Earthen Shadow Read online

  I gave him a look from my corner by the door.

  He backtracked almost at once. “That’s not what I meant—I mean, is everything alright? Did something happen?” The worry in his voice was genuine. “Are you alright?”

  Terrance swallowed.

  “He’s fine,” I said, pushing my package under Terrance’s arm. “He’s just doing me a favor.” I directed my look to him next.

  Terrance caught on at once and took the package easily, as if that had been his intention all along. “I’ll be sure to deliver it straight away.” He nodded at me and then at Ellis. “Good evening, sir and Guardian.”

  Before Ellis could reply, Terrance bolted down the hall, a flash of silver flickering into view, proof of his metal element.

  I took note of the stricken look on Ellis’ face and bit back a sigh. “Coming in?”

  “Were you headed out?” He looked at my traveling outfit and then back down the hall, but stepped inside anyway.

  “Did the meditations help?” I countered instead. He was fishing for information and I saw no reason to give it to him. It took a half-second to shrug out of my travel cloak and hook it on the respective knob on the rack by the door.

  “Hardly.” He scowled. “I don’t see the point of sitting motionless for-”

  “Tone, Ellis,” I brushed past him and snagged Terrance’s glass from the table, adding it to the sink with my own, to rinse away any evidence of a pain reliever. Ellis had a knack for knowing which healing additives did what and I’d trained him for too long to underestimate his intelligence. “If you’re going to complain, then choose something else to occupy your free time. I am not requiring you to attend the meditation halls, you decided that on your own, remember?”

  “I remember,” he said, grudgingly. “Why didn’t you tell me to pick something else?”

  “Because there’s nothing wrong with learning to meditate, it’s good for the head, heart and soul.” I recited the mantra drilled into me by my own training master, the late Rylan Everson.

  Ellis pulled a face, but flopped into a chair at the table. “What did Terrance want?”

  I turned to look at him, only to see his serious expression as he stared back.

  “There has to be a reason and I doubt you called him up here just to deliver a package. You could get any general student to do that. He must have needed something.”

  “Indeed.”

  “And he didn’t want to ask me about it, did he?”

  I didn’t answer. It was easy to wash both glasses and the dishes from my lunchtime cooking adventures. I took my time.

  “You’re not going to tell me, are you?” Ellis guessed, after another round of silence.

  “I have always kept your secrets in confidence,” I said, simply. “Apart from the fact that you are my sworn apprentice, Terrance’s business is no one else’s but his own. I would not betray his trust any more than I would yours. You should know that.”

  Ellis huffed, fidgeting. His scowl had returned, a tad darker than before. “But he’s fine, right? There’s nothing—wrong?”

  “He is fine.”

  “He can’t keep avoiding me forever!” Ellis burst out.

  “That is your own fault,” I said, simply.

  “I overreacted—once!”

  “Once was enough.” I generously did not point out the fact that he had yet to apologize for that oversight, a detail that Terrance had not missed in the least. I also knew that half of his issue with the fight had been his inability to prevent it from happening, regardless of how ridiculous a wish that had been. “You can’t shelter him forever, Ellis.”

  “I’m not,” Ellis began. He stopped and his hands curled into fists. “I’m not trying to do that. I just think that if I could’ve—I should have-”

  “If, is a dangerous word, Ellis. Give him time and space. Time to grow on his own and space to make the choices he needs to. He’s a smart boy. He’ll come around.”

  “Smart. Sure.” Ellis scoffed.

  “Tone, Ellis,” I reminded him, again. The most obvious indicator that something was wrong was the way in which his voice went from dark velvet to harsh and proud. Ellis was the very embodiment of his earthen element at times and I worried that he didn’t realize it.

  If he wasn’t careful, he’d self-destruct before anyone could help.

  I set the dishes to drain and picked up the towel to start drying them. “What’s really bothering you, Ellis?”

  “Me? Bothering me?”

  “If you’d rather not talk about it…”

  “I’d rather not!” he snapped.

  “There’s no need to get so upset,” I said, mildly.

  “I’m not upset!”

  The glass in my hand quivered a second before everything in the kitchen began to rattle. I set the glass down at once and threw the towel at Ellis to catch his attention. This was the fourth time in less than three weeks that he’d fumbled with his element enough for it to affect inanimate objects surrounding him. I worried for what would happen after that.

  The towel worked. He caught it and the rattling stopped, the golden hue fading somewhat from his eyes. He didn’t speak for a moment, but his lips pressed tightly together in the way that meant he wasn’t sure whether speaking would help or hurt.

  At least nothing broke this time. The first and second occurrences had resulted in broken dishes and malfunctioning drink dispensers. The third time I’d discovered that he reacted better to physical cues than verbal ones.

  “Of course you aren’t upset,” I said, lightly. “The dishes just do that themselves—when they feel like it.”

  He ducked his head, twisting the towel into a ball. The tips of his ears turned red.

  “If you don’t want to talk, then say so. Haven’t I always respected that? I would also prefer that you work out that attitude of yours on the sparring courts. Clear your head a bit.”

  Ellis thunked his head on the table, his face buried in the towel. He muttered something that I couldn’t quite hear.

  I cleared my throat.

  He looked up.

  I folded my arms, waiting for him to repeat it. He would probably offer the condensed version, if I gave him enough time.

  “No one will spar with me because of Nullith and his big mouth.”

  “Gavin Nullith?” I waited for his nod of confirmation even though I already knew the answer. “Ellis, again?”

  Gavin Nullith, a rock Guardian, was new to the Guardian ranks of Amerinth and he’d come with a friend, Nathan Holwell, a light element user. They were settling in and Gavin had a bone to pick with Ellis’ honored status. As the youngest Guardian in fifty years within the Twilight ranks, it was both an honor and a point of caution, depending on the current roster of active Guardians residing in the Academy.

  “I didn’t do anything. He started it!”

  “And that makes it right? You should have ignored him.” I said, calmly.

  “I couldn’t! You didn’t hear what he was saying!” Ellis protested.

  He usually did ignore them, four out of five times, but the fifth time usually landed all of them in some sort of trouble, depending on where they were when the squabbling started. Ellis rarely ventured outside of Amerinth and most of his accepted jobs were assists to his fellow Twilight, a detail that both Guardians had disagreed with

  “And that translates into a lack of sparring partners, how?”

  Ellis blushed.

  I sighed. There was no way I could wrangle a straight answer out of him, not when he was such a bundle of nervous energy. It was probably best to have him burn some of it off. “Never mind. Come on.” I left the kitchen and headed for the front door.

  By the time I stood in the hall, Ellis caught up to me, his eyes betraying his suspicion as he looked around. There were no others present and I gestured for him to lock the door behind him.

  “Where are we going?”

  “Since Terrance is doing
me a favor, my evening is free,” I dropped a hand on his shoulder and steered him down the hallway. “Since my evening is free, I have more than enough time to help you work out your frustrations.”

  Ellis groaned. “I just got in!” There was a hint of whine in his voice.

  “And I was just on my way out, as you correctly guessed. Now march.”

  “But-!”

  “March, apprentice of mine.” I moved my hand from his shoulder to rest at the back of his neck. He shifted uncomfortably—instinctively—and settled almost at once, the last knot of tension fading away.

  “Yes master.”

  I almost smiled.