by Sarah Reeves
“Fine.” Alex shrugged. “It’s not like he wouldn’t eventually find out, anyway. He’s going to have to understand that I can’t access all of my power yet, though. It’s going to be difficult to learn everything else if he’s going to be too focused on that. I want to master the powers I have first.”
“Trust me, he’s the best. You’re going to like him.”
Chapter Fifteen
Alex did not like him. Not at first, anyway. The next day started with a rude awakening, violent banging on the door and shouting. Alex rolled out of bed, groggy as ever, and went to the door. She opened it to her new mentor.
“Why are you not dressed for training?” he barked. Alex blinked as she took in the sight of this enormous man. He had to be at least six four, and completely jacked. She was immediately intimidated. His close cropped hair was salt and pepper (mostly pepper), and his eyes were hazel. They betrayed no emotion. The expression on his face as he spoke was one that Alex had seen a lot in the military recruiting posters hanging around her old highschool. Alex got the impression it could go from mild to angry very quickly, if pushed. “Go get dressed, then get to the Arena. You have twenty minutes.” Alex didn’t know what else to do besides obey. He looked scary enough to snap if he really felt like it.
Fifteen minutes later, she was jogging into the Arena, looking left and right for Kieran and his mentor. She spotted them across the training area from her and made her way over, avoiding other classes that were going on around her. She came to a stop next to Kieran, and looked up at the other man. The intimidation factor had not diminished, and Alex found it hard to keep his gaze.
“You’re Adrien Makos’ kid?” he said by way of greeting.
“Yes,” replied Alex. “I’m Alex.” She silently celebrated the fact that her voice didn’t shake.
“My name is Soren. Kieran told me about your situation, that you weren’t able to train because you didn’t know you were anything except human until a few months ago. I’ll get you up to his level, but it’s going to suck for a while, not gonna lie. He also explained to me that your powers are… interesting.” He gave a smile, showing crooked but white teeth. “I trust him, but I also would like some kind of proof.”
“Yes, sir.” Alex took a step back, then summoned her power. She did the same thing as before, manifesting flame first, then darkness, and finally, water. She made them revolve slowly around one another, giving Soren a full view of the elements she was able to control. She didn’t see much of a reaction from him, but he did step forward to take a closer look. Kieran, who had remained silent this whole time, came up beside his mentor.
“Huh. That’s pretty cool.” Soren reached a hand up to touch the ball of darkness, but his hand passed through. He let out a small hiss and jerked his hand back. A small pattern of welts grew on his fingers and wrist. “Well, shit. I forgot how dangerous the dark can be.”
“You don’t have much experience with the, uh, the Onathe?” Alex was confused.
“I have plenty of experience,” he answered. “The Onathe are pretty peaceful, though. Unless they’re drunk. Then they like to be feisty. But for the most part, other than stories I’ve heard, they’re gentle people. Pretty much the opposite of the Niraya.” Alex was almost positive the Niraya were of the Realm of Water, but she didn’t know for sure so she was silent. “Let’s get started,” said Soren. “Come with us.” He led her and Kieran, who winked at Alex, to the outside of the Arena. Warmup stretches were first, then Soren told them to start running. Alex, who hated running, groaned inwardly, but started jogging lightly with the other two men as they started to circle the Arena. She had a feeling she would start to really appreciate just how large the Arena really was.
“No, not like that.” Soren fell into step with Alex. “Lengthen your stride. There you go. This way, you’re going further without expending more energy. Lean forward just a little bit. Land on your toes instead of your heels, you’re not doing your joints any favors running like that. Feel the difference?” Alex nodded. “Good. Now catch up to Kieran.” Alex caught up, and Kieran smiled at her. Soren stayed a little to their left.
“How’re you feeling?” he asked.
