3

The water falling from the massive fountain glittered like liquid diamonds

under the summer sun. Sayr stood next to Everett at its base, watching him focus on the water.

He took a settling breath and reached his hand into one of the falls of the fountain. When he brought his hand out, the water followed, and a liquid orb floated just above his palm. He smiled and looked from the makeshift sphere to Sayr.

“Water is always flowing,” Everett explained as Sayr peered through the orb. “It doesn’t take a single form, so you can will it to take any form you wish. Elemental manipulation is not the same for everyone, either. While I can manipulate and create water easily, there are many Water Elementals that can only manipulate already existing water.”

Sayr inspected the orb. The water flowed in circular motions just above Everett’s hand. She reached a finger to touch the manipulated water.

“Is this your gift?” Sayr asked. “To manipulate and create small forms of water?”

 “Not exactly,” Everett answered. “Water is different than the other elements. While Earth, Fire, and Air Elementals are limited to a piece of their element, many Water Elementals can manipulate or create water to a specific limit. My gifts extend beyond this, but I don’t want to impress you too much too quickly.”

Sayr elbowed Everett in the side. He let out a laugh and she smiled while she inspected the orb closer. Sayr knew Elementals had their limits on their gifts. She knew Earth Elementals in the Queen’s Army who were limited to only manipulating small masses of dirt or rock, and others that could create entire pillars from the earth. She’d often trained against a Fire Elemental that could create and manipulate sparks but couldn’t get them to grow into actual flames. Marenda’s gift was the strongest gift she’d ever seen, though she suspected Everett’s were just as strong, if not stronger.

Everett tossed the watery orb back into the basin of the fountain. “Your turn,” he said to her.

Sayr’s eyes snapped up to meet his. “I’m a Seer, Ev. As much as I’d like to possess Elemental abilities, I don’t think this is how we change things. I can’t just manipulate water simply because I wish it.”

Everett nudged her shoulder and moved behind her to put his arms around hers. “I know that, but I can help make you feel like a normal Water Elemental, at least for a few moments.”

He wrapped his arms around hers so that his hands cupped her own and led them into the fountain’s basin. The water was cool and refreshing. Sayr closed her eyes and let the sensation come over her.

“Now, watch,” Everett whispered into her ear and began pulling their hands out of the basin.

Sayr squinted one eye open while they slowly brought their hands out of the water. Another perfect orb of water floated just inches from her palms. The surface of the ball was so flawless that she could see her own reflection in it, and Everett’s reflection standing right behind her. She let out an astonished breath of laughter and looked up at Everett for approval.

“See, that’s all it takes to be a Water Elemental,” he said and looked from the ball of water to her.

“It’s pretty simple when you’re doing all the work,” Sayr teased.

Everett’s grey eyes bored into Sayr’s own sea blue eyes, and his smile grew bigger as they stood there, the ball of water still floating in their palms.

The watery orb began to shift in their hands. Sayr jolted and withdrew their hands to drop the ball back in the water at Everett’s command, but it did not fall. The orb remained floating, stretching and warping itself into a thin line and zipped past them.

The two broke apart and turned to follow the thin stream of water as it swam through the gardens and settled into the palm of a slender girl in a baby pink dress standing next to the rosebushes.

The water shifted midair into a wide ring shape. With one hand on her hip, the girl stuck her other hand through the ring of water and snapped it around her wrist like a bracelet.

“Lanni!” Everett shouted and he waved his younger sister over.

Lanni extended a long leg and breezed down the garden path towards Everett and Sayr. Sayr glanced down at her wrist where the ring of water still spun as she approached.

“Impressive,” Sayr remarked.

“Thank you.” Lanni stretched her hand up towards her brother to show off her new piece of liquid jewelry.

“So, what reason do you have for Everett showing you his water tricks?” she asked and tossed her long, silver hair back over her shoulder. “Isn’t being the sole person with an unnatural gift enough for you?”

“Lanni!” Everett thundered at his sister, but she only smirked at Sayr, who paid no attention to the harshness of her words.

