Young Flame

Yalun’s chambers are heating again.

With the morning sun quickly rising in the eastern sky, light reflects off the glass pillars of the Agglomerate and directs it toward the centre. The intense concentration of heat boils the air until it would be cooler to sit in magma within the Agni mountains.

I rise from the rug that has held me for the night hours. Grímr will head off soon, and I’m not sure whether Leal will join him today. While my lessons with Elder Yalun are long and tedious, I still make time between them to see Grímr before he flies out with Odqan.

Turns out, Grímr’s nose for metal deposits is incredibly beneficial. I probably should have guessed the other áed would jump at the chance to take advantage of it. Grímr, of course, didn’t refuse. He all but insisted he help, but I’m still concerned about whether he actually wants to, or feels like he’s pressured into it.

Regardless, both he and Odqan leave in the morning to map out any resource deposits they find. Leal sometimes goes with them, but mostly sticks with me or loses herself in her research projects.

As I step off the rug onto the warm glass, Yalun follows suit. Her flames disconnect from mine and she makes no delay with her transformation. I’ve not slept much lately. With all the effort and time required to satisfy Yalun, I haven’t been able, and yet she still won’t let me try to grasp for more binding.

I know the dangers — they were the first thing she beat into my head — but with the grand elder herself guiding and inspecting every move I make, there really shouldn’t be an issue to take the next leap.

“You know, if you didn’t have higher binding than me, I would have forced you to wait twenty years before teaching you even this much. You are far too impatient.”

As much as I’d like to refute her, I know it’s true. While I’ve been learning for less than a month, it usually takes years to get to this point. I’m lucky to have the grand elder to look after me herself. That’s not something any of the other eagles have the benefit of.

Yalun is almost finished changing now, so I do the same. As my body wreathes in flames and shrinks, the snowsuit I almost never take off anymore disperses in flames alongside my own. No matter how many times I morph, I can never take my eyes off the threads as they shift from physical substance to fire.

The flames do not mix with my own, or well, I could absorb them into my own, but that would be the same as burning my clothes. The pattern Yalun inscribed through the outfit is incredibly detailed. I tried to have her teach me about our type of inscriptions, but she was adamant about only focusing on the binding for now. What I have learnt is that while the eastern inscriptions have components that are shared between differing designs, these types don’t. Each inscription is completely unique.

I have no idea how they work, but that doesn’t take from the fact that they do. However the inscription does it, my snowsuit now mimics my flames almost perfectly. My energy powers it, but even with my flames flowing through the cloth, I am given no clues as to how it works.

With a flap of my wings, I soar out through the opening for her chamber. Yalun follows a beat after. The Agglomerate looked amazing when I first entered it during the night, but that view comes nowhere near how it looks with the light of the Eternal Inferno glistening through each pillar. Fractal beams of coloured light constantly change with each incremental movement of the sun.

While light concentrates toward the central mountain and then even further down into its base, there are certain areas that experience much higher than usual temperatures under the focused light. Many of such hot-spots home the gatherings, with the exception of those near the outer pillars which sit in areas of less heat.

These gathering places are both less populated with áed, and make a much better place for guest houses, which are where my friends have been staying.

As I’ve mostly stuck around Yalun or my friends, the awareness of my taboo has yet to spread beyond Odqan. Most other grand elders are much more likely to remain deep within the mountain where the heat is beyond what even I can handle. It’s probably good they don’t come out often, but I’m incredibly curious how hot their flames might reach.

Grímr, Leal and Odqan are already out and about. It looks like they are ready to head out into the desert, but a new face has stopped them.

“Finally!” Yalun exclaims. A strand of her flames stretch to me and drag me along with her as she darts forward.

“Śuri, how long were you going to make me wait?” Yalun asks as she crashes along the glass, bringing me with her. She starts her change immediately.

“Oh! Little Yalun, you were waiting for me?” the áed turns away from Leal and Grímr to address us. “Haven’t been causing trouble again, I hope?”

“Little? Really?” Yalun deadpans. “You know I’m a grand elder too now, right?”

“Maybe, but you’re not yet in your fourth century. You’ll be young in my eyes for a long time.” Śuri turns to me. “So I’m assuming this one is why you were waiting?”

“Yes.” Yalun nods. “She’s taken on an impossible amount of energy. I need you to help her with her presence before it gets out of control.”

He frowns, returning his sight to Yalun. “I know I make my opposition to our current policies clear, but that doesn’t mean I will endorse blatant disregard for taboo.”

“It was after the attacks from the water mages; she got stuck in the eastern nations. She didn’t know about our taboo.”

“Even so, this is not something I can allow to be hidden.”

“We are going to bring it up at the next conference.” Yalun avoids Odqan’s judging gaze. “She also knows a good amount about the perpetrators.”

That seems to gain Śuri’s attention. “Oh? After the Titan scared those bastards back to the ocean, none I’ve sent to investigate have been able to determine much.” He stares at me for a few good seconds, considering. “If it wasn’t intentional disregard, then I can support her. I’m assuming you’re the one that brought these two with you?”

I realise I’m still standing in my bird form, so I take a moment to change back, making sure my outfit reforms properly, before I nod to his question. “Neither are related to the people who attacked us.”

