Esther was a female elf in her mortal life, a descendant of Waas the goddess of air and creativity. Esther took after her divine ancestor and personified beauty even amongst a people with as strict and unforgiven a beauty as the elves. Her ascension was less dramatic than most, as she ascended one day while walking through the city, the combined adoration of all around her finally building up within her enough to ascend.

-Excerpt from Wicket’s Guides to the Pantheon.

In the end, it took a combination of Amara’s fire suppression devices and Doug’s magic to subdue Rakin.

Amara threw her—new and now gem-free—fire suppression device at Rakin, immediately exhausting the flames wreathing off of him, but the dwarf simply stepped out of the runes effect and continued his assault. The Iron Vein student kicked the significantly shorter dwarf in the face with the sole of her foot, sending him tumbling back into the airless pocket where Doug’s arrow caught him. Devoid of air, the vines didn’t burst into flames as had the wood scraps stuck to him before, but they darkened and died as they spread around him.

Rakin fought at the vines in his blind rage, all the while gasping for breath and trying to escape the airless bubble, but whenever he managed to get near the edge, a giant foot kicked him back in.

“What is happening here?” A deep voice boomed, drawing all eyes away from the unconscious dwarf.

“He’s a Fire primal!” Shalin shouted, pointing to Rakin as she rubbed her ear with the other.

Kole held back the urge to defend the group, taking Zale’s lead in dealing with her mentor.

Tigereye shook his head in disappointment taking in the scene. The dwarf and gnome were cutting themselves free of the vines, while his kinsmen lay in the grass with her eyes closed and face wincing with each breath she took.

“Parrot Song, Zale, come,” Tigereye demanded, walking away from the group, not waiting to see if they obeyed.

They did. The Iron Vein girl—Parrot Song—let out a moan of pain as she lifted herself off the ground to follow, and Zale limped after him as well.

Kole watched as the two girls stood erect like soldiers before the head of the martial college. Tigereye turned to Zale first, asking questions. Even through Parrot Song’s obvious physical pains, Kole could tell that irritated her. She stared at Tigereye with almost reverence.

When he turned to Parrot Song, all expression left her face. Tigereye asked her a few questions, to which she nodded, and then she spoke a little before they came back to the group. Despite her expressions from before, Parrot Song was trying to hide a smug smile on their way back. Zale, for her part, was working to hide her own misery under a smile.

“Kalka’s fist, go receive medical attention,” Tigereye said, dismissing them. “Forsaken, go home and report to the Dahn tomorrow for disciplinary action.”

“What?” Kole said in disbelief. "That’s not fair! They started it!"

“Did they?” Tigereye asked Kole, raising an eyebrow.

Kole looked to where Rakin lay unconscious and then remembered the events leading up to the fight. Shalin had started the confrontation, but Rakin had made it violent.

“No...” Kole said trailing off.

Shalin laughed.

“What about the hive creature?” Shalin asked, pointing accusingly at Amara who still stood back by the tree line.

“What about Amara?” Tigereye said, stressing the name.

“Is she going to be punished?”

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“What for?” Tigereye asked.

Shalin began to say something else cruel but realized she had nothing to accuse the girl of save preventing a forest fire.

“So,” Shalin said, turning to Kole instead, speaking funny behind a swollen lip. “Demonkin, voidling, and Fire primal. So what are you? Dragon blooded? I bet you hear the call and are just itching to burn the world.

Kole winced internally, as she was at least partially correct. He was a dragon-blooded sorcerer, but he’d only felt the call of Faust once and distantly, and it was when a fully enraged Rakin had been chasing him.

He couldn’t imagine what Rakin was facing each time he had to resist the power.

“Shalin,” Tigereye said sternly. “Help your team.”

The Spatial primal girl spat out blood and walked to help untangle the two boys.

Kole and Zale moved to tend to Rakin, while the other team cleared out. He was covered in the black soot residue of the wood Parrot Song had stuck to him, but even through that Kole could see cuts and lacerations. Despite that, his pulse felt strong.

“How did you know?” Amara asked into the silence.

“Parrot Song drew on the Bond,” Tigereye explained.

Kole had looked into what he could on the Iron Vein tribe after meeting Runt. She’d been cast out from her tribe, and he’d been curious about what could have caused that—though not curious enough to ask her.

The Iron Vein tribe, on top of being mostly primals, had another magic to them. The small island nation has a disproportionate amount of ensouled artifacts, having discovered the art of crafting them before the Flood. During the Flood, their chieftain had created a powerful ensouled totem that allowed him to draw on the item for strength. Through the study of their primal magic, they learned to Bond the whole tribe to the totem, allowing the tribe to further empower their leader, and even grant power to other warriors.

Every tribe member gained tattoos as a right into adulthood—except for those like Runt who were cast out. The elite warriors gained tattoos allowing them to draw on the tribe’s strength while shunting away the pain of battle. Most, however, simply gained those allowing them to give their strength and take on a portion of the pain.

So, as Parrot Song drew on the Bond to fight against the pain of her burns, Tigereye had felt it, and somehow knew where to go.

“Will she be in trouble? Parrot Song? For using the Bond like that?” Zale asked, now that Amara had broached the subject.

“No,” Tigereye said, looking at the scorched earth around Rakin. “It was warranted.”

Tigereye lifted Rakin, carrying the short but heavily built dwarf as one would carry a small child, and they made their wait back to campus.

After a while, Tigereye split off with Doug towards the Glade to get Rakin medical attention.

“The Archdruid will see to your punishment,” Tigereye told Doug.

Doug’s whole body deflated, his tail going limp, and Kole thought he saw the tips of his antlers droop down slightly, but he knew that was just a trick of his eyes. It seemed that First Landing was not a holiday the Conclave observed, and Doug would be getting an early start on the disciplinary action.

Right? he thought. He knew absolutely nothing about most animals that didn’t live below the surface, but he was fairly certain antlers couldn’t move.

“Should we go with Rakin?” Kole asked Zale.

She shook her head.

“He’ll be fine, but when he loses control like that he’s usually out for the rest of the day.”

Despite the long walkout, the trip back to campus was short, and they made it back to the Dahn before dinner.

The central tower of the Academy of Illunia was much changed visually from the weeks prior. When the nature of the other-realmy incursions had been discovered, the faculty with some level of control over the Dahn’s defenses activated them all in Chancellor Shalia’s absence.

Over the course of a week, the tower began to rearrange its inner workings to bring them into the Material Realm. Dormitories long since uninhabited were shunted off into the void or absorbed for their material. As this went on, the top of the tower grew wider as the library and other essential non-shuntable rooms were brought in.

While the Dahn was now fully in the Material Realm, that didn’t mean it started to conform to trivia things like the laws of physics. But, in the Dahn’s defense, those laws were largely suggestions when the Font’s of Space and Gravity were being drawn upon directly.

The pair trudged through, avoiding eye contact, and went straight to the door that led to their home—so long as Zale or Kole were the ones to open it. For everyone else, it opened into a storage room.

Inside the foyer, which was typically teaming with staff preparing for the seemingly inevitable yet unknown attack, was nearly deserted, with only a small team working during the holiday.

They made it in without being interrupted, and Kole went straight to his room, grabbed his blasting rod, and stuck it in his holster, not wanting to go through all that again.

Tap

He pulled the rod out, and then removed the spoon, throwing it out of his room where it clattered across the joint living space.