Prince of Attania, 2

Arden looked nothing like a school. That’s because it was the Enforcer’s home as well as the training facility for the royal children from all over Attania. Attan was glad he didn’t go to school here, where there were no mothers and fathers, and everybody was a ‘cousin.’ Arden pretended to be a home, but it wasn’t one.

His father Jet had not let him stay in Darcy, even though Attan was full of questions about what had happened to the Family whom he had seen, and more—felt—dissipate into pure elementals. It had been—breathtaking. But at the same time he’d felt his father’s fear, that Attan would follow them into the elemental state and be lost to him forever. Attan understood that fear, although he didn’t truly share it. In any case, he wouldn’t give up his physical body for a long time because he loved his parents too much and they wanted him this way. But he still had a lot of questions. Why did some Family choose to relinquish their physical bodies permanently? What was so bad about it? Why did other Family choose not to accept their Elemental state at all? This was the first time Attan had actually observed the phenomenon, but he had heard about it, mostly in whispers from some of his non-family classmates, who just considered it odd behavior like most of what Family did.

He wanted to ask Tommy and Charles about it, but they both seemed strangely subdued and reluctant to talk at all. They hadn’t wanted to assume Elemental form to continue on to Arden, either. The Enforcer had called a car to drive them the rest of the way, while he and Attan’s father remained in Darcy to deal with the situation there. After the five Family members had become elementals, the one who had been standing with them continued speaking to the crowd. He hadn’t transformed. Attan wondered about that, too, but his father wouldn’t let him stay to listen.

At Arden, they visited one of the practice rooms where six young Family worked with fire. There were no non-family here. The practice rooms were large but fully enclosed, not open to the elements like the one in Low City.

All six children turned as one when Attan, Tommy and Charles walked in. One of the children yelped as he lost control of his fire. All were in human form. Attan was used to greeting Family in Elemental form, a courtesy as well as a convenient way to exchange information. However, this Family teacher, another cousin not much older than Tommy, made no move to transform. Attan’s form wavered unsteadily before he firmed it up.

“Welcome, Prince Attan,” the teacher said, bowing with just the right degree of formality. “Thomas. Charles. We were just practicing our fire control.” He swept a critical eye across his pupils, most of whom seemed to be Attan’s age or younger. “Perhaps the Prince can show us how it’s done.”

Attan glanced at Tommy to make sure it was really all right, and his cousin gave him a nod. So Attan became a pillar of fire. Fire had always been his comfort element; his mother was fire, and his earliest memories were of fire, though that’s not all of what Attan was. He saw through to the core of each Family in the room; the teacher, though young, was skilled in his Elemental abilities, and Tommy, also powerful though cautious, Charles, a bright spark of wind and fire and air, not surprising as a son of the last King, and the scattering of youngsters whose inner light alternately shrank from Attan’s fire and strained towards it, making their human bodies flicker erratically to Attan’s elemental senses, though he doubted they even realized it.

Dismayed, Attan regained his human form and kept only a small flame in his cupped hands. “Oh, is this what you meant?”

Charles clapped Tommy on the back and chortled, “That was classic! ‘Oh, is this what you meant?’ You should have seen your face, Louis! I’ll bet even you can’t do that!”

The teacher, Louis Graves, glared at his cousins. “And you can? Yes, Prince, the class isn’t up to complete transformations at this point. They’re only just learning to control their use of fire. But it was a good demonstration of what at least some of them can hope to achieve. Thank you.” He turned to his students. “Class dismissed.”

The kids didn’t leave right away. Instead, they crowded around Attan and bombarded him with questions, while the older cousins, including their teacher, talked quietly in the back of the room. Attan heard Tommy tell Louis Graves that more Family had fallen prey to the radicals, and would have liked to hear more, but the kids surrounding him drowned them out. What did they mean—radicals?

“Prince Attan, why don’t you go to school at Arden? You’re the King’s son, aren’t you?”

“He doesn’t need to go to Arden, stupid.” One of the boys who looked a year or two older than Attan cut in. “He already knows all this stuff because he is the King’s son. He’s already an Elemental.”

“My mother said he’s not really a royal,” one of the younger boys said. “His mother is a commoner, so he’s not really as good as everyone thinks he is. My mother says wait until the King has a real royal child. Then we’ll have something to worry about!” He beamed proudly at repeating the whole thing as he’d overheard it.

“Parker!” The teacher spoke sharply. “That’s enough.”

Attan grinned. “It’s all right,” he assured Louis. “I wouldn’t mind a new brother or sister.”

“Parker’s just stupid,” the first boy said. “He doesn’t know what power is yet.”

“I do too!” Parker protested. “I can do this—see?” His physical body wavered, then winked out. Attan traced his essence, which was heavily water, making the room mist over as the Elemental Parker rapidly lost control and spread out too far in the large practice room.

Louis cursed, and changed to Elemental form also, followed by Charles and Tommy. Attan followed their paths as they strove to rein in Parker’s Elemental form, but the boy was not acknowledging them, perhaps was no longer able to. Attan quickly took Elemental form, mimicking Parker’s water form and spreading his own essence through the other Elementals and into the far corners of the room, encompassing all of Parker in the merge. He let them all feel his calm acceptance, as he slowly condensed his Elemental essence, pulling Parker’s in along with it.

