“I might, but I don’t know for sure,” he said.
“Indecisive. I suppose that is as much as one could be when it comes to spirit. Not everyone is aware of their connection, and it’s possible you do. Most of the time, people come to us looking for understanding about a connection they’ve discovered.”
“Do most people uncover their spirit connection in the spirit classroom?” Master Aela was fine, but he didn’t really think he’d learn what he needed from her. She was too vague about her approach.
“Surprisingly, no. Most who come to understand they have a connection to spirit find spirit classes aren’t designed to take them to reach it. The spirit classes are more designed to help you understand the use and nature of spirit, but for most people, that is the end of it. Most aren’t able to use spirit any other way.”
She climbed down from the dais, making her way over to the stack of shelves. Tolan thought she was going to head toward the same stack where she had initially grabbed the books on the elementals, but she surprised him by taking the stairs, winding her way up to the second story.
Once again, the restricted stacks.
He waited, looking around the library, noting that other than he and Ferrah, no one else had come into the library. The only other librarian here was Master Shore. He was an older shaper and had a serious expression practically burned on his face. He made his way around the library, constantly re-shelving books, never taking a place upon the dais and sitting next to Master Minden. When Master Shore had been in the library before, Tolan had seen him doing the same thing. Maybe he viewed his responsibility to ensure the books were appropriately shelved, or maybe it was his assignment.
Eventually, Master Minden made her way down the stairs, and she did so carrying a small book. It was about the size of his hand, and not very thick. It was more a pamphlet than a true book, and quite a bit less significant than any of the books on the elementals he had borrowed. She made her way toward him, and she and Master Shore shared a strange glance. When she reached Tolan, she held the book in both hands, squeezing it, almost as if afraid to hand it over to him.
“This is another incredibly rare book, Shaper Ethar. Much like the other three, this one is not allowed to leave the library.”
“Because it’s restricted?”
“Because the shapings upon the library keep it intact. If you were to remove this, the book itself would disintegrate. It is much older than the other three, and among the oldest we have. I would ask that you sit up here when you look at it so I can ensure its safety.”
Tolan tensed, feeling as if he were being granted some great gift, but not sure he was truly worthy. He had told her he might be a spirit shaper. Would reading through this book somehow change him in any way? Would it have information he was not meant to have unless he really was a spirit shaper?
He held onto the book and followed Master Minden up to the dais. Once there, she motioned for him to pull out a stool he hadn’t seen before, and he took a seat next to her. The view from up here was different—unique. Situated only five steps above the rest of the library, he felt as if he were still quite a bit higher than he really was.
Ferrah glanced over in his direction, her eyes widening slightly, and then turned her attention back to the three books.
Tolan flipped open the book and started reading, looking for anything that might remind him of the elemental books he’d already borrowed. While this one referred to spirit, it also referenced the heart and the mind, and seemed quite a bit different than the other books on the elementals.
Unfortunately, Tolan didn’t feel as if this would give him any real insight about spirit, but he persisted, flipping through the pages slowly.
As he did, he made note of the writing. At first, he hadn’t realized there was something unusual about it, but the more he looked at the pages, the more he realized it wasn’t written in the common tongue.
Despite that, Tolan was somehow able to understand what he was reading.
How was that even possible?
He glanced over at Master Minden, but she remained preoccupied with the book she worked on, ignoring his questioning glance.
Was anything to the writing that would help him understand what he was seeing?
It wasn’t in the lettering, and it wasn’t even in any depiction of spirit elementals as there was for the other elementals. The pages, too, were considerably thicker than what he’d found in some of the other books.
He flipped it closed, looking at the depictions on the surface, but found nothing there that would help him. The cover was silvery and smooth. He ran his fingers along it. It felt metallic, but not the same way some of the other covers had felt. The cover for the earth elemental had seemed to be both metallic and made of stone, a strange combination.
This one was quite a bit different than those. Opening the book again, he started through it once more. As he had before, he was able to read the book while at the same time recognizing he should not be able to.
“I don’t understand,” he said.
Master Minden was watching him, and there was a strange light in her eyes.
“What is it you don’t understand, Shaper Ethar?”
“What is it about this book? Why did you give me this to read?”
“I gave you this because you wanted to know something about spirit.”
Tolan looked down at the book, staring at the page. “What if I can’t read it?”
“Can you?”
There was something more in the question, and Tolan knew his answer would determine what more she would do for him. Was he willing to admit he could read the words written on this page?
He stared at the first page, the language filling his head, almost as if he had seen it before. “I don’t understand.”
“This is written in one of the most ancient of languages, Shaper Ethar. Very few without appropriate training are able to understand what’s written on the pages.”
“Do you?”
“I have studied for my entire life to be able to read this language. And even then, I wouldn’t be able to understand it were it not for a special gift that had been given to me.”
