"Satisfied?" Tyler asked after Ryan's fifth trip around the room, closet, and bathroom, getting a feel for the location of everything without using his magical senses.

"For now," Ryan responded. "Navigating with my elemental sense is still strange, and I can misjudge distances easily. It will take some to adjust to this room, however."

"I am sure you'll adjust quickly enough," his servant responded as he took Ryan's arm. "Come, Damien wishes to have dinner with us before your father leaves, a way of welcoming us fully."

"Okay," Ryan said.

They began walking, and Ryan listened as he stretched out his senses of water and air. He planned on working on being able to sustain three at once, mingling them together, while on the islands, but planned on doing that once he was familiar enough with the space to navigate easily without magical senses.

They exited the guest house, a small building with just the bedroom, bathroom, and closet, and made their way along the path. It was stone, Ryan had noted, but not very wide. Just wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side, which meant that if they passed by someone else, either Tyler or the other person would be forced to step in the sand. Ryan wasn't intending on moving to the side, which meant the other person would be the one getting sand in their shoes.

"The air here smells nice," Ryan commented as they walk. "A bit like the sprays we use, but with an added touch of salt, the only part that bothers my nose."

He wrinkled up his nose as he smelled the salt. The scent wasn't pleasant to him, but he knew he would adjust. That was a guarantee, with his plans to spend months there, possibly even a year.

"What the-" Ryan stopped walking and instinctively turned towards what had entered his range from behind, moving towards them.

"Holy fuck!" Tyler jumped beside him, accidentally yanking on Ryan's arm. "Sorry, sir!"

What Ryan sensed was a massive form of water in the air. Unlike what he had thought elementals were, it wasn't just a mass of water. The water took on the form of streams and balls, moving around in a sort of rotation.

Not only that, but he could sense a mind with his empathy. No brain for an elemental, but they had minds. How did no one know they had thoughts? He couldn't be the first mind mage to encounter an elemental.

As he watched with his elemental senses, moisture in the air drew towards the elemental, then reshaped, forming a series of patterns in random places around the creature before dissipating. Just as randomly as that happened, the elemental shifted directions and moved to the side, out of Ryan's range.

"That is a water elemental," a man's voice came from the direction Ryan and Tyler had been walking, and Ryan turned to face the speaker. He could feel Tyler moving as well, no doubt to face the man, too. "First time seeing one, I take it?"

"Nah," Ryan responded. "There are around fifty back home. Tyler's just a scaredy-cat, we see them all the time. I actually play chess with one we nicknamed Chester. Honestly, I can't even go to the bathroom without nearly walking into an elemental of some sort, and I can't enjoy the view of my pond without at least two different water elementals duking it out over the water for some reason. That, or they're mating. I can't figure it out."

"Ryan," Tyler muttered. "I think you'd have been a bit more convincing if you weren't looking past him."

"Of course I'm going to look past him!" Ryan exclaimed. "That's where the real beauty is!"

While the man was outside of Ryan's elemental senses, he could tell the man had turned to look by the slight jolt Tyler made, a sign he was doing his best not to snort.

"Okay," the man chuckled, and Ryan grinned. "You got me there, Mr. Novar."

"You can call me Ryan," Ryan said. "Unless you're my enemy. Then, you can call me 'Master', 'Master Novar', 'Lord Novar', and 'Please-Don't-Rip-My-Guts-Out-Again-I'm-Really-Sorry'. Oh, and 'Most Terrifying Badass to Ever Exist' also works. So does-"

"Sir," Tyler cleared his throat. "You're looking at a tree."

"I was talking to a tree."

"Pleasure to meet you, Ryan," the man said. "I am Nicholas Demani, I am here to study the elementals."

Ryan was surprised to hear the name. The Demani Family was another Family independent of the Novars and the Veloases, but they rarely had dealings with the Mieria, too. Nicholas Demani himself was the current heir to the family, a man in his early forties, around the same age as Ryan's father.

"If you're wondering why the Mieria would welcome a Demani," Nicholas said. "I helped Damien out with an issue a few months ago, and when a few water elementals moved into the area near our main estate, I called in the favor he owed."

One rule shared between all Families was that favors were honored. To reject that and refuse a favor when it was not unreasonable and there was no good reason to would be to disgrace one's name. Entire Families were known for exiling their own for such an act.

