The druid hadn't even said anything infuriating so far and still Elaya wanted to hit him. Just the knowledge of what he'd said about Kaz so far was making her angry, no matter how normal and respectful he acted toward her. At least Kaz was far away enough not to be a target of insults for now, but the entire situation made it difficult to fully concentrate on what the druid was saying to her.
She just couldn't help but anticipate another comment about Kaz from him at any moment.
"Summon a wave at us," he said, which made Elaya forget her anger for a second. She blinked, her eyes wide as she stared at him.
"Summon a wave. At us."
"Whatever water you summon, I will stop it before it hits us," the druid replied. The words would have been arrogant, but his tone wasn't that at all, as if he was simply stating facts. But given what he'd done to test her so far, maybe she shouldn't doubt his power, at the very least.
She couldn't help but doubt her own power, though. It was difficult for her to control earth, let alone water, and it would be especially difficult with the druid here, watching her do it. But she knew there was no reason to put this off. If she wanted to learn how to use her magic, she had to use it.
Stretching out her hand, she frowned at the rolling ocean in front of her as she tried to concentrate. The ocean made waves on its own, so all she needed to do was make one of the waves bigger. That didn't sound too intimidating, but it certainly felt that way. She had managed to save Kaz from drowning by moving water, which was somewhat similar, but that had been in a moment of pure desperation.
The thought of Kaz almost made her sigh. If he were at her side right now he'd no doubt try to encourage her. He always seemed to know what to say in that regard, and Elaya had only truly noticed it when they'd gotten separated while fleeing Reighir. But Elaya was very glad he wasn't with them right now. There was no telling what the druid might say to him.
She set her jaw, her frown deepening as she tried to use the anger that thought had produced. She almost smiled when she saw the water rise. She tried to drag it up as far as it would go, but very quickly, she felt her control slipping. Before she could do as the druid had asked her and bring the water to them, the wave was disappearing back into the sea, as if it had never been there at all.
Elaya gritted her teeth, annoyed with herself as she steeled herself for whatever snide comment the druid would reward her with. But surprisingly, he said nothing. Elaya took this as an indication that she should try again, but before she could, a massive wave shot up from the sea right in front of her, at least two dozen feet long. Elaya flinched back in shock, her instincts yelling at her to run away, but she didn't. Not when she realized the wave wasn't moving. It was simply hovering there, a few feet away from them, glinting in the afternoon sun, clear and transparent.
Elaya's eyes darted to the druid, who had his hand outstretched slightly, once more looking almost disinterested, if not outright bored. As if holding up a wave like this was nothing to him. Was he just so much more powerful or would she be able to do this with ease just like him if she got the training he must have gotten?
"What training have you had?" the druid asked her as the wave retreated. Elaya wasn't sure how to respond to that since she had no frame of reference, but he continued before she could respond. "I assume the dragons taught you?"
Elaya narrowed her eyes at the dismissive tone, but she wasn't sure if she was offended because he was being dismissive of her or of dragons, and therefore Kaz. "Yes. They showed me some of the basics, but—"
"Dragons have a very partial understanding of magic because they cannot use it the same way we do."
Elaya frowned. She wondered what exactly that meant, but it would make sense that dragons had different abilities than humans given that they were proficient at controlling fire, but not much else, not without a totem. And shapeshifting, of course, but even then, Kaz had trained for years to be as good at it as he was. But that had to be a magical ability, surely, if the druid could change into a bird and back.
Elaya wouldn't mind learning that skill. She also wouldn't mind learning the man's name so she could stop referring to him as just the druid, but so far he hadn't divulged it.
"But that is good to hear," the druid continued, giving a pleased nod. At least Elaya read it as pleased. It was almost impossible to tell what the man was feeling based on his nigh blank expression. "It means you haven't been taught too many wrong ideas about the way magic works."
Elaya had no interest in defending the dragons as a whole, but she couldn't help but scoff then. "And I assume you have the right ideas?"
A barely-there smile appeared on the druid's face. It was enough to shock her. "Correct."
Elaya truly wasn't sure if his absolute self-assurance and confidence were impressive or irritating. Probably a bit of both. "And you'll teach me? What's the catch?"
The druid studied her for a moment, his dark eyes full of an emotion she couldn't quite place, before speaking once more. "There is no catch. Unless you have no desire to help us take back our land from the dragons, in which case there might be some negotiating in order. But that is not my concern."
Of course, Elaya wanted Istamid to be free. It made her a little suspicious that the man had put it this way only to get her to agree with him, but if that was the case, she couldn't figure out what else he could be talking about. So of course, she wanted to help. That was why she wanted to have control over her power in the first place.
She knew it wouldn't be easy, but with the kind of power this druid had just showed her, how hard could it be to drive the dragons out of their castles? It felt strange to think about it this way given her relationship with Kaz, but she knew he agreed on all of this. Maybe they could both live in peace in Istamid afterward. She knew from personal experience that most dragons weren't evil. They would hate the change in their lifestyle, but that didn't mean they would go around burning villages in retribution.
"Of course, I want to help," she said instead of voicing any of her other thoughts. With what the druid had done so far, she wasn't willing to trust him just yet, and that included sharing what she was thinking.
"Good. I was not certain, given your...choice of company."
Elaya shot him an exasperated glare. There it was. "What about my choice of company?"
The druid seemed a bit taken aback for once, likely having expected her to either simply get mad or tell him to shut up. Maybe she should have done that instead, but it was too late for it now.
"I admit, the dragon is curious. I have never seen one of their kind act this way," the druid said, turning his head to look thoughtfully at Kaz in the distance. Elaya couldn't help but do the same, a smile creeping onto her face when she saw him disarm Rhenor and throw his hands up in excitement. Well, disarm him as much as one could when the arms in question were sticks. "But I suggest you are careful."
