A trip through campus later and the sun was just beginning to set. Still plenty of time before island curfew, and with the beach so close to campus there was no risk of being out past campus curfew. Scattered along the black sand beach were other students in groups and on their own, enjoying the sunset before the onset of classes tomorrow.

The trio plus one found an empty stretch of beach as Isak found a bit of driftwood, now actually having to apply his earlier spark idea without the presence of convenient candles.

“Remember!” Tonauac announced. “If you get burnt, do not run for the ocean! It will sting horribly and also the ocean is a filthy place!”

“Right, sure. Been meaning to ask.” Isak said after clearing his throat. “You said you wanted to be a healer but uh...your familiar…?”

The large and surprisingly colorful vulture tilted its head while staring at Zyn from his place on Tonauac’s shoulder. “What about him?”

Isak got a twig ignited with a small spark from his storm spell. “A vulture, and a healer?”

“Hold on, what’s a vulture?” Zyn asked, picking at shells in the sand.

“That.” Xoco said, pointing to the large colorful bird. “And while they eat carrion, they are also featured prominently in the culture of our home region.”

Tonauac smiled. “It was the accent, wasn’t it?”

The jungle troll chuckled. “We all just assume we don’t have it, but we do.”

Isak frowned a bit, burning twig in hand as realization hit him. “Wait, is my accent really that bad?”

“Never said it was, I quite like your human accent!” Xoco smiled and Isak turned a shade of red, looking off and catching a grinning Zyn handing Ozzy a small shell to play with.

“Uh, right well...without further delay...Vidal are you ready buddy?” Isak said, putting aside the burning in his cheeks as he opted for a burning rock man instead.

Vidal stood tall, arms to his side. “Affirmative, Master Isak.”

Isak approached him with the burning twig as all others took a step back, just in case.

As soon as the small flame touched a bit of rock left uncovered by the streams of water, the water melded into the stone and was immediately replaced by flames that erased all but the runes representing his own name and Isak’s and replaced them with new text visible through the flames. Despite his proximity to the roaring flames, Isak felt only somewhat warmer. All others stepped back even further, the heat more intense than a simple bonfire of equivalent size.

“I was not aware that humans had increased heat resistance!” Tonauac called out, mesmerized by the flames yet giving a cautious eye to the human standing right next to them.

Isak laughed, all sense gone as he marveled at Vidal’s newest form. “We don’t!” He turned around, eyebrow raising as he saw how far back everyone was standing. “Wait, is it really that warm?”

“Hot is a better word for it.” Zyn fluffed at his light blue shirt to get a bit of airflow going. Ozzy was having none of this and now fully hid behind his neck.

Xoco wiped a drop of sweat from her brow while being thankful that sundresses were one of the possible uniform options. Nelli coiled around her neck still was not at all helping matters, though the feathered serpent flicked her tongue in contentment at the heat. “You’re really not feeling that Isak?”

“I guess it’s because I’m so cool.” He said with the dopiest grin, eliciting groans from the other boys as Xoco failed to stifle a giggle. “Okay but, Vidal why is that?”

“My duty is to protect you. Harming you would run counter to that directive. You will be immune to my elemental effects unless you give me express directions indicating otherwise.” Vidal responded.

Isak nodded, chewing at his lip before reaching out a hand to touch Vidal’s arm. His friends all shouted and made a move for him, but froze when they saw his hand go through the flames to rest safely on the rocks floating in the fire that composed Vidal’s arm.

“That would have been far beyond my current healing capabilities!” Tonauac shouted, taking a step back and breathing heavier now that the danger had passed.

“There you go buddy!” Zyn cheered, also stepping back from the heat. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained! And I mean, also nothing ventured, nothing burned horribly-”

Xoco shot the drow a withering glare as he backed up even further and immediately stopped talking. She looked back to Isak. “That was risky, and I can appreciate the interest, especially because iswearirecognizethatrune!”

She braved the heat as any anger born of concern was burned away by curiosity. “That one, see!”

Isak squinted at where she was pointing. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”

“It’s much different than what I may be thinking of, but I swear I’ve seen something similar! Could be nothing, could be a major clue into Vidal’s origins! A shame he likely doesn’t recall anything about his origins, from what you tell me.” Xoco bounced about in glee.

“No more than you would remember the circumstances of your own birth, Miss.” Vidal said, the flames in his eye sockets that seemed to glow a bit brighter still staring out straight ahead at the sea.

The statement caught everyone off guard, thoroughly unlike the speech they were used to hearing from the pet rock. Isak was the first to break the silence. “Well, okay then...gonna put you back in water form so you don’t start any fires.”

