“The first and most important skill you need to relearn is surfing,” Edri explained. He was holding a length of rope in his hands, and grinned at Samuel’s obvious curiosity when he glanced at it. “This is to prevent you from using your traditional magic to move. It’s the same method we had to use when Elder Narda taught you last time.”

Samuel frowned suspiciously. “Why should binding my hands prevent me from using magic?”

Edri considered that in silence for a moment, then shrugged. “When you last came to us, you used your hands to cast. Is that no longer the case?”

Samuel blinked slowly, then, without moving his hands, he let loose a blast of ki from his feet, propelling himself several feet upwards. Of course, without the guidance of his hands for casting or balance, he began to spin through the air. Perhaps there was something to that, he thought. He made a quick gesture with his left hand to stop his spin and drifted back down to the rocky ground.

“Right,” Edri said. “So here we are.”

He tied Samuel’s hands behind him with a few deft movements, securing them tightly without causing discomfort. Almost at once, despite the lack of any forces to pull him down, he felt off-balance. And as if the thought summoned it into being, he felt himself tipping forward slightly. Edri put one hand on his shoulder to steady him, grinning widely. He seemed to be enjoying watching the struggle he put into basic movements. The sarcastic humor reminded Samuel forcefully of Grimr. Not a good reminder, given the situation, he thought.

“I can manage,” he said shortly. With a supreme effort, he righted himself. “So how does this work? Also, why do you call it surfing? Aren’t you using some magic to fly through the air?”

“We got the name of the skill from you,” Inka replied, drifting around the corner into view. She was holding a large clay pot in her hands. “You said it was like surfing on the top of a wave, and not like swimming.”

Of course, he’d come up with such a simple term for such a strange method, Samuel thought with a barely suppressed snort. But Inka’s comment brought to mind a memory of the birds that had always flocked to the coast where he’d grown up. They sat atop the water’s surface, keeping them safe from air or land predators. That image certainly helped him understand the difference between how he and Edri were moving, but it didn’t do much for him to learn how to move faster.

Samuel started slow, willing the mana around his body to push him back. At once, he started to spin again, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. Edri drifted casually beside him, watching his efforts in silence. Inka was a few yards away, trying to look busy with some menial task, but her eyes kept flicking over to them. Samuel caught her eye once before he ended up completely flipped, with his head pointing towards the ground. He let out a grunt of frustration.

“What am I doing wrong?” He asked Edri, who had rotated himself just as Samuel was. Mocking him, perhaps? “You don’t use mana to do this, do you?”

“I don’t use mana for anything, Edri replied casually. “Enari do not have mana. You’re using something that doesn’t exist in this place.”

“But chaotic mana is everywhere here,” Samuel pointed out. He unconsciously strained his arms, as if trying to grab at the solid air to control his movement. “I can see it plain as day.”

“You are mistaken,” Edri corrected him. “It is not mana that surrounds us, but chaos.”

“Well then,” Samuel burst out, his frustration mounting quickly. “Chaos doesn’t follow order, so how in the hell-”

Without warning, Samuel was jerked several feet backward and crashed into a nearby building. He grunted in pain, not quite loud enough to drown out Edri’s laugh. The Enari finally seemed to take pity on him and drifted over. He righted Samuel with a quick gesture, swirling the chaos around him to move his body. It was strange to be so helpless, Samuel thought. He couldn’t exert any control over the energy around him, yet Edri did so as easily as breathing.

“It may be a foreign thing to you,” Inka said sympathetically. She had finally dropped her act of disinterest and came over. “But to Enari, it is as simple as walking. You can control chaos, but only if you master it. Think of the currents. When a larger current moves, the rest match it.”

Which was fine to say for someone who was created and lived in this plane, Samuel thought. But he couldn’t simply force an unknown element to move just because he wanted it to. But still, he gave it a try. Focusing on the tall and thin form of Edri, he tried to force the currents to push him that way. And, to his surprise, he felt his body move. There was almost no control to it, and he moved far more quickly than he’d intended, his body slamming into that of Edri’s, knocking them both off-balance. Edri let out another laugh as he righted himself, leaving Samuel to spin aimlessly, drifting in a random direction.

“Well, you have the idea down,” the tall Enari said with another chuckle. “But you’ll need more control than that.”

“Fine,” Samuel replied, the single word muffled by his gritted teeth. “I’ll just give myself more room to move around.”

He waited until he rotated to face the edge of the island, and pushed himself forward once again. With no obstacles to run into, he shot forward through space, just barely able to register his speed. He went from his prone position to sitting upright, racing along the direction he’d chosen. If it weren’t for Edri’s quick reflexes, he might have been lost, but his old friend was there in a flash, even faster than him, moving to block his path.

“Not bad,” he said. “But try not to get lost, will you?”

