VIRAN

  "Grappling?" Viran asked as he looked up from his task.

  Getting the water in the lake to form a spiral was much harder than managing it in the bowl. The grit kept shredding holes in whatever lattice he used to contain the water, and Dovin had specifically told him he wasn't allowed to spin water further away than he could reach with his arms.

  So Viran had just spent a very annoying morning accidentally burying the priceless treasure in silt, brushing it off, and trying again.

  He could almost get the air to touch the surface without lifting the caster's bauble out of the sands, which was a lot of progress compared to not even getting halfway, like his first attempt.

  Not that anyone else had noticed, because 'training together' mostly just seemed like 'training together while Viran is here too,' from where he was still sitting by the lakeshore. Everyone else had paired off for sparring practice in the pits, and left him to struggle with his mana, not quite alone.

  "You and I have practiced that enough recently, and she's trained against human anatomy. Keep at your exercises. We'll eat soon." Dovin waved Viran off, turning back to Emma, who was trying to pretend she hadn't gone stiff at the joints. Again.

  Viran leaned over his task once again to hide the way his shoulders drooped. It also put the amulet in the shade for him to read it easily, now that the sun was all the way out from behind the Fang.

  He didn't put any mana into the bauble. He had tried this over and over and over again, but he kept getting the same result.

  The disk would lift just the tiniest bit, wobble, and careen outwards to be found again. Emma's limbs would get rigid every time Viran tried to talk to her, so leaving her alone was still a good idea, and Calen...

  Calen had been too busy training or asking his own questions to actually try talking to. Maybe that would change once he ran out of questions, or ran low enough on them to maybe say something about himself.

  Or Viran could just ask. Someday. If Dovin ever gave them time to talk to each other.

  "Out of mana?" Mirri asked behind him.

  Viran shook his head without turning.

  She should know he wouldn't be having problems with mana regeneration. Part of him was soaking in the the waters at Eastwatch, it would take doing something silly to give himself mana exhaustion with the constant trickle of power seeping through his scales.

  Viran wasn't even capable of giving himself mana exhaustion just by casting right now, but Mirri had asked anyway. Even though she knew that better than anyone. Almost anyone.

  "What are you stuck on?" She tried again, but didn't give him time to figure out his answer before she tried a different question. "Have you managed a solid lattice? Can you show me what you're trying?"

  She was right. He should be doing something right now, during training time. Even if he didn't think it would work any better than the last try.

  A half-formed spiral of water shredded itself in silt a few moments later, drifting off out of his control. Viran had used an even thinner lattice than usual, just so Mirri would see the problem quickly, instead of trying to encourage him when it worked for a few seconds.

  "Ah," She almost sounded like she understood for a second. "Well, there are a lot of environmental factors here. You could bring a bowl up from the mess when we—"

  Viran shook his head vigorously.

  "No. I need to learn it the hard way," He explained. "I won't have a bowl in the arena, and it's getting worse, not better."

  He couldn't even fight sand with his mana. All he could do was stir up a thousand little tiny grains of nothing to scour away his work before he got started.

  "Why do you say that? What's worse?" Mirri sounded properly alarmed now.

  "I don't know," Viran admitted. "Something went wrong, it wasn't this hard yesterday."

  It was even taking more power to get the whirlpool started, like the water was resisting him.

  Or like he was getting weaker, with his mana depleted for growth, and then diluted through too much flesh as it tried to follow the same paths he had cut off almost a month ago.

  Like he was already too late to decide against Titanhood, and the gods were prying his claws away from casting.

  But Viran hadn't gotten any bigger since last night. He had checked. His horns still scraped the same spot on the door to his guest room in the Perch when he scratched his back against it. No higher.

  Maybe he was just getting wider. The bench had been crowded at breakfast. Viran hadn't minded at the time. Even if he had noticed. He had just been too distracted to care.

  It couldn't be all bad. Something was going right. If Sutai was actually interested, and not just being polite.

  "Viran, you were using rain yesterday. And trying your best." Mirri said it like Viran was trying at all right now.

  His horns had grown out a lot since the autumn. The points had even started to curve a little bit, just like—

  The points had started to curve inward a bit, pointed at his snout.

  It was always going to be in, out, or straight, but most likely in or out. Now he knew, and he had no one to tell. Anyone else who had ever wondered would never see how they had turned out. Even if one of Sanctum's fighters maybe thought they looked nice.

