And it wasn’t just the sense of spirit—it was a shaping of it.
Was there someone here who had managed to reach spirit shaping?
It would be an advanced shaping, and it would signal someone within this classroom would have the potential to be an Inquisitor. He looked around, searching to find whether anyone here had shown any sign of it. He had to think that Master Aela would have acknowledged it if that were the case, and yet as he looked around, it didn’t seem as if anyone was having success.
Perhaps in time they’d be able to. Or perhaps Master Aela would allow them to use one of the Tracker bondars like the one Ferrah had borrowed. Using something like that would open them to the possibility of spirit in a very different way.
As he looked, he realized the shaping came from Master Aela herself.
It washed over the students.
Why would she be shaping them?
It was a spirit shaping. Tolan understood what would happen with a spirit shaping, though only if that were her intent.
She did it subtly, a soft touch, and he frowned to himself as he paid attention. She started in the front row of the classroom, letting spirit sweep over each of the students.
Could she be trying to unlock something within them? It wouldn’t be unheard of for one of the master shapers to use a connection like that in order to free them, but spirit was its own troublesome element. There was danger in using it like that, danger that came from how others could be influenced, and there was danger in how they could destroy someone’s mind, taking away their ability to think for themselves.
He didn’t want to be spirit-shaped. He didn’t want anyone to be spirit-shaped, but in particular, he didn’t want Ferrah to be spirit-shaped. She was angry enough about the shaping she’d experienced before, and he could easily imagine what she would do if she learned Master Aela was trying the same thing.
When she finished the end of one row, he noticed the way she neared Ferrah.
“Master Aela?”
The shaping shifted, drawn off Ferrah. It swept toward him, and he steeled himself against it. Instinctively, he shaped fire, adding earth, drawing it through the bondar. He could feel the spirit strike his shaping, rolling past it, and he held her gaze, terrified she was somehow using it on him, but nothing seemed to change.
Master Aela watched him, frowning. “What is it, Shaper Ethar?”
“I think I’ve managed to mix each of the elements.”
Somewhere nearby, someone chuckled. Tolan didn’t have to look over to realize it was Draln.
“That would be an advanced shaping, Shaper Ethar.”
“Can you let me know if I’m doing it right?”
Next to him, Jonas frowned, watching him, and Tolan ignored him. He ignored the way Ferrah watched. If nothing else, he wasn’t about to let her get spirit-shaped until he better understood what was taking place.
“I seem to recall you do not have the ability to shape wind and water without the bondar.”
His heart hammered. “Not yet, but I think maybe I managed to make this work.”
She frowned at him. “It’s unlikely, Shaper Ethar. I am attuned to spirit shapings, and if any of you were capable of merging the elements, I would have detected it.”
“That’s what you were doing?” he asked.
She stared at him. “I was searching for spirit. There is a telltale signature, and there is a particular spirit shaping that allows me to uncover it.”
He nodded, taking a seat. “I’m sorry. I just thought I might have succeeded. With as hard a time as I have reaching any of the elements…”
She nodded to him. “Don’t despair, Shaper Ethar. Seeing how much you’ve been progressing, I suspect you will one day show potential even with spirit.”
She turned away, and her shaping stopped.
Tolan breathed out heavily, staring straight ahead, not wanting to do or say anything.
“I think that is enough for today,” Master Aela said. “We will resume this in another week. You will continue to work on opening yourselves to each of the elements, and when you do, then you can see if you can uncover any way of reaching for spirit. I hope this has been enlightening for all of you.”
Everybody began to get to their feet and started to shuffle out. Shapings burst from the edge of the spirit-shaping classroom as shapers used their preferred shapings in order to lower themselves back down out of the spirit tower. Tolan paused at the edge, and Jonas looked over at him. “What was that about?” he whispered.
Tolan shook his head. “Not now.”
“You weren’t able to do anything. Why would you claim it?”
Ferrah shaped, dropping to the main level. Tolan used fire and earth, dropping alongside her, and Jonas joined them on wind.
They headed out of the tower, passing a pair of dark-cloaked Inquisitors who watched them. Tolan couldn’t help but think they were attempting to shape them, though he didn’t feel anything from them. Perhaps they weren’t trying to test anyone. Then again, they were Inquisitors. With the nature of their shaping, it was likely they were so skilled with it that no one would be able to detect what they were doing.
“When do you want to talk about this?” Jonas asked.
Tolan hurried, racing up toward Ferrah. She was heading toward the second-level quarters, and when he caught up to her, she shot him a look.
“What?” he said.
“You don’t need to draw attention to yourself. With everything you’ve done, I think drawing attention is dangerous.”
“You don’t understand,” he said.
“I’m sure I don’t. Why don’t you tell me?”
They had reached the main part of the second-level quarters, and he motioned for them to follow him back to their rooms. When they were there, he waited, giving Jonas a look until the other man shaped wind around the room, attempting to seal it off. Thankfully, Wallace wasn’t in the room, so they didn’t have to worry about him. Then again, Wallace wasn’t there very often.