"I hadn't heard that water elementals moved into the Demani territory," Ryan said.

"Only a few of them," Nicholas responded. "And they haven't caused too much hassle for us. There isn't much reason for word to spread of their presence."

"I see," Ryan said. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you, Nicholas, but Tyler and I need to get going. Tyler has an appointment with his speech therapist, so I need to get him to that."

He assumed that Nicholas must have made a confused face, as Tyler quickly explained they were on their way to dinner, then they continued moving, Nicholas bidding them a good day. As they passed by him, Ryan noticed Nicholas's form for the first time. A large man with a bulky build, a touch of amusement and hostility in his mind.

Someone to be wary of.

Ryan released his elemental senses and empathy spells, and when they reached their destination, Tyler moved the silverware in front of Ryan around, then tapped his master twice on the arm before taking his own seat.

"Thank you," Ryan commented, aware that people were probably confused by the servant's actions, especially as moving the cutlery like that was considered rude. "It's amusing, isn't it, Tyler?"

"Sir?" Tyler asked.

"The irony," Ryan said.

"What irony?" Tyler asked, though Ryan could tell from his servant's emotions that the other teen knew exactly what Ryan was referring to.

"The rudeness of staring at someone over a rudeness committed," Ryan said. "At least, a perceived rudeness. I am a guest here, so I should respect their rules. But as a guest, I should be entitled to certain accommodations, yes? Also, that is a rather nice painting. Is it a Vental?"

"No, it is a Moolde," came Damien's response, causing Ryan to chuckle.

Because Families were wealthy, especially the main family within each one, he knew there had been a high chance of there being a painting in his line of sight. He couldn't resist asking because of that, and was delighted to know he was correct.

"Ryan," the teen's father said. "Please remember that you are a guest here."

"Right," Ryan nodded. "That means we're served first, right?"

"I apologize in advance for the headache Ryan will be," his father said, and Ryan guessed the man was talking to Damien. "He doesn't interact with people often."

"Nah," Ryan grinned. "It was all those times you accidentally set me on fire as a baby. Burning like that can do some funky stuff to your brain."

"You were never set on fire as a baby," his father said.

"Huh," Ryan said. "I guess I was misremembering it. You were zapping me with lightning, then. Ah, yes! The good ol' shock treatment! I was crying too much, I think it was."

"That is quite alright," Damien said, and Ryan sensed that he was being semi-ignored at that point. "It is no trouble at all. And now that we are all here, we can begin dinner."

Dinner passed mostly in silence, as two parties appraised each other and Ryan focused on eating with minimal issues. Much of what was eaten on the islands were grown or caught there, consisting a lot of tropical fruits and fish, with rice imported from elsewhere.

Not food he was accustomed to.

After dinner, Damien asked to speak with Samuel, so Ryan and Tyler took their leave, returning to the guest house they were staying in.

"Let's change into our board shorts," Ryan told Tyler. "I want to relax on a beach."

"Let me grab them from our bags," Tyler told Ryan.

Ryan expanded his elemental senses of water and air, then navigated to the bed, stumbling a little as he sat on it. His ability to just distance with the senses needed working on, but he knew he would manage in time. Humans spent the first several years of their lives learning how to judge the distance on instinct, he had only a couple of months' worth of time to learn how to judge distance consciously.

By the time he finished his training, however, he knew he would probably be as natural at navigating with his elemental senses as most people were with their eyes.

He undressed as he listened to Tyler unzip their suitcases and rummage through their clothes. It seemed to be taking the servant a few minutes to locate the board shorts, and even without his empathy reaching the other teen, Ryan could sense his frustration. Tyler was within the range of his elemental senses, and while he couldn't make out facial expressions as well, he could see the jerky movements of his servant and detect the aggravated breaths.

"Everything alright?" Ryan asked as he marveled at the softness of the blanket against his bare skin. With them being in salty air and on a beach, he had not expected quality of bed clothes as high as what they were receiving. "You seem rather frustrated."

"Sorry, sir," Tyler's movements stopped, and Ryan both heard and sensed the deep breaths. "I had anticipated you wanting to go to the beach soon after arrival and placed our board shorts together, at the top of one of the suitcases, but I can't seem to find them. This is why I hate it when the other servants go through our things."

