Sylas had told Solarie a few things about Irena- she was good, mastered all forms of water, and was already working on controlling water in the body. She gulped, but Sylas reassured her that it was going to be okay. Irena was in the eregana order- manipulation, not creation. It didn't do much to relieve her panic.
"Begin!"
Irena lifted her hands, water forming in her hands. I thought she was eregana- where is she getting this water from? Solarie shoved her rationale aside, instead trying to focus on what Sylas had taught her.
Catalysts were the source of every Elite's powers, which were connected to channels that stretched all over the body. Channels were filled with energy only that catalyst can create. Solarie's power, to their understanding, was taking a hold of the catalyst, replicating the properties, and creating the energy within herself. She had only done it twice, both explained to her quite simply. Because she had spent so much time with Jin and Orion, she had unconsciously been familiarizing her own catalyst with the energy they made. The doctor on the other side of the glass was from House Erebus- so clearly, her power worked on even disinherited Elites. But Solarie had never spent time near Irena- she didn't even know what a catalyst looked like, or felt like. How was she supposed to beat Irena?
A spiral attack suddenly thrusted at her, and Solarie dove to the ground, scraping her knee in the process. She hissed with pain, springing upwards. For now, she would have to keep dodging, until Solarie could figure out how to use the catalyst inside her.
Wait, Solarie suddenly thought as she ducked under another attack. Isn't ice just solid water? Surely Jin's catalyst is somehow related. Roza said that ice was a derivative of water- there must be something similar enough.
She tried to concentrate on the moment she had first used her powers. Jin was in danger. Solarie technically was now, but it seemed she didn't have the same sense of self-preservation versus the need to protect Jin. Irena's attacks were attached to her arms- the water warped around them, like an extension of her. At each end were icicle claws.
Ice. That was it. The next time those claws came at her, she grabbed the frigid points, praying to Aurel that her plan would work.
It did. Slowly but surely, the water began to freeze, climbing up until it finally reached her real hands. She had only frozen her left hand, and unfortunately for her, it seemed Irena was right handed. At least she had pulled off something, Solarie thought quietly to herself.
Somewhere in the bleachers above, she could faintly hear someone yelling, but her head was pounding so hard she couldn't focus on the sound. Instead, she had to prepare for what was next. Her opponent quickly unfroze, and instead opted to drop the arms altogether.
The water exploded into mist, and Solarie was blind. It was impossible to see, and if she tried to freeze the mist, she'd end up hurting herself with tiny micro ice bits. She coughed, and waved her arms frantically, trying to clear her path of sight.
She didn't have to for very long. Again, the water converged into one singular area, and to her horror, Irena stood above on a podium of ice, accompanied by eight enormous arms of water. Irena learned from Solarie's last trick- she bet that once those tentacles stung, they would be turning to ice. She didn't have to wait to see. Irena thrusted all 8 tentacles at her, like a giant octopus or a deadly spider. The water enveloped her, and once she had caught her prey, Irena froze the water, trapping Solarie in one big glacier.
"Stop!" Instructor Xiao called out. Irena gently set Solarie down onto the field, and the ice melted away, quickly evaporating back into the air.
Irena bowed, and sauntered off to Ethan, probably to discuss whatever new trick she had been learning, no doubt that spider-octopus maneuver.
Sylas pulled her aside, leading her up the stairs to the bleachers. "You didn't lose that bad. You got one good hit. Took my advice on the catalysts?"
Solarie was soaking wet. Whatever she had been wearing before had all merged together to just become one big wet muss of fabric. "I guess." she muttered. She shouldn't have been upset at losing, considering it was her first time, but freezing Irena's arm had sent adrenaline through her body, and in turn, given Solarie too much of an ego boost. She plopped herself down onto the bleachers, and motioned for Sylas to join her.
He shook his head, pointing to Ethan.
"Ashlee Lai has requested a match with Roza Zhelvakova. Miss Zhelvakova, do you accept?"
Roza nodded.
Ashlee practically bounced down the stairs, Roza following in a more controlled manner. "This is such a bad idea," Solarie whispered to nobody in particular. "Ashlee just finished her trial."
Sylas ran off after Roza, whispering into her ear. "She'll be fine," Roza answered out loud. "I've been training her. She just wants to spar." She shoved him off, and continued her descent.
"Two rounds," Ethan called once the two girls were both on the field below. "One with no hands from Roza, and another with. Ashlee is permitted to use hands both rounds. Ready?"
Both opponents nodded. "Very well then. Positions!" He yelled.
"And begin!"
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Nobody made the first move.
It was a temporary impasse- very soon ended by Ashlee. The first round, Roza wasn't allowed to use her hands, which didn't completely outlaw using her powers- it was just extremely difficult to weaponize blessings without a caster's hand. It wouldn't have been a fair fight, and it wasn't, but not in the way Solarie had expected.
Ashlee sent streams of electricity, bright bolts illuminating the arena. Purple-tinted flashes erupted from her hands in a zig-zag pattern, which Roza easily dodged by acting parallel to Ashlee's attacks. She feigned left- but dashed right quickly, surging forward with inhuman speed. She came in contact with Ashlee, her shoulder colliding with Ashlee's hands.
