Divulgence (Song of Sophangence Book 2)

by E. I. McAllistair

  “Oh now come on, I don’t think attunement has anything to do with it. As much as Phavian fights against discrimination, I feel like Anaar is the only one I have met that truly seems to be completely unprejudiced against anyone based on their attunement. He may be a Fire Affinity, but he doesn’t let anyone oppress him, and he doesn’t look down on others either. He isn’t even antagonistic again Water Affinities or Air Affinities even though people like JaMarkus Schrodes have made it their mission to torment him. Phavian may be the leader of the Seeds, but no one lives it like Anaar, even though he isn’t a member.”

  “Is dat group really so good?”

  “I think they do good work, and the message is important. I can’t say everyone has the same fervor or intentions, but you have to start somewhere right? I wonder if Anaar will join now that he and Phavian are together. I admit for optics it might have been better if they weren’t both Fire Affinities, but still, strength in numbers. We could always use more people. With that brain of his I’m sure we could take the group to the next level.”

  Dan and Maggie continue chatting about the Seeds of Life for a bit, with Maggie even convincing Dan to attend the next meeting. Though that is usually his study time with Anaar, they had devised a devious plan that would further entice Anaar to join up if he did not have Dan to study with during the meetings. Once the topic had turned to studying, the two decided it would be a good opportunity for them to do some studying of their own, so taking a walk to the Cafeteria while working on Dan’s Spanish proficiency, they managed to come together to overcome most of their heartbreak surrounding their once mutual love interest and best friend Anaar.

  16

  Following a mandatory beating from Ixnes, Anaar makes his way to his first Seeds of Life meeting. Though he was still not keen on being used as a prop to bring in more people, especially now given his unfortunate power couple status with its leader, he felt it was not only his duty as a good boyfriend to support his partner’s efforts, but Maggie and Dan had been surprisingly insistent on him coming to the meeting. Dan even decided to forego their normal study and training session for the meeting. Ultimately Anaar did not care, as long as he had his friends back.

  Maggie recovered very quickly which made him happy, and since then they had been closer than ever now that everything was out in the open. She had mentioned that she could focus more on just being his best friend, rather than being someone he desired, and he found he greatly enjoyed that. Being in a relationship had its ups and downs, so being able to talk to Maggie about things gave him great peace. He talked to Hobb too, but it just was not the same.

  Even Master Shin had his own feelings on the matter, mentioning their increased focus had been showing remarkable progress in all areas of their training. With their more open relationship, it allowed him to train his skills in a much more wholistic manner, increasing his instinctual ability to weave martial arts with his abilities. Between his sparring with Ixnes and with Master Shin, he had become quite a force in only a couple of weeks.

  Though he still practiced heavily keeping his powers a secret, as most of the world did not know about him, never had he expected just letting a few people in on his secret would improve his quality of life so much. Even his work with Fredderick and Miles was affected, as the two had both mentioned they noticed a change in his demeanor, and wondered what was cause.

  With the Anaar and Phavian love story dying down from the main topic of discussion, people began to wonder why the school rankings had not been updated. Though no one actually cared, since they were in no way an accurate representation of the true ranking of students as a whole, people had come to enjoy padding their resume with that additional figure. With their trimesters winding down, people were looking forward to the information.

  Stepping into the Diversity Center, Anaar found himself being waved down by the reigning number 4 and number 5 respectively of the Freshman class. Following the Melee, Anaar had gone on his own rounds, apologizing to the people he launched through a couple of buildings at the end, simply to check on them and offer apologies. While the Pyrokinetic and Artillerite were not very happy that by some random choosing they were kicked out of the top five, and blamed him, the Terrakinetic and Medic were much more understanding, possibly due to the fact they were indeed in quite a good place being in the top five of their class.

  Since that meeting, Anaar had kept in contact with them, and even gotten together a number of times. Though he suspected this was an attempt to learn more about him for the next Melee, he was fine with it, as even if they were now friendly with one another, he had long since established his inner circle of friends. He had no qualms fighting them seriously, whereas if it were perhaps Dan or Stefani, he would find himself quite conflicted.

  With his newfound openness, he liked the idea of having various tiers of relationships around him. There were those he was able to be himself with the most, and knew about his true nature, which included Hobb, Ixnes, Phavian and Master Shin, he also included Maggie in this tier even though he had not told her about his powers. Keeping it a secret from everyone was much easier, as he could justify it by saying no one knew. With how much closer he had been getting to Maggie though, he was finding it more and more difficult to keep it from her. It was not as if it constantly came up, he simply had times he would rather correct her, or do things that would make life easier by using his powers.

  He had come to the conclusion that outside of Hobb, no one knew certain other things about him, even Phavian, that he had shared with Maggie, so it was an acceptable tradeoff. With Dan, Codi and Stefani hovering tightly around his core, they were not as close as the others, but definitely were people he would have no problem admitting he had love for. Now he had people like Zenia, and Jesus that joined the ranks of people in his life like Miles, Jadeyn, or Fredderick, who had their place as friends, but were not let in on deeper things in his life.

