Chapter Two

Your suitor is definitely worthy of your attentions. The smug voice was laced with satisfaction from his position on his new perch.

Imara smiled and kept hiking. “I am glad you are enjoying it. I still have no idea what to get him for his birthday, whenever it is.”

The new backpack was wide, sturdy, and had a shelf built into the top for Mr. E to park his fuzzy butt. She was his Sherpa through the campus, and he was enjoying the ride.

The summer session was in full swing, and the campus was nearly empty. Only the die-hard students were still attending. Half the faculty was on vacation.

The field she was walking through had a single pathway in it, and it was enough of a hint that she was in the right place that she didn’t panic. The building that she was looking for had to be around here somewhere.

It is underground. Look for a large stone slab and stand on it for one minute. It will take you down. Mr. E seemed to have worn off his dizzy fun, and he was now taking her finding her course location seriously.

“How do you know that?”

I asked Reegar. He is a fountain of information. He shared a similar worldview to mine and is delighted to have me under his roof. I am one of his heroes.

“Oh, man. That isn’t good.”

I beg to differ. Despite my sentence, I had no idea that I had an underground cult following. It is heartening to hear that folks don’t go for demonic intervention anymore.

“I don’t think it was a trend that could have remained for any length of time.”

It had begun to take on a cataclysmic pace. It had to be stopped, so I stopped it.

She wrinkled her nose. “And the guild obviously didn’t disagree with your actions, or they would have sentenced you to death and not familial repayment.”

Death would have been quick; this is an eternity of servitude. It is much worse.

“Thanks for that.” She spotted the stone panel that he had described.

Imara, you are the bright spot in an otherwise tedious existence, even if your choice of forms for me could have been slightly more masculine.

She grinned and stepped in the centre of the circular pad. A click was audible, and the pad she stood on slowly lowered into the earth.

Weather control was about to begin.

“You won’t need your familiar. It can wait here.” The woman who spoke was distinctively green.

Imara set her backpack down, got out Mr. E’s food and water and turned back to her instructor. “There, he is all set.”

The dryad nodded. “Good. Now, the other student is this way. You will be working as a team.”

“Other student? I thought there would be more.”

“This is an advanced class, Ms. Mirrin. Few could make it through the selection process.”

The structure they were in was stone. The walls, floors, and archways that led into other parts of the underground warren were all stone.

“Am I late?”

“No, you are on time. I believe the other student forgot to set her clock, but the Deegles have always been funny about time.”

“Do I need my books?”

“No. You can read the theory after the lessons. It will give you more reference points then, and you won’t overthink it.”

Imara blushed. She had read all the texts twice. Her brain was whirling with situations and adjustments. She just had to try to tamp down those impulses when it came time to actually working with magic.

They walked down a hall, and a huge amphitheatre waited for them. There was one small figure sitting in the first row with glints of light coming from her hands when she moved. She moved a lot.

The dryad nodded to the other woman. “Introduce yourselves. I will set up the first lab.”

Imara walked up to the other student and sat next to her. “Hiya. I am Imara, and it looks like we are it in this class.”

The woman looked at her and nodded, her clothing dotted by orbs dangling from nearly every available surface. The woman smiled and extended her hand, covered in rings with small orbs on them. “I am Kitigan, but most folks call me Kitty.”

Imara shook her hand in greeting and enjoyed the amused twinkle in the other young woman’s eyes. “Pleased to meet you.”

“You as well. I have heard interesting things about you.” She quirked her lips.

“Nothing bad.”

“Nope. I took a course on bookkeeping with one of your brother’s last term. During a study group, he mentioned that you had joined the school.”

Their instructor finished organizing herself and tapped her lectern. “Okay, ladies. Pleasantries are over. I am Weather Witch Annamaria Eckoak. You may address me as Eckoak. Yes, I am a dryad, but my father was a weather wizard, and it is a family skill. I am here to try and transfer natural talent into deliberate action. Sky breaking is a difficult skill to learn.”

Kitty cleared her throat. “Sky breaking?”

Eckoak inclined her head and raised her hand. As she spoke, a cloud formed ten inches over her palm. “You are taking air, wind, water, heat, radiation, and anything else in the vicinity and inserting it into the existing weather pattern to assert your will. You are breaking the pattern and making another. You have to see where it is going and where it will end. The most important thing is to contain it. Now, I want each of you to come up here and try to replicate this particular effect. I want to see a storm in your palms.”

Imara blinked. “What?”

“Storm in your hands, ladies. Now. Come here and give it a try.” Eckoak gave them a slight and encouraging smile.

Imara walked to face her instructor with a dazed feeling. Her mind ran through all of the information she had absorbed over the last few days, and she held out her hands as Kitty joined her in front of the lectern.

She focused on finding water, but the air around her was dry. Deliberately, she didn’t look at either of her companions as she spit into her palm to start things off.

Imara inhaled, exhaled, using her body as a heat source and her breath for wind. The tiny cloud began to form, and it flickered for a moment before dissipating and leaving her shaking and exhausted.

She dropped her hands to her sides and watched as Kitty cupped her hands together and blew softly. A tiny tornado formed, shooting upward before Kitty let it lose steam.

Eckoak looked up and made a tsk sound. “Sloppy but encouraging. Let me just grab that wind before it gets hostile.”

