“Do you?”
Elle wondered if she even did. In some ways, nearly dying and having the udilm rescue her had given her a sense of closeness to the sea that others would never have, but in other ways, she felt as disconnected as any she’d met in the kingdoms. She’d never served on a ship, had never guided the fleet, not like Brist had. He knew the sea in ways that she could never comprehend.
But she spoke to water. Didn’t that count for something?
“Maybe I don’t,” she said. “That doesn’t mean I’m not willing to listen, or that I’m not willing to try. It doesn’t mean that I’m not a true Doman, either.”
“No one has said that you’re not.”
“They think it, though. You did too.”
Ley took her hand and turned her to face him. “Now you’re able to know what I’m thinking, too? I didn’t realize that your ability to speak to the elementals extended to an ability to read my mind.”
He fixed her with a such a serious expression that Elle laughed in spite of herself.
They stood along the hillside, hand in hand, neither speaking for long moments. As she stood there, Elle realized that she might not have felt at home in Ophan, or really even in the kingdoms while she had been studying at the university. She might not even be truly at home in Falsheim, but with Ley, there was a sense of warmth, a pleasant sense that she was wanted. More than anything, that mattered.
“I’m sorry I brought you into this, Ley,” she said softly.
He pulled her against him and rested his chin on her head. “You did what you needed to do, Elle. I don’t doubt that, not like you think that I do.” He paused, a conflicted series of emotions working over his face. “You asked if I would return to Ophan. I don’t think that I can.”
“Why?”
“I think that I’m where I need to be right now.”
Elle didn’t know how to answer, and so didn’t. Her eyes lingered on his until she finally looked away, uncomfortable and uncertain about what she saw reflected there.
“We…we should return,” she said.
Ley sighed and smiled. “Not just yet. Let’s stand here a while longer.”
He squeezed her hand and leaned into her as they stared out over the sea together.
13
Elle started back toward the city as the daylight began to fade. Ley walked beside her, holding her hand. When she first went off to the university, she’d planned for nothing more than to continue her studies, wanting nothing more than to learn how to shape or better understand the elementals. When Tan had brought her to udilm, searching for healing, she had only wanted to speak to the elementals.
Now that she’d met Ley, she realized that she might want something more. Could he share those same feelings?
They paused along the hill overlooking Falsheim. Ley released her hand, and she let him go reluctantly. He cupped his hands to his face as he shaped. Water congealed between his fingers, becoming something like a spyglass that he pointed toward Ophan. It was a shaping he would not have had the strength to complete before they’d left. Not only she had changed, it seemed.
“What do you see?” she asked.
He stared through the shaping and then placed his hands in front of her face. The water lens magnified everything, reminding her of the old spyglass her mother had once displayed on shelves. It had been her father’s and served as a way for her to remember him.
“Nothing,” he said with frustration. “See that ridge? Beyond it is Ophan. Can’t see it from here because the rocks and the trees block it.”
“Then why look?” she asked. She grabbed his hands and turned his lens so that she could look out over the water. Swells rolled toward the rock, crashing at the base. Through the magnification of Ley’s shaping, she could make out the way the mist sprayed up as it slammed against the rock. Would masyn be within that mist?
“I just wanted to know if I could see anything,” he said softly.
Elle started to push his hands away but paused, turning out to sea. A single ship sailed, making the crossing between the outer peninsula and Falsheim. The magnification wasn’t enough for her to see the sailors aboard the ship, only the blur of color from the sails catching the wind. A Xsa ship. They were rare, especially now that Falsheim had been attacked.
Water split around the ship as it raced toward Falsheim. Two others followed behind it, sailing in a tight formation. Strange that Xsa would send ships to Falsheim now.
Elle pushed away the thought. “That’s what you’ve been doing atop the wall?” She stepped away from him and crossed her arms over her chest. “If you really want to return, we can find a ship that will take you back. Maybe one of the Xsa traders will take you when they return.”
“I don’t want to return,” he said, a horrified look coming to his face at her suggestion, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t wonder, you know? Just because I left doesn’t mean that I don’t care what happens there.”
At least Elle understood that. Not so much about her home—the village had been destroyed long enough ago that she no longer mourned quite as acutely as she once had—but she felt much the same about the university. She hadn’t known Tan all that well, but he had been a friend. He had befriended her when others simply dismissed her as strange or too curious, and was willing to listen when she brought up ideas that were admittedly outlandish. Then he had saved her when others would have abandoned her. Tan had a talent with his ability to speak to the elementals, but her desire to see him, to speak to him again, was about more than that. She missed her friend.
“I’m sorry,” Elle said softly.
Ley cupped his hands in front of his face again and stared toward Ophan. “I just wish I could see something.”
“We’re too far away,” Elle said. When she’d been in Ophan, she’d been able to see the flames leaping off Falsheim, but only from the hillside leading away from the village. The village itself was hidden down near an inlet off the sea, with nothing but the sea and sand spreading around it.
