The Shape of Fire

by D. K. Holmberg

  That was something that took longer for Tolan to dig into and try to answer. Sometimes, it involved reaching into the depths of spirit, to press deep within the man’s mind. It was part of the Selection.

  Tolan was careful during the Selections, mostly because the shaping that would be taught within the Academy was potentially dangerous—not only to the shaper but also to the others within the Academy. It was far easier to head off those who would misuse that power by not teaching them how to use it.

  That was a lesson that had taken Tolan quite some time to understand. When he was younger, he’d wondered why the Academy had not taken everyone. When he’d begun to understand the keys of the Selection; when he’d begun to understand the nature of what was involved, he had learned why everyone couldn’t be brought to the Academy.

  “He does not try to control me.”

  “And he tries to talk to you,” Tolan said.

  “He does.”

  “Thank you,” Tolan said.

  The jinnar rumbled and began to disappear. There was a fading energy and the jinnar started to sink down, disappearing into the ground. As he did, Tolan turned his attention back to the others. He’d been aware of them while talking to the jinnar, but he also hadn’t been concerned about them. There was no reason to fear anything they might do.

  “You are connected to jinnar,” he said to the older of the two. He eased the shaping holding him in place. There was no point in continuing to contain him.

  “How did you know? How did you do that?” Kelvin asked.

  “Because I can speak to the elementals.”

  Earth rumbled distantly, a shaping coming from the man as he attempted to reach for the jinnar. Tolan smiled to himself. The man was probing to see whether or not the elemental was injured and to find whether Tolan had attempted to force the jinnar back into the element bond.

  It happened quickly before fading.

  When he was done, the energy retreated, though he could feel the other man still holding onto a sense of earth. It was almost as if he were trying to wrap around him, ensuring that Tolan did nothing to harm the elemental.

  “Are you satisfied?”

  “You left him.”

  “I left him. He said you try to talk to him, but you don’t listen.”

  The man’s eyes widened. “You can speak to him?”

  “I can speak. And I can teach how to listen.”

  Tolan focused on the two shapers. He’d come thinking that he was going to find one person of strength, and with the raw shaping coming from the younger man—Jersan—he thought he’d succeeded. The better question would be whether he was suited for the Academy. Tolan still didn’t know.

  Now that he was here with Kelvin, he questioned whether or not there were others.

  Wind alone wasn’t going to be powerful enough for Kelvin to be presented to the Academy, but with his connection to earth, along with his ability to speak to the elementals, Tolan couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps he might be able to succeed with the second man as well.

  “I came to Telfair looking for shaping,” Tolan said, drawing himself up so he stood tall before them. “I doubt your village has ever experienced a Selection before.”

  He glanced from the younger man to the older, studying both of them. Jersan had dark hair, deeply tanned skin, and eyes that were a flat gray. He stood next to the older man, but even as Tolan looked at Kelvin, he realized he wasn’t nearly as old as he’d believed at first. There was a sense of age to him, but he couldn’t be all that much older than Tolan.

  It would make him one of the oldest first-level students at the Academy, though.

  There was some danger in that. Most of the students were of a similar age and level. Typically, that was because once they passed beyond a certain age, the Academy simply stopped testing them; stopped checking whether or not they had the capability to be Selected. Tolan doubted it had anything to do with their actual abilities, though he didn’t really know.

  “What is a Selection?” Jersan asked.

  “A testing. He wants to know whether he can bring us from Telfair,” Kelvin said.

  Tolan nodded at the youngest of the two. “What’s your name?”

  “Jersan Foles.”

  Tolan tipped his head in a slight nod. “Kelvin is right. A testing. The testing. In some of the larger cities, where they have larger Academies, the Selection is a time to be celebrated. When the Selectors appear, searching for candidates, those who present themselves are celebrated.”

  “What happens if we don’t want to go?” Kelvin asked.

  Tolan could tell Jersan had no such hesitation. There was an eagerness within him. It was an eagerness which troubled Tolan. He focused on it, pushing out with a sense of spirit, layering it over the man’s mind. Eagerness to learn could be a good thing. Tolan had been eager when he’d pursued his own studies. It was that eagerness that had helped him learn to understand the elementals. It was that eagerness which had taught him that things his people had believed dangerous weren’t at all. It was that eagerness which had shown him there could and should be more to the world.

  At the same time, eagerness had caused great harm throughout Terndahl. There were some who chased power for the sake of power. If that was what Jersan was after, and Tolan couldn’t tell, then he’d need to be far more cautious than simply accepting them and bringing them to the Academy.

  Using spirit as he did, he didn’t detect anything within the younger man. There was a hint of excitement. That was to be expected. There was a desire to reach for the elemental that still existed down in that pit. Tolan probed not only Jersan, but he pushed outward with a hint of earth and water, communicating with hashin.

  The elemental responded. There was no sense of danger.

