The Shape of Fire

by D. K. Holmberg

  Kelvin watched him. “Even spirit?”

  Tolan nodded. “Yes, spirit, but only once you are ready. First-level students aren’t given the opportunity to work with spirit. They must pass a test. You will be prepared for it, so don’t fear the nature of the test itself.”

  Kelvin stared for a moment. “Will it hurt?”

  Tolan sniffed. “Not the early level tests.” He nodded to Velthan. “Velthan will ensure that you are comfortable.”

  Velthan looked over at him, frowning. Tolan could see the unwritten question on Velthan’s face, and it was one that Tolan didn’t quite know how to answer. He didn’t want to either. He needed Velthan to get connected to the students. If he was going to be a part of the Selection then he was going to need to teach as well.

  “Embrace your time within the Academy.”

  “What happens if we choose to leave?” Kelvin asked.

  “Once you pass the first testing, you may.”

  “Why only then?”

  “Until then you owe the Academy,” Tolan said.

  He started toward the door. A massive set of double doors opened up into the Academy itself, carved with shapes he’d come to know represented the elementals. Learning that had made him smile to know there were other connections to the elementals than the master shapers had acknowledged.

  Tolan pushed it open and found a commotion. There were dozens of people lingering about. All of them were about the same age as Kelvin, all of them Selected by others who had gone out in the search for shapers.

  It was a good collection of potential candidates.

  Tolan pushed out with spirit, adding his own testing to what had already been done. It was unnecessary. It wasn’t as if he was going to find something others had missed, but he was still curious as to whether or not he might be able to find something within their minds that would help him know how many had potential with spirit.

  With the shaping, he probed deep into their minds. He could feel several fire shapers; a few of them quite gifted. There were others: earth, wind, water, and quite a few of them with the ability to shape many elements. One could shape three elements already.

  “What is this?” Jersan asked softly.

  His demeanor had changed, and now he was much more soft-spoken, looking around the inside of the Academy with wide eyes. He was older than most students who came to the Academy but still younger than Tolan, and he should be awed by what he saw.

  Tolan understood that feeling. He’d once been in his position. He’d once been the shaper who wanted nothing to do with the Academy but was brought here. At the time, Tolan had no ability to shape, not at all like Jersan, but he still hadn’t wanted to be here. He now was quite thankful he’d come. He suspected that in time, Jersan would grow to feel the same way.

  How could he not when there was so much that this place could offer?

  “This is the Selection.”

  “How are they all here at the same time?”

  “We all follow the same shaping,” Tolan said.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Others take something called the Shapers Path,” Velthan explained. “It’s a creation shaped above the ground. It allows those who don’t have the ability to shape, at least not well, to travel here. Master Ethar brought us here on a different sort of shaping.”

  He hadn’t been sure whether or not Velthan would be angry because Tolan had used that shaping to bring them here, but he was thankful that Velthan apparently wasn’t annoyed.

  The two fell silent, and Tolan began to weave his way through the crowd. He left Jersan and Kelvin behind, but Velthan followed, looking over at Tolan but saying nothing.

  “Get on with it,” Tolan said.

  “I just think you Selected someone a little outside of the typical for the Academy,” he said looking to Kelvin. “He’s nearly our age, Tolan,” he added in a whisper.

  Tolan glanced over at him. “I was outside of the typical for the Academy.”

  “That’s not what I mean. Just…”

  “What did you mean, then?” Tolan asked.

  “I just mean it seems a little strange that we’re bringing in someone of his age. How is he going to fit with the other students?”

  Tolan looked around. It was a reasonable question to ask, especially in light of how so many of the other students were so much younger.

  “He has shaping ability. That’s what matters.”

  It was more than just that, though there were aspects of what was involved that he didn’t know if he could share with Velthan just yet.

  The Grand Master approached, wearing his formal robes as he neared. He looked up at Tolan, nodding. “I understand you brought something unusual,” the Grand Master said.

  “I thought it was appropriate.”

  “Why?”

  “Think of it as a memory of my time coming here.”

  “You have gone out on other Selections without having needed to find an unusual shaper.”

  “I have, and in this case, perhaps there is nothing to it,” he said. He was tempted to tell the Grand Master about the strange elemental movement in the North, but he decided against it.

  What point would there be in doing so?

  The Grand Master looked around, noticing the various shapers who were here, all of them candidates for first level. His gaze settled on Kelvin, and he smiled. “He wouldn’t be the oldest student we’ve ever had.”

  “No?” The Grand Master shook his head. That would be something for Tolan to look into. “And the younger of the two”—Tolan didn’t say young, as even Jersan was old—“has a connection to the elementals.” Tolan shielded his words within a shaping of wind, wrapping it around him, keeping it isolated to just himself and the Grand Master.

  The Grand Master frowned at Tolan. “Does he?”

  “He’s connected to jinnar.”

  “I seem to recall that when you came here we had some issues with jinnar.”