She was quickly knocked off her balance, and Roza took the opportunity to kick forward. When Ashlee got back up and began to move forward, she didn't spare any seconds to circle around back and trip her using her foot. Ashlee fell face-flat onto the ground with a loud thump.
"Time out!" Ethan hollered over the wind. Roza extended an arm out to Ashlee, helping her off her back. They shook hands, and Sylas sprinted towards his sister.
"Ashlee," he spoke between breaths, panting. "Are you okay?"
"Are you kidding? That was the most fun I've had in a while. Roza is insane. Sylas, you should come spar more often. Maybe I'll get good enough to beat you!" Ashlee replied, face lit with joy.
Meanwhile, Roza stared outside, out into the way they had come. Solarie thought it strange, but when you were the most powerful Elite of your generation, she supposed that any kind of strange quips you had were excusable.
After both girls, mostly Ashlee, had refreshed themselves, they lined up in the same positions again. This time, Roza could use her hands. Ashlee would definitely lose this round, but she seemed eager nonetheless. Ethan signaled for the match to start, and this time, Ashlee didn't hesitate to make the first move.
She sent a straight bolt, light purple flash rippling in the air. Roza stuck out two fingers. The electricity headed straight for her fingers, and Roza cleanly absorbed it, using it as fuel for her own lightning.
In contrast to Ashlee's pale purple, Roza's lightning was a brilliant blue, streaking through the air in a single flash. It struck right in front of Ashlee. The girl grinned- the poor thing probably thought Roza missed.
But Roza, as Solarie would come to know, never missed.
Ashlee was too busy celebrating her mini victory, charging up a new volt, until she saw the shadows of clouds looming over her head. Rain began to pour overhead, but only atop Ashlee- her clothes were soaked, and her entire body along with it. If she used electricity now, there was a good chance she would electrocute herself. Ashlee threw her hands up in defeat.
With a grin, Roza sent a powerful gust of wind towards Ashlee, effectively drying her off. They shook hands with each other, and they both headed back up to the bleachers.
"Sylas, you should do this with your sister more often. She's getting better." Roza said in a sing-song voice as she passed by him.
"No thank you." he murmured.
Ethan hobbled up the stairs. "And, that concludes today's session, because I'm old and sickly and I can't bear to stand any longer. Solarie, you would benefit from a one on one. Ashlee, if you want, you can schedule more sessions. Roza, of course, extraordinary as always. But please, next time-" he gestured to the stairs. "Don't make me walk up all these stairs."
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When Solarie left the stadium, she was surprised to be approached by Irena and the other girl. They had both changed into more casual clothes, medium-length qipao's with basic yet intricate embroidery.
"Hey! You're the new girl, right? I'm Grace, House Song. Awesome work out there. I've never seen anyone new get a good hit at Irena so early on." the girl with the light green qipao said.
"Yeah, it was really cool. Roza told us that we were your new training partners, and about the whole copycat ability. We should get to know one another!" Irena chimed in.
It wouldn't hurt to have more friendly faces around, Solarie pondered. "Why not?"
Both of them squealed in unison. They both linked arms around Solarie, and began walking back towards the palace.
"Have you heard any palace gossip recently?" Grace giggled.
"Oh, I think I heard that Seraphina from House Sato was getting involved with Orion from House Erebus," Irena whispered. "Though I can't confirm whether my source was correct."
"They are. I used to work for Orion. I was supposed to complete an assignment for him, but I ended up getting dragged here first." Solarie replied easily.
Grace widened her eyes. "I knew it! Oh, oh! Have you heard the rumours about Sonia?"
"Are we sure we want to talk about Sonia out in the open? I'm afraid she'll make all of our ears bleed if she catches us." Irena cautioned.
Solarie gestured around the open grounds, as if she was saying who's listening? Irena sighed. "Grace, go on."
Grace lowered her voice. "Okay, so there's an old rumour that Sonia and-"
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The day came and went. Solarie had Sylas check in with the king, to make sure her family was okay. She had penned a message for two- one for her family, and one for Orion, letting him know what had happened. Finally, she could rest.
In the palace, she had been given a new room. It was sparsely decorated, most likely a guest chamber before Solarie arrived. She locked the door as she yawned, flopping lazily onto her soft mattress.
Just as she was about to doze off, a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Jin. In all of the craziness that had happened, she had forgotten to check on him. She practically jumped out, reaching for the map strewn on her desk. If king Magnus had kept his word, and Jin wasn't disinherited, then according to the map, Jin's room would be in the west wing of the chamber quarter of the palace. The lower court house's often resided in that side. Solarie would have to walk all the way across the palace- being a pretend Yan had gotten her a suite in the east wing, among the high court houses, and it was already a pain trying to navigate the poorly planned halls and corridors. Curse the architects for labelling the map perfectly, but failing to make the actual building make sense.
After what felt like hours of walking in circles despite the map she held, she finally found Jin's room.
