Adapt (A Touch of Power Book 2)

by Jay Boyce

  “Is that why you were so good?” the same girl from before asked again, her heart-shaped face shining with curiosity.

  Jade shook her head. “Nope. My fitness level is just very high.” She pondered, looking back at the obstacle course. “Of course, if I used magic, I could have easily just walked through it.”

  Angus’s slow drawl sounded from behind her, “Or jumped over it.” She turned her head to look back at him, smiling tiredly. She still felt drained, but her humor was returning.

  “I suppose that would have been an option too,” she grinned, continuing, “but I was more thinking of just using wind. I could have just created a shield and walked through everything with ease.”

  Glen interjected, “That only stops the arrows. You would still have had to climb everything and deal with the obstacles.”

  She laughed. “Not really. If I can create walls of wind to block projectiles, what’s to stop me from creating a wind floor and just walking across the air? It would be pretty easy to do with water, too. Heck, I could’ve made an ice slide instead of diving headfirst down the pipes.”

  “Am I the only one who wants to see that?” Jayce’s voice was filled with excitement.

  She laughed, coughing a little bit. Her body was still trying to recuperate from the massive energy drain the healing had cost her. “Maybe another day. I’m pretty wiped.” She grabbed the handles of her bag, starting to push herself up. Angus’s hand appeared in front of her, and she gratefully took it, allowing him to pull her to her feet. He didn’t say much, but she was starting to seriously like this gentle giant. Even with his large bulk, he managed to blend into the background, appearing only when she needed help, which he thoughtfully provided. It was the little things, and she smiled gratefully at him.

  “Hey, we need to carve her name in!” Glen’s voice was excited as he seemed to remember something. She glanced over to him, puzzled. Carve her name in? Into what? Seeing her look, he smirked. “Come on, you’ll understand once you see it.”

  She grumbled under her breath, “What is with you people and not explaining things?” There were quiet chuckles around her from those who heard her. Glen started leading the way, and she followed, having taken the arm Angus silently held out for support. She was led towards the stands, but there was a small tunnel beneath them. Glen went first and they followed. Belatedly, she looked behind her and found there were about thirty people following behind her; the entire class seemed to be trailing her at this point, looks of excitement and chatter burbling between them behind her.

  The tunnel itself was lined sparsely with light globes, but up ahead, she could tell there was an extremely lit area if the brightness was any indication. As she emerged from the tunnel, a small gasp escaped her throat. Angus pulled her further into the room so the others behind them could file in.

  She barely noticed, distracted as she was by the huge room she found herself in. She realized she’d just discovered Caoi’s equivalent to the Hall of Fame. Jarom’s voice a moment later confirmed her thoughts. “Welcome to the History Walls.”

  Jade let go of Angus, moving to the closest wall full of script. She ran her fingers over the neat letters that had been carved from polished dark blue marble and filled with silver so they stood out prominently. It was beautiful. Glancing back, she indicated the fact that there were walls of script. “What’s what?”

  “That’s the beginner obstacle course wall.” Victor helpfully supplied.

  She nodded, running her fingers over the silver as she read the script:

  7 - 1 - Alastair Minilthro - Nollaig 4, 287

  There was also a family crest at the end, and she guessed it belonged to whoever Alastair had been. Turning to look behind her, she realized she wasn’t the only one inspecting the walls. The crowd was no longer following her, having instead spread through the room. Many of them were touching the walls respectfully, almost as if they were paying respects to their ancestors…which, she figured, they probably were.

  “What do all these numbers mean?” she asked those who were still standing behind her. In truth, the people who were still around her were those from the Archery platform. It was like she’d formed her own little entourage.

  It was Bryoni who stepped forward to answer. “The first number is how many times they attempted the course before they completed it. The second is how many years they’d been at Dracona. Then it’s their name and the date, followed by their family crest.”

  Okay, she hadn’t figured out the first two, but at least she’d gotten the name onward right. The question was, what on earth was Nollaig? She hadn’t ever asked anyone what year or date it was, only the day of the week. Curiously, she asked, “What’s today’s date?”

  Victor helpfully provided her the information she wanted, for the most part, “Today is the third of Aibrean, 392.” Okay, she needed to find a calendar.

  Nodding to Victor, she continued to grill him, “Are calendars a thing here?” Their looks were perplexed, so she sighed, figuring she was out of luck there. “A calendar is a written, or drawn, representation of the days, weeks, and months of the year. It usually has holidays written on it too.”

  Realization dawned on their faces, and Victor nodded, pondering thoughtfully, “I think I could have one made for you if you’ll explain how it’s drawn.” He paused, then shrugged and disclosed, “It’s simple, though. There are sixteen months, each consisting of twenty-one days. Aibrean is the ninth month.”

  She smiled at him. “Thank you, that’s very helpful.” Twenty-one days? Not super long months, but they had more of them. It still wasn’t equivalent to a year on Earth, but it was somewhat close. It probably just meant their rotation around their sun was faster than earth’s orbit. Wait, when does that mean my birthday is? Did it calculate that my years on earth were longer? No, I think my sheet would say nineteen if that was the case, but will it start calculating my age based on the years here now? She was giving herself a headache.