Lanni typically came off a bit rude when she spoke, but Sayr appreciated the way she never filtered her thoughts. At least she knew how Lanni really felt about her, something she couldn’t say for almost every other member of the Court.

Sayr knew Lanni was not afraid to speak her mind. After all, she doubted anyone would go against the Eastern Princess’s word. While Everett was mostly bark, Lanni truly was all bite.

“Our mother has guests coming to Court,” Everett started. Sayr quickly elbowed him in the side. Her Majesty hadn’t mentioned whether or not Lanni knew about the Western Court yet.

“Ev was just showing me what it’s like to be a Water Elemental,” Sayr explained.

Lanni arched a perfect brow and lifted her wrist again to show off her bracelet. “Well, it just so happens that my lessons have been canceled today and I’m available to offer my expertise.”

Everett snorted in response, knowing Lanni’s ‘canceled’ lessons meant she had chosen to skip out on them. With a flick of her wrist, Lanni’s bracelet transformed into a thin water whip that she slung at Everett’s ear.

“Ouch!” He rubbed his sore ear and scowled at his sister. Sayr put a hand to her mouth to hide her smile.

“I’d start by showing her more than how to manipulate a pathetic ball of water,” Lanni scolded her brother. “Really, Ev? You’re the Crown Prince of Visaran, you’re supposed to be the next strongest Water Elemental in the country and that is what you choose to do with your gift?”

Lanni flung her hand out towards the bushes and the water whip followed, slicing a bushel of roses off their stems. She turned to Sayr and crossed her arms.

“If this has anything to do with King Mylan coming to our Court, then I assume my mother has asked you to remain in hiding?” Lanni asked.

 “The opposite, actually,” Sayr said. “Her Majesty has asked me to spy on them while they’re here, to learn about them and report any findings back to her.”

“That’s dangerous,” Lanni warned. “Especially if they were to find out about your strange abilities.”

Everett opened his mouth to reprimand his sister again, but Sayr spoke up first. “Both Courts are forbidden from using any abilities against each other. They won’t get the chance to see if I possess any sort of Elemental abilities.”

“Yes, I’m sure the king agreed to that, but you’d be surprised at how easily royals can find loopholes in their agreements.” Lanni looked between Everett and Sayr. “I recommend you keep your distance. Even if you are being ordered to spy on their Court, you don’t want them finding out more about you than you find out about them. And if that doesn’t work, tell them you’re a distant relative of the royal family and that is why you’re here in the palace. Only as a last resort, though. Our mother would be furious to hear you’re telling others that she is a distant relative of a non-Elemental.”

With that, Lanni turned to walk back towards the palace. Sayr looked over at Everett, who only shrugged his shoulders. “She does have a point.”

“Your mother would gut me if she found out I was posing as a non-Elemental relative of hers,” Sayr said and nudged her shoulder against Everett’s arm. “But she’s right, I will need some sort of cover. Until the Western Court leaves, I am not a Councilman’s apprentice or have any position worthy of a royal’s attention. I am nothing more than a soldier in the Queen’s Army.”

**

The next two days flew by in a blur. Court guests were buzzing at the news of the Western Court’s visit. Her Majesty had experts of every trade come to the palace to prepare. Polishers made the tiled floors of the palace shine like crushed jewels, the gardeners trimmed and planted new bushes in the tea gardens, servants dusted out the vacant guest rooms, and the kitchen staff were busy preparing only the best Visarian dishes.

Sayr spent most of the days at drills or attending brief meetings with Her Majesty. She rarely saw Everett or Marenda at all. Marenda was stuck with double shifts and Everett had other duties to tend to as the crown prince. Plus, the queen had ordered an official check up on her twice a day to see if she had any updates to offer Her Majesty, which Sayr knew quite well meant the queen was asking for any new information on her vision. Which, of course, the answer was a hard ‘no’ every time.

Sayr sat cross-legged on the floor of her bedroom facing the large windows. She kept her eyes closed to block out the setting sun. Her hands rested on her knees, and she kept her back straight. She slowed her breathing and kept her mind empty.

