"Tyler," Ryan nudged his servant's arm. "What are those in the tree to our left and in front? The round things."

He sensed his servant moving to look in the direction. Ryan had detected strange, roundish objects that were full of free-moving liquid, and wasn't sure what they were.

"Those are coconuts," his servant responded, looking at him. "Those are within your range?"

"Just-barely," Ryan confirmed. "There was coconut juice in the smoothies we had this morning, right?"

"Yes, sir," Tyler responded.

"I enjoyed those smoothies," Ryan commented, and they continued walking. "Are you enjoying the lessons?"

Tyler took a few moments to respond, and Ryan could sense his servant's indecision. They had been there for a week, and had only been on the island they were staying on until a few hours before, when they were taken to another island. At the moment, they were simply walking around, allowing Ryan to enjoy the smells and sounds around him.

Each day they were there, Tyler spent two hours training with the water mages while Ryan listened in and trained his senses. Twice, he was close enough to observe the lessons and see how the water magics worked, both in the formation of the water and the manipulation of it. He even practiced a little while taking his showers at their guest house.

"They are different than what I am used to," Tyler finally spoke. "The wizards here are clearly uncertain and wary of us, even if Damien seems amenable to our presence. Also, we're being followed by a pair of water elementals, around fifteen feet back."

"A little past my range, then," Ryan said. "They're just following us?"

"Yes, sir," Tyler responded. "I noticed them when I was looking at the coconuts."

They weren't too far from Ryan's range, which told him that either they knew his range, or they just happened to be that far coincidentally. Either way, he was curious about why they were following him.

According to Nicholas and other residents, they shouldn't worry too much about the elementals. They were mindless creatures that did whatever. They would avoid moving into people or objects, but otherwise seemed to move without a purpose. Sometimes, the elementals would gather up around people who were still for a period of time, and sometimes they would follow people, but there was no rhyme or reason, as far as anyone could tell.

But Ryan knew differently. The elementals were creature with minds, and they seemed to be doing what they did for a reason. If he had to guess, he would say that they were just bored or making fun of people. He'd managed to get at least one water elemental near him each day he was there so far. At least one water elemental close enough for him to sense their patterns.

He also felt confident that he could say a couple of things in their language. Unfortunately, he didn't know if they were pleasant or not, as he didn't actually know what they meant.

"Is there anyone around?" Ryan asked.

"No," his servant responded. "This island is uninhabited by people, mostly used for walking around and enjoying the scenery. We have it to ourselves today, so it is just us and the elementals."

"Okay," Ryan released his sense of air and pushed at the limits of his sense of water, stretching it up to eighteen feet. The strain on his mind was high, but he knew from the last few days that he could sustain that range for around eight minutes. "I'm about to try to talk with them."

"Whatever you're doing, please don't anger the embodiments of water," Tyler said. "I'd rather not drown because one of them became furious."

"Only one way to find out," Ryan held up a hand and manifested water in twelve spots around him as he turned to face the elementals. "Wish me luck."

The water took the form of small balls, roughly the size of ping-pong balls. Ryan manipulated all twelve of them simultaneously, creating what he knew seemed to be random patterns to his servant. He could feel his servant's confusion at his actions, but felt a sense of pride when the elementals responded.

They did the same thing they had done Ryan's first night there, when Tyler finally noticed them. That confirmed to Ryan they were laughing, and certain other patterns were probably intended on mocking him. He imitated the unfamiliar patterns, and the elementals' conversation ceased. While they continued to flow and ebb, their currents and balls continuing to shift, the twelve points Ryan had identified as communication points stilled, merging back into the elementals.

"Ryan," Tyler spoke after a moment. "I'm not entirely certain, but it feels like the elementals are, uh, unhappy."

"I'm not entirely certain what I just said," Ryan told his servant. "But I repeated what they said back at them. I think they were mocking us."

Another minute passed, then the elemental on the left moved off to the side, lifting up a rock with one of its streams, before flinging it at Ryan.

"Sir!" Tyler exclaimed, and Ryan sensed his servant's magic rising up, a wall of water forming in front of Ryan, stopping the rock.

