The children essentially retraced their steps over the next few hours, once again ending up in the stables with Eleanor’s pony, Misty. The little gray mare pcidly chewed on her hay as the three children and their pets talked. Geraldine was thrilled to be revealed as a Fire mage like her father, but equally disappointed that her two friends hadn’t found out what kind of magic they had.

  “You’ll be Air, of course, Ellie,” Geraldine said. “And I’m sure Thaniel is Light. After all, you-” She broke off as Thaniel gave her a small shake of his head, something which Eleanor fortunately didn’t notice, sunk in introspection as she was.

  “What if…” Eleanor mumbled, barely gncing up at her friends as her words disappeared beneath the sounds of whickering horses and stamping hooves.

  Geraldine looked at the smaller girl curiously. “What?”

  Eleanor gnced around, then spoke a little louder. “What if I’m not Air?”

  Geraldine blinked. “But the… I mean, your mother and father are both Air elementalists. Everyone knows that. I guess you could be like one of your grandparents, though?”

  The princess flinched. “They’re all Air elementalists, too. On both sides.”

  “Well, that’s that, then,” Geraldine said, the matter clearly settled, at least in her mind. She patted Eleanor’s hand. “You can focus on learning about tier one Air elementals, and I’m sure one will come to you soon.”

  Eleanor nodded, still staring at her feet. Thaniel gnced between his two friends, then held Pandy up, drawing their attention. “Bunny got out of my room st night,” he announced.

  The girls reacted with appropriate astonishment, followed by a series of increasingly unlikely suggestions about how a rabbit could have escaped, starting with Thaniel sleepwalking and ending with ‘Bunny’ foiling a kidnapping plot – who exactly the perpetrators were there to kidnap and why was unclear – by tripping the kidnappers and then attacking them with knives carved from carrots. The subject of mana types was dropped.

  Since none of the three friends had family visiting, they didn’t notice when the adults and the day students left, and only live-in students remained. Lunch was a retively quiet affair, with the students naturally separating into groups by age. There were only five teachers there, rather than the dozen or so who had crammed themselves into chairs around the head table at breakfast. The atmosphere was subdued, and when the chancellor announced that they should return to their rooms to meet their roommates, unpack, and make sure they had everything they would need for the coming school term, the children trooped out obediently.

  Ms. Davenport stood outside her door, watching the children walk past, with boys heading to the left and up the stairs, while girls continued down the hall. All of the brass pques on the doors were now filled with the names of students, and Pandy could feel Thaniel’s heart beating harder and harder as he carried her toward the room that had been his alone for the st two days.

  When they arrived, the door was already open, and a boy with a shock of rather wild bck hair and deep brown skin was sitting on the bed across from Thaniel’s. He was looking at something in his p, almost ughing, but when Thaniel entered, the stranger’s smile vanished as he looked up. With a quick movement, he picked something up and shoved it into his pocket before standing, revealing that he was both extremely thin and extremely tall, at least for his age.

  Thaniel, being Thaniel, immediately smiled. “Hello. I’m Thaniel Co…um, Thaniel.” He tugged at a curl awkwardly, then seemed to remember his manners and stuck out his right hand.

  The other boy’s dark eyes flicked to the pque on the door, and he said, “Na-thaniel?” His voice held a definite accent.

  Thaniel turned a little pink and his hand sagged. “Um, yes. Nathaniel. But my friends call me Thaniel.”

  “Oh,” the other boy said, not seeming to notice Thaniel’s hand. Finally, the shorter boy let his hand fall. Since his new roommate didn’t seem interested in introducing himself, Thaniel turned and read the name now etched beneath his own.

  “Is-i-dor?” Thaniel said, sounding out the name.

  The other boy stiffened. “Iz-uh-dor,” he corrected.

  Thaniel repeated it, his brows drawing together in concentration as he tried to pce the emphasis the same way Isidor had. “Isidor.”

  Isidor looked a little surprised – perhaps that Thaniel was so clearly making an effort in spite of his own rudeness – but nodded. “It means ‘beloved of Ismara’,” he offered, chin lifting as if he expected Thaniel to ugh or argue.