  “That wasn’t my fault,” Tolan said.

  “I find it somewhat troubling that we would have another who has such potential.”

  “There’s something off. I don’t know quite what it is, but—”

  “But I suspect you feel this is Roland,” the Grand Master said. He smiled. “You have looked for the last five years and have found nothing.”

  “I have found a few things,” Tolan said.

  “Coincidence, nothing more,” the Grand Master said. “Focus on teaching. It’s an area that you still can develop. It’s an area where you still need to develop.”

  Tolan sighed. He did need to be a better instructor, and perhaps the Grand Master was right. That didn’t mean that he didn’t feel what he thought that he had felt, only that he would have to continue his investigation without the Grand Master’s permission.

  The Grand Master strode forward, leaving Tolan standing by himself. He watched as the Grand Master approached, lifting himself with a shaping of wind, hovering in place. A few of the students gasped, impressed by the nature of the shaping. The Grand Master used wind to augment his voice, letting it carry out in a booming voice that echoed over the collected shapers.

  “Welcome to the Terenhall Academy of Shaping. All of you have been given something that very few shapers throughout all of Terndahl are offered. You are the chosen.”

  “I think he’s getting more flamboyant with each one,” Ferrah said as she approached.

  Her red hair was pulled back in a matching ribbon, her master’s cloak covering her slender frame. Her green eyes skimmed across the room full of candidates, appraising them quickly while she slipped her hand into his.

  “I remember what he said when we first came,” Tolan said.

  “I remember it too. I’d always known that I was going to end up at the Academy, but even still, finally getting here; getting the opportunity to be within its walls…” Ferrah swept her gaze around. “There are times when I forget just what an honor it is for us to be here. The Selection is a nice reminder o
f what we can do.”

  “Sometimes we need that,” Tolan said.

  Ferrah looked over at him. “Tell me you found something. Otherwise you wouldn’t have taken quite so long to get here. Unless there was another reason.”

  “I took a long time?”

  “We held up for you.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “You don’t know if it’s true or not. That’s the problem. And I’m sure the Grand Master would tell you that you were quite a bit slower coming back here than most.”

  He watched her, but her irritation never softened.

  “I take it the older shaper is yours?”

  “He’s not that much older,” Tolan said.

  “Older than most,” she said.

  Tolan would tell her about Jersan’s ability to reach the elementals later. For now, he listened to the Grand Master. He gave a good speech, welcoming the shapers and encouraging them to focus on their studies and to learn as much about the elements as they could. There was no comment about the elementals, and Tolan found Jersan looking in his direction.

  Tolan shook his head. It had been several years since he had taken his position, and in that time, he’d been working to try to better understand the elementals and to figure out a way to help encourage the shapers of Terndahl to welcome them. It would take time.

  Time to him was quite a bit different than time to the elementals. From what he could tell, most of the elementals were content with the pace he took, knowing he was doing something. It was more than what had been done for centuries.

  There was another murmuring and Tolan realized the Grand Master was wrapping up with his shaping.

  Ferrah shrugged, tugging her hand out of his. “It’s time for me to lead them away.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “I think I can manage,” she said, laughing softly.

  As he watched, Ferrah gathered together the new students, guiding them along the hall until they disappeared up one of the stairs.

  Tolan waited for a long moment before heading over to the Grand Master. He was speaking to several of the other Selectors. Tolan stood behind them. They were all shapers of spirit, most Inquisitors, and all had been at the Academy for far longer than Tolan had. All of them had also been Inquisitors at one point in their careers. Many still were.

  One of them, an older man by the name of Wonalt, glanced in his direction, his brow furrowing, the darkness in his gaze narrowing as he looked upon Tolan.

  Tolan got that reaction often. Mostly it came from how he had been promoted to be Master of Spirit, but partly it came from a sense of concern about his family and who he was.

  Tolan understood where that skepticism came from. He couldn’t even blame them for it. Given what had happened with his mother, and what had happened since he had come to the Academy, he recognized that there were reasonable concerns. There were other reasons for questions to be raised, but he was better at ignoring those.

  “There was movement out of the North,” Tolan heard Erica saying. She was another spirit shaper, and though she was talented with spirit, she was less talented with the other elements. “We keep seeing signs of them, and I know you told us not to worry about it, but it’s difficult for us to ignore what we see.”

  The Grand Master smiled at her. “We have no reason to believe we are in any danger,” he said.

  “No reason other than the elementals moving openly,” Tolan said.

  The Grand Master glanced toward him before turning back to her. He didn’t want to believe Tolan’s concerns, but Tolan clearly wasn’t the only one to have noticed it.

  “We continue to review our position with the elementals.”

  “Because of one experience,” Erica said.

  “Many experiences,” the Grand Master said. “You know the position we have taken.”

  “Just because you don’t want us to force them back into the bond doesn’t mean we have to like it,” someone else said.