Samuel ignored him, too focused on his task. There had been a moment there, almost too brief for recognition, where he’d had a semblance of control over his movement. It hadn’t been much, but the chaos around him had responded to his will. He tried turning himself in place and spun so quickly that he felt a wave of nausea come over him. A little at a time, he told himself. He tried again, willing himself to move slowly. Gradually, with exceptional care, he turned to face the island once again. It was much further away than he’d counted on.

“Let’s try this again,” he muttered and pushed himself forward. Instead of willing himself to return to the island, he merely thought to go forward. And to his relief, he did exactly that. Drifting quickly, he found himself moving back towards the island. To make the moment even better, he knew that, despite his speed, he could stop at a moment’s notice, when he wanted.

Edri had moved with him again, presumably to catch him if he went out of control. He rushed forward to position himself in Samuel’s path, but the mage pushed himself off to the side, avoiding contact with the Enari. He heard a quiet sound of excitement and encouragement from Inka and grinned. He pushed away from the island once again, but put more force into the movement, and tried moving in a gentle arc. It was perhaps sharper than he’d intended, and he spun a few times as if he’d hit a solid wall, but he’d moved in the way he’d chosen.

“You certainly picked that up fast,” Edri said. “But don’t waste your energy trying to turn over a large area. Try to drift through the movement, and make the turn sharper.”

Samuel did exactly that, propelling himself forward. As he came close to Edri, he changed his direction again but kept applying force even as he moved. As if anchored to the lanky Enari by an invisible rope, Samuel moved in a tight half-circle, and shot out straight, heading back to where he began. His gut wrenched with the sudden and unexpected movement, but he was grinning hugely nonetheless. He was moving, in a space that defied the very order of his magic, without expending any effort.

“Not bad,” Edri said again. “Now you just need to learn to do it instinctively. Best way to do that-”

“A race,” Samuel interjected, filled to the brim with confidence. “Through the city, yes?”

“Yep,” Edri agreed. “Let’s get your hands untied, first.”

Samuel flicked his hands free in an instant, forcing the rope free with a quick burst of air. He laughed at the shock on Edri’s face as he tossed the rope back. “I still have some tricks up my sleeve, I’ll have you know.”

Edri threw the rope to Inka, who was smiling quietly, though at Samuel or Edri they couldn’t be sure. Samuel wondered if this was the dynamic of their friendship when he’d last been in the plane, or if some forgotten factor had changed something. It was odd, he thought, working to recapture old relationships that he could no longer remember. What if something about them had changed so drastically that he couldn’t come to like them? What if he’d changed enough that friendship wasn’t possible? That would make learning more here a challenge.

“Let’s get to it, then,” he said, giving no sign of the doubt inside him. “How should we do this?”

“From here, to the other side of the island,” Edri replied at once. “Choose whatever path you want. Whoever comes back to Inka first is the winner.”

Samuel nodded his understanding and took a deep breath to calm his nerves. The race had the air of a telling challenge to it, not to mention a test of himself. Already word seemed to be spreading to the other townsfolk, who were hurrying over to spectate. Edri drifted, almost lazy in his grace, to stand beside Samuel. He drifted from side to side, no more than an inch or two in either direction, while Samuel stayed stock-still. The Ancient ignored his opponent, keeping his focus on the first point he wanted to reach in the race. He knew that he could use explosive speed to get there in a flash, but after that, he’d have to rely on reflexes and quick thinking.

“The terms are already set,” a strange Enari Samuel didn’t know was speaking. “No point in waiting. On your marks, get set, go!”

The start was unexpected for both Edri and Samuel, but Samuel was conditioned to instant action from his months of training with Issho-Ni and the small handfuls of battles he’d survived. He forced himself forward with abandon and found himself at the point of his choosing faster than he could blink. He shoved against the chaos there to redirect himself to the left, still pushing forward and making a smooth right turn into a side alley. He heard the excited whoop of a nearby Enari, but ignored it as well, pushing himself through another sharp turn.

There was no sign of Edri anywhere near him, Samuel noticed, breaking free of the first major cluster of buildings and rocketing across the open space before him. He glanced around quickly but saw nothing. Was Edri so fast that he was already ahead? Or had Samuel, by some lucky strike, managed to get ahead of him? There was no way to verify either claim, so he contented himself with maintaining the speed he had, zipping around another set of buildings rather than attempting to weave through the tiny space. It was only when he cleared this obstacle that he registered Edri’s presence, appearing out of that very tight space he’d avoided.

The Enari was moving with casual grace and executed several tight turns in quick succession. At the end of each of these maneuvers, Samuel noticed that he seemed to be a bit faster. Sure enough, after half a dozen quick changes in direction, there was a burst of energy, and Edri was catapulted forward, moving so fast that he left a slight shockwave in his wake. It buffeted Samuel as he was passed, and he was knocked off-course slightly, only barely avoiding running into a nearby wall. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to continue.

