"I'd like to apologize in advance," Damien said as the boat traveled, and Ryan turned his attention to the man. Much of the trip so far had been in silence, different from the last time he had performed the run, despite Abel and his two children present as well. "But please do not be alarmed when we arrive. Yesterday afternoon, all of the elementals on the main island gathered at the docks. When attempting to find somewhere else to land, they moved as if to follow us. If we traveled to another island, the ones there did the same thing.

"We eventually determined," he continued. "That the elementals were just being the strange creatures they are. They have a habit of doing things for no reason, and it seems this is one of those things. We can land just fine, without any issues, and they'll ignore us."

The day before? Ryan concealed his confusion, keeping his face neutral. That wasn't how the elementals acted like in the previous run, and they shouldn't have been affected by anything he'd done differently. He was showing up a day later, and the earth mages were coming early with Damien aware they knew, but that was most of the differences. Why would the elementals act differently as well?

"We'll get to see elementals?" Luke asked, bouncing a little in his seat, causing it to squeak lightly with every lift and drop. "I saw some earth elementals last year! They were cool!"

"Where did you see those?" Ryan asked, curious. He wasn't aware of earth elementals on a Novar property.

"I took them on vacation to the Srentas estate on the Appalish Mountains last summer," Abel answered. "There are fire and earth elementals living there, and during our stay, a couple of the earth elementals came near the estate as they were traveling somewhere."

"I see," Ryan made a mental note of the location.

Fire and earth elementals together. He might be able to use that for training. The Srentas Family was one of their allies, and they had a ski resort they ran. That was probably somewhere other than the place with the fire and earth elementals, though, as Ryan couldn't see fire elementals living somewhere with a lot of ice and snow.

"Elementals are generally harmless," Damien assured them. "Most of what they do is just annoying, at least on the islands. Everything can always be recovered after, though it may be a bit wet."

"They have a tendency to take things?" Ryan asked as he thought about the incidents with them taking water crystals and sticking them in random places or tossing them at things.

"Sometimes," Damien answered. "We're arriving now."

"I can see them!" Lucas exclaimed, and Ryan sensed the form that was the boy jumping off the seat and running to the edge of the boat. "Whoa! There are so many!"

"There are thirty-four water elementals on the main island," Damien said. "And they're all there."

"That's a lot of water elementals," Ryan's father spoke.

"It is," Damien responded. "We have over four hundred total water elementals on all of our islands. We also suspect the presence of an air elemental on one of our unnamed islands, but air elementals aren't that easy to notice unless they want to be."

That intrigued Ryan. He hadn't heard about the possibility of air elementals on the islands during his last run. He also hadn't asked about them, either, and still had half of the islands to explore. Making a note to find out which island it was and visit to see if he could locate any air elementals with his wind sense, Ryan turned his attention to the docks as the boat slowed down.

Abel and his children exited first, then Tyler helped Ryan off the boat and onto the creaking wood of the docks. Damien and Ryan's father followed after, Damien taking the lead. Only a few steps further, and Ryan could detect the shore within his range. Another few steps, and he could sense the elementals.

They weren't talking at the time, but he could detect their excitement in the way their water ebbed and flowed. The moment he stepped onto the shore, all of the elementals in his range spoke at once.

"Welcome back, Blind Ocean."

Ryan froze.

They were expecting his return, despite him having never been there before. This went beyond being different than normal. There was no logical reason he could think of for them to know him already – and the fact that they were using the name they had given him in his last run meant it was definitely him they were talking to.

Somehow, some way, the elementals knew him already.

He wanted to talk to them, find out how they already knew him and why they knew he'd be coming. Why they thought he'd be coming the day before, the day he had arrived in his previous run. Summoning twelve random points of water around him, however, would raise suspicions and cause confusion, so he needed to wait until he had a few minutes without everyone keeping an eye on him.

"Everything alright, Ryan?" His father asked, and Ryan became aware that everyone was looking at him.

"Sorry," Ryan smiled and began walking. "Everything is fine. I could feel the way the sand gave beneath my shoes, and was wondering what it would feel like to walk on it barefoot. I must have gotten lost in my thoughts."

