Lira looked down at her folded cloak for a moment then back at him Step two is control she said Step two is you learn to hold water in front of as many eyes as possible and do it calm and gentle You show them you are not a blade You show them you can protect without burning You show them that you are not random rage You are choice That is how they stop seeing you as a fire bomb waiting to go off

Evan nodded So training Not just fighting Training in public Yes Lira said But listen She leaned in closer Her voice went almost whisper Four things you cannot do in front of them now One Do not call fire I do not care if you think you can I do not care if you feel heat in your veins You do not pull flame in the academy If you do they drown you Two Do not heal anyone without me Even a cut finger If you do they will know you can pull life force through water That is rare That is not normal They will take you apart to learn how you do it

He swallowed I will not heal anyone unless you say She raised a finger Three Do not pull main flow He frowned Main flow She pointed toward the window High in the wall thin lines of water ran like veins You feel that hum all around you All day yes That is main flow That is deep line water The wells that feed the city If you pull on it and bend it people will feel it across the whole academy Every trained mage will turn to look at you You will give yourself away You are already too loud

He rubbed the back of his neck Loud is not what I am going for here She nodded I know Four She said and now her eyes were hard as stone Do not trust the queen

He blinked He had heard this name twice now He had not seen her yet Lira’s voice stayed low Queen Nerissa is not a monster She is not cruel She is not like the fire lords She protects our borders She keeps the wells safe She held the flameborn off the palace herself That is all true But She will use you if she can She will wrap silk around your wrists and call it honor She will make you think you chose it Do not let her

He leaned in too Tell me straight Lira Will she try to keep me from going home Lira did not answer right away Her mouth pressed tight Then she said Yes If she believes you belong to this world she will never open a gate for you She will promise and promise and never deliver She will say you are too important to risk She will say war is coming and you must stand with her You will say yes once and wake up ten years later still standing there because she never lets you leave

He felt anger flare in his chest His jaw locked I did not ask to be here I jumped to save a kid That is all I did Lira’s eyes softened I know But to her that does not matter You crossed You survived You shape water like you were born in it You broke Corren’s binding in single breath You will become a story here fast Stories do not get to walk away

He leaned back on the bench and let his head tip up for a second staring at the low dark ceiling He let the anger cool in him He had felt this before in a different way Back home cameras and politicians and staged speeches after a big rescue People smiling and using his crew for a headline while they voted to cut their equipment budget the next month That same taste was in his mouth now He hated it here the same way he had hated it there

When he looked down again Lira was watching his face like she was measuring how far she could push him She said There is one chance for you to leave One honest one

Tell me he said

She glanced around the hall There were trainees eating three tables down A few guards near the far wall Mara was arguing quietly with a cook about portion size but not paying attention to them Lira spoke so quietly he had to lean across the table to hear

The gate that brought you here can open again but only in a place called the Tidespine She said It is an old place Deep under the capital It is guarded by the queen’s personal circle No one touches it without her permission No one even sees it unless she allows You want to go home You need that gate You want that gate You need her favor and her fear at the same time

He frowned Her favor and her fear Yes Lira said soft She must believe two things You are valuable And you cannot be controlled Any less than that and you are just a tool she can keep Any less than that and she never lets you near Tidespine

He stared at her That sounds like a very slow maybe and a fast way to die Lira lifted one shoulder I did not say it was easy

He rubbed his hands together under the table thinking She watched him think She saw his face tighten and ease She saw his eyes drop and lift She finally said There is something else

Of course there is he said dry

Her eyes flicked with a hint of humor Then her face went serious again When you stood at the gate and faced the guard She said You did not break him You could have You did not drown him You turned his own armor against him but you stepped back You gave him space

Yeah Evan said That is basic control We do not hit people when they cannot defend themselves She nodded That is not normal here

He looked at her You mean mercy is not normal Lira’s mouth tightened Mercy is seen as weakness here in combat halls Mercy is seen as waste So when you show it people do not know how to hold it They look at you and they cannot tell if you are soft or dangerous

Which am I he asked Lira did not blink Both She said and that is going to scare everyone

They sat in quiet for a moment The mess hall around them hummed with low talk metal on bowls footsteps moving in and out He could tell news had already traveled People kept glancing from corners of their eyes He felt like a fire scene again where neighbors film on their phones and whisper He did not like it But he understood it He was new He could be threat He could be story

Lira finally spoke again You will train with Mara this afternoon She said Her tone shifted into work mode Combat base stance movement strike defense flow lock She will try to break you That is her job You cannot hit her full force You cannot pull water from main flow to stop her You cannot slam her into a wall with pressure You cannot choke her with air You must fight her with control If you hurt her they will chain you If you lose too easy they will call you weak and someone else will test you harder Do you understand

Not really he said honest But I will do my best

She breathed out and rubbed the bridge of her nose with two fingers You are going to give me gray hair Evan Brooks He smiled a little You already look like you have stress streaks She gave him a look Careful He lifted both hands My bad He said Small joke

Her face softened The stress did not disappear but some of the tight worry in her shoulders did She looked at his face again then at his eyes Her voice dropped No nightmares last night

He said The pool tried Lira paused Her eyes sharpened Tell me Evan told her about the still water room About the first pull About the pressure He told her how it tried to take him slow Not with anger With patience He told her how he pushed back He told her about saying Not yet

Lira listened without interrupting At the end she closed her eyes for a moment and whispered Thank the tide You held She opened her eyes again and leaned in That pool is not meant for first night holds That pool is meant for discipline It is meant for punishment If it had taken you Corren would have told everyone you were unstable and no one would have argued

He met her eyes You knew that before you left me there She did not flinch Yes He waited for anger to rise It did not What rose instead surprised him Trust He said You walked away because you thought I could handle it She said I walked away because if I stayed they would have removed me and then sent two guards in with blades They would have bled you in the pool to see how your mark behaved I had to let you stand on your own You do not get to look fragile in here Evan Not even with me

He nodded slow I get it Her eyes softened I did not like it But I get it