“The only reason I did that was because Master Aela was performing a spirit shaping on everybody in the room.”
Ferrah watched him, her brow clouding.
“You heard what she said,” Jonas said. “She was using her shaping to see if any of us had the potential.”
Tolan nodded. “I know that now, but at the time, I didn’t. I didn’t like the fact she was sweeping her spirit shaping around the room.”
“You were trying to protect yourself by drawing attention to yourself?” Jonas looked over at Ferrah, as if trying to get her to agree with him. She remained silent, though Tolan recognized the irritation on her face. Hopefully it wouldn’t be directed at him this time.
Tolan shook his head. “No. She shaped me when I called attention to myself.”
“Then why would you do it? Honestly, Tolan, I think Ferrah is right. You really have to be more careful. Everything that’s happened these days has you involved, and with the Inquisitors here, and with the rumors spreading, we need to be careful.”
Jonas released his shaping, heading out of the room and toward the commons area.
It left Ferrah and Tolan alone.
“You did that for me, didn’t you?”
He inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly. “She was getting closer to you with the spirit shaping. I didn’t know the purpose of it, but knowing you’d already been exposed to spirit shapings before, and knowing that those shapings have influenced you, I…”
Tolan shook his head, glancing toward the door. He had been foolish. Here he’d begun to think Master Aela was doing something to them, but she was only attempting to find spirit. And when her shaping had washed over him, he hadn’t felt anything strange. There had been no sense of her trying to harm him. The only thing he’d detected was the way the shaping washed over him, sweeping beyond him, and it left him knowing there was nothing else within it to fear.
More than that, he had drawn attention to himself, the way Jonas and Ferrah had suggested. He had en
ough of that, and he should know better than to do so, and should know better than to draw that attention to himself, especially as it served no purpose other than to make him the target of the Inquisitors. With their presence in the Academy, he should do whatever he could to avoid their notice.
Ferrah sat next to him, taking his hand. “Thank you. It was stupid of you. If her shaping was only determining whether or not we were reaching for spirit, then what you did wasn’t necessary, but I know why you did it. And thank you.”
He sat there for a moment with her, quietly, and yet, he couldn’t help but wonder whether the spirit shaping had done something else to him, or perhaps that was nothing more than his imagination.
What he did know was that he had some time before the next spirit class session, and he was determined to go in prepared. If that meant he would need to continue to work with each of his element bonds, then he would do so. The time with the bondars had to matter. He had to be able to reach each of the elements on his own. He was determined to figure out what was necessary in order to reach spirit.
And Jonas was right. He needed to focus on the future, on what it might take to pass the next test. There was always another test.
13
Attempting to shape in the earth-shaping classroom as a second-level student went much better for Tolan than it did when he was a first-year student. Partly that was because he had spent so much time with the Keystone and the bondars, but partly it was because he’d been able to practice with earth on his own.
Master Shorav seemed less and less surprised by Tolan’s ability to shape within the classroom. That had begun during the ending of his first level and at the time of his testing, and it had continued, allowing him the opportunity to feel almost as if he could be an earth shaper.
He still felt dependent upon the bondar. As in all shapings, he defaulted to using it, not considering it a crutch the same way Ferrah did. For Tolan, it was a necessity.
“It is time for you to attempt your shaping,” Master Shorav said from the front of the class. He pulled a tray of bondars out, and everyone filed toward the front of the room.
Tolan hesitated, remaining seated, and Jonas glanced over at him.
“You don’t need a bondar for earth anymore?”
Tolan considered getting up but decided to use the bondar he’d found at his parents’ home. Why shouldn’t he? If nothing else, the bondar his father had made might be more effective than any of the others. He also needed to practice with it, using what he could to shape through the bondar so he could become better aware of its limitations—along with his limitations. There would have to be some, though when it came to understanding how to use this bondar, Tolan wasn’t entirely certain what limitations there might be.
“I’m going to try without it today.”
“Weren’t you the one who was commenting on Ferrah and her inability to shape fire without a bondar? I seem to remember you talking about a stubbornness.”
Tolan started to flush, his gaze drifting toward Ferrah, who sat at the front of the class. Unlike with fire, she was strong with earth, and she had no need to use a bondar for her shaping. He wasn’t surprised she hadn’t taken one.
“If I can’t do it, I’ll go and get a bondar.”
Jonas frowned at him. “If you say so.” He went to the front of the class and took his bondar before returning and taking a seat. As he did, he set it on the table, glancing over at Tolan. “Are you going to shape?”
The shaping Master Shorav wanted from them shouldn’t be that difficult. He had wanted them to create a specific shape, and they cleared the table out of the way, taking a seat on the ground so they could use that natural connection to perform their shaping. There was something about the earth tower that seemed more open than in other places. Because of that, he was better able to use the earth shaping here than elsewhere within the Academy towers. Any shaping here didn’t really disrupt the contours of the structure. Tolan still hadn’t discovered if it was some extra layer of shaping upon the Academy or if it was something else.
