She stepped down from the short granite wall, trying to project as much confidence as humanly possible. No one had voiced any sort of agreement to her plan, but she could see it in their eyes. They’d accept her help.
Now she’d have to teach them and hopefully gain a smidgeon of trust in the process.
SIX
ONCE AGAIN, TALISE STOOD IN FRONT OF a crowd, teaching how to create fireballs.
But this time, her students were citizens. All of them had fire as their primary element, so they had no trouble shaping fire. At this point, they merely perfected the techniques required for throwing fireballs.
They didn’t speak much. They definitely seemed hesitant about accepting help from the emperor’s daughter. Perhaps they only accepted her help since she had asked for nothing in return.
“The shape of the ball isn’t important.” Above each of her two palms, different sized fireballs hovered. “Combat training is different from defense training. In combat, the goal is to defeat your enemy. In defense, which is what I’m teaching you now, the only goal is to get away. As long as your fireball is big enough, it should distract your attacker long enough for you to run.”
A few nods rippled through the crowd, but mostly the citizens just practiced what she had taught. Wendy stood not far away. Her group contained anyone with the primary element of air. She taught them how to create small tornadoes that could trip up an attacker. Tempest taught the water shapers how to shape water whips, and Claye finished the element training by teaching his earth-shaping group how to obscure an attacker’s vision with a dirt cloud.
To any citizens who weren’t confident in their shaping ability, Rio taught basic defense techniques using a staff. Not all the citizens had weapons sitting around their homes, but most of them had brooms, which could easily double as a staff if the need arose. Fyra helped the remaining citizens build a trench around the city that would protect them from the emperor’s forces when they marched by.
Not everyone from the city came to be taught. They hadn’t seen Wendy’s family members at all. But at least half the city was there, which had to be a good sign.
Near the end of her lesson, Talise could only hope she had helped enough to gain some level of respect from the citizens. Starting with her own group, she stood to finally make her request.
“Citizens of Kamdaria, I know this war is coming to you whether you want it or not. I hope what we taught today will keep you safe during the battle.” She stood taller, lifting her chin a bit. “But I have made a promise not just to defeat Kessoku. I have promised to be a defender to all of Kamdaria. That includes citizens from the Gate, like you. It includes citizens from the Crown as well, but it also includes everyone in the Storm.”
Those words stopped a few people who had started to wander away. All eyes stayed focused on her now.
She tried to smile, but most likely failed. “I will do everything in my power to bring about the change our great empire needs.” She took in a deep breath. “But I need something from you.”
Now came the skeptical eye raises she had been expecting. Rather than letting them deter her, she chose to recognize them as proof that she had correctly guessed how the people would react. Now she only had to be right that someone would offer the help she needed.
She held her arms out, trying to infuse her words with a sincere plea. “I have a very important plan that will help citizens just like you. In order to complete that plan, I need to know the layout of Kessoku’s base that sits in the forest near here. If anyone knows the layout, I implore you to share that information with me.”
No one moved. No one looked her in the eye. When it became apparent that silence might reign forever, she spoke again. Hopefully they wouldn’t hear the sigh in her words. “I will be in the market square until dusk. If anyone is willing to give me the layout, you know where to find me.”
She left them then, heading over to Wendy’s group to repeat the words. She wanted to believe at least one person would recognize her pure intentions and be willing to help. But this time, she truly didn’t know if they would.
At least she had spent an entire day inside the city, and no one had tried to kill her since that morning. The citizens they helped hadn’t been wearing Kessoku’s symbol either. Maybe they’d just been hiding their symbols, but at least some of them seemed genuinely grateful for her help.
Though, they were all so quiet, it was hard to tell.
After repeating her message to all six groups, she wandered back to the market square with her friends at her side. They walked to one side of the square where they all suddenly started disappearing.
Tempest hooked an arm around Wendy’s and pointed to a market stall across the cobblestone street. “Hey, didn’t you want to sample those pastries?”
Wendy gave the soldier a side-eye. “We don’t have any money to spare on—”
“That’s why I said sample.” Tempest tugged her along across the street.
“Oh.” Fyra’s spine straightened while she touched a finger to her chin. “I wanted to look at a set of drawing pencils.” She scurried off to a stall just a few down the street.
The cause for the sudden disappearances became obvious when Claye pursed his lips and shot a pointed stare at Rio.
Rio let out an almost huff and looked like he very dearly wanted to roll his eyes. After stuffing his hands into his pockets, he said in a jerky voice, “I’ll go look at the garden.”
And then she and Claye were alone. Well, as alone as they could be under the circumstances. Her other friends stayed within eyesight, though they were out of earshot at least.
Despite having shared a kiss after retrieving the amulet from the Kessoku, she and Claye hadn’t done much else since then. They’d always been surrounded by an army of soldiers and a squad of overprotective friends. Even at night, she now slept outside by a fire with at least three people flanking her on either side.
“Would you look at that,” Claye said leaning into the building next to him. “We finally got a moment to ourselves. Just like magic.”
His boyish grin stood in stark contrast to the growing muscles in his arms and chest. All that training had been good for him, in more ways than one. His black hair fell in messy strands across his forehead in a style that became more endearing by the day. How had she gone so long barely even noticing him?
She raised an eyebrow and paired it with a smirk. “Yes, so convenient. And I’m sure you had nothing to do with this magic.” Her attempt at casual humor would have been much more successful if her palms weren’t suddenly sweaty. And if her stomach weren’t doing flips.
Much to her dismay, he seemed to know exactly the effect he had on her. She could see it in his grin as he stepped forward. “I’ve been begging Wendy to let me take you on a walk one of these nights, but she threatened to chop off all my fingers and toes if I tried. It’s pretty disturbing to receive a threat like that from someone who looks like she was made from candy, so I decided not to risk it.”
The image brought a chuckle to Talise’s lips.
He took another step forward and brushed one finger under her chin. “Tempest and Fyra helped me devise this scheme.”
Swallowing seemed the only way to get her mouth working again. She tried to raise an eyebrow coolly, but it probably didn’t look as confident as she intended. “And now that you finally snuck me away, did you have anything in particular you wanted to say?”