Edri had slowed down again, allowing Samuel to reel in the distance. Was he playing at the race? Samuel thought he might be, though there was a definite sign of exertion from Edri as if his last set of maneuvers had taken a bit of a toll on him. Maybe it was the sheer momentum of the action, Samuel reasoned. Similar to when Samuel cast a heavy spell, regardless of his overall mana reserves, there was a definite shock of exhaustion that followed, and it slowed one down for a bit.

Well, he thought, that would be Edri’s mistake, and he was determined to capitalize on it. Samuel flashed a grin at his friend as he caught up and pulled ahead, noting the quick flash of annoyance in the tall Enari’s eyes as he was overtaken. Not content with staying behind, he put on a sudden, extra burst of speed, and had drawn level with Samuel in an instant. They raced, neck and neck, for the far side of the city’s island, which wasn’t so far away now. Of course, Edri was much more experienced in this, so by the time they reached the edge of the landmass, he had a comfortable lead of about a hundred yards on Samuel, and returned his earlier grin as they passed each other.

As Samuel turned sharply to race back to the starting point, he experienced a surge of doubt as he saw the lead that Edri had established. Well, that was only to be expected. He pushed himself forward again, aiming a little higher than before to avoid the obstacle of a group of buildings entirely, soaring over it. He was now treated to a view of this side of the city and saw Edri’s robes billowing out like a kit as he slipped through a cluster of buildings with ease. Making each of the sharp turns came to him as easily as breathing, Samuel thought admiringly. He was a natural at this and knew that he was superior in this contest.

But, as Samuel had noticed before in battle, being a natural wasn’t enough. If you didn’t keep a keen eye and mind on your situation, the tiniest change in circumstance could spell sudden disaster. Just as he’d managed to defeat several “natural” warriors and mages in his time through sheer determination and lucky timing, Samuel was quickly seeing a way that he could turn the tables in this contest. If Edri had been able to achieve such a dramatic burst of speed by changing directions rapidly, he could too.

Samuel had no idea what the effect of his experiment would be when he began. It could have resulted in nothing, after all, or even injury if he hadn’t done it right. When it came to manipulating the chaos around them for movement, the Enari had learned one valuable lesson. Don’t manipulate too much at once, or you will hurt yourself badly. Even Enari children, the unspeaking ones, knew that gradually increasing the amount they manipulated at once was safest, and never to exceed their boundaries. This, of course, was because the Enari constitution was frail, and too much force could shred them into infinite motes of energy, returning them to chaos.

Samuel, a mortal being with a toughened frame, had no such limitations. So when he dove straight down, gathering a massive amount of chaos before him, and forcing it to burst just as he reached it, his body could handle the impact far better, and he was shot forward with devastating force. So much force that he knew he would be unable to turn or brake to avoid anything he hit in his straight rush. He processed this information, along with his vastly increased speed, with just enough time to react.

Mere centimeters before he struck the outside of the building he’d inadvertently chosen to be his first obstacle, he brought his mana to life. Or rather, he tried to. Instead, the very chaos around him responded to his call, pulling him forward safely, through the solid wall. Before he could process what had happened, he was on the other side of the cluster of buildings, and Edri was only fifty yards ahead of him. Then thirty. Then ten. Samuel shot past Edri faster than either of them could have expected, eliciting a shocked yell from the Enari as he vanished from view.

Samuel pulled himself forward through chaos once more as he reached another cluster of houses, but was less successful on his second attempt. He grazed one of the rock surfaces and was knocked slightly off-course by the impact, not to mention half of his sleeve being ripped to shreds. He cursed loudly and tried to resume his previous speed, but Edri, who jolted into a sudden burst of speed himself, caught up to him in no time. He spared half a glance at Samuel as he passed, clearly unnerved by what had happened, and reached Inka just under a second before Samuel did. He was breathing heavily by the time Samuel caught up and shook his head slowly.

“You just-” he gasped, his chest heaving. “How did you-”

Inka was smiling from ear to ear as she brushed past Edri. She spread her arms wide and embraced Samuel, who, to his surprise, returned the gesture eagerly. Inka was surprisingly warm to touch as if she’d just spent hours under the brightest sun. She smelled of some unknown fragrance, and a wave of relaxation came over Samuel at the scent. His mind, still racing over the events of the race, seemed stuck in place as he drank in the smell of her. Then she pulled away, and the moment was gone. Samuel floated where he was, slightly dazed.

Samuel’s stomach grumbled, and he rubbed it without thinking, wondering how long he’d been in the plane now. He’d eaten some basic rations just before starting his trials to reach the Sanctuary, but that felt like days ago now. Logic told him he couldn’t have been here more than eight or nine hours, however. Inka noticed the movement, and, despite being a creature that did not need such sustenance, seemed to grasp what was going on at once. She waved Edri away and put one hand on Samuel’s shoulders.

“You must be getting hungry,” she said sympathetically. “You should go back for some food before you continue training.”