Parker was water; there was almost no sentient thought left. Was this what Family felt when they ‘fell prey to the radicals,’ if that’s what had happened when those five in Darcy lost their human consciousness forever? But Parker hadn’t fallen prey to anything. He just didn’t know how to take back his human body. Attan enveloped him, sending waves of human sentiment: lunch would be ready soon, wasn’t Parker hungry? Attan concentrated on images of food, something that wasn’t easy for him, but he felt Parker’s interest sharpen. Tommy and Charles caught on, and fed him images of his own family, his mother whom he obviously idolized, his home in far-off Warren. Suddenly, a deluge soaked the floor of the practice room, and a soaking wet Parker sat in the middle of it, wide-eyed and a little bit frightened. “Is it time for lunch now?” he asked. His gaze drifted down. “I’m all wet!”

After a moment of speechless relief, Louis dried Parker with a flick of power, and sat the rest of the students down with a stern warning not to try anything like that again on their own, before sending all the children down the hall to the main dining room for lunch. Parker was suddenly the center of attention, and he was enjoying himself immensely as even the older classmates asked him what it had been like to transform into an Elemental. “It was easy!” he boasted.

Louis held Attan back. “We almost lost him, didn’t we?” he whispered, closing his eyes as he realized how close it had been. “How did you get him to come back? I mean, he was gone, and you--” Louis steadied his voice, tried again. “You saved him.”

“I—“ Attan didn’t know what to say to that. Parker was never gone. They had all been there, in the merge: Louis, Charles, Tommy. But Attan had brought Parker back to a point where he could be reached, when the others could barely even sense him anymore. He shrugged his shoulders.

Charles and Tommy had been scared serious by the whole event. Attan hoped it was because they were supposed to be the grown-ups, and not because of him—of what he was capable of. Already the teacher, Louis Graves, looked at him with something approaching awe.

“Come on,” Tommy said. “I’ll show you where the dining hall is.” He didn’t call Attan ‘Little Elemental’ this time.

Attan managed to slip away when Tommy and Charles lined up to get their lunch trays. He wasn’t hungry anyway. He hardly ever was. Arden was built on a hilltop several miles away from Darcy. Besides the practice rooms, there was a whole wing for the students who lived there, and another whole section on a lower level where Merrell’s enforcers trained.

Attan wandered out back, slipping through the closed double doors as air to stand outside on the stone patio overlooking a green hillside that gradually sloped into a forest. Free elementals cavorted all around him—wind, air, earth, water. It would be so easy to let go and join them . . . .

“Hello?”

A skinny boy, about fifteen or sixteen, reclined in a lounge chair at the farther end of the stone patio. He poked his head up so he could see Attan better.

“Uh, sorry,” Attan mumbled. “I didn’t realize anyone was here.” He could sense invisible free elementals but not giant Family boys right in front of him? To be fair, this Family boy wasn’t all that big, but he was tall. And solid. Attan should have noticed him.

“Hi, I’m Mattie Pomeroy,” the boy said, coming to his feet. “Are you new?”

“Me? No, I’m just visiting. Attan,” he introduced himself. “Attan Estee.”

Mattie’s eyes widened, then he smiled delightedly. “Jet’s son!” He shed his human skin to become pure fire, much to Attan’s surprise, and went into Attan to merge, the first Family to do so spontaneously since he’d gotten here. Attan became flame as well, and merged with Mattie Pomeroy, learning in the process that Mattie had, indeed, known his father.

Attan’s reprieve was short-lived. After lunch, Tommy and Charles managed to find him and for once Tommy was really angry at Attan for deserting them, since he saw himself and Charles as responsible for Attan. As punishment, at least that’s how Attan saw it, they told the rest of the students where Attan and Mattie had been hiding out, and soon the back patio was filled with whooping boys and girls who used Attan’s presence as an excuse to take a break from classes. They were curious about the King’s son. It was a different kind of attention than what he got at home, but the result was the same. These Family were interested in him because he was Jet’s son.

“Are you going to be the next King?” A dark-eyed girl with long black hair leaned on the back of Attan’s lawn chair. She looked a couple of years older than him. “I’ve heard about you. You control all the major elements. You can already transform even though you’re only—how old are you? Ten? Show me what you can do.”

Attan shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he said.

The girl pouted, and rested her weight a little more heavily on the back of Attan’s chair, causing it to tip slightly backwards. “Why not?”

“Ani, leave him alone.” Mattie came to Attan’s rescue with a whole gaggle of young boys. “You know we’re not supposed to use our elemental abilities without permission.”

They weren’t? Attan couldn’t keep the surprise off his face. It was much different in Low City. There, Family were encouraged to use their elemental talents, even at school—especially at school, where they were learning to harness them alongside non-family partners. Maybe it was because these were royal Family children, bred for centuries for power. All of them could use multiple elements, and if they were that powerful, maybe they did have to be careful how they used it. Look at what had nearly happened to Parker today.