“Like I really don’t want to run,” puffed Alex. But she grinned. “I am glad I don’t have to do it alone though. This sucks less than I thought it would.” With the way Soren had woken her up that morning, Alex had thought this whole experience would be a shit show. But he was proving to be a good teacher. He seemed to genuinely care about getting Alex where she needed to be. The rest of their training was much the same, with him testing Alex to see what she could and couldn’t do. To her surprise, she was pretty well off. Soren seemed impressed, too.
“Looks like Adrien was thorough, that’s good.” Soren had her come down from her flight, and Alex Shifted halfway back so she could speak out loud. “You don’t have far to come before you’re caught up with Kieran. At that point, we can start thinking about Companion training, dual fighting, that kind of thing. I’m gonna need you to practice on your own, too. You’ve made progress, and I can help you through the rest, but you’re going to need to put in some effort. Not saying you’re not giving any effort now,” he said, seeing Alex’s eyes flash hot. “Calm down,”he said, laughing. “You’re good at this, you’re catching on quick. Don’t get offended at me.”
“I’m not offended,” Alex said in a stiff voice.
“Oh, yes you are,” Soren was still chortling. “But I meant nothing by it. Just keep at it, and you’ll be fine. You’ll find out I don’t like to help people that don’t help themselves.” With that, he dismissed her and Kieran. They walked away together, and when they were out of sight, Kieran slung his arm around Alex’s shoulders.
“You did good,” he said. “Adrien was a good teacher.” Alex felt a small twinge of pain at the mention of Adrien. “I think Soren likes you.”
“I think he’s a good mentor. He’s definitely done well with you. He made running suck less, which is nice too.”
“I noticed you were doing better towards the end of the run. Which is saying something, because we went right at six miles.”
“Jesus. Six miles?” Alex wiped her brow, which was still coated in a fine layer of sweat. “No wonder my calves hate me.”
“Yeah, they’re going to be sore until you get used to it. And we’re not going to run every day, either. It’s going to be more like every other day.”
“Fantastic,” said Alex dryly.
“Hey, I never said this would be easy. I just said that you would like Soren.”
“You did, and you were right. I’m excited to learn more.” They stopped outside Alex’s building. Kieran turned to face his Companion who folded her arms. “I’m gonna go shower now, so you can’t come in here with me.”
Kieran gave a fake groan, clasping his hands together in front of him in a pleading gesture. “You mean I don’t get to see you naked? Dang. There goes my whole existence.” Alex punched at his shoulder, but he stepped nimbly out of her way before she made contact. “You want to go with me to get dinner later? I know this great place to eat that’s kind of away from here.”
“We’re allowed to leave?” Alex asked incredulously. “I thought-”
“That since we’re trainees, we can’t have any kind of social life? You poor, sad little individual. No, we’re allowed to have fun outside of here. You’re going to need to change, though.”
“I don’t have any regular clothes, though. All I have is my training gear.”
“That’s unfortunate. I’m guessing you don’t have any money, either.” Alex shook her head, making him laugh. “Go shower, then come with me. I’ll get you some clothes, and some food. Meet out here in thirty minutes?”
“You don’t have to do this,” said Alex, uncertain.
“And you would look really weird out there in public wearing your training clothes,” he shot back. “You could always go without clothes, which would absolutely entertain the general public, but I don�
��t think you would enjoy that very much.”
Alex conceded by rolling her eyes. “Thirty minutes,” she said, and went inside.
The cool air that washed over her made her sigh in relief. For a moment, she sat at her desk and let the tension from training drain out of her muscles. She could hear the shower running, so she knew that Vera was in there. Alex clenched her hands briefly at the sudden increase in her heart rate.
Alex sat there for another ten minutes or so, decompressing. She heard Vera shut off the shower, and when the door to her side shut, Alex got her things and went into the bathroom. After showering and changing, she was out the door, running her hands through her hair to comb it while watching Kieran come back down the path. He was dressed in jeans and a simple black tee, and it occurred to Alex that perhaps the Undari were more like humans than she originally thought.
