Who knew a water element could drown?

Ms. Summers moved her hands back and forth in front of the boy and through her elegant movements, water sifted from his hair, forming a neat strand of water, which was floating in midair. She guided the strand towards the lake with a flick of the wrist and then told them: "You have to think of the water as if it's trapped within the clothes. Use your hands in order to try and drag it out. Water reacts quite well to natural motions. Try to recreate the movement of a wave. In and out."

Getting the water out of the clothes felt a lot like trying to pull fish out of a fishing net without knowing where the holes were. The training of Mrs. Cloud came in useful, as Maria could see the water of the Moonlake and she already knew how to make waves. Instinctively, she started moving her hands back and forth, trying to guide the water through the holes of the fabric threads. Unfortunately, she didn't think about what would happen to the water once out of the clothes and the boy's jacket just started dripping heavily.

Ms. Summers came close to me, inspecting the jacket trim she had been working on.

"Very impressive. Have you used your powers before?"

Surprised she was getting attention, Maria stumbled over her thoughts before saying: "My dad sent me to train here over the summer.."

A frown appeared on Ms. Summers' face and she muttered something, but when Maria blinked, her frown was gone. Maybe she had just imagined it.

"Well, you'd want to guide the water all the way to the lake. That is the second step. And to continue with something more basic than what I’ve shown, you'll guide the water that fell on the earth towards the lake."

A girl raised her hand: "But what happens to the water already soaked up by the earth?"

Mrs. Summers promptly answered the question: "Well, due to the enchantment of the lake, it should come back one way or another. But that would take a lot of time. We're just trying to make the process go a little faster." She continued talking about the importance of the lake and what properties the enchantments gave it.

"Every elemental location on campus has a pillar that holds all the charms that make the magic of the place so potent."

She pointed towards the center of the lake.

"Down there, in the deepest part of lake bottom, among the city of mermaids, is the Pillar of the Moonlake. A rock engraved with all the charms that make this place sacred." She took a pause, looking at the shoreline. "Soon enough, I'll guide you there."

Another pause, then: "Now, let's see how you're doing."

Somehow, by the end of the lesson, they were all wet, despite the ironic objective. Mrs. Summers took all the Moonlake water from their clothes, then bid them goodbye. "Next time, we'll take it a bit slower. Now go!" To their surprise, she just started walking in the lake, leaving on the surface of the water one lone piece of seaweed.

With their classes done for the day, Maria and Mya said their goodbyes and headed towards the dorms.

------

The week went on by so fast. There were so many things to remember, learn, practice and understand. They had elemental training every day and it was arduous. Sometimes it was boring, as they were repeating a lot of the lessons that they'd gone through with Mrs. Cloud.

Lay of the land was so boring. Each and every one of them (and we were about 40) had to go through the simplest terms, like they were toddlers. "Elementum", "elements", formal and informal greetings, taboos and other such nonsense that sure, it would have been useful like 3 months ago, but now it was just redundant. And the class was mandatory. What a pain.

My favourite class was by far the Manual skills class. Coming to that quaint cottage every week felt wonderful. There were some girls who were show-offs, stitching with speed and ease, and some girls who'd make the most wonderful embroidery on their leather bags and the boys would protest and complain at every step, saying that stitching was a girl's thing. The boys were very quickly hushed by our bulky teacher, who we’d found out was a fire element with an interest in nature magic. By the end of the first three weeks, with work inside and outside the cottage, they each had a working bag and just needed to sew some leather straps on.

Beast study was also interesting, but much more tiring. Again, she was at a disadvantage and had to work hard to catch up. Things that were common knowledge to native students were a pain to learn for her.

They didn't always spend the class in the same place. Sometimes it was out in the Misty Wood, sometimes out in the open field, close to Moonlake, sometimes inside the twisted caverns of Deep Hollow. It always depended on what type of creatures they'd study that day. Sometimes they even got to see them. Always the friendly type, as they'd learn about the more dangerous critters in the second semester.