He focused on an elemental. In this case, there was one elemental he thought might be helpful, an earth elemental called grosn. The only connection he’d had to this elemental had been at the Keystone. Without using a bondar, Tolan didn’t know if he would be able to reach it now, but he focused on what he needed of the elemental.
It came to him slowly. There came a soft rumbling, and Tolan opened his eyes to see if it was from him but realized it came from Jonas working next to him. He had a powerful shaping building from the bondar, forming an enormous frame encompassing much of the floor. Jonas held onto it before releasing it again.
“You really should try using a bondar,” Jonas said.
“What would you be able to do without the bondar?”
“With earth? Probably a much smaller version of this. I’d fought using it, but there’s no point. Why shouldn’t I get a better sense of the shaping? It’s better for me to do it this way than to fight it and think I know better.”
Tolan chuckled. “I’m not saying I know better.”
Jonas held out the bondar, but Tolan didn’t take it.
“See? Stubbornness.”
Tolan shrugged. “Again, I’m not so sure I’d call it stubbornness. More a determination.”
“You and Ferrah both.”
Tolan continued to focus on the elemental. If he could manage that, then he wouldn’t feel as dependent upon having a bondar available anytime he needed to perform a shaping.
Holding the image of the elemental in his mind, he continued to attempt a shaping. All he really needed was that sense of stirring within himself, the connection that would allow him to grab hold of the elementals. It didn’t come.
Jonas was watching him, and he seemed waiting for Tolan to fail.
The way Jonas looked at him reminded him far too much of the way others had looked at him in Ephra. It was similar to the way Tanner had always looked at him. Tolan hated that look. It was one that dismissed him.
Irritation bubbled up within him, and Tolan reached his hand into his pocket, gripping the bondar. Once he did, he focused on the elemental again. This time, there came a faint stirring from deep within him, and he latched onto that. Connected to the stirring in that way, Tolan focused on the elemental, forming it. It emerged slowly, a steady rumbling, and it built larger and larger.
As it did, Tolan realized he’d made a mistake. He hadn’t focused on a size. Rather, he’d used everything he could to simply generate the elemental.
Tolan tried to push away the elemental, trying to dismiss it, but now he’d summoned it, there was no way he was going to be able to dismiss it so easily.
Please, he begged.
The earth elemental ignored his plea, continuing to rumble.
Tolan continued to focus on it, trying to suppress it, but it wouldn’t dissipate.
Was there anything else he could do?
Fire.
He grabbed for the furios, squeezing it and attempting a subtle shaping, but in his panic, he drew too much and saa burst from him, striking the elemental, and the two of them wound together before both collapsed.
Tolan sank back, sweating.
Jonas was watching him, but that wasn’t all. Others in the room were also watching him. Including Master Shorav.
“What was that?” Jonas whispered.
“That was a shaping.”
Jonas shook his head. “That’s not the kind of shaping we were asked to do.”
“You did one quite a bit larger than that,” Tolan said.
“With the bondar. You were doing it without, and then… Did you lose control of it? It looked like there was fire, but it was there and gone so quickly, I wasn’t sure.”
Tolan waved his arm across his forehead, wanting nothing more than to be invisible so others wouldn’t turn their attention to him. Unfortunately, everyone looked in his direction, waiting for him to respond.
“I’m not feeling so well,” he
said. He got to his feet, heading out of the earth classroom, and staggered down the steps.
He actually wasn’t feeling well, but it was different than some sort of sickness. It was fear.
He was losing control of his shapings. With Master Sartan, he would have lost control of his fire shaping had the master shaper not been there. In Master Shorav’s classroom, Tolan would have released earth somehow had he not managed to combat it with fire. Would the same thing happen if he attempted wind and water?
This wasn’t the kind of thing he should be doing these days, not with the Inquisitors at the Academy.
At the branch point of the stairs where he could head down, he turned toward the student section. All he wanted to do was rest. And maybe that was his problem. Maybe he was tired from lack of sleep the night before. Master Irina had warned him he needed to get his rest, almost as if she had anticipated something like this happening, though Tolan doubted she would have been able to predict he would release an elemental—or nearly so.
When he reached his room, he dropped onto the bed. He laid back, his eyes wide as he stared up at the ceiling. Maybe he should get some rest but after what he’d done—or nearly done—he thought he needed to disappear.
Everyone had been looking at him.
And now he would be attracting attention. Others would see him, and would they accuse him of dangerous shapings?
They were dangerous. The more he performed them, the more convinced Tolan became that they were tied to the actual elementals. They had to be, especially as uncontrollable as they were. With that being the case, and with him not having a connection to them, he should stop—only shaping in this way was the only way he knew how to shape.
A soft sound of the doorway caught his attention and he looked up to see Ferrah standing there. Concern wrinkled the corners of her eyes and she shook her head softly. “What was that?”
“It was nothing.”
“It was more than nothing.” She took a few steps and a shaping built from her, sealing off the room. “You need to talk to me, Tolan. You need to talk to someone. Even if it’s not me.”
The Water Ruptures Page 16