Why did she feel nervous? All of her actions up until this point had been in Jin's favour. But knocking on the door, telling him everything, made it feel all too real. As if this wasn't just a dream, as if she was still a normal girl working in a metal shop. As if she wasn't posing as a lost princess, and as if she hadn't cut a deal with the King of the Sun Realm just to try to protect the ones she loved.
Her mother. Her sister. Jin. All victims of her poor planning. She turned to leave, but was stopped by a familiar face.
"Solar?"
She nearly walked straight into him. It seemed that even when she was actively trying to avoid him, Aurel had other plans for her.
"Jin," She started, voice broken and uneven as she tried to fight her brain for words. "I didn't know you were here."
"Yeah, I live here and you're standing in front of my room."
God, she was terrible at lying. There would be a lot of explaining to do, and in her current mood, didn't quite feel like talking. She supposed she had sought out Jin because it was a sense of familiarity- a link to her past self, before she was thrown into the world of Elites.
It hadn't even been that long. She had been in the palace for what, two days? Yet her entire world was turned upside-down in the span of a few hours, and while she hated to admit it, she enjoyed the new lifestyle. It was mostly stress free, she didn't have to worry about those damned shadow monsters at night, and the food was incredibly tasty. She received countless gifts from the King's court, and had already made new friends. Sylas, her fiance whom she had come to appreciate as a friend, even with the awkward rambling and disturbing silence. Irena and Grace, who were apparently the most hyper gossips and hopeless romantics she would ever know. Even Roza- she would never quite understand and always be slightly afraid of her, but at least she was starting to be more familiar with her tutor. So why hadn't she thought of Jin? He was the whole reason she had come to the trial, the whole reason that she fell into the strange Elite society.
"Solarie," he tried again. "You're being awfully quiet."
Solarie shook herself in order. "I'm sorry-" she tried to apologize. "I shouldn't be here. I-"
He grabbed her hand, forbidding her from leaving. "Something's wrong. Usually I'm the one who panics, and you're the rock I hold onto. This isn't normal. Solar, you can tell me anything. We're friends, remember?" He offered her a gentle smile.
She hated that she wanted to tell him. To explode, to simply dump everything that had happened the past days onto him, would feel so good. But she didn't want to burden him with all her troubles. His offer was tempting, and for a second, Solarie almost took it.
Jin didn't give her a choice as to whether or not she was going to take the offer. He dragged her inside his room, practically shoved her onto a chair, and sat opposite from her at his table.
His room was bare, as if he was only a guest in the palace, not a resident. A simple bed spread, a closet, a washroom, and the table they were sitting at right now. High Court house suites had desks, cabinets, and fancy amenities- the lower court chambers did not. Still, it comforted her knowing that Jin was well, and that King Magnus had kept his word. She only hoped the same for her family.
"Solar, what's going on? I failed the Sun Trial, yet I'm still here and I have a sneaking suspicion you had something to do with it." He prompted, gesturing to her. It was a correct assumption, helped by the fact she would not have been able to enter the palace if she was not a guest or resident.
She sighed. "It's a long story. Are you sure you want to hear it?"
Her friend nodded. "Every last detail."
"Okay then."
Solarie told him about all the asinine things that had happened after the Sun Trial. How she had been the one to summon those giant pillars of ice, her kidnapping, the drugging chronicles, her new fiance, and all the wacky mishaps that had happened along the way. Jin stayed silent throughout her whole tale, occasionally nodding along or blinking in surprise. He let her finish the whole story, from start to finish, and when she was finished, she started tearing up.
No words. Only the comfort of silence. Jin reached over, patting Solarie's shoulder, offering a handkerchief for her tears. This was the friendship she was used to. The Jin she would never abandon, even if it meant she would take on the weight of the world.
"Do you remember when we were kids, how we met?" He whispered solemnly, reminiscing about the fateful day. "You were a different kind of crazy. I'm glad you hurled that pebble at me."
"In my defense, I had no idea who you were. What were you doing, standing outside a varien school anyway?" Solarie choked out through her sniffling.
"When my father was taking me through the market, I saw this girl with wild, short hair walking around in pants, gripping her mother's hand and yelling with all the confidence in the world. I told myself, if she can be different, why can't I?, and told myself I would do anything to be your friend, and learn where all that pride came from."
"You stalked me?"
"No! I waited outside local varien schools, told my dad that I wanted to see just how different the worlds were."
"And I hit you with a pebble because I thought you were being annoying, asking me so many questions when I barely knew you."
"And I didn't report you for unwarranted assault. See how unlikely our friendship is? But we made it through to the end anyway. I think you can do the same with whatever's going on now." Jin pulled her into a tight embrace. "But I need to meet this fiance of yours. He sounds really boring."
"He's not. He's... smart? Introverted? In a weird way, kind of interesting but shy all at the same time. It's Sylas from House Lai." Solarie replied.
"Sylas? I've never met him before. This is going to be fun."
Solarie raised an eyebrow. "If you tell that cinnamon roll joke, I am going to murder you."
"I've got other wisecracks to tell."
She pulled him in closer, grasping him tightly, half laughing. "Never change, Jin. Never change."