  He didn't have anyone to tell about that either. Mirri didn't like Sutai, for some reason.

  And she was still waiting. Impatiently. Viran could hear her tail swish the air, even over the sounds of Emma grappling with Calen and explaining what she was doing for Dovin. And the squished sounds of Calen complaining.

  "So?" he asked. "My best isn't good enough either."

  The Arrivals were doing a better job of training than he was, and they were on a whole different planet than home, still looking for their parents. Because it would be possible for them to find what they wanted, even if the odds were bad. Really bad odds were better than no chances, ever.

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  They hadn't failed, or given up, or decided to go Titan. They had decided to try taking up Seraph Steel, and now Auntie had two more Young Immortals to train and protect instead of one, more powerful Immortal to help Mirri.

  Viran couldn't tell whether that was better or worse than having zero new Immortals to help, since the Venatrix would have been dead no matter what the humans decided.

  "Oh, look at me instead of moping like a big lump," Mirri's tail flicked the water beside him, sending ripples over Viran's reflection and breaking his trance. "Of course it's difficult. You're learning to do something hard. This water has a lot of mana in it, it takes more of yours to stir the aether properly. Try a thicker lattice."

  "But a thin lattice is a sign of—" Viran didn't get to finish.

  "Don't quote Alith-aine at me, I had those texts memorized before you could read," Scorn dripped from Mirri's tongue as she flicked the water off her tail and onto Viran's snout. "Mastery comes from practice, which means it happens after you practice."

  Viran had been quoting Auntie, not some boring old elf who died or went mad thousands of years ago, but if the words were the same, then maybe he had been. Indirectly, like how water that had gone over the falls was still part of the same river.

  Little ripples bounced inward from half a dozen places, lapping against Viran's legs before they churned up against each other in one big mess.

  "You're being mean. And you had a three year head start." Viran complained.

  Mirri was already right. She didn't have to be rude about it. Or show off.

  "I'm allowed to be mean, because you're being difficult on purpose," Mirri finally bothered wading in next to him. "I'm officially in charge for right now. That means teaching you is my responsibility. So tell me why you're not trying right now."

  Sullen silence reigned.

  "Please?" Mirri pleaded. "I don't want to make it an order."

  Viran sighed. He had promised to follow those. And she was asking politely this time.

  "Because... because it's not going to matter," Viran snarled at his reflection as the ripples finished fading, giving him a clear view of himself once again. "I don't know what I'm doing."

  Dovin was right. His teeth were scary. Viran barely recognized the face in the water in front of him, a familiar snout that was just his now looking all wrong when it was twisted and angry.

  How was he supposed to make allies looking like that? How was he supposed to tear out the Teeth if he couldn't even hold a tiny maelstrom together in water shallower than a finger-length? What would he even say in the arena, if he managed to win against an opponent Mirri's enemies had made just for him?

  Viran's Proving was coming up, and then everyone would see that he was just trying to rush to break something, because he had no idea how to do things right. He didn't deserve anyone's trust, he wasn't ready for it.

  Mirri scoffed.

  "Well neither do I, and my mother is busier than usual, so your help is the best I've got."

  Viran waited, but she was still behind him when he turned his head to check. She was looking, too, so he had to say something.

  "Help with what?"

  Maybe it was something easy. Like lifting something.

  "The Arrivals. I want to do a demonstration. Something mom showed me, when I was learning how channels worked," Mirri flicked a spark off the end of one of her claws. "But I can't manipulate the water myself."

  Viran turned back to the lake, and splashed away his reflection grabbing the caster's bauble out of the mud. He tracked the ripples instead of waiting for the lake to settle in front of him.

  "You should ask someone else. I'll just scare them." Viran told her.

  "Only if you're like this the whole time," Mirri grumbled back. "You won't even need to talk, and they don't know enough about magic to care how thick you build the lattice."

  "Good," Viran lied. "You can talk to them. They're weird, and I don't know how to talk to nobility anyway."

  He would probably just make another mistake, and scare them away again.

  "You're practically—" Mirri sighed. "I don't think they were schooled on courtly matters. I think they were more like you or me than the average princeling. Powerful, but not... used to being in circles of power."

  "So they're useless anyway." Viran said glumly.

  That was just perfect. Auntie had found nobles from Earth with no claim to anything and no training, so they would have to be taught how to rally their own people. Or just win a lot in the arenas for funding while someone else did the important parts.