  Thaniel’s eyes opened wide. “That’s so interesting! I don’t think Nathaniel means anything. Nobody ever told me it did, anyway.”

  The other boy’s lips pinched together, and then almost as if against his will, he said, “All names mean something. Even if it was made up, it holds the hopes of those who gave it within it.” It was obvious that this was something someone had told him many times, and he couldn’t help but repeat it now.

  Thaniel hummed thoughtfully, patting Pandy’s head. Then he lifted her slightly, said, “Well, I know what Bunny’s name means,” and grinned.

  Isidor’s expression was a study in confusion as he looked from Thaniel to Pandy, and then his shoulders slumped slightly, and he said, “You don’t know, do you?” There was no mistaking the sincerity of Thaniel’s confusion, and Isidor spoke very slowly and clearly as he said, “I’m from East Altheric.” Thaniel just blinked, and Isidor waved a hand between the two boys, his voice rising slightly. “We’re enemies. Your people hate my people.”

  “Oh,” Thaniel said, before tilting his head to the side. “I don’t hate you, though. I don’t even know you.”

  Isidor’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he sank back onto his bed, looking utterly flummoxed. Pointing to the open door, he said weakly, “Don’t you want to go to the supervisor and tell him you can’t share a room with me?”

  Now Thaniel was on firmer ground, and his, “Nope,” was both firm and prompt.

  “You’re not going to put worms in my shoes or hide my books?” Isidor asked, his hand delving into his pocket, which wriggled in response.

  Again, Thaniel blinked, this time looking more than a little shocked. “Of course not! That’d be mean! Do you…not want to be my roommate? I’ve never had a roommate before, so maybe,” his voice grew very small, “I did somethin’ wrong already?”

  Isidor shook his head and stood back up, then said, “Can we- Can I try that again?”

  “Try what again?” Thaniel asked.

  Isidor drew in a deep breath and offered a small, tentative smile. Thrusting out his hand, he said, “Hello. My name is Isidor. I will be your roommate this year.”

  Thaniel’s face cleared, and he put out his hand, csping the thin, brown one and shaking it up and down in a way that wasn’t actually quite a handshake, but was definitely friendly. “Um, I’m Nathaniel, but my friends call me Thaniel, so you can, too.” Releasing Isidor’s hand, he lifted Pandy again. “And this is Bunny. You aren’t ‘llergic to her, are you?”

  The other boy shook his head, then almost shyly put his hand into his wiggly pocket and pulled out something that looked like a small, bumpy rock. It was tan and brown with yellow seams, roundish on top, and smoother on the bottom. After a moment, one end split open, and a smooth yellow nose poked out, with yellowish brown eyes peering at Thaniel and Pandy from within the depths of its shell.

  “This is Tempest,” Isidor said, still looking a little bit defensive. That faded as Thaniel leaned in, making an appreciative ‘ooo’ing sound.

  “What is it?” Thaniel asked, moving around so he could see all sides of the creature, which fit almost perfectly in Isidor’s palm.

  “She’s a tortoise,” Isidor said, beginning to smile. “They live in the desert that lies between East and West Altheric.”

  Thaniel made more admiring sounds, then started to poke his finger in Tempest’s face. Isidor immediately yanked the tortoise back, at which the small reptile, who had been opening her mouth as the finger approached, gave her owner a disappointed look.

  “She bites,” Isidor said apologetically. “And once a tortoise gets hold of something, it can be difficult to convince them to let it go. Once she gets used to you, you can touch her. Probably.” That ‘probably’ was a lot less certain than Pandy liked, and she gave the tortoise a narrow look. Was this another – albeit very strange – attempt on Thaniel’s life? Because she was fairly certain she could take the tiny tortoise if it tried anything.

  Thaniel looked disappointed, but nodded. “That’s all right. And Bunny doesn’t bite or anything. She likes everybody.” For a third time, he held Pandy out toward his new roommate, and Isidor finally reached out and patted Pandy gingerly on her head. A small arc of electricity popped from her fur to his finger, and Thaniel jumped, but Isidor just looked resigned.