  “Jade? Jade?” She realized that Victor was waving his hand in front of her face again, meaning she had completely spaced out again. Drat. She thought she’d stopped doing that so much. She smiled up at him and he let out a relieved sigh, letting his hand drop. “Oh good, you’re back. Come on, we’ve got to put your name in.”

  She looked curiously at him and nodded. “Okay, sure.” He held out his arm and she took it, letting him lead her further into the hall. As they walked, people started to gather behind them again. Apparently, this was a big deal. It also appeared to be in chronological order, rather than by order of achievement. It made sense this way, given that if it was by achievement, it’d have to change quite a bit.

  She looked at the names above the blank space at the end. Victor, Glen, Jayce, Angus, even Bryoni was there in the ranks in what she assumed was the record of the last few years, given that Victor’s was the highest up and he’d passed in his second year. Most of them seem to have passed the course anywhere from their tenth to fortieth try. There was nothing under five on the section she could currently read. Still, there was one poor soul’s name who caught her eye:

  431 - 4 - Jay Boyce - Samhana 12, 383

  She didn’t know whether to pity or admire them. They’d made it far enough to challenge the second course, but tried over four hundred times before they passed. It spoke of stubborn determination or stupidity. Still, she at least admired their persistence. She didn’t know that she would have kept trying after so many failures.

  Shaking her head, she looked at the blank space beneath the previous name. “So, am I supposed to do this myself?” She looked back at the crowd.

  Glen smirked. “If you can, then yes.”

  Of course she could! She returned his smirk in challenge at his taunt, then put her hand on the wall. If she screwed it up, she could always fix it later. She glanced around until she found another name with Aibrean in it so she could make sure she spelled it correctly.

  Pushing her magic into the stone, she felt the warmth spreadin
g as she guided it according to her will. She even matched the cursive they were using, feeling proud when she stepped back and looked upon her creation.

  1 - 1 - Jade Winward - Aibrean 3, 392

  She frowned as she looked up. Even though it wasn’t filled with metal yet, it was missing something… Looking at the others, she sighed. She didn’t have a family crest! Stepping forward again, she put her hand on it, her mind cycling through the various crest ideas she’d been thinking of using as a business logo before she got distracted with the war of attrition.

  It slowly came into being, and she smiled as she added each detail. A stylized, seven-pointed sun with small points in between that contained different symbols: a flame, a water drop, a wind gust, a flower, a lightning bolt, a tiny mountain, and the red cross symbol for healing. In the middle of the sun she created a book laying down with a fellacai on top of it, behind which were the scales of justice.

  She stepped back, grinning as she asked, “Where’s the silver?”

  Chapter Thirty-Seven – Practice

  Victor had already grabbed a bar of silver from somewhere and was bringing it over to her, where he handed it to her as he studied her ‘family crest.’ He studied it ponderously. “I didn’t know you had a family crest.” It was a questioning statement, as if he was asking her to prove him wrong.

  As she took the silver bar from him, she focused on molding it into the grooves she’d made in the wall as she absently replied, “I didn’t. I’ve been thinking about the design for a few days and this is what I came up with for myself to put as a mark on my wares eventually. I figured since it was going to be my mark anyway, might as well make it my family crest.” She glanced around at the other names, “Besides, I didn’t see anything similar, so I figured it wouldn’t clash.”

  He smiled at her. “It’s certainly unique, like you.” She flashed her teeth at him briefly as she finished putting the silver into the wall.

  She stuck her tongue out at him. “Knavery and flattery are blood relations.” Ah, good ol’ honest Abe. He was full of smart stuff and had led an interesting life before he was shot. She was reminded of the other flattery quotes she’d read in her old life, and the only other one that stuck out was that imitation was the sincerest form of flattery. Was anyone imitating her, aside from her hairstyles?

  She frowned in thought. She needed to work on leaving a better legacy. If she died this weekend, she wanted to be known for more than introducing braids to the world. Granted, she supposed she’d advanced light magic and contractual bonds, but still. There were so many things she wanted to do. So there would be no dying; her bucket list was far too long to abandon midway.

  Further introspection was put on hold by a great bell that tolled across the grounds nine times. She glanced up, surprised. Where had the time gone? Students started to drift out of the tunnels leading off of the room, headed to who knew where. Victor held out his arm as he said cheerfully, “Well, let’s get you to the infirmary, shall we?”

  Jade nodded absently. “Sure, I suppose I should go there.” Not for herself, mind you, but it was time to heal the others. She wondered how much of that she had forestalled by taking up so much of the time the class usually used. Between her run of the course and then leading the group to the hall of fame, it had eaten quite a bit of time.

  He led her to a different tunnel than the one they’d come in, and she just followed him, staring up at the scribbles on the walls they had passed absently. Her fellacai followed quietly behind, most of them taking places in her hair once more. The others had dispersed with quiet goodbyes, leaving Victor to escort her out. With her vacant gaze, they probably figured it was no use talking to her right now anyway.

  Still, Victor tried. “I’m still amazed you made it through. That looked brutal.”

