Neither of us moved as the Mage called for us to begin. We both stared, watching and waiting. It was a skill I learned from Blair, which is something I typically would have thrown out the window, but I knew it was useful. It was a major reason I had beaten him so many times in the past. Watching your opponent, waiting for them to make the first move, was the easiest way to find an opening, and for them to make a mistake. However, I was caught off guard when Graham didn’t move either.

My opponents eyes stared intently into mine, only taking occasional glances down and to the side every so often. I did the same, waiting for any sign of movement. His breath was light and airy, not making a single noise as he exhaled. Graham’s stance made his entire body look light, his feet positioned like a runner’s and his hands raised steadily in front of him. In contrast, I had mine at my side, my feet only slightly apart, one of them partly raised off the ground. The look of a weak, helpless child.

My hand ached as I leaned heavily on my cane. Graham’s eyes flared at the shift of my weight, the lifeless brown lighting up like the sun. His hand moved slightly, reaching down to his waist, but it stopped when it found nothing there. Once again, everything was still. I could hear a few murmurs in the crowd, questions being whispered from one person to the other. I glanced over to one of the Mage’s, but they didn’t seem bothered by our inaction. The tall woman with a fierce attitude kept looking between us, as did the thin Water Mage. The only one that did anything different was the Mage who’d silenced the room earlier. Her eyes were focused directly on me, not even glancing at Graham.

I sighed, the breath louder than I expected in the quiet building. I was taking this too seriously. I had put up a front by pretending to be some wounded child, just like Titus wanted, but there was no reason to. I’d seen the duels before me, and they were less than impressive. I was the only one here with any actual magic training, even if it was very little in combat. Graham seems smart, capable even, but he doesn’t stand a chance against me. There was nothing for me to worry about.

I took a large breath, Nex filling me as I did so. I could feel the water in the skins hiding beneath my coat, as well as the two troughs that were almost overflowing on the sides of the platform. I poured water out of one of the skins at my side and down to my leg, dropping my cane in the process, and at the same time sent a wave of water out of one of the troughs and towards Graham. My ice prosthetic formed in an instant, binding to my leg and supporting it so I felt almost no pain. I stood there, watching as my wave crossed the platform. Gallons of water spilled off the sides and onto the many spectators and I waited to see how Graham would react, if he did at all.

The second water had started to rise out of the trough, I noticed Graham’s entire body tense. It was over in a second, his arms and legs loosening up, but by then, my wave was already crashing down on him. That’s when I felt Nex surge around him. It was just like his breath, a light and airy power that moved in and out of him. Graham jerked forward, his hands coming down from over top of his head like he was swinging a large sword. My wave was split in half by a sharp gust of air, the water moving around him rather than pushing him off the platform.

I smiled. I was hoping my opponent used fire or air magic. I’d seen plenty of water and earth, but I wanted to experience something new. Graham didn’t waste a second, his arm flinging towards me with a prepared attack. Except, he’d played right into my hand. Graham seemed very capable, and I knew that even if he wasn’t, there was a strong possibility he’d be able to defend against my first attack. Almost everyone before our duel had been able to react with some kind of quickness. Plus, I hadn’t put my all into it anyway. I wasn’t just trying to win, I was trying to show off. So, I had planned ahead. My wave had covered the platform in water, and I could feel it all around me.

During Graham’s wind up, all the water on the platform froze, creating a thin sheet of ice on top of it. I also gathered water at his feet, freezing him to the platform. Graham stumbled at the loss of his mobility and his arm flew downwards rather than forwards. The spell he had been forming crashed against the ice, then exploded in all directions with a powerful gust of air. Caught off guard by the power, the spell slammed into me, pushing me to the edge of the platform. I connected my ice prosthetic to the ice covering the platform just as I reached its edge, preventing myself from falling. I took a deep breath, then looked back over to Graham.

The spell he’d unleashed on the ground had cracked all the ice around him, freeing his feet. His eyes seemed to blaze with life, a wide grin on them. I felt Nex gather near his feet, then he pushed forward with a spell similar to the one I’d seen another young Lord use in the first duel of the day. In less than a second, he was in front of me, his arm swinging with another attack. As he bolted toward me, I gathered power at my feet as well. I had manipulated the battlefield to my advantage, and the ice that covered it was under my control. In a similar move to his, I launched the ice I stood on up against my feet, launching me to the side to dodge his attack. The Snow Skip spell worked wonders, allowing me to escape.

As I flew away, I felt his arm graze against my leg. I turned back to see his eyes fixed on me, time seeming to slow as his arm reached for me. It was impossible, yet he was doing it. I reached out and manipulated the ice under his feet. So many large spells in such a short amount of time was already making me feel exhausted, but this was my chance. I pushed the ice under his feet off the platform, hoping to take him with it. However, by the time I’d managed to pull off the spell, Graham was already gone.