  Even by way of Maggie, he had become more acquainted with Ryn, their class’ preeminent Defender, that they knew of at least, and another Medic named Harrison. His social circle had become quite large, and he had grown to enjoy the company rather than flee from it in terror. He had always thought having more people he cared about around him would make him more dangerous and concerned about his abilities, but it had the opposite effect. He instead found he had much more of a reason to fight to stay in control.

  Striding up to Zenia, he noticed the girl’s small afro was braided down, making him wonder if she might be able to do something for Phavian. While he loved his boyfriend’s curls, and they were always well cared for, there was something about when his hair was braided down, really taking advantage of the shaved sides that he enjoyed.

  Zenia was always a pleasure to talk to, even though she found herself similar to Dan in the fact that her accent fluctuated fairly heavily. Being born in Cairnes, Australia, she came to America as a baby, where she grew up in Minneapolis. Her family only being second generation Water Affinities, she was not extremely wealthy, but they had more than enough money to spend plenty of time in Australia, as their Indigenous heritage was very important to them.

  Her grandfather, who was a Fire Affinity was apparently one of the most important figures in her life. Like a number of Water Affinities her age, she boasted dual citizenship, as there was a time a few decades ago when many wealthy individuals immigrated to America. Anaar always found it funny to hear how some things she said were so distinctly Minnesotan, while the rest of her speech often had the clip of an Australian accent.

  “Now you’re a bloke I didn’t think I’d see here. I suppose now that you’re a kept man, you have responsibilities eh?”

  Giving her a sour look, “I am no one’s ‘kept man.’ Usually I’m working with Dan, during these meetings, but he decided against it this time. He wanted to come, so I don’t really have an excuse.”

  Jesus, giving him a pointed look, “So helping Dan was just an excuse? I hope you didn’t need someone to give you an excuse to do t
he right thing.”

  “No, helping Dan isn’t an excuse, but it was always the reason I never came. Phavian knows I have my obligations, and he has his. He doesn’t even know I’m coming.”

  “Well if he can’t tell when you are coming, he must not be doing something right if you get my drift.”

  Giving him a dry look, “Drift gotten, and glad it is gone.”

  Zenia gives Jesus a small shove, coming to stand in front of him to block his way, though he could simply peer over her head. “Just wait until people find out you were at a Seeds meeting. Freshman participation is going to shoot up. You know you are the royalty of our class.”

  “I don’t want to be anyone’s royalty. Jesus you want it?”

  “Are you going to make me fight you for it? In that case I’ll pass. Everyone knows the gap between our rankings are far more than exponential. I don’t know about Maggie, but if she took out Corey on her own, she must be quite the badass. Scrotes doesn’t count of course. Don’t get me wrong, the kid is strong, but not number 1 strong.”

  Dodging abruptly to the left, Anaar spins and sidesteps just in time to see Maggie completely wipe out into Zenia. Not having braced herself for a sudden flying body, the two become a tangled mass on the floor as Jesus had managed to slide back just in time to prevent being caught in the collision.

  “Anaar! I hate when you do that! Why can’t you just take my love?!”

  Looking down at the two girls on the floor, “Because your love consists of tackling me like a linebacker.” He reaches down to offer a hand to Maggie, while Jesus offers his to Zenia.

  Giving him a hug, then a slap on the arm, “You came! Dan is here too! He’s over there talking to Ryn. Apparently they were having some argument about which of them had the better defense, and all she said was ‘water,’ and now Dan is sulking in the corner.”

  “Yeah, he should have known better than to get into a pissing match about barriers with that girl. She takes it very seriously and will always go for the jugular. So… What exactly do we do here?”

  “Your boyfriend is the leader, how could you not know?! Apparently, this meeting is more to just catch up, and discuss potential outreach opportunities. With the school year winding down for the Seniors, we are going to lose our Transporter, so we all have to find a way to woo her into doing some outreach activities before she leaves.”

  “It is going to be crazy to think of this place without Ripp. Who else can assume the shoes of keeping people in line through not so veiled threats of gunshot wounds?”

  “No idea, but Zen, you are coming with me just in case she starts shooting.”

  “Why do I have to get shot?! Don’t you know the rules? Keep the healers safe so they can take care of the wounded. Don’t put them in the line of fire! Bloody hell woman!”

  Stepping to the side again, Anaar grabs a wayward arm, flipping someone hard onto the floor. Everyone jumps in shock as the leader of their organization comes sprawling onto the floor in front of them.

  “That is it, from now on I’m going to your training sessions with Master Shin. What is he teaching you?! I barely made any noise! All I wanted was a kiss! You shouldn’t have even noticed me coming!”

  Jesus snickers at Phavian as he lays out on the floor. “Oh, so I see who is in charge now. You can’t tell when he is coming, but he can sense you coming a mile away!”

  Anaar looks up from the floor where he is peering down at Phavian, “Jesus, you are seriously dismissed.”

  Maggie looks at the snickering boy confused, “I don’t get it.”

  Before Jesus can respond, Anaar quickly shuffles Maggie away, mumbling something about making sure to never let him and Codi occupy the same space.

  “Is it ok to just leave him on the floor like that?”