“I don’t mind,” Attan said.

That opened the floodgates of questions from the boys with Mattie. Could Attan transform? Yes. Could he use fire? Yes, they’d seen him do it. Water? Yes, that too. What about wind? For that one, Attan took the chance and transformed into a light wind and blew them all, gently, off their feet. He figured since he was the Prince, he probably wouldn’t get in trouble for it. The younger boys screamed with laughter and wanted him to do it again. The older ones weren’t quite as vocal, and they watched Attan with hungry eyes.

Eventually, Louis and two other teachers came out and gathered up the students into their class groups to begin the afternoon session. Attan declined the offer to attend the session with them. Mattie remained outside as well. “Don’t you have to practice too?” Attan asked.

“He’s practically a teacher already,” Charles said, grinning. “Not like us.” He jabbed his elbow into Tommy. “We get to join the enforcers instead.” He said it jokingly, but Mattie cast him a worried glance.

Ah, that explained it. Attan had wondered why Mattie told the other children they couldn’t use their elemental gifts without permission when he himself had used them repeatedly earlier.

Mattie went with them to tour the part of the mansion where Merrell’s enforcers trained. Attan knew why Charles and Tommy were less than enthusiastic about being chosen to join their ranks. Royals were bred to rule, but not all of them were suited to administration—or disciplined enough to teach other royals, like Mattie. The surplus royals became Merrell’s guards, the enforcers of the kingdom. The two cousins probably saw it as a step down. Attan was sure his uncle Daniel, a King’s son himself, would disagree. The only reason Daniel wasn’t the Enforcer right now was that Merrell still had the job. Daniel was one of the strongest Elementals Attan knew.

The King and the Enforcer joined them that night for dinner. Attan was glad to see his father. He made his way to the slightly raised table where Jet and Merrell sat, relaxed and seemingly at ease in the crowded dining hall. Attan recalled that his father had actually attended Arden at one time. No wonder the routine was familiar to him.

Jet had one arm hooked over the back of his chair as he leaned back and regarded his son. “What do you think of Arden?” he asked, snatching a roll from a basket with his free hand. He tossed the roll to Attan, who caught it and sniffed at it before taking a tiny bite.

“Why?” Attan asked suspiciously. He set the roll carefully on the empty plate in front of him.

Jet smiled. “That bad, huh?” He turned to Merrell. “I told you he wouldn’t like it.”

Merrell snorted non-committally but he didn’t appear particularly upset. “We’ll talk about it some more later,” he said. “Eat.”

Attan sat down. Jet took Merrell at his word and dug in. They were the only three at their table. Jet kept heaping mounds of food on Attan’s plate as if expecting him to eat it. Attan pushed it around and took occasional little bites. He was relieved when Mattie slid into the empty seat next to him. When they’d got to the dining call, Mattie had stayed outside to talk to Charles and Tommy for a few minutes. Now all three of them took seats around the table. Mattie was comfortable being an Elemental, moving seamlessly between physical and not, even here in this crowded dining hall. He touched his hand, which had become fire, to Attan’s in greeting. “Hey, kid,” he said with a smile which Attan returned. “I hear you caused quite a stir in one of the practice rooms today.” His eyes found Jet’s over Attan’s head. “Like father, like son.”

“What do you mean?” Merrell was at full attention. Inwardly, Attan sighed. He was hoping he’d have time to tell his father about the incident in the practice room before he found out elsewhere, but it was too late.

Mattie grinned. “He taught little Parker how to transform. The kids have been talking about it all day. Louis told them they’re not allowed to try it on their own, but you know how well that works.” He laughed ruefully. “It certainly never stopped me.”

“Thomas. Charles.” Merrell’s lips were set in a thin line. “What happened?”

Jet, too, was looking at the boys intently. Attan squirmed in his seat. He’d been the one involved, so why weren’t they asking him?

Louis Graves got up from his seat at another table and came over. “It’s been taken care of,” he said quietly. “Attan didn’t so much as show the children how to transform as to just do it. Parker caught on and just copied him. I already impressed upon them all that they need more training before they’re ready. If it hadn’t been for Attan, we might have lost Parker for good.”

“What?” Jet stood up. “Which one’s Parker?”

Louis pointed out the small boy sitting at the table he had just vacated. Jet went over, transforming to wind between one step and the next. He didn’t ask permission; he just went into the boy and then, for good measure, into all the rest of the boys around the table too. Attan followed it all effortlessly, although the others only saw that Jet had disappeared, and could only guess what he had done and why. Mattie might have sensed something. His eyes tracked the room as if he could see Jet too, and maybe he actually could.

Jet popped back into his chair. “It’s fine,” he said. “He doesn’t really remember exactly how he did it, and the others have no idea.” He fixed Attan with a hard stare. “I saw what you did.”

Attan sank down further into his seat. His father reached across and gave him a one-armed hug. “I don’t think I could have done it—Louis was right—it’s a good thing you were there.”

Merrell stared at the two of them, then shook his head and went back to eating his dinner.