  It was a different sort of Selection, not at all like the one he had gone through, and not at all like the Selection that he used when he was in other villages. Of course, in other villages, he hadn’t come across anyone who had the ability—or interest—to speak to the elementals. That was unique.

  “Most would give anything for the opportunity to come to the Academy,” Tolan said.

  “We aren’t most. Telfair needs us. We’re situated here at the edge of Terndahl, near the mountains…”

  Tolan smiled. “There’s no danger out here at the edge of the mountains.”

  “The elementals,” Kelvin said.

  “As you have already demonstrated, you don’t fear the elementals.” He pushed outward with his sense of spirit, probing everyone within the village. That was the reason there hadn’t been anyone out. They knew about the elementals as well, and they weren’t afraid of them. “Your people don’t, either. The elementals won’t harm anyone here, and if we were to train you it would take a few years, but you would be able to return.”

  Tolan said nothing about whether or not they actually would. Many shapers spoke about wanting to return, and they often believed they would come back after their training, but there weren’t many shapers who actually did. Far more decided to remain in the Academy or move on somewhere else. It could be difficult going back when you had become someone else.

  “We don’t want what you’re offering,” Kelvin said.

  “If he can teach us to use that kind of power…”

  Tolan frowned again. There it was. A search for power.

  He had to be more careful with this one. He pushed out with a sense of spirit, probing again. When he did, he once more didn’t have the sense from Jersan that he was searching for power, and he still didn’t have that sense from the elementals, but there was a longing within him.

  That was what he had to be careful with.

  A longing for power could be both good and bad.

  Tolan turned toward him. With Kelvin, it was going to have to be more of a formal Selection. With Jersan, Tolan could already tell he would pass. His connection to the elementals and the way he’d used power, trying to control it for the sake of the elemental and not because he wanted to har
m anything, told Tolan everything that he needed about the man.

  Tolan focused on the shaping of spirit, using the control that he had learned long ago. There was a sense of control to it, and he wrapped it around him. Tolan had modified the shaping over the time he’d been a master spirit shaper, and now it was something different. There was no more torment within the shaping. There wasn’t any sense of trapping someone within their mind in order for them to prove how they might react. This was simply a way for him to test for deeper thoughts.

  The sense of it was there. Earth. Water. Kelvin could reach for both of the elements. He wanted to talk to the elemental, the same way Jersan had been able to talk to the elemental. He wanted to be able to do it so that he could grow stronger. Not to cause harm, but because he wanted to reach more powerful elementals.

  Tolan withdrew from the other man’s mind. It was a brief shaping, but in that brief moment, he had found everything that he needed. There was no reason to fear anything from Kelvin.

  “What did you do?” Kelvin asked.

  “Could you feel it?”

  “I know you did something.”

  Interesting. If he was aware of spirit shaping, then he might have potential with that as well. There were precious few who did.

  “A testing. It’s called a Selection.”

  “I already said we don’t know that we are going anywhere.”

  “And you don’t have to. I still wanted to know.”

  “What did you want to know?”

  “Whether or not you could even join us.”

  “Could we?”

  Tolan nodded.

  Jersan started to smile but Kelvin grabbed his wrist, pushing him back against the wall. “What happens if we choose not to go?”

  “If you choose not to go—and you may choose that, as I have no interest in forcing you to do anything you don’t want to—I’ll use a shaping of spirit so you forget everything that happened today.”

  His breath caught. “You can do that?”

  “I can do that, and I will do that. You would forget what happened today only. I wouldn’t take any other memories from you.”

  It sounded something like a threat, but he wanted them to know he would shape them. In the past, shapings had been used, but those who received them didn’t know. He wanted those he might use the spirit shaping on to know exactly what they might encounter if he were to do it. He didn’t want them to be surprised by it.

  “I and my colleague will go on our way. You won’t see us again.”

  That wasn’t entirely true. Now that he knew about hashin here, he would have to come back. There was far too much for him to learn, but he thought he could do that without anyone knowing that he was here. Tolan had ways of hiding himself from them; masking himself so that they wouldn’t even know that he had visited.

  “Why would you make it so that we would forget?”

  “Most people find it easier to forget.”

  “Why?”

  “They don’t want to know they’ve failed.”

  “If we refuse then we didn’t fail.”

  Tolan smiled. “Most within the Academy who pass aren’t given the opportunity to refuse.”

  “Why not?”

  “That’s a condition of the testing.”

  “You tested him, but you didn’t give him that option,” Kelvin said, nodding to Jersan.

  “These are different circumstances than usual.” Behind him, Tolan could sense the frustration from Velthan. The other man was shaping, using several of the elements, trying to probe what Tolan had done to the door. He could feel a hint of spirit coming from him, and he realized that if he weren’t careful, he would find Velthan crashing in here.

  He didn’t need Velthan to come in here, to find out the way Tolan had tested them and then question whether or not they should even allow these two to come with them. He didn’t need Velthan to charge in here and change the dynamic. It was difficult enough already.

