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Heath smiled. “Don’t be too jealous. It’s warm on Vazula, but back in Valoria it’s winter now. There’s snow on the ground, and the king will be holding his Winter Solstice Festival soon.”
Merletta opened her eyes at last, her gaze bright with curiosity. “What’s snow? And what’s the Winter Solstice Festival?”
Heath held in a smile as he explained snow to her. As always, she was an eager listener. She would surely be an excellent student, if her idiotic instructors would only give her a chance to actually learn.
“And the Winter Solstice Festival is our biggest celebration,” he added, once her questions about snow came to an end. “It happens in the middle of winter, on the shortest day of the year. The other one is the Summer Solstice Festival, but that’s not quite such a big event. Probably because there are already lots of galas and such in summer. But there’s nothing else happening anytime around the Winter Solstice. People brave the weather to come from all over the kingdom to be part of it, my family included. It’s an impressive festival, especially since the dragons became involved. It’s a little different every year—I’ll describe it for you after it happens. It’s only a few weeks away.”
“Is it?” Merletta asked, interested. “It’s at a similar time to our celebration, then. We only have one—Founders’ Day. It’s when we celebrate the establishment of the triple kingdoms, many generations ago. We always had simple games and a special meal even at the home. I’m interested to see what it will be like in the Center.” She looked out over the ocean thoughtfully, presumably in the direction of her underwater home. “Curious that it’s so close in timing to your major festival.”
“I guess so,” Heath shrugged. His eyes slid past his companion, to the spear buried point down in the sand, less than a foot into the water.
“That’s quite a weapon, by the way,” he said. “I guess you passed the first round of spear training, then.”
“I did,” Merletta confirmed. Her voice was full of a grim pride. “It’s the most brutal training yet, but it’s worth it to get to keep the spear.”
“Is that what this is from?” Heath asked, letting his disapproval show as he gestured to a long thin slice on her arm.
“What’s that?” Merletta asked, following his gaze. “Oh, yes, that was Ileana,” she said matter-of-factly. “We’re not supposed to use the sharp part of the spear in training, obviously, but that’s Ileana for you. She’d skewer me if she thought she could get away with it.” The mermaid tilted her head to one side. “And she probably could if it was Ibsen, or even Wivell, who taught combat.”
Heath frowned, his mind full of dark thoughts about the hostile mermaid he’d never met, and the negligent instructors who allowed the other trainees to mistreat Merletta. He didn’t like the nonchalant way in which Merletta spoke of her injuries, either, but he realized he had no legitimate reason to comment on either issue.
“Was that Ileana, too?” he asked instead, pointing to a bruise just below one of Merletta’s collarbones.
“No,” she said, looking disgruntled. “That was Oliver. I’m still annoyed about it—I can beat him now, more often than not, but I let my guard down.” She sighed. “If only I could beat Ileana. She clearly struggles to keep up in the other classes, but I can’t deny that she’s excellent in training.”
She suddenly sat up straighter. “All this talk of training reminds me! Did you bring your bow?”
“I did.” Heath got up to retrieve the weapon, lying on the sand some distance away. He grabbed his quiver of arrows as well, bringing them to the water for Merletta’s examination.
“I can’t wait to see how it works!” Merletta said enthusiastically, running her fingers along the taut string. “Do you think I could learn to use it from the water?”
“I’m not sure,” Heath said, considering it. “I think it would be hard to hold yourself steady enough without being able to anchor yourself to the ground.”
“It sounds like an amazing weapon,” said Merletta wistfully. “We can only throw things a very short distance underwater, or a little further if we use a sling. It would be a huge advantage to be able to hit something as far away as you claim a bow can do.” She turned eager eyes to him. “Can you demonstrate for me?”
“Of course,” said Heath. He glanced around. “See that coconut?”
Merletta nodded, and Heath stood, taking aim carefully. He released his breath, and the arrow whizzed through the air, hitting the coconut dead on, and knocking it from its tree. It fell into the water, and Merletta dove forward at once, swimming to it and bringing it back with her.
“Amazing,” she breathed, turning the coconut over in her hands. The arrow still protruded from it, and she touched the feather fletching with curious fingers. “This is from a bird,” she exclaimed.
“That’s right,” said Heath easily. “What’s my next target?” he asked, wanting to show off a little. He glanced up at the dragon still visible some distance above them. “Should I shoot Reka?”
Merletta gave a snort of laughter. “I’m guessing it wouldn’t hurt him?”
Heath grinned. “I doubt he’d even feel it. But it would probably make him angry enough to refuse to carry me home.” He sighed, and his voice dropped to a mutter. “Which wouldn’t necessarily be so bad.”
Merletta didn’t respond, and when Heath glanced over, she was once again watching him with that searching expression.
“Tell me,” she said, and it wasn’t a request.
Heath squirmed uncomfortably, not at all sure where to begin. For reasons he couldn’t fully explain, even to himself, he had neglected to mention before now about the magic that ran in his family’s blood. He was silent for an uncomfortably long time, but Merletta didn’t push him. She just waited, watching him expectantly, and suddenly he let go of something inside himself.
“The problem is power—you know, magic,” he said in a rush. “Or maybe that’s the solution, I don’t know.”
Merletta looked confused, but she didn’t speak, letting him continue. It all came out in a rush, about his Kyonan grandmother whose parents had imbued dragon magic from their exposure to the colony in Kyona’s mountains. How she and her brother had consequently been born with an innate magical ability, unprecedented in the history of humans. How she had married a Valorian prince, introducing magic into the royal family, although not into the direct line of the throne. He told Merletta about the rising tensions, and his concerns over Percival, who seemed to have somehow ended up at the heart of it all.
“As the only one without an obvious magical ability, I have the choice to sort of stay out of it, in a way the rest of them don’t,” he explained. “The truth is that I’ve muddled along well without power all these years by learning to keep my head down.” He thought about it, smiling slightly as he amended, “And to not take myself too seriously.” He sighed. “But Percival sees it as a lack of loyalty whenever I don’t weigh in. He thinks that everyone else will assume I agree that the power-wielders should be restricted, and sometimes I worry that he might be right.”