Ley said nothing. Elle wondered what he thought about when he looked out toward Ophan, and if he saw anything that might bring him a measure of peace. After the attack on Falsheim, everyone deserved some peace.
“Come on, Ley, we should get back. I’ve still got to figure out if I can shape the door open again.” For all she knew, it might require her getting mad at the guards once again and using that anger to power her shaping. She hoped that shaping would eventually come more naturally to her, even if it never felt like anything more than Ley’s ability.
He started to turn away but froze. His shaping increased sharply for a moment, and then his breath caught. Without saying a word, he pushed the water lens in front of her face.
“What is it?”
She needn’t have asked. The lens showed her the rock and the water below, but neither were what had caught Ley’s attentions. No, it was the slow spiral of thick, black smoke streaming up from above the rock.
Elle gasped softly.
“That’s Ophan,” he said.
“We don’t know that.”
“Elle, look at where the smoke is! We need to see if there’s anything we can do,” Ley said.
If that was Ophan, Elle doubted there was anything that would make a difference. “Ley, even if we could reach the village, it would be too late,” she said. “Besides, we don’t know that it’s anything more than a celebration—”
“Ophan never has festival fires. The only time I’ve ever seen anything like that was when the lisincend attacked. Then the fields were burned. This is darker smoke.” Ley turned to her, lowering his hands. “What if the village itself burns? We don’t know that those shapers were gone. They could have returned and they could be there, attacking my home.”
Elle took a deep sighing breath. “Voldan said the borders were clear.”
“You don’t believe Voldan.”
She didn’t, but that didn’t mean that shapers were so close. How could they have managed to attack Opha
n? And why choose the village? There was nothing there of any significance. “Let’s see if Brist will help,” she said.
She didn’t dare consider asking Voldan. She doubted that the water shaper would offer to help, especially given his disdain for the fact that she had gone to the university to learn shaping, but if this was those shapers, then maybe Voldan was wrong. Maybe the borders weren’t safe. And Brist needed to know.
“Do you think that the Lord Commander cares about one little village on the outer peninsula?” Ley asked.
“He’s supposed to care about all of Doma.” Ley looked at her askance. “Well, he is. He might not always be the best at proving it, but that’s the role of the Lord Commander.”
They reached the wall and Elle focused, determined to shape her way through, but the connection to water wouldn’t come. She slammed her hands on the wall in frustration, and the door opened as she did.
Elle stepped back in a surprise, glancing over at Ley. She was only mildly surprised when Voldan stepped outside.
“Shaper Vaywand,” he said and smiled when he saw Ley standing next to her. “You were given permission to be beyond the wall? I would not have thought that the Lord Commander would want you anywhere but within the city.”
Elle frowned. “The Lord Commander did not tell me that I had to remain within Falsheim, Voldan.”
“No? Then he would not be disheartened to learn how you’ve left?”
“Have I left? It seems that you found me as I returned.”
Voldan laughed. He started to shape the door closed but Elle stepped into it, blocking it. She didn’t want Voldan to see her struggling to open the door again. Ley might be able to shape, but he wasn’t strong enough to remove the seal around the door, especially not one placed by Voldan. Elle didn’t know if she’d be able to open the door either.
“Careful, Shaper Vaywand. You wouldn’t want to be squeezed there, would you?”
Elle pushed on the door and pulled on a frustrated shaping of water as she did. The door pressed back from her, empowered as she was by her irritation. Voldan’s eyes widened a moment and then he chuckled again.
“What are you doing outside the walls of the city?” Elle asked.
Voldan started away from the wall without answering. Elle sensed the building pressure of his shaping until water coalesced around his feet, allowing him to glide forward. She watched him until he disappeared and then pushed the door closed.
The guards watching the door were different than before. They glanced at her, hands on the hilts of their swords, but didn’t seem to mind the fact that she’d just come from the other side. The nearest even nodded to her and smiled.
Elle made her way through the streets and back to the Lord Commander’s quarters, but her knock at the door went unanswered. Ley tapped his feet behind her in irritation and she tried again. Still there was no answer.
She turned to him. “What do we do if the Lord Commander doesn’t return?” she asked.
Ley’s face told her all that she needed to know. He was afraid of what happened in Ophan, and if they had no way of getting the people help, then they would have to go themselves.
Elle waited with Ley until Brist returned. He saw them standing outside the door to the command site and paused, his mouth turning into a slight frown. She hurried forward and stood in front of him, blocking him from looking anywhere but directly at her. A few others were out on the street, but none bothered to watch. Most gave the Lord Commander a wide berth.
“Shaper Vaywand, can you please let me return to my post?” he asked.
“Do you think I’m going to do something to you, Lord Commander?” She made no effort to hide the scorn she put into his title. Elle knew that she should be careful, but there was something about Brist that set her teeth on edge and angered her.
“You’re a shaper,” was all that he answered.