“Ready to go?” Kieran called. He made it over to her and held out his arm. “Let’s get you some real clothes.”
The town wasn’t far from the Arena, and Alex wondered why she hadn’t seen it sooner. Wasn’t paying attention, she supposed. It was small, but lovely. The houses and the town buildings reminded Alex of the style of architecture in Savannah, Georgia, only it wasn’t on as large a scale. Kieran wandered with Alex, hand in hand, until they reached a small clothes store on what Alex assumed was the main street. Inside, Alex was charmed by the decor (it was somewhat like the bohemian aesthetic she’d seen in downtown shops back home, but a little more archaic), and the sales lady, who was sympathetic to Alex’s plight. She also bowed so deeply to Kieran that she nearly hit her head on the counter she was standing behind. Kieran smiled and shook her hand, while Alex mentally prepared to catch the woman if she fainted. It kept occuring to Alex just how much status her Companion had compared to her.
“Everyone needs a cute outfit,” she said in her bubbly customer service voice, studiously avoiding making eye contact with the young prince. Her face had not changed from it’s red shade. “Follow me, I’ll help you out.” Alex, who had no idea about anything relating to fashion, followed her as she flitted around the store, taking this and that off the rack. Within minutes, her arms were full of clothes and she was being ushered into a changing room. “Try it on and come back with what you like!” The command followed the lady out into the main shop, and Alex was suddenly alone in the dressing room.
The clothes all fit (how did she do that?) but Alex picked out the three outfits that suited her best. Three pairs of jeans and three cute blouses. One of the outfits, dark jeans with a lavender top, she wore back out into the shop, where the sales lady was absolutely ecstatic.
“Oh, don’t you just look adorable! Doesn’t she, Your Majesty?”
“She does,” answered Kieran, giving Alex a once over that had her stomach jumping. “Absolutely adorable.” He paid for the clothes, despite Alex insisting that she only get the one outfit, and they went out into the street to hunt for a place to eat. Alex was glad, too. Her stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself.
“What do you feel like eating?” Kieran asked as they strolled down the sidewalk.
“You should know by now that women can’t be asked that question. Most of us don’t care what we eat, as long as it’s food.” This made Kieran laugh, and he ruffled her hair.
“You really are adorable, you know that?”
“Shut up.”
Kieran was still chuckling when he led her into a small restaurant. Alex immediately loved it. There was a little courtyard outside the building where people were seated, talking and laughing and enjoying delicious smelling food. It was separated from the rest of the street by an awning, with screens that could come down and shelter guests from the elements if need be. Inside was just as quaint, with little round tables tucked into booths that had small sprays of flowers on them in different colored glass vases. Colored flames played merrily in the center of each flower, giving each little booth a slightly different mood than the next. They sat, and Alex took a look at the menu. There were a lot of the same kinds of food there as a regular country restaurant would have back home, but with a lot more spices and ingredients, some Alex had never heard of before.
“The food here is probably different than what you’d find in the human realm,” said Kieran, noticing Alex’s confusion. “But it’s very good. My personal favorite is the boar and dumplings. The dumplings are made of-” and he started naming ingredients that Alex wouldn’t remember the names of. When the waitress came to take their orders, they both ordered it. Alex chose to try the Fire Realm’s version of sweet tea, which was infused with a fruit called paraysin, which sounded like a medicine to her. Kieran said it was delicious. It was. Alex sipped it while she waited on her food, and marvelled at it’s strangely vanilla-like taste.
“So what kind of training did Soren have you on before I showed up?” she asked Kieran.
“Not telling you,” he answered, narrowing his eyes flirtatiously.
“Why?”
“Because. This isn’t about training, this isn’t about anything else that’s going on except that you and I are here together, enjoying each other’s company. Therefore, you have strict orders not to talk about anything that has to do with any of that. ‘Kay?” His smile grew wider, and he reached across the table to grab Alex’s hand. “You wouldn’t refuse an order from your future king, would you?”