I landed near the middle of the platform, Graham not even a second behind me. I needed a second to recover and gather my balance at the sudden change in speed, but Graham didn’t seem to have that issue. His fist was already against my stomach by the time I had gathered my bearings.

I felt the spell push against my stomach, the gust of wind from it prepared to launch me to the other side of the building. So, in a last ditch effort, I sent sharp icicles from the ground up and towards him. Small stones in the shape of bricks blocked the icicles as they came close to Graham, blocking them from piercing his skin. They kept their momentum, though. As Graham was launched back by the force of my spell, his punch of air sent me flying. In an instant I was at the other side of the room. I felt something soft push against my back, and my momentum slowed. A pile of gravel had caught me, gently placing me on the ground, off of the platform.

“Winner,” I heard the Water Mage say.

Winter flew down from her perch in the rafters of the building, chirping in irritation and worry. She landed beside me, pecking at my hand with her beak. I scratched at her chin on instinct, trying to comfort her while I gathered myself. She hooted in satisfaction, then flew up and sat on my shoulder. Her talons dug into my clothes, sinking into the leather pauldron I wore beneath, but I didn’t care. They were clothes provided by Titus, and I had far more important things to be worried about than ruining his suit.

I watched as Graham stood from where I had launched him to on the platform. He bowed in the direction of the mages, then turned, and bowed to me. I stood there in disbelief, not bowing back. He had beaten me. Then I scoffed. “Why couldn’t I get the guy that seems terrified of me,” I mumbled in a huff. I felt angry. My one chance to become a Mage of the Magic Tower had been ruined because I had been matched against the one person here who could beat me. How had he done it? I had to know.

After realizing I wasn’t going to bow back, Graham straightened, then walked down the stairs. I met him at the bottom of them as the Mages asked for the next person to come up. “How?” I asked, my arms crossed.

Graham looked surprised, and a bit confused. “I should be asking you that,” he said, handing me my cane.

I took it, but didn’t plant it on the ground. My ice prosthetic would last for another hour at least. “You won,” I said through gritted teeth. “You owe me an explanation first. Were you trained by a Mage already? How were you able to react so quickly?”

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If Graham wasn’t confused before, he definitely was now. I’d failed to read Aiden’s expression earlier, Isla having to correct me, but there was no way I was wrong about Graham’s. He stared at me for a few seconds, then looked down at the insignia on his chest. He stretched his jacket so he could see it better from his view. “Do you not know what my insignia means? Does House Phell not teach you anything about the other Houses?”

I snorted, still fuming from my loss, and not happy to be reminded of House Phell. “They try to,” I said. “I don’t care much for what they try to tell me.”

“Well, you should probably pay more attention to your tutoring,” he said, letting go of his jacket. He held out his hand. “My name is Graham of House Rediff. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Sean of House Phell,” I said, shaking his hand. It seemed an odd gesture to simply shake hands between two Lords. House Phell was one of the highest ranking in the Kingdom. If all other Lords here were below them, then they were supposed to show me some kind of respect. I didn’t care about any of that, but everyone else seemed too. So either he was an idiot, which didn’t seem likely, or… “Is House Rediff one of the four Great Houses?”

Graham smiled. “We are. I understand that House Phell is responsible for heading the Merchant’s Guild, and thus deals with transporting many things across the kingdom.”

I nodded, my jaw loosening. It was hard to stay angry when he was being so kind and… normal. This was the first person I’d met that actually treated speaking to me as a conversation, rather than speaking to me as a superior or inferior.

“Um… excuse me,” a small voice said behind me. I turned to see two young ladies, both of them fidgeting and looking to the ground as they spoke. Their hair and clothing were damp, likely from our duel. “Can we pass by? I don’t mean to offend, but the Mages called us up for our duel next.”

The two lady’s dresses were as extravagant and layered as the one Isla wore, the many skirts shifting as the one who’d spoken swayed, moving her weight from one leg to the other from some kind of nervous tick. Her face was flushed, and her blue eyes danced back and forth from looking at my shoes to Graham’s. On their dresses, just like everyone else’s clothing, were insignias. I didn’t recognize either of them.

“Ah, Lady Sophia of House Tellerman and a Lady of House Grace. I apologize, but I don’t know your first name. Please, allow us to be out of your way so you can show all of us your magic,” Graham said politely, gently lowering his head to stare into the eyes of the girl he called Sophia, who had been the one speaking.

The other Lady pushed in beside Sophia, meeting Graham’s eyes. Her skin was darker, just like her eyes, and she seemed to be less nervous than her companion. “My name is Tia, Lord Graham. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Where is—” Tia started to ask, her head on a swivel looking around the room.

“The pleasure is all mine, Lady Tia,” Graham cut her off. “Now, allow me and my friend here to move and continue our discussion,” He straightened and placed a hand on my shoulder, causing Winter to peck at it curiously from the other side of my head. He pulled away when she almost bit him. “He’s quite the conversationalist. Perhaps the two of you will get the chance to speak with Lord Sean Phell one day.”