Upon my change, he quirks an eyebrow Yalun’s way. A knowing smile gracing his lips. “There’s nothing for you to worry about. I know neither are albanics. In fact, I was just asking young Leal here whether she’d be interested in helping me with a minor issue of mine.”

I tilt my head at Leal, curious what he needs her help with.

“He needs a water mage, apparently.” She shrugs, unsure of any further details.

“Before I go into that, do you mind?” Śuri spreads his flames toward me, requesting an invitation.

I sigh. Anyone who finds out about my capacity will want to have a look, won’t they? Well, I have no reason to refuse, so I allow him in.

And immediately gasp from the unbelievable heat rushing through me. Śuri clamps down on the heat before it can hurt me, but it is so unbelievably intense. Deep black flame, far beyond the blue, which was the hottest I’d seen until now. The fire felt like it sucked in light rather than gave it off. How was that even possible?

“Well, this is definitely a pleasant surprise,” Śuri says with a grin. “I see why Yalun wants me to teach you to control your presence. Considering how young you are, the rate of your growth must have been intense. Your presence will leap out of your control within a year.”

“Is that bad?” Leal asks.

“Not in terms of health. It will be impossible for her to hide from anything with a mind, nor will many treat her with anything but terror.”

So a bit like the monstrosities down beneath the Titan Alps, I guess. I already know Tore had a rather decent control over his presence, and while Kalma didn’t have as tight of a grip on it as the giant ursu, she could still suppress it to a decent degree.

“Weren’t you mad two seconds ago that I had gained all that energy?” I ask.

“The taboo are imbecilic restrictions made in a time of fear. We should prepare for any threats, rather than hide away as we do. I welcome any improvement to our fighting force, but not if they ignore our agreed upon ways.”

From the corner of my eye, I notice Leal apply a thin layer of moisture along her thick fur. Almost immediately, vapour rises off her body.

I’m not the only one to notice. “The sun is rising and we’ll roast if we stay out here too long,” Grímr says. “How about we take this outside?”

Śuri claps his hands together. “Of course, of course.” Before we move to the edge of the Agglomerate, he turns to Yalun. “If the water mage is willing to help, I might as well take this little one with me. That good with you?”

“I was hoping you’d stay here so we could teach her together,” Yalun says with reluctance.

“Well, I don’t plan to stay. Not with an opportunity like this before me.” Śuri inclines his head toward Leal. “Why not join us?”

Why does he consider Leal an opportunity? Don’t they get a water mage every… half century? I know the grand elders don’t think of that as much time, but I still can’t wrap my head around it.

“I don’t know… I’d rather not.” Yalun bites her lip as she looks my way.

“Yalun, it’s been over a century now. You can’t hide away forever,” Odqan grouches. “Just go.”

She remains quiet, but when we all head toward the outer ring of glass pillars, she follows in step.

“So what is it you need Leal for?” I ask.

“Well, I need her to get past some water. There’s an island in the western ocean that I’ve discovered as being the source of our receding shores.”

“You got past the Titan?” Odqan asks in shock. Yalun joins him in his wide-eyed stare.

“Not so much getting past it as old Charybdis having left,” Śuri shakes his head. “I don’t know how long the Titan has been gone, but if I were to guess, I’d say when Cipactlteteo crossed the wasteland in the east. The ocean is safe to cross now, but approaching the island itself is impossible.”

Charybdis? Cipactlteteo? We have names for the Titans? Wait, did the grand elders know about that enormous crocodile, Cipactlteteo, before it destroyed my tribe?

“So it wasn’t because of the Titan that the ocean is encroaching on our desert?” Yalun asks.

“I’m not sure. Probably both, but the sheer quantity of water the island outputs, I can say for sure it has been a massive factor.”

“So you want to cross an ocean to get to this island — an ocean you know a Titan calls its territory — for what? To stop an entire coastline of water from pushing into the desert?” I ask. The idea it would even be possible to stop that sort of flow is difficult to picture. Not if it reaches the same scale I’ve seen Titans damage the world.

“It would be great if we can, but no, I just want to investigate the island that Charybdis has been blocking for as long as I’ve lived.” Śuri turns back to Leal. “So, how about it? Willing to give me a hand?”

This is obviously going to be too dangerous. The last thing I want to do is put Leal in danger, and going near a titan is the most dangerous thing I can think of. Śuri says it’s gone, but what if it’s not? What if it comes back while we’re there?

“Sure!” Leal jumps on the chance. I can tell from the look in her eye that it’s her damn curiosity that prevents her from seeing how dangerous this might actually be.

“I don’t like this,” I say as we finally reach the outside of the glass dome and Leal drops her coat of moisture. “Crossing an ocean just sounds reckless.”

“Oh, don’t worry so much,” Śuri says. “You’ll have two grand elders with you. Even the ocean can’t stop us.”

His words would have more credence if Yalun didn’t wince at the statement. She obviously doesn’t agree.

“While I can agree to come, I’ve already offered my assistance to Odqan,” Grímr says. “And I’m not about to leave the girls to travel without me.”

“You’ve already helped plenty.” Odqan turns to Śuri. “Do what you need to, but make sure Solvei and Yalun return before the conference.”

“There’s no need to worry. I’m not missing this meeting for anything.”

I guess everything has all been sorted then. Hopefully, he’s right and we’ll face no challenges with two grand elders to stand by us.

“Fine,” I say. “Let me say goodbye to my elders and then we can go.”