"Okay," he felt relief in his father's mind, and Ryan remembered that his father was worried for his safety, especially after hearing about Nicholas's actions in the past run.

There was curiosity present as well, and Ryan knew his father was probably wondering what he had really been thinking about. What had really stopped him in his tracks. His father no doubt knew Ryan had walked barefoot on the sand last run, even without the teen having said so.

While Ryan had told his father and servant about his water sense, he hadn't told them that he could actually talk with elementals. That was something Tyler would learn soon enough, but he wasn't comfortable sharing all his secrets with his father, even if he was going to reset to before his father learned any of them.

Ryan began walking again, and the elementals began to disperse, causing confusion in Damien's mind. The teen smiled a little, aware that the man was likely attempting to find a reason for their departure.

The next couple of hours passed relatively quickly for Ryan, his father inspecting the facilities Ryan would be using the most to make sure they were adequate. He also checked the guest house Abel and his children were staying in as well. They might not be his son, but they were still part of the Family.

After that, everyone ate dinner with Damien, then Samuel left and Ryan returned to his temporary home to change into board shorts. That run, he made sure the servants checking Tyler's packing were aware that if they did not put things back the way they were, their asses were on the line. Because of that, Tyler easily found their board shorts, then the two changed into them.

"Let's head to the beach," Ryan said as Tyler pulled grabbed a couple of towels. "I know it's night, but I know you're also dying to play in the water."

There was reluctance in his servant's mind, but Ryan had already made sure Tyler knew he would be fine and that the servant could relax and take time off while on the islands unless Ryan obviously needed the help.

"Thank you, Ryan," Tyler said, and the pair left.

As they walked down the path, an elemental came up behind them, and Ryan chuckled a little when Tyler jumped to look at it. It was no doubt the same one which had done that the first time, and he chuckled even more when he saw the elemental's comment.

"Welcome, you lousy Dry One who knows not the difference between living and truly living. Learn it, before you shrivel up and waste away. Hello again, Blind Ocean."

The elemental left, leaving Tyler startled and Ryan amused. He guessed the first part was the same thing it had said in the previous run, too.

"Everything alright?" Ryan asked.

"Yes," Tyler responded, turning to face forward again. "Someone's approaching us."

Nicholas, no doubt, Ryan thought. Even if it's the next day. He'd have wanted to see me. I did wonder why he ran into him so quickly last run.

A moment later, someone entered their range of vision.

"Greet him," Ryan muttered as they continued walking. "Make conversation like you would with me."

"Hello," Tyler spoke.

"Hello," the other man spoke, his voice confirming his identity as Nicholas to Ryan. "Startled by the elemental, were we?"

"It came up so silently," Tyler said. "I know I faced a lot at the docks, but that still shocked me."

"The elementals are mysterious creatures," Nicholas said. "I am-"

"Nicholas Demani," Ryan said. "You're here to study the elementals, at least officially. Some showed up on your property or something, and you've requested a few months of time here on the islands. Well, the official statement is 'requested', because Damien is too terrified by your threats to reveal you actually threatened your way onto the islands."

He felt confusion fill the Demani heir's mind, as well as caution and fury.

"Don't worry," Ryan smiled, beckoning his hand, and the other man was pulled towards him, unable to resist. Ryan grabbed the man by the throat. "Forgive me if my gaze isn't directly on yours, Nicholas, but I'm afraid I have trouble aiming. Unlike you. This might be a little painful. The servant I practiced it on yesterday seemed to be in a little bit of pain."

Ryan struck the man with a stun spell, then delved into his mind, plucking out information before placing a geass. He adjusted a few memories as well, then released Nicholas and let the man stumble back.

"Are you okay?" Ryan asked, faking concern in his voice. "You went to shake Tyler's hand, then stumbled."

Confusion filled Tyler's mind, but Ryan ignored it. His servant would quickly figure out what had happened, having been present for the attempt at manipulating memories the day before.

"I'm fine," Nicholas answered. "I'm terribly sorry about that. It was Ryan, right?"

"Yes," Ryan said. "And my servant, Tyler. Are you doing okay?"