She waited in darkness, willing for something to happen. All thoughts left her mind as she focused on breathing in and out, in and out. Her senses began to fade as she felt the familiar tug at her core. A dim light appeared behind her eyelids in the distance, growing brighter and brighter until it was nearly blinding, and her eyes unwillingly flung open.

 She found herself sitting in the middle of a decrepit forest. Trees surrounded her, burned and blackened and dead. She looked down at where she sat, there was no lush grass beneath her like in the palace gardens. Instead, grey ash covered every inch of the earthy floor for as far as she could see.

No breeze swept through the decaying trees or moved the ash that piled onto the ground. She stood and looked around the bleak forest, searching for someone.

She trudged through the ashy forest, reaching out to touch one of the blackened trunks of a tree. The blackened bark immediately began to dissolve under her touch, giving way piece by piece until the dead tree crumpled into ashy dust.

Something in the distance caught her eye, and she peered past the tree line. A figure stood far off in the trees, facing her. Watching her. A surge of familiarity hit her as the same vision began once again.

Without hesitating, she sprinted towards the figure, not willing to let them get away from her again. This time, she would catch them. She would not let them get away.

 The figure ran, but Sayr was ready, and she sprinted full force in their direction. She inched closer and closer as the figure ran away from her. Her legs felt weak as she trudged through the muck and ash but her determination to reach the stranger grew with every inch that she neared. Panting hard, she was almost within arm’s reach when she lunged for them.

Her hand wrapped around their dusty coat, her body still in midair, and she slammed into the person’s back as they hit the ground.

The solid figure turned to ash and dust on impact, and she tumbled a few yards before landing on her back.

Breathing hard, she shot up to her feet. Black ash smeared across her face and hands and covered her clothes. She had never gone this far in the vision before. Every vision before this, she woke up chasing the figure, suffocating from the ash that stuck in her throat. She turned frantically, looking for the person she was supposed to be running after. She was supposed to wake up by now.

Only she was not waking up.

Her breathing turned shallow as her heart raced. She turned once more and nearly crashed into a man. She stumbled and fell back into the ashy earth.

Unlike the figure that was usually in her visions, she could make out every feature of this man’s face, ruthless dark eyes, the scruff of a beard starting to grow in, and long chestnut brown hair. He looked down at her on the ground and let out a low, guttural laugh so deep it shook the ground beneath her.

“Who are you?” she asked frantically, scrambling against the ashy, decayed earth.

She should not be here. The vision was supposed to end.

She was not supposed to be here.

“Why am I still here?”

 His grin turned sinister, and he opened his mouth to speak—

Sayr was suddenly yanked back by her core and out of the vision. She gasped as her eyes flung open and reality set in. She looked around, frantic, trying to take in the space around her. She was back in her bedroom still sitting on the floor. The sun had almost settled beneath the horizon.

Each of her senses began to come back to her one by one while she recalled where she had just been in the vision. Her arms and legs had grown numb and now a static, tingling sensation ran up and down each limb. Her eyes began to adjust to the lighting around her. Her tongue felt too big for her mouth, and she swallowed a few times.

Fog clouded her mind as she tried to remember where she was, who she was, and what she had been doing before the vision. Her hearing returned to normal, and she registered the faint sound of bells ringing in the distance. She focused on the bells, trying to remember the meaning for their ringing.

All at once, the realization hit her. She shot up to her feet, ignoring the numbness still in her legs. She pressed her nose against the windowpanes and looked out into the distance.

The City Center reflected the bronze light still lingering from the last few rays of setting sunlight. Her eyes trailed over the array of buildings and followed the main road that led to the palace, and widened when she spotted the parade of sleek, long carriages and the dozens of horses drawing them nearer to the palace.

Move, she screamed in her head, Find Ev, get to the queen!

She bolted for her wardrobe, threw on a pair of loose trousers and a tank top, strapped on a pair of sandals, and opened the door to the halls. No one had sent word yet, but she already knew what was happening.

The Western King had arrived at the Eastern Palace.