  "As useless as you or I. For now," Mirri frowned, now that Viran was looking up at her. "What do you mean, weird?"

  Viran thought about it for a second, and spoke carefully.

  "Emma didn't care that I saw her below the ribcage by accident, but she gets nervous when I talk or get close," Mirri cast a glance over her shoulder at the sparring pit, but Viran had checked to make sure the Arrivals were still busy sparring before he started. "And Calen picks a fight like a kobold when he doesn't understand something, it makes me nervous."

  The last human Viran had met who acted like that had broken a duel-truce and jabbed him with a knife when he wasn't looking. Almost one whole day ago.

  Mirri gave a quiet trill of laughter after that second part.

  "He is a little like a kobold, isn't he?" Mirri cleared her throat. "And human women think the ribcage is the private part of the torso. Well, some of them do."

  Viran's brow scrunched itself together.

  "But that makes no sense. Below the ribs is the vulnerable part, and it's closer to..." Viran checked behind him again, but the Arrivals and Dovin were still in the pit. He finished at a whisper anyway. "You know. Baby making parts."

  Auntie had made absolutely sure Viran had known what those were over the winter. And how much responsibility came with using them without being careful. She definitely would have taught Mirri, especially before letting her write a letter to an Aequitian princeling.

  "Well, if she tries to have sex with you, tell me, but I don't think she was even aware she made you uncomfortable," Mirri's eyes narrowed, and her nostrils flared. "I mean it. Even if we're in the middle of something else, come tell me. Fraternization with anyone you just met would be a terrible idea right now."

  Viran shuddered involuntarily at the idea of smooth, maybe-slick flesh pressing up against his scales. Sometimes human skin got wet when they were exercising, and if sweat was what had given the squire's helmets that awful smell, he had no desire to try sex with a human. Or whatever 'fraternization' was.

  They both sounded like the kind of thing that would make a human sweat.

  "Ew, no," Viran grumbled, looking away. "Humans smell too much, and don't have tails. And Auntie says no heirs allowed until I've secured my Wardenship."

  That would take decades, maybe even a century. Viran could think about it after the horizon was a little clearer. Maybe when the five closest Teeth were nothing but rubble, and all the border watchtowers were properly garrisoned.

  And he had somewhere of his own to live. Somewhere that wasn't ashes anymore.

  "Good," Mirri sounded content for just one word before she went back to giving instructions. "And keep your kilt down anyway. There's no silphium around Eastwatch this early in the season, don't believe anyone if they tell you they've been chewing it. Now, are you ready to try again?"

  Mirri seemed awfully worried about what Viran did with his kilt, but that made sense, she was just making sure he knew how things worked. Even if she didn't need to.

  Auntie had already explained that Viran's claim to the Highlands Wardenship was 'dynastic', which was like borrowing trust from ancestors. If he wanted to take up the mantle, Viran would have to prove that he would do the right thing too.

  He could only 'borrow' as much trust as he earned, just like you could only control as much mana outside as your body could hold inside, no matter how much you regenerated while you were forming the lattice.

  The thicker lattice was easier to hold together, even if Viran could actually feel his mana reserves dropping while he formed it. He put a little too much power into it, and covered Auntie's caster bauble in mud, but the mud was covered in air that had reached the bottom of the shallows.

  "See? Easy," Mirri said. "The rest will come with time and practice. You just needed a little more patience."

  Viran withdrew his power from the knobby, too-thick lattice he had created before Dovin could see. The Arrivals sounded like they were done fighting, which meant it was time to eat. He could practice more later.

  "Okay. What do you need my help with?" He asked, standing. Not too tall, because that might scare the humans, but tall enough to look at Mirri without craning his neck.

  "Food first," She shook her head. "They're meeting with mom after, I'll explain then, and give you some time to practice it before tonight."

  That was soon. Maybe too soon, unless the trick was something Viran could learn fast. He decided that Mirri wouldn't be asking him to learn something if he couldn't learn it in time.

  It did leave him with a whole afternoon to practice, though, so it must be a little difficult.

  "What's important about tonight?" Viran asked, trying to figure out how long he would have.

  "Yarrun will be done with the spring work for the fortress, and actually have time for us," Mirri's snout wrinkled. "The sun puts him in a bad mood anyway."

  Silphium was the first plant (or animal) ever recorded by humans to go extinct. It was native to modern-day Libya, growing under specific conditions within a 125 mile by 35 mile patch of land.