by Kay L Moody
Talise stared at the blank paper for two and half minutes before she gave up. She added a quick, Please don’t worry. I’m still going to try. to the end of the letter and shoved it into its envelope.
With the letter in hand, Talise left her room to find the nearest academy guard.
“Can you make sure this is sent tonight?” Talise asked the woman.
The woman nodded as she tucked the letter into a hidden pocket of her yellow silk tunic. “Any special instructions?” the guard asked.
“No.” Talise smoothed the bottom of her uniform so she could avoid the guard’s eye. Why did they always have to ask that? She stuffed a hand into her pocket, but it only reminded her of how empty that pocket was. No money for special requests. No money for extra pastries. No money for anything but survival.
Talise gulped as she turned away. How could she forget so easily the challenges of the Storm? She had been in the Crown for ten years, but the challenges still chased after her. They were little things like not being able to afford a pass to leave academy grounds. Never having anything extra beyond necessities.
But with all her necessities taken care of for ten years straight, it was easy to forget how bad things in the Storm were. Marmie had sacrificed so much to get her here. She couldn’t let that sacrifice be in vain.
* * * * *
LATE THAT EVENING, Talise slipped out of bed still wearing her school uniform. She tiptoed out of her room and held her breath as she walked down a hall where one of the night guards patrolled.
The hall remained empty as Talise tiptoed down it. Just as she was ready to round a corner, she heard footsteps. There were punishments for sneaking around at night, but none of them were worse than losing the competition.
She tucked herself into a supply closet just as the footsteps came around the corner. Who was it? Did they see her?
Talise gripped her elbows. She tried to force herself to breathe, but her lungs seemed to think it would be more fun to hold her breath until she couldn’t stand it another second. Just when she sucked in a loud breath, the door to the supply closet swung open.
Her hands flew into the air in defense. “I was just—” Talise’s words cut off as she blinked. “Wendy? What are you doing here?”
Wendy’s finger flew to her lips as she looked over her shoulder. “I was going to the bathroom,” she whispered. “What are you doing here?”
“Um.” Talise began rubbing a hand up and down her forearm. “I need to train for the competition.”
Wendy let out a snort and a new pair of footsteps started coming from a nearby hall. Her eyes widened as she grabbed Talise by the wrist. “Come on,” Wendy said, pulling her down the hall. “They always check this closet, but I know another place we can hide.”
“How do you—”
“Shhh!”
Talise clamped her mouth shut until they were out of that hallway and in the guard’s hallway. When Wendy’s feet began to slow, Talise looked at her seriously. “This is the guard’s hallway. Where the guards check in and get their gear and everything. We can’t hide here.”
Wendy smirked. “Yeah, but they only check in every hour on the hour. This place is empty the rest of the night.”
“How do you know that?” Talise asked. She stared at her friend’s gentle smile and innocent face. “How often do you sneak out?”
“What?” Wendy asked as she put a hand to her chest. Somehow, she managed to imbibe each of her words with a sweetness that jarred against the reality of the situation. “I never sneak out. How could you suggest such a thing?”
Talise could only respond with a disbelieving chuckle. “Then what are you doing right now?”
Wendy’s ears turned pink as she looked down at the ground. “That’s different. I had to go to the bathroom. I hate how they make us take a guard escort. I never sneak out for anything else.” Her lips squished up into a knot as she looked at a nearby wall. “Well, sometimes I do sneak into the kitchens. But only because the headmaster forgets to feed the animals.”
She looked up with a smile but then her ears turned pink again. Looking away, she said. “Oh. There was one time I didn’t turn an essay in on time. But I finished it that night, so I snuck into the teacher’s classroom and put my essay in the pile. But that was only one time.”
Talise wanted to laugh hard, but since the guards were looking for them, she had to keep it to a quiet snicker. “How did you learn what the guards do at night? I can’t imagine you sneaking out enough to find out.” She cocked her head to the side. “Can you get us to the training building?”