Alex pulled her hand away and wrinkled her nose. “No, I wouldn’t. What would you like to talk about?”
“You pick.”
“Ugh. I hate when people say that, I never know what to talk about.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll go first. What was it like, growing up as a human?”
“It was like growing up an Undari, I suppose. I didn’t know anything different, I didn’t know that there was anything else out there besides humans. My powers didn’t show past the age of four. My adoptive mother is human, and I have a little sister. Her name is Teagan, she’s seven.” Alex let her eyes unfocus as she remembered. “There were ups and downs. I sure as hell wasn’t taught how to use a sword or Shift into a dragon in high school. I learned math and science, and history. Human history, you know. The Civil War, the Crusades, so on and so forth. I had best friends and crushes. Normal kid stuff.” She came back to see Kieran watching her. His face had an uncommonly tender expression, and Alex cleared her throat awkwardly. “What about you? What was growing up in the castle, as an Undari?”
“You pretty much nailed it,” he replied, his gaze settling back into his self satisfied air. “Only difference is, I had more exposure to politics and whatnot. Inter-Realm relationships, seeing my parents work with the public. I learned history too, but it was ours, and that’s a lot different than human history, even though there are large parts of it that intertwine. My dad fought in a couple wars, was probably the best general they’d had out there. He’s an… eccentric man. But he’s a warrior. You’re going to love him.”
“What do you mean, I’m going to love him?”
“You’re going to meet him, duh. Common sense would dictate that since you’re my Companion, it would make sense for you to meet my parents.”
“Right, of course. I didn’t realize.” Alex’s stomach flipped over. “What’s your mom like?”
“She loves me. I’m also an only child, so she’s biased. But she was the one who raised me, mostly, and when my dad was off fighting in the wars, she was the strongest person I knew. She was stressed, worried out of her mind, but she never let it show. She led the Realm in my dad’s place, and with the same firm leadership that he did. She judges character pretty quickly. That being said, I think she’ll like you.”
“You think she’ll like me.” Alex’s stomach was doing somersaults now. When the waiter dropped off their food, Alex didn’t want to risk taking a bite, though it smelled amazing. “That’s doing wonders for my confidence. When am I set to meet your parents?”
“I may have asked them to meet us here.” Kieran beamed at Alex’s horrified look. �
�Relax, it’s going to be fine. They’re not intimidating people.”
“You’re their son, of course they’re not intimidating to you!” Alex dragged a hand through her hair. “They’re the king and queen of this realm, and I’m just a low level Undari that is barely even that! How am I supposed to talk to them?”
Kieran’s shoulders were shaking from laughter but he made himself stop at Alex’s aggrieved look. “You just speak to them respectfully, say ‘yes, sir’ and ‘yes, ma’am’. No big deal. There they are,” he added, looking towards the door.
Everything in the restaurant stopped for a full five seconds before continuing with murmured ‘good evening, Your Majesties’ speckled here and there as the impeccably dressed couple entered the room. The man, tall and imposing, surveyed the room before spotting his son. He laid a hand on his wife’s shoulder, and they came to the table where Kieran and Alex sat, a unit that carried with them a wave of unshakable power. It was instantly obvious that the two trusted each other implicitly. There was a flurry of activity as the three royals exchanged hugs and kisses; Kieran’s father slapped him genially on the back. Alex was positive that her face was going to melt off. Kieran moved to sit next to Alex, squeezing her hand under the table as his parents slid in on the opposite side. Alex would have pulled her hand away again if she wasn’t so grateful for the grounding contact.
Alex could immediately tell that Kieran favored his father. The king’s red hair, full mouth and self content air were all something the man next to her had inherited. His shoulders were broader, and he was wearing a very expensive looking suit. He was the sort of person that would be a CEO back on earth. A very successful one. He regarded Alex with an interested air; then his gaze slid to the woman on his left. Alex swallowed hard and did the same.