  “So if we go with you, we keep our memories,” Kelvin said.

  “You would.”

  “If we choose not to go with you, you erase them?” He frowned. “That doesn’t sound like much of a choice.”

  “It’s a choice. What I would do wouldn’t be harmful to you. You would recall everything else. You would recall everything you know about the elementals. You would not lose any of your shaping control.” Tolan glanced at the ground where the sense of hashin lingered. “If you uncovered this elemental today”—he thought that was the reason for his hesitation—“it’s likely you will find it tomorrow. Or the next day. I doubt the elemental will be difficult to find again, considering how well-connected you are.”

  He really didn’t want either to refuse. Kelvin could learn to be a skilled shaper, and he certainly had some ability to reach for the elementals, which Tolan would like to use, but it was Jersan he wanted. There weren’t very many within the Academy who had the ability to reach elementals. Trying to increase the number of people with that capability was still something Tolan worked on.

  “I’ll give you some time to decide.”

  “Can you allow us time to talk?”

  Tolan glanced from Jersan to Kelvin. If they ran, his connection to earth was strong enough that he didn’t really worry they would escape from him. Giving them this moment to talk to each other might make the transition easier.

  Tolan nodded. “I will give you a few moments.”

  He reached the door, releasing the shaping he’d sealed around it, and pulled it open.

  Back outside, Velthan stared at him. “What was that about? I thought I was supposed to be a part of the Selection.”

  “They were using a dangerous and explosive shaping,” Tolan said.

  “I could’ve helped.”

  “You could have. You are quite gifted with earth, which was what they were using.” There was no point in denying that. Velthan would’ve been able to detect the use of earth, and he would have known just what they’d done. “I reacted. I’ve been through enough in my time serving the Academy that I defaulted to that mode. I’m sorry I didn’t include you.”

  Velthan stared at him and then his expression softened. He didn’t even know Tolan had used a hint of spirit to soothe him. It was little more than a slight touch of power, barely more than a brush, enough that he could keep Velthan from getting angrier at him.

  “What did you find?”

  “Something unexpected.”

  The door opened before Tolan had a chance to expand on it.

  Both men stood there, Kelvin in the lead, looking at Tolan. “We will come with you.”

  Tolan sensed a question from within Velthan. This wasn’t how the Selection went. Velthan would have been on other Selections, and he would’ve gone with other Selectors. Even in the Selections they’d gone through together, there had been no search quite like this. Tolan would have to be prepared for questions to arise, but for now he was pleased.

  “You won’t regret it.”

  “You said our village will be fine?” Jersan said.

  His gaze drifted toward the mountains, and Tolan nodded. What were they concerned about?

  There was a sense of elementals there, but the elementals beyond the village weren’t dangerous. There was a sense of power to them, but there was no sense of danger.

  “Your village will be fine. You’re within Terndahl.”

  “Terndahl has never helped us before,” Kelvin said.

  “I think you’ll be surprised.”

  “What now?” Jersan asked.

  Tolan could feel the time running short. They had put off returning long enough. Sending a quick shaping of spirit washing away from him, he turned to them. “Now, we leave. Your families and the others in the village will be shaped to know you’re safe, and you can return when you’ve passed through the first level of testing at the Academy.”

  “Just like that?” Kelvin asked.

  “It is a simple shaping.” Relatively simple, and one that had been h
oned over the years. He performed it quickly, layering it over the village. “And it’s done.”

  With that, Tolan used a series of wind and fire, swirling around all of them, and he lifted them to the air, taking them up and away from the village.

  7

  From above, the city of Amitan, situated at the heart of Terndahl, was a massive and sprawling city that spread out across the flat landscape, with buildings of all different types and ages rising in an irregular pattern throughout it. Some of the buildings were incredibly old—many over a thousand years old—while others were newer. All had a connection to the elements, though none to the elementals, within them.

  As they approached, the shaping of wind and fire carrying them with a flurry of power and making it far too loud for anyone to have any meaningful conversation, Tolan noticed the pressure of hundreds of different shapings all throughout the city. It was reassuring to be returning to Terndahl, noticing the power there and having the opportunity to get closer to a place he now called home. There was something comforting about it.

  The Academy at the center of Amitan was a massive building created by shapers from long ago. Five enormous white stone towers, one for each of the elements, rose up around a central section. Runes etched into each tower radiated energy from the element bonds, and he immediately connected to that energy.

  From here, they were near enough that he could feel individual shapings within it. There was a sense of each one as students worked, Masters instructing, the sense of power and energy something Tolan smiled at.

  They came to land in a courtyard outside the towers. The courtyard had been constructed in a way that protected it from shapers who might not have the necessary control. There were markings within the stone, runes that held the stone together, keeping it from any sort of damage.

  When they landed, Jersan and Kelvin staggered away. “The two of you will be met by the Grand Master, and from there you will be brought to the first-level dormitories. You will have sessions with each element.”