Before they had left, Ryan's father had a servant check their bags to make sure everything they needed was packed. They didn't have enough time for Tyler to check everything after that because of Ryan's impatience that morning, causing the teen to feel bad.

"Sorry, Tyler," Ryan said. "I should have given you time to make sure everything was okay with our luggage."

"It's fine, Ryan," Tyler said. "The blame is on the other servants, not you. Everything was packed very specifically, and they should have known not to mess with the order of things. What if you had been the one to pack your stuff, and were going to be going through it?"

"I'll inform my father when he says his goodbye," Ryan told Tyler. "You're right about that."

They had eight suitcases for the trip, and he knew Tyler had already searched through three of them. Thinking back to what he had listened to that morning as the servants went through things, he tried to figure out which one the shorts had been moved to.

"There is a medium-sized suitcase," Ryan said. "With a zipper that catches slightly. Did you already go through that one?"

"A zipper that catches slightly?" Tyler asked. "I haven't noticed that."

"When you're unzipping it," Ryan said. "It catches slightly just before you're halfway done. I'm assuming it's medium-sized, as the unzipping takes less time than most of the others."

"There are four medium-sized ones," Tyler told Ryan.

"Try opening all four," Ryan told him. "To a little past halfway."

Tyler did, and Ryan stopped him on the second one.

"That's the one that catches," he said. "They're not in that one. They're also not in the one which has some toiletries in it, leaving one of the other two medium-sized suitcases."

"Yes, sir," Tyler responded, and Ryan sensed him moving to check the other suitcases.

After locating the one with the toiletries, Tyler checked the first one he had opened, and was halfway through it before he sighed, pulling the board shorts out.

"Here we are, Ryan," he said, then walked over to Ryan and grabbed one of his master's hands, placing the board shorts in them. "There are strings in the front of it, so that you know which side is the front."

"Thank you," Ryan pulled his board shorts on as Tyler began to undress to change into them.

His servant had just finished stripping naked when someone knocked on the door, starling both of them.

"Finish pulling them on," Ryan told his servant. "Then answer. It's likely my father, and he probably doesn't want to see your naked ass."

"Yes, sir," Tyler responded and obeyed. Ryan heard the door open a minute later, as the visitor knocked a third time. "Hello, Mr. Novar. My apologies for the delay, I was changing into board shorts at the time, and Ryan told me to finish as he did not feel I would be comfortable answering the door naked."

"That is quite alright," Ryan heard his father's voice as the man entered the building. "What happened to your luggage?"

"The servant who checked it," Ryan answered as he heard the door click shut. "Before we left moved things around. The board shorts weren't where Tyler had placed them, and he had to go through several suitcases to find them. Because we were hurrying out the door this morning, Tyler didn't have time to go through the suitcases and put everything back to how they had been. Could you inform the servants doing checks in the future to not move things around, no matter how much they want it to be sorted that way and how incompetent they might think Tyler is? He put the board shorts where he did to make them easy to grab for us. And if it had been me who packed things, and then went through, I would not know where anything was at all."

"I will do that," his father responded. "I wanted to let you know that I am heading home now. Damien will be traveling with me to the airport so that we can discuss some things. I heard that Nicholas Demani is here. I want you two to be careful of him. He might be more problematic than the Mieria."

"We met him earlier," Ryan told his father. "He said he's here studying water elementals after a few moved into his territory. He also coincidentally was owed a favor by Damien from just recently."

"Make sure such a thing doesn't occur with you," his father said.

"It won't," Ryan smiled. "I can promise you that, Father. Nicholas will not be able to earn a favor from me."

"Don't let your arrogance get in your way," his father said. "This is the first time you might be directly dealing with someone-"

"This isn't arrogance, Father," Ryan said. "I have a guaranteed way to ensure no favors are earned from me."

Ryan wouldn't honor a favor earned through an event not experienced. If he reset time, the then thing which caused the favor never happened, and thus, the favor never existed.

"Keep an eye on him," Ryan's father said, and Ryan noticed his father facing in the direction of Tyler. "I know your friendship with him gives you a bit more leeway with how you treat him than other servants, and I trust you know how to keep him from getting into too much trouble."

"I will do my best, sir," Tyler responded.

"Thank you," Ryan's father said. "Enjoy your evening, boys."

"You as well, Father," Ryan said, then heard the door open for a moment, then close again. "Come on, Tyler. I want to experience the beach for the first time."