“Sure. Food.”
He stepped past Kerrigan and into the dining hall. Kerrigan was too jittery to eat. She had air to do after passing water and earth this morning and fire a few minutes ago. They had to run Alura’s obstacle course this afternoon in the arena and then go straight into Lorian’s sword-fighting test, and they didn’t know what it would be. Kerrigan had never been in the arena as a competitor. She’d flown in as a winner of the tournament, and that was the extent of it. She was both excited and nervous about the prospect. The others had that advantage over her.
Fordham stepped out of the dining hall. He’d had his break for testing this go round. “She still in there?”
Kerrigan nodded. Audria was in the earth test, which was her weakest element. She’d never fully planted herself in the earth to work with it like the rest of them.
“Wonder how it’s going.”
“I don’t know. Roake looked like he’d seen a ghost, coming out of the air test.”
Fordham nodded. “It’s brutal, but you’ll do fine.”
“Thanks. What do you have left?”
“Fire.”
Kerrigan nudged his shoulder. “Lucky.”
She swept a lock of her plaited hair out of her face and stared up at him. They were both in the black training clothes, black robes thrown over top. His hair falling messily forward over his eyes. Those stormy-gray eyes turning to smoke at the sight of her.
He didn’t move toward her. He wasn’t going to change what he’d broken, but the want was still there. Blatant, even.
Luckily, Audria stumbled out of the room at that moment. She dropped to her knees, putting her hands to the floor, and looked near to crying.
Kerrigan rushed toward her. “Are you okay?”
“I hate that element,” she snarled, the lady gone from her voice.
“Did you pass?”
Audria fell onto her back and let her hands hang out from her sides. She stared up at the ceiling. “I passed.”
Kerrigan breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Do you have another?”
“No, that was my last one. Thank the gods.”
She looked like she had no intention of moving from the spot. Kerrigan didn’t blame her. Each one tested them to their limits, and they had all four finals today. And Kerrigan still had the hardest magical test yet—air.
It was fifteen minutes before the doors to the testing rooms opened once more. Kerrigan gulped, nodding at Fordham, and then stepped inside to find Zina absent.
“Zina?” she called.
“Up here, dear,” Zina said.
Kerrigan looked up, up, up. And there was Mistress Zahina… sitting on the ceiling.
Zina did any number of odd things during class, including many strange games that she’d apparently made up herself. But usually, she did all of these things on the ground. Occasionally, she’d float around with her legs crossed, like she was meditating, but generally, she hovered a few feet off of the ground. Not sitting on the ceiling.
“Hello,” she said cautiously.
“Hello, dear. Are you ready for your first test with me?”
Kerrigan looked at her skeptically. “Yes?”
“You don’t sound sure.”
“You’re on the ceiling.”
“Am I?” she asked in confusion. She looked around. “Are you sure you’re not on the ceiling?”
“Yes, I am definitely on the floor.”
“That’s a matter of perspective. Don’t you think?”
Kerrigan blinked at her and then slowly nodded. “Yes, I could see how that would be a matter of perspective. Considering, to you, the floor must look like the ceiling.”
“That is the ceiling. You’re the one who is disoriented.”
Kerrigan frowned. Of course it made sense in its own way. She had never considered it before. Did up always have to be up and down always down? If she was on a dragon upside down, could she also be right side up?
That was at the heart of all of Zina’s teachings. Everything they had been told and thought that they knew were building blocks for failure. They needed to close their eyes, forget everything, and relearn their magic.
“Do you plan to join me, or are you going to stand there, agog all day?”
Kerrigan gulped and took a deep breath. Zina had been working with them on floating and hovering in class, but she hadn’t had them fly to the ceiling. This wasn’t something she could have ever prepared for. Yet the other three had passed this exam, which meant she had the building blocks for how to do this.
“I plan to join you,” she said finally.
“Excellent. The tea is getting cold.”
“Tea?” Kerrigan whispered in confusion.
She closed her eyes and focused on what was important. The elements of Zina’s teaching were that energy was all around them. Air was in everything. They were built on air. The world was built on air. They didn’t need to feel for it because the magic was already there, all around them.
Kerrigan pulled the energy into her, letting herself hover slightly off of the ground. This was where they’d all struggled, trusting the magic to hold them for more than a few inches. But if everyone else could do it, then she could too. Unless they’d all had different exams. It would be the only way to ensure they didn’t tell each other what was coming next. They hadn’t shared, but the masters didn’t know that.