Elaya rolled her eyes. She was about to snap at the druid that she'd known Kaz her whole life, but the druid continued before she could.
"I remember a druid abandoning us for one of them. Supposedly they even had children together. It did not end well for any of them."
Elaya wrinkled her nose in disgust at what the druid was implying. Kaz was like a brother to her, and a little brother at that. He might have been fifty years old, but dragons aged slower in both body and mind than humans. So the idea of doing anything like that with him was not something she ever wanted to consider.
"We are friends," she forced out. Why were they even talking about this?
The druid hummed, though he didn't seem convinced. Elaya did her best not to start yelling at him. "And your other companion, who is he?"
Elaya was about to tell him that it was none of his business, but she paused instead, shocked at herself for not having a genuine answer to that question. She assumed Rhenor was simply a regular person who Kaz had met by chance and developed feelings for, and paired with the hectic few days they'd had, she hadn't given Rhenor much thought. She really didn't know anything about him, did she? But if anything that was just rude of her and said nothing about the man himself—Rhenor had given her no reason to be suspicious of him, so she wasn't sure why this druid was being that.
"Why are you asking?" she finally said instead of answering the question. If the druid wanted to get answers out of her, answering his questions with more questions was hardly going to help, but there was no taking back what she'd said now.
"There is...." The druid paused, watching Rhenor with narrowed eyes. "Something is strange about him. Can you not sense it?"
Elaya frowned, shrugging. If anything, between her, Kaz, and this druid, Rhenor was the most normal person here. "Not really, no."
The druid hummed again, but before Elaya could ask what he was thinking, he turned back to her, his expression as unreadable as ever. "The control of nature is achieved through grueling training. To summon waves like I just did, I had to do it hundreds of times over and over. But now I do it with barely a thought."
Once again Elaya would have thought he was bragging, if not for the completely matter-of-fact tone.
"And so will you. The fact that you can control water with barely any training proves as much."
Elaya mulled it all over in her head, realizing that she'd deep down known all of this all along. She wasn't better at controlling the earth than the other elements by talent, but because she'd been doing it most often. It made sense. And yet, she didn't feel very inspired to try again. She wasn't sure why she even cared, but she was afraid of failing.
Still, she had a hard time backing off from a challenge, and this definitely felt like one. She focused on the ocean again, trying to make it rise into a wave again. If this really was only about training and repetition, then the more times she tried to do this, the closer to perfecting the skill she got.
"The dragons think magic is divided based on the elements because they cannot control magic in full," the druid spoke as Elaya reached out toward the water with her hand, gritting her teeth. "But for us, there is only one force we can control through magic—nature. Yes, there are differences to how one controls nature's various aspects, but in the end, it does not truly matter which part of it we choose to control."
Elaya wasn't sure if she believed that. All her life, she'd seen each of the elements as different. She had an easier time controlling one over the other after all. How would that make sense if using magic was the same with everything? But she said none of that and instead turned her full attention to the ocean as she got an idea. If all magic was the same, then perhaps her superior skill in controlling the earth would extend over to everything else.
She narrowed her eyes, trying her hardest to pretend the water in front of her was made of rocks. It sounded stupid to even consider, but it was worth a shot, no matter how silly it seemed even to her.
At first, nothing happened, no matter how much she was trying to drag the water up, but she kept trying, continuing to pretend that the water wasn't actually water. Minutes seemed to drag on forever, not helped by the tension caused by the druid watching her in complete silence. But just as Elaya was about to give up, to her shock a large wave appeared out of nowhere, rushing towards them.
Her instincts almost made her panic at the sight, but through her shock, she lost control and the wave disappeared back into the ocean with barely even a splash.
Elaya stared at the place the wave had been, her eyes wide. Had she summoned that wave through her tactic of pretending to be using earth magic instead, or had it been summoned through pure frustration? Either way, Elaya had managed it. And she was still reeling from that.
"Well done," the druid said, a tone of barely-there approval in his voice. "Do it again."
Elaya ended up trying to summon waves dozens of times, sometimes not even managing to raise the water while other times the water went even higher than her previous attempt.
The waves always lasted only a few seconds at most before she lost control, but despite the incredibly slow progress, she could tell there was progress. She felt herself getting more sure of what to do when she wanted to move the water, it took less time to make it do at least partly what she wanted, and overall the sight of the ocean didn't intimidate her as much anymore.
It was only when she noticed the long shadows cast by the evening sun all around them that she realized how tired she was. Her excitement and determination over learning magic had finally run out it seemed, but it must have been hours. She was shocked that it had lasted that long.
"If you keep practicing like this, you will eventually control the forces of nature as if they are part of your own body." Even though something about that metaphor made Elaya a little uncomfortable, she couldn't help but grin at the druid. She was exhausted, wanted nothing more than to lie down somewhere and sleep for a year, but at the same time, she was full of glee and eagerness to learn more.
"Including changing my body into a bird?" she joked. Her eyes widened when a tiny smile appeared on the druid's tattooed face.
"Yes. I am sure your teacher will show you how to shapeshift, and to use life magic in general."
Elaya frowned. "Teacher? Not you, then?"
The druid's smile grew but only for a second before his expression was as neutral as ever before. "No, I am a recruiter. I look for people like you, and bring them to those who can help them learn how to use their talents."
That sounded reasonable, and yet Elaya couldn't help but suspect there was more to this that he wasn't telling her. "All right, and where are these people, then?"
"Duskstrand. A dimension only druids can enter."