“What gift was that?”
“The gift of a shaping.”
“A shaping?”
She nodded. “In order to understand the writing within this book, one must have knowledge of it shaped into them. And I wonder, now I see you staring at the pages, how is it you seem to understand this language?”
11
Tolan lay in bed, unable to sleep, staring up at the ceiling. The others in the room with him were all sleeping soundly, having drifted off long ago. He knew he should fall asleep, but he just couldn’t. As much as he wanted to, he just couldn’t shut down his mind enough to get enough rest. It was as if everything was changing.
Tolan was left with questions, but there were no answers. Every time he went looking for answers, he came across new questions.
Master Minden hadn’t known why he was able to read through the ancient book on spirit shaping. Tolan hadn’t had any answers, either. At first, he’d thought she was playing a game with him, but the way she’d stared at him, the intensity in her milky gaze, left him fully aware it was serious. That he had no idea why he would be able to read the words in the book mattered to her, though he didn’t have any explanation either.
It was why he lay restless, struggling for sleep, straining to understand whether there were any answers. Who had shaped that knowledge into his mind?
As far as he knew, he couldn’t be spirit-shaped. The Grand Inquisitor had tried, and she had failed—at least, he had thought she had failed.
What if she hadn’t? What if rather than trying to wipe his mind, she had given him knowledge? But what purpose would there be in giving knowledge like that?
If Master Minden knew the answer, she hadn’t said anything to him.
And he didn’t have any answers, either. So he stared at the ceiling, trying to come to terms with what h
e had learned, but he struggled with the attempt.
He got out of bed. If he wasn’t able to sleep, there was no point in lying there. He could remain all night, restless, his mind churning through what he had experienced, and still be no closer to any answers. And perhaps that was the way it was going to be.
What he needed was to return to the library and see if there were any other similar books he could read. Master Minden would have to allow him an opportunity to try to read them. If she did, maybe he could uncover more about himself. At the same time, he had no interest in returning to the library this late, not without knowing which of the master librarians he’d find there. If it wasn’t Master Minden, there would just be more questions, and likely the kind of questions he had no interest in—and perhaps no ability to—answer at this time.
Instead, he headed down to the kitchen.
The smells of the kitchen—of breads and meats and pastries—all lingered, though it was late enough that none of the cooks was still here. Students weren’t forbidden from heading to the kitchen at any time, so he wandered through and reached the cabinet near the back where leftover pastries would be found. It would fill his stomach, probably not much more than that, but it would be enough to satiate him, and maybe it would be enough to finally be able to sleep.
Fumbling for a way to see through the darkness, Tolan grabbed for the furios and shaped a hint of flame through it, adding a connection to saa without thinking much of it. The flame burst into view, floating in front of him, giving enough light for him to see everything within the closet. Shelves were filled with jars, and row upon row of sacks filled with grain and flour and sugar lined the floor. It was incredibly neat and tightly organized, and the sense of a shaping to preserve all of this lingered overtop everything.
He found a loaf of bread and pulled off the end of it, grabbing a hunk of cured meat to go with it. Unfortunately, there were no pastries, but he would make do with this. When he went back out into the main part of the kitchen, he took a seat at the counter, holding on to the shaping of flame. He’d long since released his hold on the furios but maintaining a connection to saa wasn’t all that difficult regardless.
As he was eating, the door to the kitchen opened and Tolan tried to release his connection to the shaping, but the elemental hovered for a moment before flashing out, practically waiting for him to beg to it to disappear.
“Shaper Ethar,” a voice called out.
Tolan sat up stiffly, looking over toward Master Irina. “Master Irina. I was just getting something to eat. I was having a difficult time sleeping.”
“And why would that be?”
“Just my studies.”
She approached him slowly, and in the darkness, it was difficult to tell how she studied him. As she neared, it seemed she looked at him with an unreadable expression. “What is it that troubled you about your studies?”
“The same as troubles most students, I suppose,” Tolan said.
“Most students struggle with mastering complex shapings, though from what I hear from Master Sartan, you have demonstrated an incredibly complex fire shaping. He was interested in how you knew how to do it, but I think also impressed, though he would never share that with a student.”
“I was just recalling a shaping I knew,” he said.
“Intriguing. And what shaping is it that you knew allowed you to perform such a complex shaping?”
“I’d seen it before,” he said, his mind racing as he hurriedly tried to come up with anything that would explain why he would know about that shaping. “I think it was from one of the upper-level students when I was first here, and—”
“I see. Would this be the same upper-level students who thought it appropriate to create elementals with their shapings?”
Tolan froze. That would be as good an answer as any, and at least offered an explanation as to why he would have known how to do that, but would Master Irina believe it?”
“I can see you don’t want to betray them, though I suspect many of those students have already moved on.”
“Many have,” he said.
