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surface, Calder felt his irritation grow. Aye, we got scattered to the winds. But thanks to Tala, we all still train. I’m a hexmage in truth, aye, but I canna show any of my new skills without risking everyone else’s security, too. The flip side of the savant coin is a bitch and for certain. The emperor knew what he was about when he ordered us hexmates topped out at Avatar Duelist. Tarin and Taban may be able to bend the rules way out east in the wildlands of Nunaa, but they’ve stuck me straight in the heart of the empire’s nobles, and no one clings to tradition more than they do, not even the Duelist Academy. And that’s saying something.
    “Am I boring you?”
    Calder snapped out of his dark funk. “Sorry.” Fogbreath spun up a vortex to receive the rock Teos’s avatar offered.
    Teos looked up at him from the damp sand and crossed his long, lanky arms.
    Calder swallowed hard.
    “Come down here for a moment.”
    Calder swished onto the beach, landing safely on the sand without even dampening his boots. “My fault. I’ll attune better to your avatar.”
    Teos didn’t answer right away. He glanced to the right, down the beach toward the hive of activity, then out to sea, then back at Calder. “I’ve seen you leave. Hushed voices, I hear them late at night in your room. And then you just disappear. One time, I saw you vanish through a bright circle in the middle of your room.”
    Oh, sints. “It isna what you think, I’m just… There’s this girl. Tala. She’s a Singer, she can portal. Sometimes she comes to see me, and we… We go.”
    Teos raised a doubtful eyebrow. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Your skills, they’re what’s on my mind. I’ve been watching you since you got here, on Hanna’s orders, on account of… let me name it your situation .”
    Calder ducked his head. He knew exactly what Teos referred to. He’d been in Muggenhem for less than two years, but he’d long since noticed the nobility were good at putting people in their place. And his place, apparently, would always be under suspicion. He hadn’t gotten any duels for nearly a score of holidays after he first arrived. Only his sheer strength at avatar duelism had finally garnered him his share of jobs. And the Muggenhem nobility would never let him forget it.
    Teos pursed his lips, and his eyes narrowed. “You’re still not following me, newnik. In the handful of seasons you’ve been here, I’ve actually seen your magic improve . You and I, we both know that’s supposed to be impossible. And yet your avatars, they grow consistently larger, especially your Flame avatar, Firedust. You’ve been very careful to avoid spilling your ducats in the mud, and while you have succeeded in some areas, there are things you simply cannot hide. Not from me.”
    Calder’s heart rate increased, and he struggled to keep his face impassive. The void wasn’t something he reached for very often, but he did at that moment, desperate for calm.
    Teos reached out and tapped a finger against the heavy beads on Calder’s necklace. “Funny how, every so often, you add another bead to this necklace. I can’t help wondering what they mean to you.”
    A black stone on the left of the necklace lent Calder its angry focus, and he slapped Teos’s hand aside like it was an irritating mosquito. “Get your own jewelry. I’m no trade duelist to make you pretties by request.”
    Heat entered Teos’s pale eyes for a moment. “That favorite phrase of yours, how does it run? ‘Great stupid idiot’? Well, Calder, right now, that’s you. I’m not trying to get you in trouble, you prat. I’m trying to be subtle about asking for your help. I didn’t realize I needed to bash you over the head with one of these rocks to get you to understand me. Dunfarroghans, I thought they were canny.”
    Calder froze for a long moment, making sure and sure again, that he understood Teos correctly. Inside, his magic swirled, uncertain. “What do you want