  “He’s a big boy, he’ll be fine. He knows how I feel about public displays of affection anyway. It just seems like you are trying too hard most of the time.”

  “Even after all this, you still have a problem being affectionate with people!”

  “I have no problem with affection, I just think there is a time and place, and typically that is not in public.”

  As they continue to jab back and forth, something happens that is extremely rare, and had never been heard of by the Freshman class thus far. Everyone’s Vizer’s begins a holomessage from the Headmistress.

  “Good evening students. As this message is of the utmost importance, I have decided to refrain from leaving it to chance that everyone would attend an assembly, and instead use this method. Many of you have wondered why the school rankings have not been updated, even after weeks since the Third-year Mid-Year Melee has passed. I am well aware of how the school ranking is perceived. It is completely disregarded as inaccurate and unusable. I would like you all to listen very carefully to what I am about to explain next.

  “Your voices and concerns have been heard. Though there is no way to properly go through every single student, ranking you accordingly, and echelons are not a definitive determining factor, we have decided to take a different approach this year. Depending on the response and success, this may be the format moving forward. While the vast majority of students will still be ranked based on the previous system, what we can give you is something that has been craved for generations. We shall be determining just who are the mightiest in the school amongst all classes.”

  There are a number of gasps from everyone in the room as the Headmistress continues.

  “You might be wondering how we will go about this determination. Will it be another arbitrary ruling from us, based on other rankings and echelons? You have expressed and proven this method is not effective for truly parsing out the top students in the school. Instead we will leave that in your hands, and the hands of your champions.

  “Each class will be responsible for electing five champions from their class to represent them in the school rankings. Bear in mind this is as much about class pride as it is about personal pride. Will the Fourth-year students, with their wealth of experience reign supreme, or will we find that there is more might to be had amongst the other classes? You shall have three days to choose your champions. If you cannot decide, or if the results are inconclusive, it shall default to the top five students in your class ranking. Do remember this is a battle of might, so if I were you, I would choose wisely. While this tournament may seem very familiar in some ways, in others it will completely take you by surprise. I look forward to seeing the twenty champions that are put forth in this contest.”

  The message ends, leaving the gathering in a raucous clamor, as this was one of the few spaces where all classes came together as one for a common goal. Now with this bombshell dropped on everyone, suddenly the room was on edge, and lines were being drawn in the sand again. From their Vizers, everyone in their class, listed by their rank, was available, and each person in the class was capable of choosing five unique entries, including themselves. As Maggie and Anaar looked over the list, Codi and Phavian converged upon the two. Pressing himself tightly behind Anaar, sliding his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, Phavian leans in, whispering furiously into his ear.

  “Couldn’t your mom pick a better time to make this announcement?! So much for this meeting. No amount of love and shared experience is going to salvage this one.”

  Smiling through gritted teeth, whispering back, “She is not my mom! Technically. Sorta. Whatever. This isn’t my fault!”

  “Somehow I feel like it is totally your fault! We’ll talk about this later!”

  Codi homes in on what is transpiring and sends a couple arcs of electricity toward the two. “Hey! Get a fucking room! What are you whispering about over there?! Phave, you are literally sleeping with the enemy!”

  “No one is the enemy! And technically you are always sleeping with the enemy, like lots of them. That could be considered treason or something, so you can’t talk.”

  “Sleeping and fucking are two different things! There isn’t much sleeping going on when I’m ar
ound!”

  “Shut up Codi.”

  Maggie takes the opportunity to jump in. “This is not how it normally is I’m guessing?”

  “Not even close! No one usually gives a flying fuck about the school rankings because they are complete bullshit! With this, they would actually mean something. They would be more important than class rankings!”

  “Codi is right. It is one thing to be number 1 in your class. It is another thing altogether to be number 1 in the school without a shadow of a doubt because you took out everyone else. Even if only one person from each class is in the top four, that would be huge. If one class dominates it though…”

  “This is fucking amazing! I’m number 4! That is like an instant entry! Oh just you fuckers wait… Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you just because we are friends. You are the true number 1 and number 2 in your class. You may be Freshies, but you are still going down!” Brimming with charge, causing the lights in the building to flicker, it was clear to tell that friends or not, there had just been a declaration of war.

  Over the next few days the entire school had erupted into a tinderbox of hostility and class wars. As most people had very little deep interaction with people outside their class, it only served to fuel the conflict. Though there was no open fighting, during this time there were no missed opportunities to throw a jab at someone who might be within earshot that was not in their class.

  While everyone presumed the Freshmen would be relegated to the bottom of the pack, there was one person’s name in the Freshman class that was on everyone’s tongues, and struck fear into even the upperclassmen. As a result, Anaar had been saddled with the entire weight of his class’ dreams, the expectation that he alone would be capable of carrying them to supremacy over everyone in the school.

  Though class solidarity had never been higher, it did not prevent intraclass conflicts from arising based on who should be their representatives in this newfound test of strength. Most people felt that it made sense to just stick with those that were the top ranked in their class, as they tended to stay at or near that rank during their entire tenure at the school. Others took the Headmistress’ words very seriously, and quite literally.