Isak’s storm spell was still meager, only capable of the tiniest bit of electricity, light gusts, and a pitiful misting of water that after much training could one day be called rain. It was sufficient for now to put the pet rock back into a form far less destructive for now, and a moment later the flames had been extinguished by the veins of water.

After having their curiosity sated and slight concerns raised, the group made their way back to the dorms. Tonauac assured the trio that if they ever needed healing, they should probably go to see the Academy's world class healers. But if they ever needed healing and absolutely no questions asked, they should come to him instead. Unless it was something really bad, because he wasn’t that good. Yet.

This was a process that took several minutes.

“Well his...heart’s in the right place?” Isak shrugged as they left the lizardfolk to his dorm.

“Ehhh.” Zyn made a middling motion with his hand, Ozzy copying him with a lone tentacle. “He’s trying. Speaking of, it’s been a long day so I’m going to just head straight for our dorm. See you there Isak?”

Isak waved to his friend, smiling to hide the look of knowing he was up to something. “Yeah I won’t be long.”

Zyn flashed the smallest of smirks as he turned and made his way back, leaving Isak and Xoco to walk to her dorm.

“Soooo…” Isak said, looking off into the night sky as they walked together. “Long day indeed. Met some pretty cool people. Found out some interesting things about my pet rock. Which we should uh...we should look into that more yeah? When you’re not busy?”

Xoco laughed as Nelli bobbed her head along to Isak’s vague hand gestures that probably meant something to him. “You worry a lot for someone with a big scary elemental rock man watching over him.”

“That’s different, that’s physical danger!” Isak protested.

“And even if he was still just a small rock, I would still enjoy spending time with you….and Zyn, I guess.” She stuck out her blue tongue while grinning. “I don’t have to have a constant reminder of my family, even if I still love them.”

Her smile faltered for just a moment, long enough to be visible. A pat on the shoulder was out of reach on the very tall girl, so Isak opted for a pat on the back instead.

“I have absolutely no idea who your family is, only that I guess they’re well off?” Isak said as much as he asked. “But, you’re cool. You’re cool to me. I am so, so bad at this but we should hang out more?”

Xoco looked down to him, brow raised. “You don’t know my family?”

“.....no? Should I?”

“Nope.” She flashed a smile sharp in every sense of the word. “And hanging out more sounds great. Goodnight, Isak.”

Isak had forgotten how words work, and opted for a wave as she walked off into her dorm building. Just as she was crossing the threshold he managed to finally speak. “Night! Xoco!”

He cursed himself under his breath, turning on his heels to make his way to his own dorm. “Well at least Zyn wasn’t here to see that- HOW LONG WERE YOU HIDING THERE?”

“The whole time.” Zyn shook his head while emerging from a small patch of palm trees and undergrowth. “I could start with how you need to work on your awareness-”

“I was distracted, okay?!” Isak crossed his arms, power walking back to their own dorm with the drow in tow.

“You were, so I’m letting you off the hook on that one. But we still need to teach you how to talk to girls. Like as a full time thing.” He said as he pat himself down, flicking the last of the leaves out of his silver hair.

Isak scowled at his friend. “Yeah? So you’re that much better at it?”

“Well, naturally. It’s not a high bar.” He avoided eye contact for a bit too long, Isak noticed.

“So you could show me then? You could talk to a girl you like? Without any problem?”

Zyn hung back a bit as they walked, avoiding Isak’s direct sight. “Well, I didn’t say no problem just...less problems. But yeah I could, if I found one that I liked but...ah there’s just. Too many to choose from here. And my buddy Isak is sweeping all of the good ones off their feet.”

“I hope you know the moment you so much as blush around a girl, I’m paying you back for all of this.” Isak elbowed his friend as they made their way inside their own dorm, the warm lights even lower past dark in the common areas that held only a few students milling about before bed.

Zyn scoffed. “If you can tell when a drow is blushing, well that will just be impressive. So, I’ll accept those conditions.”

The two didn’t delay any further in getting to bed, though nerves kept them up for some time as they were fully aware of a long school year kicking off in earnest tomorrow morning. An open window was enough to let the crashing of waves carry their hypnotic sound from the beach to the dorms. Zyn’s final history fact before they turned out the lights was remarking on how the barracks these dorms were converted from were built with that proximity in mind. That while your average soldier could fall asleep just about anywhere, The Empire was not one to deny small comforts if it could be helped, and it turned out to be accidentally beneficial in the future to students who would kill for a better night’s rest.

It may not have been the most interesting fact, but to Isak it was more about the thought of it. Namely that he had friends now. Friends lecturing him all about the magic academy he had gotten into. That one way or another his life was changed, and with a smile right before dozing off he had to imagine it was for the better.