Watching Zorvut train made him miss his own archery practice, but there wasn’t anywhere in town he could safely use his bow, and he was not confident enough in their safety to go far from their home base, where their bond would not extend to. So he organized and tidied their belongings, re-read the two books he had brought with him, and puttered about the house, reading whatever else he could find on the shelves. It had been a long time since he had been so well and truly bored.
By then, it had been two days since he’d sent off his letter and had his unsettling encounter with Miss Jade, and it seemed to him that leaving for a walk along the beach would be safe enough. So he poked his head through the backdoor to tell Zorvut where he was going and set out.
It was a pleasant, breezy day, as every day in Naimere had been so far. A few streaky clouds dotted the sky, but it was mostly an unbroken, pristine blue, and as he approached the harbor, the line of the ocean on the horizon was a similar, darker shade of cerulean. It was picturesque—he tried to commit the image to his memory, knowing he was unlikely to see anything quite like it elsewhere. Aefraya had only a small border with the sea, its most northeastern point where the land dropped off in sharp craggy cliffs and the waves crashed below. It was a stark contrast to the calm wind and sand of the coastal town here, and he doubted he would ever return to Naimere again. After all, elven kings were not exactly known for being world travelers.
He moved a little further away from the noise and commotion of the docks, toward the quieter part of the beach where a few people were relaxing and swimming, though still a safe distance from them all. Carefully, he removed his shoes and took a few steps toward the waves. When the water lapped up to his ankles, it sent an icy shiver up the backs of his legs, but it was bracing—refreshing, even. Glancing over at the more populated section of the beach, he watched a child leaping into the waves, while her mother looked on in amusement and occasionally called out with encouragement. If it was suitable for a child to swim in, surely he too could give it a try.
The men he could see in the water were shirtless, so he returned to the sand, meticulously removed and folded his light linen tunic, and placed it gingerly atop his shoes. Then he turned back to the water and took a few more steps into it until the spray came up to his knees.
“Ah!” he exclaimed as an errant wave reached all the way up to his waist, smacking his bare belly with a cold shock. It left his trousers wet and clinging to his frame, making the cool breeze even colder on his damp skin, so he went a little further in, sucking in a sharp breath as the water came up first to his groin, then his hips, then his abs, and finally his chest. Though the water felt frigid upon the first contact, it quickly faded as his body acclimated to the sudden change in temperature, and when he spotted a wave taller than his head surging upward, he closed his eyes and let it fold over him.
Even though it had not been a particularly large wave, it still sent him tumbling backwards before he resurfaced, wiping the cold saltwater off his face and pushing back his drenched hair. But despite himself, he was laughing as he opened his eyes and swam out a bit further, finally getting deep enough that he could not feel the sand with his feet.
Though he had learned to swim as a child, it had only ever been in calm lakes for recreation, or wading through rivers that were never higher than waist-deep. The sensation of being tossed about by the waves as he swam was new and unusual; the movement was relatively gentle but still had enough strength to move him with the whims of the ocean, pushing him back toward the coastline despite his efforts to swim further from it.
The physical exertion was exactly what he needed, he thought when he finally relented to the force of nature and allowed himself to be carried back to shore. Even with his efforts to swim against the tide, it had brought him much closer to the craggy rocks near the harbor, so when he emerged cold and dripping from the surf, his belongings were a dark dot amidst the pale sand in the distance.
He trudged along the beach, tramping through the sand that stuck to his feet and shins, and by the time he reached his folded-up shirt he was mostly dry save for his dripping hair and damp trousers. But rather than get dressed, he sat down and looked out at the horizon for a while, trying not to think about anything, instead focusing only on the rhythmic motion of the waves and the constant, meditative sound.
Eventually, he started making his way back toward the street, buttoning his tunic as he went and walking barefoot along the paved path with his shoes in one hand. The sand that still stuck to his feet and legs dusted off with the movement, though he was sure he still looked fresh from the beach by the time he arrived back at Tomlin’s home, smacking his shoes against the facade to shake off the last of the sand clinging to them before entering.
“Beach day, eh?” Tom called to him when he stepped through the door. The pair were sitting in the kitchen, Zorvut peering over his shoulder to look at him. “What did you think? Lovely, isn’t it?”
“Very pleasant,” Taegan agreed, chuckling. “Though I may have gotten a bit too much sun. Zorvut, perhaps you’d like to join me next time? It could be a nice break.”
Zorvut smiled faintly as he approached. “Maybe sometime. We’ve been busy, though. We were just taking a break. I’ve almost got a new skill down, but it’s proving trickier than the lightning bolt so I’ll have to keep working at it.”
Taegan’s smile faltered slightly at that. “Well, good. Some other time then.”
“Maybe I can show you once I get it down. Getting lightning from fire has been fairly simple, but making it cold—creating ice, that’s been much more difficult.”
“And you think this is the practical application you were hoping for? To be able to fight with it?” Taegan asked abruptly, looking down at the shoes in his hands. He could feel Zorvut hesitate, uncertainty trickling through the bond for a long moment.
“I think so, yes,” he replied slowly. “And maybe some other things as well.”
“Most of the magic I know is more practical, myself,” Tom added quickly, glancing between them. “But there are definite applications to combat, too. I’ve been showing Zorvut everything I know about combat magic, but he’s making good progress figuring things out on his own.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Taegan replied, looking toward the stairs. “Well, I think I’ll go wash, get some of the salt out of my hair.”
He started heading upstairs without waiting for a reply. He should have known better than to try to pull Zorvut from his studies, but the rejection still stung.
“What did you mean by that?” Zorvut asked him later that night. He had just arrived in their room, closing the door behind him but remaining barely a step inside. “What you said earlier.”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” Taegan answered, glancing up from where he was sitting at the desk, rereading one of his books once again.
“You asked if it was the practical application of magic that I had wanted,” he replied. “And you felt... I don’t know. Strange.”
“Truthfully?” Taegan said slowly, leaning back to look over at him. “I’m hoping you’ve learned everything you wanted to learn, so we can go home sooner.”
“Home? Is that what this was about?” he asked, frowning. There was a flash of irritation that was quickly pulled away. “I’velearned a lot, Taegan, but I still have much further to go. We’ve been here less than a week. We can’t leave yet.”
“Then when?”
His frustration seemed to take Zorvut by surprise, and he considered for a long moment before answering. “I don’t know. Once I feel that there’s nothing else I could learn from him.”
“And when do you think that might be?” he pressed. Now that he had spoken it aloud, there was an urgency in his voice—like when he had first realized how homesick he was, it felt as if a floodgate had opened where he had not even known there was one.
“I don’t know, Taegan,” Zorvut repeated, and he looked aside. “I’m doing this for both of us. To protect us. You know that.”