Maria also liked the Survival abilities class. It started easier, by showing them the more traveled roads of Aether and what sort of obstacles they could encounter on each one, like the Northern Mountains, which they could traverse either through a maze of caves or a lone mountain pass, right through the centre of the range. Geography came in quite useful there for the first two weeks, but it soon delved into a different kind of knowledge, explaining each region's socioeconomic background. And that was really interesting, especially for an earthen like her, giving her an idea about the day to day life of people all over Aether. Now, back to Survival abilities, they then started learning about different trail markers and how to properly use a compass and then recently they got to work on determining how to prepare a camp depending on the environment.

Herbology was actually pretty boring. It was all just a bunch of: plant, properties, plant, properties.

And then, between all these fantastic classes... there were sports classes. Even if you go to a magical Academy, you can't escape it.

-

The weather was getting colder. As the leaves of the Misty Woods turned yellow, then brass, Maria was surprised to see that the outside classes were still being held outside. With the same stubbornness of the brass leaves that would never fall (one of Misty Woods’ many enchantments), the pagodas and Fairy Glade and the picnic cafeteria tables remained warm: a golden bubble that kept the air inside pleasantly cool, thanks to an old charm that marked each place.

It seemed that almost everything around the campus had an enchantment of some shape or form.

----

Maria kept bumping into him. Sometimes figuratively, sometimes literally. Sometimes he'd notice her, sometimes he wouldn't. It was always brief. A crooked smile, a "Backstabber, good to see you!", a pat on the shoulder. There one second, gone the next. And it had always left her a little warmer inside. But she never got to ask his name before he vanished, as if he were some sort of Cinderella at a ball.

At the beginning of the fourth week, Maria finally saw him again. He was standing at a table, alone, inside the cafeteria. She moved towards his table and gently asked:

"Is this occupied?"

He got startled, then looked over his shoulder. His eyes crinkled and he threw her a crooked smile.

"Ah, backstabber! Surprising as always. You can sit."

Maria sat across from him, only now noticing that people around them had gotten a lot quieter.

"Um, I never got to ask your name.." She started.

"My, how rude of me. Please excuse me, miss-"

"Maria."

"Maria. My name is Michael." He tipped an imaginary hat towards her, which made her chuckle.

He started eating and so did she. They didn't really exchange words, but for some reason, it didn't feel needed. The quiet company was enough.

He broke the silence at the end:

"Although I truly do enjoy your company, I must ask: what made you decide to come sit with me? Was it... naivety? Foolishness? Or some desire for my... little business?"

Maria almost choked on her food and suddenly, she could hear the whispers around her very loudly.

"...What?" She asked, her voice trembling. They made eye contact and it felt like she was drowning in his dark black eyes. And it wasn't the dreamy fuzzy feeling that you get when you're in love... It felt like she was trying to break through the surface of a lake of tar, chest burning as she slowly ran out of air. And yet, despite trying, she couldn't look away.

He was the one who looked away first and as he did so, Maria gasped for air. She felt lightheaded, as if she'd held her breath the entire time he'd stared at her. She could faintly hear the voices, in a sort of frenzied chaos, but she couldn't distinguish their words. They felt so far away, as if they were still stuck in those bottomless eyes. Dizzy, Maria looked towards him.

"What... did you do to me?" She asked, cheeks flaring red, her gaze still slightly unfocused.

He sat up and looked at her, a mix of strange emotions onto his face. Confusion. Sadness. Something else, entirely too cold. She was careful not to look into his eyes again.

"I think I should go." He faked a smile. "Enjoy the rest of your lunch."

"Wait! Come back!" Maria tried to sit up, but stumbled back down again.

He left the way he always did, and this time she could spot him stepping into a shadow not too far from her.

-

Edit: Hello, elements! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I just made a tumblr account for this book, on which I just put the history behind this novel and how it came to be! I want to keep it as a sort of side blog with fun facts and about different chapters and other cool bits. Give it a read, if you want: https://darcyrose-here.tumblr.com/