Night was at it again. Hanlan sighed and prepared himself for her wrath. She didn’t disappoint. "It’s your luck I don’t change my mind and leave you on your own. How do you expect to win that tournament if you can’t even do this? I’m sure there’s a little seven year old at the school who could master this faster than you could. Now if you don’t get this right by tomorrow, I’ll drown you myself to save me the embarrassment."

He knew better than to respond; it would only give her fury. It was a lovely day, the sun high and shining down from a cloudless sky. Hanlan stood at the edge of the dock, arms folded while Nightelyn sat cross-legged atop the lake effortlessly. They had been at it since half sun.

Night sighed. "Tell me what you’re doing. I want you to explain it to me."

Hanlan showed her the stone in his hand, then pointed to his feet. "I’m focusing on the bottoms of my feet, and trying to direct the energy there, and regulate the flow to keep it steady."

"Then why aren’t you?"

"You make it sound easier than it is."

Night glared at him beneath her dark curls. He couldn’t stop himself from tensing up. "Do it again now," she commanded.

Hanlan closed his eyes, clutching his stone tightly in his hand. He breathed in, drawing the power from the stone. It filled him, feeling warm and inviting. He focused on it, pushing it down through him and into his feet, pausing a moment until he felt confident enough. Without any further hesitation, he stepped off of the dock and onto the water.

Hanlan plunged feet first into the warm water of the lake. Surprised, he opened his mouth and felt his lungs fill. Above, he could see Night, still sitting calmly in her spot, knowing full well he had never learned to swim. He felt faint, then just as he was about to lose himself, he felt the popping in his ears that meant magyk energy had been released, and then felt as if his body was in nothingness.

As Hanlan’s head and shoulders broke the water, he saw Nightelyn’s hand outstretched and realized what had happened. Around him was a bubble of air, its shell a flowing orb of water. She set it down none too gently onto the dock and released the spell. Broken, the bubble ruptured and sent Hanlan toppling onto the dock, water coming down at him in one big sheet as he coughed and spluttered and beat his chest hard to force the water from his lungs.

"Next time, I won’t save you," she warned.

"How did you do that?"

"Hm?"

"You forced air into a space…AIR!"

"No, I simply forced the water out of it, leaving the air bubbles in there that the water already contained. And then, to get you out, I forced my magyk into the shell to harden it and lift you out."

He thought about this a minute. His mentor, Night often had ideas that amazed him. Her way of thinking outside the box was surely what earned her reputation among the mages of Ashal. For three years now, her focus had been on Hanlan. Night never spent more than four on a student, because she simply didn’t need to.

Rather than a sign of strength, Hanlan would consider himself the utmost failure of Nightelyn took any more time with him. He didn’t know how old she was, because she preferred to look young and took great pains to ensure he never saw her as her true age, as a matter of pride to herself. All he knew was for the last twenty years, she had been the teachers whose student won any time she entered them.

He was determined not to disappoint her. He would not be the reason that she would lose her right to first choice. Hanlan stood up, ready to try again.

He had an idea. This time he gathered himself up, still dripping wet, and focused once more. When he stepped out onto the water, it was with confidence. This time, he stood proudly on the water that was lapping gently against the dock.

"Many thanks to you, Night."

"Oh? For what?" As usual, she spared him the praise. In fact, her body language was the picture of calm, like nothing had happened.

"I changed my technique."

"Show me." It was something that Night had taught him their first week together, to give his magyk a certain look of his choosing to make it visible to others. It was now that he pushed outward again, giving the magyk his trademark sparkle, like liquid silver with electric blue shots through it. What became visible to Night was the circle of that Hanlan now stood on.

"You hardened the water instead of putting it only at the bottoms of your feet."

He nodded. "I can’t seem to focus on them enough when I actually have to move. But it’s easier to see the water and focus on this instead, since it’s a bigger area."

"Small scale isn’t much your style," she agreed.

Next Chapter: 1.6 Azalee