"I think so," Nicholas said. "It must be the salt in the air, I'm still adjusting to it. It's a pleasure to meet the two of you."

He sensed Nicholas stick out his hand, and nudged Tyler in the arm so that his servant would shake it.

"Pleasure to meet you as well," Ryan smiled. "You said you were studying the elementals?"

"I am," Nicholas responded. "Though now that there's a Heisar here, I'm wishing to study it as well. Alas, I need to study the elementals, so that we can handle them better. They seem to be quite random, though."

"Perhaps," Ryan said. "Perhaps their randomness is them amusing themselves."

"Elementals don't have minds," Nicholas said. "Nor emotions. No mind mage who has ever come into contact with them has ever detected them, and they are simply forces of an element. Samples taken from them yield nothing short of just magical water, or air, or earth, or whatever."

"Magic is as magic is," Ryan smiled. "Well, Nicholas, it was a pleasure to meet you. I'm sure we'll see you around, but right now, Tyler and I were heading to the beach. He's never been to one, and the night means we'll have it to ourselves."

"Enjoy your night," Nicholas said. "I'll be around, should you want to speak with me or ask me anything."

Ryan dipped his head in acknowledgment, then began walking, Tyler 'guiding' him to avoid anyone realizing Ryan wasn't fully without awareness of his surroundings.

"What did you do to him?" Tyler asked. "You know you're lucky no one was around to see you do that, right?"

"I put a geass on him," Ryan said. "A rather nasty one. He'll figure it out when he crosses a line and suffers the penalty for it."

"You asked your father to teach you how to manipulate memories yesterday," Tyler said. "I know you wanted that to use against him."

"Perhaps I changed a few things," Ryan smiled. "But that was mostly so that he wouldn't remember me pulling him towards me, using the stun spell, and the rest. I needed him to have his threats in his subconscious to place the geass more easily."

He could tell his servant didn't fully believe him, but dismissed it. Unless a mind mage actually went into Nicholas's head, no one could disprove his words.

They finished their walk to the beach, and Tyler spread out the towel as Ryan removed his sneakers. After making sure his master was okay, Tyler made his way to the ocean. Ryan moved off the towel and began burying himself with sand, happy with his longer range of detection allowing him to pull from further away. He didn't need to dig as much.

When he finished, he lay like that, just relaxing. Not long after, several water elementals showed up and began dancing around him in a ring, just like in his last run. He recognized all of them, and chuckled when he realized they were teasing him.

Ryan manifested twelve points of water around him, letting them ebb and flow and move around as he shifted them to talk.

"Hello," he told them.

"Hello, Blind Ocean," they responded in unison.

"Why do you call me that?" He asked.

"Because that is your name," Shadowy Falls responded.

"Why were you expecting my arrival?" He asked.

"We were hoping that your death would not deter you from returning," Shadowy Falls said, and Ryan frowned.

"My death?"

"Yes," Ferocious Stream said. "When Hostile Puddle killed you and your two companions."

"But I am not dead," Ryan said. "I-"

He stopped mid-formation as he realized what they were saying. They remembered his previous reset. His previous run of time.

"We are not bound by the constraints of time," Shadowy Falls told him. "If someone slips out of time or resets it, we are unaffected. Time was reset at the moment of your death, and so, we remember it."

"Why was time reset when I died?" Ryan asked. "If I died, then I know I could not have caused the reset, but that means I should not have remembered everything that happened after the return point. At all."

"You performed the reset," Moon Tide told him. "At the moment of your death, you cast the reset spell. We are glad you have returned, Blind Ocean. There is still much for us to teach you. With the rate at which you learn, you will likely be finished by the end of the year. Or maybe a month after."

"Thank you," Ryan said. "I was wondering, is there an air elemental around here?"

"No," all six said at once.

"When you do that, it is obvious you are answering only the stated question," he said. "Is there an air elemental on any of the islands?"

"Yes," Shadow Falls responded. "Several of the islands rarely visited are home to the Swift Winds. You have not visited them yet."

"I would like to," Ryan said. "Not tonight, though. Could you tell me which ones they are? I would like to check them out over the next week."