people to talk with about that.”
“You are the only people to talk with about it. I need you to help us find those you trust. The Circle must be rebuilt, and until it is, we are not going to be safe.”
It was more than just finding the Circle but finding those they could trust. That was what Master Minden wanted out of him. She wanted them to help discover others who would be amenable to understanding the elementals.
“How many do you trust?”
“The master librarians, but not all of them are willing to do what needs to be done,” Master Minden said. “Many have been within the Academy for too long. They have lived here their entire lives, and because of that, they know nothing else. Even during the earlier attacks on Terndahl and upon Amitan itself, they were not a part of anything. They stayed separate, avoiding the conflict.”
“How many of your librarians?” Master Jensen and Master Stole were two he knew would be a part of it. They already had been, so he didn’t doubt they would be willing to take another step and do even more. Who else would?
Tolan wondered.
He knew many of the master librarians. Having spent as much time within the library as he had, he had a good sense of who they were and perhaps even whether or not they might be amenable to working with him and Master Minden.
“It’s less about having them with us and more about finding something else,” she said.
“What something else?”
“We need to better understand whether there are those within the Academy, master shapers, who would be beneficial.” She leaned forward, locking eyes with him, somehow seeing him through the film over her eyes. “If this comes down to fighting, we will need all the help we can get.”
“I don’t know that it will come down to fighting.”
“Unfortunately, Master Ethar, it always comes down to fighting.”
He sighed, watching her as he thought about what she was asking. Would he be able—and even willing—to try to uncover anything? Tolan didn’t even know if there was anything he would be able to find. He had no idea if there were shapers he would be able to use if it came down to it.
“This would be something more suited to the Grand Master.”
“The Grand Master has submitted some suggestions, but what I would like is for you to look within the younger ranks. Those who were like yourself. Those who are nearing their transition beyond time as a student, looking to elevate to master shaper.”
“Why?”
“They won’t be as tied up in the belief as others. There is benefit in having those who recognize the options in front of them.”
Tolan nodded. “I will consider it.”
“Good. Now you have replaced the bondars for the Guardians, you have much more time, Master Ethar. I’m sure the Grand Master has spoken to you about his goals for you, but my offer to you has remained unchanged.”
“I don’t know that I could be a master librarian any more than I think I can be an instructor here.”
“Perhaps in time.”
Tolan sat there for another moment before realizing there wasn’t anything more for them to discuss. Master Minden had brought them here to demonstrate what was missing. The demonstrate the Circle, and how it needed to be rebuilt.
Knowing the Circle was here, absent now, he couldn’t help but feel as if there needed to be something more.
Getting to his feet, he waited for Ferrah to join him as they stepped back out into the hallway. He pulled the door open, and the Grand Master greeted him.
“Master Ethar. Master Changen. Good. I was worried I wasn’t going to find the two of you.”
“Why do you need to find the both of us?” Tolan asked carefully.
“I understand Shaper Sar presented himself to you.”
Tolan glanced over at Ferrah.
She shrugged. “It’s our responsibility to report he presented himself.”
“What’s this about?”
“It’s time for his testing.”
“You want us to be a part of it?”
“Seeing as how he presented himself to you, you must be a part of his testing.”
The Grand Master glanced from Tolan to Ferrah before nodding at Master Minden. They followed him out, leaving the Academy quickly, and Tolan used a similar shaping as Ferrah to follow the Grand Master to the testing grounds.
He was familiar with the testing grounds. How could he not be when he had been here so many times before? He recognized the energy here, much as he recognized there were two other shapers.
It was similar to when he had been tested, only he and Ferrah were representatives of which two elements?
“What happens now?” Tolan asked, whispering to the Grand Master.
“He will join us out here. You will use whatever shaping you feel is appropriate to test him.”
“How do I know what shaping is appropriate to test him?”
“The challenge is not to harm him, Master Ethar. The challenge is in discerning what knowledge he has. Seeing as how the two of you are incredible shapers, and considering what we know of your capability, Master Ethar, I think you should have no difficulty in determining an appropriate test.”
