Just as Dev predicted, draining the school yard didn’t take too long at all. The school itself was small, just a rectangular building set in a courtyard that was about the size of the Tulver’s Bath House courtyard. Based on the number of windows in the building, Aida assumed there were no more than four classrooms.
At Jaret’s urging, Aida and Dev took their time funneling the water over the school’s walls into the gutter that ringed the school. As they did so, Abedi watched them with his thick arms crossed.
“I’m surprised after so many years, they didn’t bother building a draining hole into the wall so the yard could drain on its own.”
“It’s not that, it’s more like the rain and elements wore away the earth,” Tera said, inspecting the smooth stone and where it met the ground. She pointed to a hole the size of her hand in the wall just slightly below knee height. “The schoolyard was mostly sand and some rock, so a lot of it got washed away over the years.”
“Why did we go over the wall when we could have just gone through the hole?” Aida asked, slightly annoyed. She redirected her stream to flow up the rounded edges and into the hole. It really made no difference, since it wasn’t like she had to conserve her mana or anything, but the way Jaret pushed them to be more flashy irked her.
“Probably to show the villagers that we’re actually doing something,” Dev said calmly, continuing to funnel water over the wall in a neat waterfall. He pointed to the school’s gates with his chin, where several children were peering through, their mouths open in amazement. “They probably haven’t seen elemental manipulation much.”
Tera flexed her fingers and rotated her wrists, a grin spreading across her face. “Excellent. I love an appreciative audience.” She pulled her wand out of her pocket, pointing it at the school’s walls. Slowly, the smooth stone that made up the base changed, taking on a spongelike texture. The children at the gates gasped audibly, as they all knelt down to touch the transformed surface. Tera twirled her wand between her fingers in satisfaction. “I made the foundation more porous, so water can drain out on its own. Once you two are done, I’ll make the ground harder so it doesn’t get washed away the next time a typhoon comes.”
“You may have to change the building’s foundation composition as well. All of the rods are rusted through.” Abedi shook his head. “Soaking in salt water. These reconstruction efforts may take longer than Jaret first predicted.”
“Where is Jaret and Ashley, by the way?” Aida asked, lifting the remaining layer of water in the school yard in a large disk so Tera could begin firming the ground. Jaret had given the four of them preliminary instructions to remove water and familiarize themselves with the construction of the school, which, like the other buildings in the village, looked like adobe-style homes with their squared-off corners, before entering the school with Ashley.
Dev glanced into the school as he ducked below the watery ceiling.
“Looks like they’re just about done with the walkthrough of the school.” He gathered the water in Aida’s disk into a ball, which he then floated menacingly over the children’s heads. They all shrieked, covering their heads as they darted away from the ball, as if they were afraid it would rain on them.
“Run away! It’s going to pee on you!” a small boy screamed, adding to the cacophony as he ran right towards the watery moon. He jumped, reaching his small hand towards it and smacking the surface of the water. He squealed in joy, chasing after his friends with his now-wet hand outstretched. “I touched it! I’m gonna get yooooou!”
Aida felt her lips curve down as she turned towards Dev. “Uh…silly thought, but is there a way to tell what the composition of the liquid is?”
Dev’s face twisted in disgust as he understood her question. He dropped the watery sphere into the gutter with a splash. “I’ve never thought to analyze water, but I would presume so. You started learning about poisons, did you not? You would be the best person to answer this question.”
“Never mind, I don’t want to know,” Aida muttered.
“Nice job, everyone,” Jaret called as he and Ashley crossed the schoolyard to them, followed by a middle-aged woman with glasses and a neat braid. She inclined her head politely. “Principal Jen was just showing me which rooms in the school they’d like to expand. But before we get to her wish list, what are your thoughts on the condition of the school?”
“The entire foundation should be replaced,” Abedi replied immediately. “All of the rods used in the foundation have corroded because of the salinity it’s been subjected to for such a long time; it’s only a matter of time until this building crumbles during the next storm. I propose that Tera seal the rods in clay so water won’t get through, that way even if the school floods at least you wouldn’t have to worry about the cumulative damage done to the foundation.” After a moment’s thought, he added, “I suppose that’s true for the pipes as well. If you wanted to expand the bathrooms, now might be a good time to replace the piping.”
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“Oh skies,” Principal Jen said faintly. “How long would it take to do all this?”