Wendy nodded and glanced around a corner. She waved at Talise to follow her and then she said, “My brother, Cyrus, taught me everything. Do you remember when he was here a few years ago? He got into lots of trouble. Once he graduated, he thought he’d pass his legacy on to me I guess.”
Another snicker escaped Talise’s mouth, but she quieted it when Wendy put a finger to her lips. They were silent through a few more halls, and even more silent through the gardens.
When they reached the training building, they were so used to whispering, they didn’t even notice that they kept it up.
“Why do you have to train anyway?” Wendy asked. “Everyone knows you’re going to win.”
Talise closed her eyes as she filled her palms with fire. When a cold chill swept into the room, she shaped more fire, but this time inside of herself. Why couldn’t she do that during her demonstration? Shaping fire inside the veins was such a difficult skill, most students never learned it. Sadly, it wasn’t flashy enough for a demonstration, not to mention Emperor Flarius would have no way of knowing fire actually ran through her veins.
Putting that thought aside, Talise focused on the fire in her palms. She shaped each of them to look like the long ribbons that were often used in air shaping demonstrations. “It’s Aaden,” Talise said.
Wendy settled into a corner of the room and pulled out a pastry she had hidden in her robe. At the mention of Aaden, her body shivered.
“He’s going to do a fire sculpture for his demonstration. I saw him practicing. He’s doing cherry trees, and he’s going to make cherry blossoms pop out of the branches after he shapes the tree.”
Whatever made Wendy shiver before seemed to float away. Her eyes went wide as she popped a piece of the pastry into her mouth. Then she shook her head. “Are you sure he’s not going to make a tree that sort of looks bushy? He can’t really make cherry blossoms pop out of the branches.”
“He can,” Talise said as she shaped the fire ribbons through the air. She moved them the same as people often moved colorful ribbons with wind shaping. The ribbons curled and weaved as if a wind danced with them. She chose this demonstration specifically because it used her primary element of fire, but also because it showed that she knew how to shape air.
Only someone talented with air shaping could understand the movements well enough to move fire in the same way. Except fire was harder to control. Many people in Kamdaria, the emperor included, believed fire was the most difficult element to master. This demonstration proved she could shape fire with skill, but it also showed off another element she knew well.
“That’s incredible,” Wendy said. “Cherry blossoms popping out of branches. Fire cherry blossoms. And fire branches. That’s so cool.”
“I know,” Talise said with a frown. “And I have to beat him, so don’t act too impressed.”
“Sorry,” Wendy said, softening her voice. She chewed her pastry slowly, watching as Talise shaped the fire around them.
Talise moved one of the fire ribbons to look like a tornado, spinning down until it nearly kissed the ground. With the other ribbon, she made it whip and whirl above her head in waves. Two completely separate motions moving simultaneously. It was impressive by anyone’s standard. But was it enough?
“He’s going to beat you,” Wendy said. Her voice was so quiet, Talise almost didn’t hear. She wanted to be angry, but Wendy’s words had been uttered with such love, the anger
left before it could settle.
Talise let her fires vanish before she dropped onto the floor. With her forehead buried in her palms, she said, “I’ve been training ten years for this. There has to be something I can do.”
They sat in silence long enough to hear a changing of the guard in the courtyard.
“Make it dangerous,” Wendy said.
Talise looked up as she raised an eyebrow.
Wendy nodded. “Aaden might beat you with the detail of his sculpture, but everybody loves a bit of danger. It will make you impressive in a different way, and it will make you memorable.”
Talise’s head bobbed up and down as she got to her feet. She shaped a long ribbon of fire and swirled it around like a tornado. When it got closer to the ground, she turned it back upward. Before she could reconsider, she held her arm out straight and let the fire ribbon twist around her arm. The heat brought a line of sweat to her forehead, but it didn’t burn.