“How do we know if he passes?”
“If he accomplishes all we do for him, then the test succeeds.”
“My test was one where you tried to kill me,” Tolan said.
“Was it?”
“It felt like that.”
The Grand Master smiled. “Then perhaps it was.”
“Mine was not like that at all,” Ferrah said.
“What did you have?”
“Mine was a matter of recognizing the various shapings and countering them. It was tiring. Complicated. But they didn’t try to kill me.”
“Which am I supposed to do? Test him on his shapings or try to kill him?”
“What do you think, Master Ethar?”
When it came to Draln, Tolan wanted nothing to do with the other man. He’d been horrible to him and others ever since coming to the Academy, but now was not the time to get his revenge for that.
Some piece of him relished the idea he would be able to test Draln, and to see whether there was anything the other man might be able to do to counter him. With Tolan’s ability to shape, he thought he would be able to overpower the other man. Knowing he could access the runes, and through the runes he could reach for the Convergence, he didn’t have to worry about being overpowered, not like he would have before.
He didn’t even need bondars, though he could grab the sword, the warrior bondar, and he thought he might be able to use that.
There wasn’t time.
A shaping brought Draln to land near them.
The Grand Master crossed the distance to speak with him and Tolan looked over, noticing Master Sartan had brought him. Master Rorn was there as well. It left Tolan and Ferrah as the only other two master shapers.
“I get the sense we are a little bit out of our element here,” he said.
“I don’t know. I think we are doing exactly what we are supposed to do.”
“In testing Draln?”
“Follow my lead.”
“What if I would rather test him the way I was tested?”
“Then do it if it’s going to make you satisfied, but I think we both know Draln is a skilled enough shaper to reach master level.”
Tolan hated to acknowledge that, but it was true. Draln was a skilled enough shaper to reach master level. More than that, even. Draln was far more capable of a shaper than Tolan, at least technically. Tolan might be able to access different aspects of shaped energy, and he might be able to pull upon power Draln couldn’t reach, but the other man had been in training throughout his time withi
n the Academy, using what he was able to learn to grow more powerful. Through that knowledge and strength, he had learned techniques, skills Tolan still didn’t know.
The Grand Master backed away, and he nodded to the four of them.
Master Rorn started forward. A shaping exploded, striking with a power of wind, and Draln batted at it, using various shapings to combat the complicated nature of wind swirling at him. Tolan tried to follow what Master Rorn was doing, trying to pay attention to the way he was pulling on the various spirals of wind, using them in such a fashion as to attack Draln, but each time he attempted to follow the shaping, he found it was a little bit more difficult than he would’ve expected.
Draln deflected each one, confident as he did.
Master Sartan strode forward, fire erupting. There was power and explosiveness to it. At least with this shaping, Tolan was able to follow it. He noticed how Master Sartan used various shapings. Some of them seemed complicated, but as Tolan focused on them, he was aware of the way those shapings worked together, and he was aware of how he could overpower them if it were to come to it. All it would take would be for him to draw upon fire, using hyza, or even dipping into his own shaping.
Master Sartan stepped backward, and Ferrah moved up.
She used water, spiraling around her, and whereas he thought Master Rorn and Master Sartan had done so with a delicate touch, Ferrah surprised him, using incredible skill as she sent swirls of water and mist and other energy toward Draln. With each one, Draln parted it, though he was growing slower.
The effort of shaping element after element was difficult.
Tolan remembered just how difficult it could be. He remembered how he had felt, exhausted by what was asked of him.
Ferrah stepped back. “I did all I thought was necessary,” she whispered.
“Just that?”
“There isn’t anything more we need to do. He needs to be tested, but nothing more than a testing.”
Tolan stepped forward, using the energy of earth. The other elements had been drawn, and he began to pull through the connection he shared with hyza, drawing upon earth, spinning it in as complicated a way as he could. He pulled the earth up, shifting around him, before pushing it back down.
The Elements Bond (Elemental Academy Book 7) Page 6