Elle was aware of Ley behind her. He stayed a step back and held onto a soft shaping of water, though she wondered if he meant to use it on her or Brist. Probably her. Since Ley had never left Doma, he had something of a reverence for men like Brist. Elle was different. She appreciated the authority of shapers, the power that came from the gifts given to them and, even more than that, those shapers able to speak to the elementals. Now that she was one of those shapers, shouldn’t she be able to make decisions that mattered?
“I’m a shaper,” she agreed. She planted her hands on her hips and tried to look more imposing than her small stature really allowed. “I need a ship to take us to Ophan.”
Brist’s jaw clenched and he took a quick breath. “You might have strength, Shaper Vaywand, but you do not command the fleet. I am the Lord Commander and they sail only at my command.”
Trying to push him wouldn’t work. Elle had to be more careful than that. “There is a village under attack. We need to go and see what has happened.”
“There have been no reports of attack,” Brist said.
“No? Have your men been able to see across the bay? Do they see the smoke rising above the village?” There was a part of her that hoped it was nothing more than smoke, but if she managed to convince Brist, she hoped that she was right.
“Well, no. We have none who can see that far.”
“A shaper can see that far,” Elle said.
Brist frowned. “Voldan has said nothing, and he is the greatest shaper in Doma.”
Elle ignored the implication of her relative standing, mostly because it was true. Voldan knew things about shaping that Elle hadn’t begun to fathom. Perhaps in time, when her connection to Nimala improved, she might be able to accomplish some of the shapings that Voldan so easily managed, but for now, she was little more than a student while he was a master.
“Voldan didn’t see what we’ve seen,” Ley said. “Lord Commander, there is something there. Please,” he begged. “It is my home. If they are attacked, Doma needs to send help.”
Brist looked from Ley to Elle, and the tight lines around his eyes softened as if he came to a decision. “I have enough difficulties trying to deal with the sudden influx of people into the city. As if we could manage all those who lived in Falsheim before.” He sighed and shook his head. “You may find transport, but the fleet will not help. If you can manage to find travel, and if there is something, send a signal and then I may send help.”
His dark expression practically dared Elle to say something more. She knew that she couldn’t, that anything more that she might say would only serve to get her into more trouble, and that she’d probably pushed too hard with him already. So she nodded.
“Thank you, Lord Commander,” she said. She tried to hide the sarcasm in her voice as she spoke his title.
He started past them before pausing. “You know, Shaper Vaywand, your grandfather was a great man. Were it not for him—”
“I know,” Elle said. She’d heard enough about her grandfather over the years. She was proud of what he’d accomplished, but everyone seemed interested in using him as yardstick to measure her. She was different than her grandfather Elton. She might never be able to single-handedly thwart an Incendin attack or be able to curb an angry typhoon, using a summoning to udilm, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t do anything.
Only, everyone else only saw her grandfather when they looked at her. It was the reason that Brist had allowed her into his inner circle to begin with, that more than her ability to shape. The shaping was a part of it, but if not for her grandfather, she doubted that he would have been so forgiving of her attitude. And there was no denying the fact that she had demonstrated an attitude with him.
Ley grabbed her elbow and pulled her along the street. Elle glanced back and saw Brist pausing as he opened the door, noting the troubled expression on his face, but didn’t know why he should wear that.
Then they turned the corner and the Lord Commander disappeared from view.
“Where are we going?” Ley asked.
Elle moved quickly, winding through the narrow side streets o
f Falsheim. There were fewer people here and she was able to make her way more easily, with fewer bodies to press through. They passed a few small shops that were in this section on the city, things like a candlemaker, identified from afar by the scent of hot wax drifting from the windows, and a seamstress who hung lush silks outside the doors to her shop, but otherwise they passed nothing but homes. Ley raced to keep up with her, and Elle realized that she had been pulling on a shaping of water for speed as she went without knowing that she did.
“The Lord Commander gave me permission to leave the city,” she said.
“But, Elle, he also said that you can’t use one of the fleet. How else do you think we’re going to get to Ophan from here? Do you intend to steal another fishing vessel?”
She gave him her best annoyed look. “If I have to, so you’d better be prepared to help shape it across the bay.”
Ley blinked and then laughed. “The Sea Father knows that you would probably try,” he said. “I still don’t think that will get us there fast enough.”
Neither did she. If there was fire in Ophan, it meant the village had already been attacked. Elle didn’t know if there was anything that they’d be able to do if that was the case, but for Ley, she was willing to try. Besides, she had reached the udilm before. The elemental might be needed again.
“We’re not taking a fishing boat,” she said. “But there’s another I think we could try.”
14
The docks of Falsheim were a series of long piers that stretched far out into the sea, set on thick log wheels that could roll the whole thing back underneath the city. The first time Elle had realized that the docks could be retracted, she’d thought it a strange design. Most coastal cities had fixed docks that enabled the massive ships to unload, but Falsheim had been built above a series of massive stone pillars, leaving space between the pillars for the docks to roll back from the sea to protect from the harsh easterly storms.
Shaper of Water: The Cloud Warrior Saga Page 9