Abedi looked to Jaret, who shrugged and gestured for Abedi to continue speaking. “If it was just me and Tera, I anticipate it would take three days of work if nothing goes wrong. If Strongholder Jaret can help, and find another Earth practitioner, we could perhaps halve the amount of time.”
“I myself am more than happy to help,” Jaret said. “But I’m not sure if I’ll be able to find an Earth comrade who can come help this cycle.”
“What if we requested the help of some of the builders?” Principal Jen suggested. “They have minimal earth manipulation abilities, but they have a lot of knowledge. Would that help speed up the timeline?”
As Abedi and Tera began talking logistics with Jaret and Principal Jen, Ashley slipped around them and touched Aida and Dev’s shoulders. “Hey, it looks like you guys are no longer needed here. Did you want to stay and see if there’s anything you can help with for the school, or did you want to go up to the reservoir?”
Aida shrugged as she and Dev exchanged glances, and he turned to Ashley with a half-hearted smile. “Let’s go to the reservoir. Is it far?”
“Good choice. It’s not too far, just under an hour by golem transport. We can bring some lunch with us and make it a picnic!”
“You are far too kind,” Dev said politely. Ashley beamed at them.
“Okay, great! Why don’t you go order some meals to bring to the reservoir, and I’ll go get the golem. I’ll meet you two outside of the village gates in an hour.”
Ashley waved goodbye at the two of them as she left them at the school gate, leaving them to make their own way back to the inn.
“What do you think of this assignment?” Dev asked as they slowly ambled away from the school.
Aida made a noncommittal noise as she peered at the menu items listed on the storefronts, trying to decide what would be easy meals for takeout. There was a variety of dishes, but, as expected of a fishing village, the majority of the offerings revolved around seafood.
Even though she had been looking forward to relaxing during this assignment, she found it mildly uncomfortable how unvalued she and her classmates were. They had met several villagers during the tour the Strongholders had taken them on yesterday, and though they had been polite, they had also seemed…dismissive. Apathetic about the fact that they had people with supernatural abilities in their village to help.
She wondered if she had just been spoiled by her interactions with the Peak dwellers, and with the townspeople in Buddington Town when she was with Kuri. In those instances, she had been uncomfortable with how she had been too respected, while having done nothing significant for them. But this experience seemed to be the complete opposite; the restaurant and inn staff had seemed mildly puzzled when the Strongholders had informed them that they were students from Maglica, as if they were wondering why they needed to know where they were from. Am I embodying the arrogance Teena Vega expects of me?
“I, for one, am skeptical of what our purpose here is,” Dev continued. He pointed at a food stall with a painted sign depicting some sort of rice or sushi roll. “Should we get fish rice rolls? Those are simple to eat, requiring very little fuss.”
“Sounds good to me,” Aida agreed. After they placed an order for three rolls, Aida glanced along the street, which was busy with villagers conducting their own business. “You’re right, though. I don’t know how much…help we can offer these people. They don’t seem like they need us.” Or even want us.
“This might be a bit rich of me to say,” Dev said carefully, his wary eyes following Aida’s, “but I get the feeling it’s so peaceful here that even the Naval Strongholders aren’t motivated to truly try and help.”
Aida nodded slightly. “I haven’t been here before, so I’ve been trying to keep an open mind about what it’s like to live here. But…there really isn’t a sense of any sort of pressure here, is there?”
Dev shook his head thoughtfully. “Perhaps the more generous interpretation is that they are so used to typhoons running through and destroying everything they’ve built, so they see no point in trying to make things better.”
Aida laughed. “That makes the most sense. How can one fight against nature, anyway?”
“Here you are, three steamed fish rolls. Please come again!” the restaurant proprietor bustled up to them, handing them three burrito-sized packages wrapped in brown paper with a gracious smile. Dev thanked her as he stacked the packages in his arm.
“Speaking of fighting against nature, maybe we can ask Ashley to help us with improving our own skills,” Dev said as they started meandering towards the village entrance. “She seems like she actually wants us to get something out of this assignment, instead of just trying to force us to keep the balance.”
“What did you have in mind?” Aida asked, peering down the tight alleys intersecting the main road they were on as a few children ran through, laughing. Children were sensitive to the general atmosphere, so if they felt like they could play with such ease, and no adults were admonishing them to go home…
I really should just take advantage of this assignment as a vacation, but…I really don’t want to be here.
“We’re going up to the reservoir, so there will be a lot of water.” Aida turned back to Dev. He had a small smile on his face that Aida didn’t quite like.
“What do you think of practicing our combat abilities?”