  “I’m a Lightning elementalist,” the taller boy said. “That’s why I’m here. I had a natural revetion before I turned six, and I’m…really strong.” Again, he seemed wary, but Nathaniel only looked impressed.

  “Wow! I didn’t even know you could have a rev’tion that early. I don’t know what I am,” Thaniel said with more cheerfulness in his voice than was probably warranted. “I ‘spect I’ll find out eventually. I bet they put us together because we both have pets, though! Do you think Tempest would bite Bunny, too? I usually let Bunny run around in here, is that okay? Does Tempest live in your pocket? What does she eat?”

  This torrent of questions finally seemed to convince Isidor that Thaniel really wasn’t just pretending to be friendly. He gave the first genuine smile Pandy had seen since he realized he was no longer alone.

  “I don’t know if she’d try to bite Bunny,” he admitted. “I found her when she was very small.” He held his fingers about two inches apart. “She’s lived with me ever since, and no one at…no one else had a pet. She mostly eats pnts, but sometimes she catches a bug or a worm if she’s really hungry.”

  Turning away, he lifted a small wooden box that Pandy had assumed was a suitcase or trunk of some kind. Now, she could see that there was a tortoise-sized hole in the side, and the lid could be removed. Something slid around inside as it shifted. “This is her house. My old room had a window, and she would bask in the sunshine while I was…away. She sleeps in here, and I keep a little bowl of water inside.”

  Thaniel leaned forward, gaze intent. “Bunny just sleeps with me. Did you know we can bring our pets with us to eat? They get their own ptes on the floor and everything!”

  Isidor ughed, stroking Tempest’s shell gently. “That is what the chancellor told me. I only arrived a short while ago, however, so I haven’t had anything to eat yet.”

  “That expins why I didn’t see you this morning,” Thaniel said, then scrunched up his face in thought. “I don’t think there were any other Lightning elementalists at all. Lots of Air, Fire, and Earth, though.”

  The other boy nodded, then crossed the room and gnced out into the hall before finally closing the door, which Thaniel had left open behind him. Pandy found herself tensing slightly, as if Isidor might turn and try to attack Thaniel, but he only returned to his own bed and sat down, tucking his legs into a lotus pose.

  “West Altheric has many Air mages, especially among the nobility,” he said, with the air of one who is repeating a lesson. “Fire and Earth are more common among the merchant css, but most noble families have at least a few Fire, Earth, or Nature elementalists. Water and Ice are unusual, but not unheard of, while others, like Light, are extremely rare. Lightning is all but unknown in this country, while it is fairly common in East Altheric.”

  Thaniel was definitely impressed now, but he looked down at Pandy as he asked, “And Dark? Do they…have a lot of Dark elementalists in East Altheric?”

  Isidor’s smile vanished. “No,” he said ftly. “There are some, but they are not… There are not many.”

  “Oh,” Thaniel whispered, sounding miserable. “Of course not.” He looked back up, shrugging. “I was just curious. You sound really smart.”

  The other boy’s dark eyes lingered on Thaniel’s face as the silence stretched, but he finally said, “I was fortunate to have a great teacher. It is thanks to him that I am able to be here.”

  Thaniel sighed. “My brother’s really smart, and he tried to teach me, but I’m not good at book stuff. I have another friend who’s smart, too, but she’s not in all the same csses. Would you, um, help me? If I get stuck?”

  Isidor’s shoulders rexed again, and he stroked the turtle perched on his knee. Tempest had finally produced four legs and a tail to go along with her head, though she watched Thaniel and Pandy with an impcable and somehow vaguely threatening gaze. It was surprisingly disconcerting to have a three-and-a-half-inch turtle gre at you.

  “I would be gd to,” Isidor said. “At least for as long as you wish me to do so. And perhaps you will help me with subjects I do not know as well.”

  Thaniel grinned. “Deal!”