  Tolan couldn’t see who spoke, but it was a shared sentiment. He had seen and heard others who felt much the same as the person who’d spoken. And it was understandable. Many of these people had spent their careers—and considerable parts of their lives—suppressing the elementals; returning them to the element bonds when they escaped. For them to be asked to ignore the sudden departure of the elementals from the element bonds was difficult.

  “If it would help, I’m sure Master Ethar would be happy to work with you on gaining an understanding of the elementals,” the Grand Master said. “It’s long past time that we move past these old beliefs. If the elementals have been moving, then perhaps now is the right time.”

  Everyone turned in his direction. It was general knowledge he had some interaction with the elementals. What wasn’t general information was just how extensive that knowledge was, and just how considerable his experience was.

  “If there are any who would like for me to show them what I know of the elementals, all you have to do is come to me and ask. I’ve made it clear that I’m more than willing to work with any who have an interest in better understanding them.”

  There was a soft grumbling and several of the Selectors peeled away, leaving and heading down the hall. Tolan let them go, saying nothing.

  Others watched him.

  “You did well,” the Grand Master said to the remaining Selectors. “We have more students than we’ve had in quite some time. This looks to be promising for the Academy. In time, we should be able to build our numbers.”

  “I didn’t realize we were supposed to be testing them so old,” one of the others said.

  “Master Ethar says he met the criteria for testing,” the Grand Master said.

  That garnered another series of looks at him. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another, especially when it came to his role within the Academy.

  Not that he didn’t understand. Tolan had been a part of everything taking place for so long that he had a good understanding of why he drew so much attention.

  Slowly, the Selectors began to depart, leaving Tolan alone with the Grand Master.

  “I think they need more time before we introduce them to the elementals,” the Grand Master said.

  “How much time do we need to give them?” Tolan asked.

  “Everyone finds the truth in their own way.”

  “Some need to be shown the truth. You’ve seen the elementals and know they aren’t dangerous.”

  “Just as I’ve seen elementals that are dangerous, Master Ethar. We must work through generations of questions. Only then can we find the connection we seek. I trust that you will take what I shared with you about demonstrating the elementals to them. Give them a chance to share in your experience and know what you do about the elementals.” He patted Tolan on the shoulder and a wave of spirit shaping washed from him.

  Tolan put up a protection around himself, limiting the effect of the spirit shaping as it swept over him. The Grand Master smiled at him before departing.

  He looked around the inside of the Academy, wishing Ferrah would have stayed and talked with him, but she had other responsibilities. She worked with most of the students; ensuring that they fit in the Academy as well as they could. It was a new role, created for her, to help the new students find a comfortable place in the Academy.

  For his part, Tolan had his own place within the Academy. He debated going to the spirit tower, but having been away from the Academy for a while, there was another place he wanted to visit.

  He headed out along the hallway, making his way toward the library. The Academy’s library was a massive section, and it had grown over the last few years. It had done so out of necessity and a desire to accumulate more knowledge in one place.

  After what had happened while Tolan was still a student, there had been a need for those who understood the nature of the danger within the world to search for a different type of understanding. It was part of the reason Tolan came to the library as often as he did. There were answers h
e needed; subjects he couldn’t learn through experience alone. There were questions he needed to find answers to that could only be found in ancient texts. The master librarians had a way of searching through those volumes.

  Tolan looked around the inside of the library, searching for either of the two master librarians he knew the best. Master Minden would be his first choice, especially as she’d been the one who’d worked with him when he was still a student. Master Jensen would be his second choice, though he’d developed an interest in some of the more obscure uses of power over the last few years and had become an expert in them.

  As usual, there were two master librarians present, but neither of them were the master librarians he hoped to find. He nodded to them, and as Master Barton came toward him, Tolan backed away. He didn’t want to get into a long conversation with the man. Usually it had something to do with trying to recruit him to work as a librarian.

  He wouldn’t be the first of the librarians to try to coax him into serving. Eventually, Tolan wondered if that was something he would end up doing anyway. He did have a predilection for shaping the same way as the master librarians. It was a different connection to the elements, one that allowed him to reach directly for each element rather than through the bond, giving him an ability to shape within the library; a place where those who were only connected to the element bonds could not.

  Back out in the hallway, he headed along a side corridor until he reached a staircase. There were no students in this hallway, and he didn’t expect to see any. This was a place where only those who were master shapers spent any time, along with librarians and those who’d decided to serve with them.

  He reached the top of the stairs and an ornately decorated door that was marked with runes and patterns that suggested each of the elements along with symbols that were reflective of elementals. Pausing for a moment as he took in the symbols on the door, Tolan pushed it open before stepping through into a long hallway.

  The entire length of the hall was lined with paintings. They were shaped; scenes of shapers and elementals and nature somehow created with power. He’d spent countless hours trying to understand the paintings, knowing they were tied to the ancient shapers and something they had created—and placed here. So far, Tolan hadn’t mastered their real purpose.