Slowly, she untwined the fire ribbon from her arm and let it twist around her leg. She had to keep the fire farther from her leg, so it didn’t burn the fabric. The temperature inside her raised even higher, but it didn’t stop her yet.
She raised both hands high above her head and clasped them together. Then she let the fire ribbon swirl around her entire body.
When she finally shaped the fire away, Wendy clapped with delight. “Now that was cool.”
“It’s pretty hot,” Talise said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
“Too hot?”
With a shrug, Talise said, “It has to be dangerous to be impressive, right?”
As Talise wiped another line of sweat from the back of her neck, she thought about shaping ice into her veins. The thought of Mrs. Dew’s lesson stopped her in her tracks. She didn’t need her fingers breaking off. Especially not before the competition.
But maybe she could pack ice in her pockets and rub them over her body after the competition. Except if she did that, the ice would melt in her pocket during the demonstration.
It didn’t matter. She’d think of something and make sure she became Master Shaper. She’d have to tell Marmie the good news.
EIGHT
DAYLIGHT STREAMED IN THROUGH THE WINDOW OF the training room as Talise worked to improve her technique. The competition was only a week away now, and she’d been training during every minute of her spare time. When the fire ribbons got too close to her body, it would raise her internal temperature just like a fever. But she needed that little bit of danger or else the demonstration wouldn’t be impressive enough. She’d written another letter to Marmie all about her new plan.
This one would work. It had to.
She swirled a fire ribbon around her arm. When it reached her shoulder, she let the ribbon grow longer so it could then swirl around her torso, and down one leg. A cool afternoon air drifted in through the training room door, which felt nice on her heated skin.
Just when Talise made another fire ribbon spin around her from bottom to top, Mrs. Dew walked into the room. Talise hadn’t snuck in this time, but the sight of her teacher still made her jump.
“Mrs. Dew.” Talise stopped shaping immediately as she lowered her head in a quick bow. “What can I do for you?”
To her surprise, Mrs. Dew didn’t answer. Her face remained stoic as she pointed toward the little stools in the corner of the room. One thing did seem different though. The muscles around her eyes looked heavy as if something weighed them down. It made Talise’s hair stand on end.
“What is it?” Talise asked. “What’s wrong?” Terror flashed through her, but the logical part of her brain tried to swat it away. Mrs. Dew always looked serious. That was her default. This expression was no different than usual. Still, something like doom seemed to settle into the walls. Something was wrong. Talise didn’t know how she knew it, but she knew it.
Mrs. Dew only pointed to the stools again. Without waiting for Talise, she lowered herself onto the nearest one.
Terror gripped Talise by the insides, but she tried to squash it down. Mrs. Dew probably just wanted to see Talise’s demonstration. She’d been going around to the other students giving advice.
No matter how much her brain worked, by the time Talise sat down across from Mrs. Dew, she knew this had nothing to do with her demonstration. A faint glisten of tears sat in the corner of Mrs. Dew’s eyes.
At the same time, a lump appeared in Talise’s throat. Her muscles suddenly couldn’t be relaxed, no matter how she tried to soothe them. And when had she started breathing so quickly?
“What happened?” Talise asked.
“I just received word,” Mrs. Dew said, suddenly staring at the ground. She gulped and held her lips together as if unable to force them open.
A rope of ice seemed to tighten around Talise’s heart. Her breathing got deeper, and her muscles got tighter. How many seconds had it been since Mrs. Dew entered the room? Ten? Twelve? It felt like a thousand. Not a thousand seconds, but a thousand hours.
She knew what was coming. She knew it.
But how could she know it? Mrs. Dew hadn’t said anything about it yet. This conversation could have been about anything. Talise tried to force her mind to consider how ridiculous she was being. Tried and failed.
Her mind had no control now. She was being led by her thumping heart and the anxiety that seized her muscles. No longer able to calm herself, she held her breath waiting for Mrs. Dew’s words.