“But not all. I see.” She studied him for a moment. “You will find the masters are most impressed by complicated shapings out of students they don’t expect it from.”
“Such as me?” he said.
“You would be such a case. As you know, you did come to the Academy without much natural shaping ability. The fact you have progressed as far as you have is quite impressive. Many are surprised you graduated to the second level.”
“What about you?”
“Ah, but I’m not necessarily the right person to ask. I saw you knew something unique. Though I recognized you had no idea what you were doing, I didn’t have any problem with you presenting yourself for Selection.”
What did she mean, she saw he knew something unique? That was an odd comment, and yet, it was surprisingly fitting. He did have something unique about him, though Tolan wasn’t entirely certain what it was. Perhaps Master Irina wasn’t entirely certain, either.
“Do you often come here late at night?”
“Not usually,” Tolan said. “Most of the time, I’m able to sleep.”
“And yet you don’t think it’s unusual that tonight of all nights you’re unable to sleep?”
“I’ve come here before in the middle the night,” Tolan said. Having the Grand Inquisitor with him gave him an opportunity to ask questions. Maybe he could find something. “All the talk of the traitor at the Academy and the Inquisitors…”
She regarded him. “It can be difficult to believe, but the Inquisitors are here for your protection.”
“I understand.”
“I’m not sure you do. Thre has been enough activity from the Draasin Lord lately. We recognize the danger of what he intends, though we might not know his plan. Finding this traitor will allow us to uncover those plans.”
“Will the Inquisitors question the students?”
“Do you think they should?”
Tolan tensed, his food forgotten. “I want to keep the Academy safe from the Draasin Lord too. This is my home now. I guess that’s why I wasn’t able to sleep and came down here.”
She smiled tightly. “Not all students take advantage of the kitchens. It’s rare for anyone to come this late at night, though I find it also soothing.”
“Were you unable to sleep, as well?”
She shook her head. “I never struggle sleeping. It’s a simple matter to place a shaping upon yourself to allow yourself to sleep, but in this case, I find it helpful to process what I’ve been thinking about. Movement often allows me to think more clearly. With what we are dealing with, I must have a clear mind.”
“Movement?”
“Getting out of my rooms. With the activity in the Academy, the daytime isn’t often the most productive for me. It’s not until evening that I’m able to finally slow down and be able to get my bearings.”
“I thought the Academy was quieter now the Council has moved back out.”
“Quieter, but still not quiet. And I have become accustomed to staying up. With the new students taking up residence within the Academy, there has been a need for some attention to them.”
There was an odd statement for her to make, and Tolan couldn’t help but wonder what sort of attention she thought the new students needed. What could the Grand Inquisitor offer that master shapers did not?
“Don’t mind me, then,” Tolan said.
“Oh, Shaper Ethar, it would be my pleasure to sit and have a quiet bite with you.”
She wandered to the same closet he had gone to and was gone for a few moments before returning. In the time she was gone, Tolan debated running off and returning to his room, but doing that would only raise questions, and he wanted to avoid her focus as much as he could. Maybe it was best to just remain and deal with whatever conversation she intended to have with him.
When she returned, she was carrying a plate laden with cheese. She set it down between them. She nodded
to the hunk of meat, and he handed it over. Master Irina pulled a knife from a pocket and began slicing off chunks of meat. Tolan realized he had just been sitting there, not eating, and not doing anything other than waiting for her return.
“Are you going to eat?” she asked.
“I’m sorry, I was just lost in thought. Maybe I’m more tired than I realize.”
“Maybe you are. I’m sure you have a busy day ahead of you tomorrow, but I would appreciate the opportunity to converse with you for a little while.”
Tolan could only nod. What choice did he have? “What do you want to converse about?”
“How was your experience in Ephra?”
That wasn’t the question he had expected of her, and he shrugged. “I suppose about as well as I expected.”
“I understand you weren’t eager to return to your homeland. Most of the students who were offered an opportunity to return did so willingly, and one might say almost excitedly. You, on the other hand, were one who was not necessarily eager to return.”
“I don’t have much family there.”
“Not family, but you did have a friend. Are you disappointed he was not Selected?”
Tolan had spent some time thinking about it, and realized he wasn’t upset Tanner hadn’t been Selected. He should have been more disappointed, losing out on the opportunity to have his friend at the Academy with him, but surprisingly had not been. The part that troubled him the most was the idea Tanner wouldn’t have remembered he had visited. With the spirit shaping, Tanner wouldn’t remember anything about Tolan’s visit and only would know a disappointment in having Velthan suddenly disappear.
He pushed away those thoughts. They did him no good. As he had Master Irina here in front of him, it was an opportune time to see what he might be able to find out about her and the connection to an increased number of students being Selected.
“There are rumors going around the Academy,” Tolan said, taking a careful bite of food.
The Water Ruptures Page 14