"Interesting," Ryan said as the wall of water dropped to the ground, soaking their feet. He picked up the rock and examined it, then manipulated the twelve spots of water around him. "Like this, I think?"

The elementals did something similar to their previous laughter movements, except the patterns of water shifted differently.

"Quite interesting," Ryan said, then created a ball of water in front of him the size of a coconut. He made his balls of water repeat the rock action. "I wonder…"

He felt his servant's confusion at the same time he sensed one of the elementals making a pattern similar to mocking, the other making a separate pattern altogether. Ryan pointed at the ball of water and repeated the new pattern, and the two elementals repeated their movements similar to their laughter.

"So that is water," Ryan said, making the pattern again, then switching it to another as he held up the rock. "And this is rock. Or stone."

"What?" Tyler asked.

"Their language," Ryan said. "The elemental was telling me how to say 'rock' in their language. Or 'stone'. I think it threw the rock because of my previous comment, whatever that meant."

Ryan dropped the rock and let the ball of water drop to the ground. His sneakers were already soaked, so he didn't worry too much about that. He thought for a few moments, then lifted his right hand up and pointed at his eyes and made the patterns for rock and water.

One of the elementals flew forward, and Ryan felt his servant's panic, Tyler summoning up shards of ice instinctively. Ryan was impressed by his servant's quick response. He also decided that his servant learned the lesson of not trying to use water magic against an embodiment of water when the elemental turned the ice to liquid and absorbed it.

Ryan watched as the elemental shifted its communication spots, moving them to new locations as it surrounded Tyler and began poking and prodding at the servant. The teen did his best to keep up with its changes, grateful for his decent memory.

Whenever the elemental stopped for a few moments, Ryan would point at part of his own body or outfit as he made a pattern. Either the elemental would mock him as it pointed at the respective part on Tyler and did the correct pattern, or it would do what Ryan decided was a cheer of some sort.

As the elemental taught Ryan, he pulled in his sense of water back to a manageable range, no longer able to detect the other. He paid attention to the one in front of him, sensing both its water and its blank mind. Those, and his servant's frustration, annoyance, and fear.

By the time the elemental seemed content with Ryan's education, the teen could tell his servant was near the breaking point. The elemental drifted away, moving just a few feet from Ryan, and his servant dropped to his knees, then fell forward, catching himself with his arms as he stared at the ground.

"Sorry," Ryan knelt beside Tyler and put a hand on his servant's back. "I didn't know how to tell it to stop."

"What… the fuck… was that?" Tyler gasped.

"It was teaching me," Ryan asked. "I think they're excited to have someone who can actually learn their language. Elementals probably don't have the same issues we do, so it didn't realize it was bothering you. That, or it didn't care."

"It's still here," Tyler looked up. "They both are."

"I pulled my sense back in," Ryan said. "So I can't sense the other one right now. I think it's done abusing you, though. If you want to wander around the island on your own, take a break, you're more than welcome to. The only threat to me here is something you can't handle, and they seem excited, now."

"I don't know," Tyler said, and Ryan noticed his servant looking at the elemental, nervousness clear in the other teen's mind.

"Tyler, take a break," Ryan ordered as he stood, pulling his servant to his feet. "You need it to calm down. I'll be fine, I promise. They won't do anything to me too bad."

If he caught even the slightest whiff of it, he would reset time.

He could tell Tyler was hesitant, but his servant gave in and walked off, looking back several times before Ryan could no longer detect him within his senses.

"So," Ryan looked at the elementals. "What should I try to learn next?"

As he looked around, he noticed the second elemental entering his range, and turned to face it Once he did, it stopped moving and did a type of wiggle. It took the mage a moment to realize it noticed he wasn't seeing it and moved forward to see where he could see up to. When he turned to face it, the elemental knew he could see again.

Which meant they had been out of his range out of coincidence.

He returned to assessing his surroundings as he noticed the elementals talking, but figured they were conversing with each other, as only one was making communication patterns at a time. Most of the time. A few occasions, one would interrupt the other, their conversation overlapping for a moment.