“Your,” Mrs. Dew said before she gulped again. “I just received word from one of the guards. Your…”
She paused again as if the words were too much. Too heavy.
Just say it, Talise thought. I already know what you’re going to say, so just say it.
Mrs. Dew closed her eyes and turned away. “Shyna was found this morning by a neighbor.”
Marmie.
“Apparently she’s been sick the past few weeks.”
Talise’s seizing muscles were replaced by a cold, icy grip. No more thumping heart. It must have stopped. It had to have stopped. Because how could she be alive when Marmie…
“The neighbor was there the night before. He said she fell asleep. When he came back in the morning…”
“No,” Talise said. It was all she could think to say. This couldn’t possibly be real.
“She passed away in her sleep. She probably didn’t feel anything at all.”
“No!” Talise shouted. She jumped off her stool, but then standing there didn’t feel any better. She had to do something. She had to move, or her muscles would explode.
The stool.
She kicked it over, but it wasn’t enough. She threw it across the room, but that wasn’t enough either. Grabbing the stool again, she heaved it at the wall. It needed to break. Something had to be destroyed. Something needed to break for the impossibility of this situation.
When the stool hit the wall, it bounced to the ground with barely even a dent. Talise let out a guttural scream and fireballs appeared in her hands. She didn’t really mean to set the stool on fire, but at the same time, she did.
Soon, the wooden stool had burst into flames atop the cement floor. The wood cracked by the heat of the flames. Talise watched until the legs of the stools turned black.
And then she fell to the ground with her face in her hands and wept.
Sobs shook through her. The muscles inside had been weakened by the anxiety that gripped them. Her heart no longer beat, it only fluttered. For some reason, her eyes felt tired.
So tired.
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Dew said.
Her teacher had never been particularly comforting, but having her arm wrapped around Talise’s shoulders felt nice. Not enough, but nice.
Mrs. Dew said nothing of the burning stool. Instead, she squeezed Talise’s shoulders and let her cry as long as she needed.
It took longer than it should have.
“How did she die?” Talise finally asked. Her voice sounded like the croaking of a frog, but she managed to get the wor
ds out.
“In her sleep.”
Talise nodded. “Yes, I know you said that, but what did she die of? Why was she sick?”
Mrs. Dew wet her lips as she looked away.
“Are a lot of people getting it? Is the sickness spreading? A fever? A cough? What?”
Looking at the ground, Mrs. Dew asked, “Do you know how most people in the Storm die?”
Blood rushed through Talise’s ears as her heart pounded. Again, the world seemed to freeze while she was forced to deal with these awful truths. “Malnourishment,” Talise whispered. The same thing that prevented people in the Storm from being able to shape was also the thing that usually took them away forever.
Mrs. Dew nodded, still unable to make eye contact.
They were both quiet, watching the flames around the stool turn to embers.
“I have to go to the funeral,” Talise said. “I have to leave a mark on her gravestone.” It was the only thing she could do now.
Since the time of Kamdar, the first emperor of Kamdaria, gravestones had been marked by the deceased’s family members. The simple marks honored the person’s life and acted as symbols for the love their family members held for them. The more marks a grave had, the more honored that person was considered to be.
Talise had just enough money to get to the Storm. Not enough to get back, but Mrs. Dew or the school might help with that. They allowed that sort of thing on occasion.
Maybe it was reckless to spend a day of traveling this close to the competition, but Talise didn’t care. She needed this. She had to say goodbye. She had to leave a mark on Marmie’s grave because hers would be the only mark the grave would bear.
“Of course. We have funds for you. I’ll contact the city and find out when they plan to do the funeral.”
“The city?” Talise looked up with a start.
Mrs. Dew nodded. “Yes, the city is doing her funeral.” When Talise stared back at her, Mrs. Dew added, “She didn’t have any family in the Storm, did she?”
Talise turned away as she wrapped her arms around her stomach. Shaking her head, she said, “No. She has no family in the Storm.”