The two of them had barely paid attention to me, only glancing over a few times, but their eyes seemed to light up upon hearing that name. Sophia stared down at the insignia on my chest while Tia looked up at my face, her eyes still darting around the entire building. “House Phell? Are you from one of their branch families?” Lady Sophia asked.

I hesitated for a moment. Titus had told me what to say if anyone asked a question like this. It was natural for someone to be curious about where I or Isla had come from. We appeared from nowhere, having never made a public appearance as members of House Phell until now. This wasn’t even our official first appearance. It was a test run for an event far larger. However, I didn’t want to follow more of Titus’s orders. I thought of saying something different, like my real name or denouncing House Phell or something, but I stopped myself. Where would that leave my mother, where would that leave Isla, and where would that leave me? “I am the grandson of Lord Titus Phell,” I said aloud.

Tia’s head whipped around from wherever she was looking and stared into my eyes. Then, she bowed her head. Sophia did the same. “I’m sorry we didn’t greet you, Lord Sean,” Sophia said, Tia nodding along. “I wasn’t aware of your… um… relation.”

She shook like a scared child, though, that’s what she was. Her and Tia didn’t look very old, maybe twelve. Most of the Lords and Ladies here were hardly fifteen. They were all playing as adults, pretending to be powerful, only to cower in fear when someone of higher standing appeared. It was strange, and, appropriately, childish. Is this how all nobles acted? Would Titus cower in fear when someone of higher standing confronted him? I liked the idea of that, but the only one higher than him within the nobility was the Royal Family itself.

Even Graham seemed startled, but he quickly shook it off. “You ladies should hurry to the platform,” he said, looking at me instead of them.

Sophia nodded, giving us both a wide berth as she walked up the steps. She took several glances back at Graham as she did so. Tia was not so shy. She got up close to me, gently bumping into me in a way that seemed accidental, then leaned up to whisper something in my ear. “Your magic was amazing. I hope you can show it to me again some day, Lord Sean.”

I backed away, shaking her off my arm, which she had grabbed onto, and watched as she did something similar to Graham. He didn’t back away like I did, but he also didn;t look pleased by Tia’s less than subtle approach. When the two of them were gone, Graham placed his hand on my free shoulder again. Winter ignored him this time. “We should probably move to the back of the room.”

We started to walk away in silence. I was waiting for him to continue where he left off, but he never did. So, frustrated, I asked, “So, what does House Rediff do?”

“Oh! Right! Sorry, I forgot about that,” he said. Graham paused and looked me up and down once again. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to explain what our House does before. Everyone just knows,” I felt my face flush, feeling stupid, as Graham continued, “While House Patrinca deals with agriculture and House Phell deals with transportation, House Rediff deals with defense. We ‘Fan the Flames of the Kingdom,’ or so our House words say. Most of us who can use magic in the family typically have a Soul of air, you see. I’ve been training how to use a sword since I could stand, and how to use magic since my Soul opened.”

“That’s how you were able to beat me,” I lamented aloud.

“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it. I’ve trained with magic almost everyday for the last five years, and having my soul open up at just ten years old is pretty rare. I’m just lucky. I don’t know how long you’ve been learning, but there were a few times you almost won in that duel. Seriously, it was the first fight I’ve had with someone our age that I actually thought I might lose.”

I scoffed. Of course I had to be paired with the one person here who could actually beat me, and he was trying to make me feel better about it. Not that he should have been able to, though. I’d also trained for five years under a real Mage, yet I’d still lost. There was no excuse. I had other reasons to join the magic Tower than just learning how to fight. Investigating how Nayu’s scale worked was a big one, but I also just wanted to learn more about magic in general. However, If I didn’t want what happened in Dousin to happen again, then I had to learn how to fight better. I had failed to save Morrison there, and I had failed here.

I stumbled as my ice prosthetic began to fail, losing the small amount of focus I’d been using to maintain it. I caught myself with my cane, but felt a hand reach out to catch me. “Thanks Graham,” I said, turning to meet his eyes.

Except, Graham hadn’t been the one to catch me. I turned to see a very tall, lithe woman holding onto my arm. Her hair was red like a flame and came down to her chin, the sharp, recently cut edges curving inward and framing her face and glassy blue eyes. She wore white Mage’s robes with a green outline on them that looked too large for her, the clothing slightly damp, probably from my earlier spell again. She was the Mage who had silenced the room earlier. “Are you alright?” She asked in a stern way that almost sounded like a command rather than a question.

“Im– I’m fine,” I said, trying to collect myself. “Thank you.”

She released my arm. “Name?”

“Sean,” I answered simply.

“Sean,” she tested. “Sean of… House Phell. Meet me here after everyone is done. I wish to speak with you.”

“About?”

The Mage smirked. “Magic, of course.”

She turned and started walking to the platform. “Wait!,” I called out, “What’s your name?”

The woman turned, her loose robes swaying and the smirk on her face still present. She thought for a moment, then said, “Call me Kella.”