  She smiled at him and shrugged. “Honestly, I still feel like I cheated. I was healing myself the whole time or I’d never have gotten close to the finish line. Maybe if there was only one person shooting me without my wind arrows, it’d be a different story, but I had to heal constantly for fear that if I wasn’t fast enough, it would compound.” She shook out her free hand. “I still feel rattled to my bones.”

  He chuckled softly. “Not that it matters, but it wasn’t really cheating. It was using your resources. The fact that you could heal yourself on the move is amazing. I’ve never known a healer to be able to do that.”

  She laughed hollowly. “I’m just lucky I didn’t accidentally heal anything wrong. If anything had broken beyond a crack, I’d have had to set it before I could heal it up. That’s why the constant healing was important, so nothing had a chance to get misplaced by multiple fractures in the same spot. I still feel like I was run over by a truck.”

  He raised a brow. “What’s a truck?”

  She sighed. “It’s a…vehicle? Do you have vehicles here?” He shook his head and she sighed. “It’s…a machine that was set on four wheels and used an energy source to move. It was used to haul supplies over long distances.”

  He still looked perplexed by her explanation, then enlightenment seemed to dawn on him. “I forget you didn’t have magic there. It seems strange that you couldn’t just use teleportation gates.”

  She shook her head. “And what do you think you did before those gates existed? I’m sure not everyone moved everything by themselves.”

  He shook his head. “Of course not, they used pack animals.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Of course.” They had arrived at the clinic at this point, and he opened the door for her chivalrously.

  “I’ll see you later.” He bowed, grinning at her as she twiddled her fingers at him in farewell and stepped into the cool interior.

  She breathed in the smell of herbs as she made her way past the line and towards Scylla, who was looking at her with something akin to shock. “Child, what happened to you!?” She felt Scylla’s hand on her arm and the warm glow of healing wash through her. She moaned in relief as all the tiny aches and pains disappeared.

  Scylla was frowning at her imperiously, so she responded meekly, “I took a bit of a beating on the obstacle course. Thank you, that felt wonderful, but why didn’t my healing work?” She was annoyed that she hadn’t healed her own aches and pains.

  Scylla laughed softly. “Silly child, why else do you think? It’s harder to treat yourself. I’m amazed you did as much as I saw. The traces of healing are extensive, so you must’ve taken quite a bit of damage to have what was left.”

  Jade nodded. “I broke fifty-seven bones, so yeah, I’d say it was extensive.” There were shocked gasps from the nearby students, and she turned to smile at them. “Well come on, step forward. We haven’t got all day to heal you.”

  Scylla let out a small titter as the students stepped forward to be healed, and Jade surreptitiously reached into her pack and shoved some food into her mouth unobtrusively. Energy was a good thing, and she was feeling famished now that she was fully healed.

  The line was much shorter than usual, and they got through it in about ten minutes, much to Jade’s relief. Scylla was walking her to the door as she asked curiously, “So, how far did you make it on the course to receive such a beating?”

  Jade grinned. “I finished it. It wouldn’t have been worth the trouble, otherwise. Who wants to take a beating and not have the euphoria of success? I was probably just too stubborn to give up.”

  Scylla shook her head, her eyes seeming to gaze into the distance at a scene Jade could not see. She smiled enigmatically down at Jade as she said sadly, “Do try not to push yourself too far. You’re just one person, and you can’t save the world.”

  Jade smiled ruefully up at her. “Perhaps not, but I can certainly try.” She stepped into the bright sunshine, waving off Scylla’s disgruntlement with her words as her fellacai took wing, winking in the bright light. She trudged towards her workroom, feeling dirty. She was covered in sweat and grime, her clothes sticking to her unpleasantly. Still, she returned cheerful greetings to those wh
o sent their salutations her way.

  She was relieved to make it back to her workroom, opening the door and slipping inside as she let go of some of the tension she felt. There had been more people staring at her than usual, pointing and whispering. News spread fast here.

  Her fellacai were supremely happy to be back in her workshop and immediately flew to her cherry tree and miniature garden. She called a bit of water from the air, cleansing herself and dumping the dirt into the garden as fertilizer for the plants. She stripped off her grimy clothes, quickly changing into a clean set before she flopped down in her sitting area to eat.

  She sat there for a few minutes, just enjoying the sunshine and the view of students wandering the grounds below her. Some seemed to wander aimlessly, some to catch up with friends, while others plowed through with a purpose.

  When she realized that students were beginning to thin out, she glanced at the time to find she should be setting out as well. She grabbed her bow from the wall and blew a kiss to her fellacai. “Stay here, loves, and play in the garden. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

  “Be safe!” her tiny queens squeaked back at her, and she smiled fondly at them. Still, there was no point in them coming to archery or blade practice. She’d just have to ask them to stay out of the way as it was, and there weren’t any good places for them to rest in those areas. She locked the door behind her to make sure no one else would get in to harm her babies while she was gone and quickly made her way to the archery grounds.

  Carter and Jeremy were there, obviously waiting for her. She smiled as she greeted them. “Ready to try further targets?” Carter asked with a grin.

  She laughed. “I hope I can hit stationary targets at this point. They’re much easier than the moving ones.”