Imara looked up, and against the stone ceiling was her little white puff of cloud colliding with the tiny tornado. Together, the systems connected and danced until they started to grow.

Their instructor extended her hands and beckoned. The weather system coiled downward until it rested in her palms. When she closed her fists, the issue was contained.

Imara blinked. “Wow. I thought I had let my weather system go.”

Kitty nodded, sweat on her brow. “I thought so, too.”

“You did, but moving air never stops.” Eckoak continued to compact her hands together until they were flat. “That is why we are learning underground. Down here, it can be contained, but out there, you could kill someone.”

Kitty swayed, and Imara reached out to hold onto her. “Easy.” If she was honest, she needed contact for support as well.

Eckoak’s lips quirked slightly, the first true amusement she had shown. “Now, what did you do wrong, aside from enrolling in this course?”

Apparently, the class had begun, and Imara had faltered at the first test. It was not a great start.

Eckoak watched the two exhausted mages stumbling back toward the entrance after four hours of focus and concentration. Her smile bloomed the moment that they were out of sight.

She closed up the auditorium and took the administration exit to the chancellor’s home. She walked up the path and knocked on the door. When her friend opened it, Eckoak smiled. “Tea. Now.”

“It’s ready. I even included sandwiches.” Mirrin winked.

Eckoak followed her college friend into the sitting room, and she smiled in delight at the spread that Mirrin had created for her. “This won’t get her a better grade.”

Mirrin chuckled and settled in her seat, pouring tea for both of them. “She gets what she earns, Koki.”

Eckoak smirked. “She will do fine. She is a reader, isn’t she?”

“I have heard reports that she might be making her way through Reegar’s library.”

“That would explain it. She made a pocket cloud on her first day.”

Mirrin’s hand shook when she handed over the cup and saucer. “She did?”

“Yes. She has focus and drive. Imagine what she could have done if she had been trained since childhood. It boggles the imagination.”

Mirrin frowned. “She had a good education. My family saw to that.”

“And yet, she was raised in a non-magical city barely touched by the Wave. It was sheer luck that she was offered the position of Death Keeper.”

The chancellor shook her head. “It wasn’t luck. My aunt is a Death Keeper, as are two of my siblings. They knew who they were taking on board.”

“Well, well, well. Here I thought that you always played by the rules.” Koki bit into the first sandwich. The thinly sliced salmon melted in her mouth.

“I did. None of us were in contact with her. My family simply looked out for its own and mentioned her aptitude to the right people at the proper time.” The smile was that of the proud mother.

Koki sat back and sighed. “Well, she does have aptitude. Having read all of her files, she can do just about anything, so why is she trying to speed through college?”

“She has a plan, and she has a focus. If she wants to return to education later, I am all for it, but for now, she knows where she needs to be.”

“How can you be sure? She’s so young.” Koki nibbled her way through another sandwich.

“She has nearly two decades of focus behind her. Personally, I think she came out of me knowing where she would end up. She had a career plan even then.”

Koki laughed. “Did you regret being separated from her?”

“Every moment for the last two decades. I have kept my eye on her as best I could through family and guild connections, but the moment she got here, I nearly burst out of my skin.” Mirrin grinned, “Reegar was a little put out at the beginning, but now, I think he actually looks on her as a niece of some sort.”

“And now, you have roped me into the education of your offspring.” Koki frowned.

“Hey, I made you tea, and those teeny sandwiches with the crusts cut off. You know how painful domestic stuff is for me.”

“I accept that. The other student looks to be a good social match for her as well.”

Mirrin held her hand up in surrender. “That was none of my doing. The Deegle girl is smart, and she has a lot of skills, but I have no idea what her personality is like. If she made it into the course and past your vetting, I am sure she is a worthy student.”

“She is. If she and your daughter were one student, they would be exceptional. As it is, the two will manage to produce a decent storm by the end of the term, together or individually.” The dryad watched her friend battle with pride and concern.

The seven sons that had applied to the weather magic course had yielded only two that she accepted. The daughter was almost made of different stuff. Imara was bright, cheerful, and determined. It was a change from the sullen entitlement of her brothers. Well, all of the brothers but the youngest, but he wasn’t suited to weather work. There was too much fire in that boy.

“I have your room set up.” Mirrin smiled as she refilled Koki’s tea.

“So, the backyard, a tree, and the potting shed?”

“Yup.”

Koki laughed and toasted her with the teacup. “Excellent. You are a sublime hostess for those in touch with the soil.”

“Thank you. I do try. Do you think that Imara would mind me watching her lesson?”

Koki blinked. “I think she wouldn’t even notice you were there. She has a brain for weather; she just needs to tune the rest of the world out. It will be difficult for her. She is desperate to move with the world around her.”

“My fault. She needed more socialization. More friends.”

“As you said, she made her choices. She is learning to live with them.”

Mirrin looked out the front window and pursed her lips. “I want to help.”

“Which shows that you are still her mother even if you couldn’t raise her. Now, get over that and hand me another sandwich. If I have to teach your precious child tomorrow, I need some more sustenance.” Koki smirked and watched as Mirrin went back to the kitchen for more food.

It took a lot to distract the chancellor, but Koki hoped that a small break from worry would be enough for her.

Imara needed more focus, and Mirrin needed less. Yeah, they definitely were related.