The mage found his target and aimed a finger. He could perform the spell with water, but that wouldn't be enough. Focusing on his magic, he drew on the power of air within him and sliced with his finger, aiming at a coconut. It dropped out of a tree, and he walked over and picked it up, then showed it to the elementals.

It took them a few seconds, but then he noticed both making the same pattern. A single communication spot, shaped into a sphere with a bit of water inside of it, sloshing around. The shell of a coconut, plus its milk. Ryan made the same pattern, then pointed at the coconut, and the elementals did their cheer-type response.

"Excellent," he smiled. "I think we can work with this."

Ryan began walking, picking up various items or pointing at various objects, and the elementals would give him a response. If he made the same pattern and pointed at the item, they would do their cheer. If his pattern didn't match, they would repeat the pattern in what he quickly learned was an angry response.

Especially after getting 'boulder' wrong three times in a row on purpose, then finding himself doused with a high-pressure jet of water from both elementals.

"I'm not sure what I was expecting," he said to no one in particular as he stood up. "But that wasn't on the list!"

As he was soaked through, Ryan pulled off his shirt, sneakers, and socks, then set them on the boulder to collect later. He would need to walk around the island for awhile with Tyler to locate them once more, but at least they would dry out. Since he had elected to wear his board shorts when learning he would be traveling to another island, he left those on.

Ryan knew he would need to relearn much of what he had learned that day, but that didn't bother him. He was learning a language that spoke without a voice with fellow mages who didn't see with eyes. To him, the prospect of a proper conversation with elementals was exciting.

That, and the idea that if he could learn to communicate with them fully, he may one day be able to properly sense their minds at some point as well. He really wanted to know what went on in their metaphorical heads.

"Ryan!" The mage heard his servant exclaim, breathless. "Thank goodness!"

"Is everything alright?" Ryan turned to face the direction he could hear his servant coming from.

"I found your stuff," Tyler answered as he entered Ryan's vision, and the mage noticed his shirt and shoes in his servant's hands, his socks stuffed into the shoes. "And got worried that maybe you'd tried to go for a swim. They were close to the beach. Is everything alright?"

"Yes," Ryan answered. "I'd gotten quite wet after annoying them once too many times, and so thought I'd strip down to not be walking around soaked."

"You're going to burn," Tyler told him. "You aren't wearing any sunscreen. I have some in my pocket, you should-"

"I'll be fine," Ryan told his servant. "The elementals have been kind enough to wet me a bit anytime I start to dry, so I doubt I'll burn too badly."

"Sir-"

"If I burn, it will be an excellent experience," Ryan told his servant. "A new one, which will teach me what it's like to feel a sunburn. There is always a healer on standby on some of the islands, if the burn is too bad, then I will ask them to fix it when we return."

His servant sighed, and Ryan noticed the servant turning his head to face the elementals. He couldn't tell if Tyler's eyes were on them, but guessed that they were due to that movement.

"Don't worry," Ryan told him. "They're actually quite friendly. While I'll probably relearn much of this, I've enjoyed myself quite a lot. And if Nicholas has any actual interest in studying the elementals, I'll have reason to make him jealous, too!"

He sensed his servant's exasperation and his grin widened.

"Let's head back to the main island," Ryan said. "I'm hungry, and we're well-past lunch."

"Yes, sir," Tyler said as he took Ryan's arm. "Let's head to the dock."

Ryan allowed himself to be led to the dock as he pulled in his elemental senses. The constant use of water magics in addition to the senses was giving him a headache, and he wanted to give himself some rest.

They reached the dock after half an hour of walking, where a lone boat rested, the water mage who guided them to the island napping on it.

"Sir," Tyler woke the mage up after helping Ryan onto the boat and a bench. "We're ready to return to the main island, now."

The water mage nodded, then untied the boat and began manipulating the currents to bring them back. Ryan, curious, extended his water sense just a little bit. He had sensed it when they arrived, and wanted to watch it again.

The way the waves were shifted to move around the boat as more pushed it to guide it interested him. He hadn't thought of water magic as having such an application, yet it was quite a useful one. Rather than wasting air crystals to move a small boat, they could simply use a water mage instead. Mana was a much more renewable resource than magic crystals, after all.