The first sight to enter my eyes as I walked into the mansion was a shimmering stream of water in the middle of the air. A splash caught my attention, and I gazed at the end of the stream to see two fish swimming up against the current, both made of clear liquid. They struggled to surpass each other as a group of my classmates and strangers watched the display with rapt attention.

At the end of the stream were Roxxy and Cresp.

Alexis ducked underneath the stream, and I followed him after taking off my shoes and socks. The two half-siblings were perspiring, their foreheads furrowed in concentration.

“Cresp just learnt his family’s signature spell.” Alexis ran his fingers along the stream, the water sliding off his skin and back into the spell. “Normally it attracts schools of fish for harvesting, but we figured ‘why not have a race?’”

There was a shuffling on my shoulder as Gold gazed at the fish with gleaming eyes.

We watched as Cresp’s fish leapt into the air and pushed further than Roxxy’s, reaching the end of the river and splashing triumphantly.

Roxxy pursed her lips together and dispelled her creation, her fish dissolving into water that entered back into the currents.

The stream folded into itself as she moved her hands, and an orb of water was left floating in its place. She beckoned the orb with her finger and the space around her shimmered, the orb disappearing into a ring she had on her hand.

“Cresp wins!” Alexis shouted towards the onlookers in celebration.

Several of them cheered, with a few grumbling and handing coins to the people around them.

Cresp smiled and walked over to another one of my classmates, Hutton, getting a high five and a pat in the back as he sat down.

“I should go say hi to Amanda first.” I looked to the side and eyed the stairs leading to the first floor. “She’s not coming down?”

Gold chirped in agreement and Alexis nodded.

“I’m hoping you can get her down here.” Alexis turned his head towards the stairs. “She’s really shy around big groups, but who knows, maybe you’ll convince her.”

He opened his mouth to say something else when someone called his name.

“Sorry- I’ve got to go play host. Let me know how it goes!” He twisted around and walked towards the people calling him.

The edges of my mouth curved upwards as Gold, and I made our way up the stairs. Amanda had told me yesterday that she wasn’t interested in the party, but I’d still say hi.

The puffer flapped his wings and flew towards Amanda’s study.

“You’ve got this entire place memorised by now, haven’t you?” I asked him. “Are you going to stay with Agni?”

Gold turned to look at me and squawked.

“You’re right, we did come here to meet new people.” I brought out my texting regent as I reached the door.

‘Are you in your study? I came to say hi.’

I heard footsteps from behind the door and after a few seconds it opened to reveal a disheveled Amanda. Agni was sitting on her head, and she waved a wing at me and Gold in greeting.

Amanda stared up at me with drowsy eyes.

“Late night?” I knew the answer just by looking at her.

“Have you ever stayed up reading a book series and then suddenly it’s the next day?” Amanda grumbled. “I knew I shouldn’t have gone thrift shopping after ice-cream last night.”

She pressed a finger against her bottom lip pensively. “Actually, I take that back. I regret nothing.”

“I’m guessing that means you’re not joining the party downstairs?” I grinned.

She looked down at her clothes, the same ones she had been wearing yesterday for ice-cream, and she shook her head.

“I just want to spend the day curled up on the sofa with a good book.” She raised her hand and I could see a thick volume clutched in her fingers. “You’re free to take Agni off my hands if you want.”

The phoenix looked at me with a tired expression and I shook my head.

“I think Agni did enough yesterday to deserve rest as well.”

Agni chirped in agreement and laid her head down onto Amanda’s hair.

I bid them a good rest and made my way back downstairs. I didn’t mind being a stranger among colleagues, because I could see a lot of the people below me were awkward as well.

They hung around the same social circles as each other, but they weren’t close in ways that mattered.

Most of the people at the party had drifted towards the insides of the ground floor. The dining room had people moving in and out of it, and I could see several of the meditation rooms had their doors half closed as groups of friends made themselves at home inside them.

I looked around for someone to talk to and spotted a familiar face sitting cross-legged against the foyer wall, her hands folded neatly over a light red dress.

It was Roxxy.

We hadn’t talked with just each other before, but I was sure I could find a common topic of conversation.

Maybe her work at Zodiac. Or her cat.

I made my way towards her, Gold watching out from side to side as he looked out for her cat. She was alone and deep in thought.

I stepped down from the stairs onto the marble floor of the foyer, and promptly tripped, almost falling onto my face.

Gold flapped his wings and squawked as my body fell forward, and I felt my momentum halt as a ball of water pressed against my chest, helping me stabilize myself. Roxxy had raised her head and was looking at me, manipulating the water with her hands.

So much for a dignified entrance.

I looked back and frowned. There was nothing on the floor, or anywhere else in sight.

What had I tripped over?

“Hey, Andross!” Roxxy’s amused voice floated towards me. “I was getting bored. I’m glad you dropped by. This way I don’t have to stumble into an awkward conversation with someone else.”

“I thought it’d be fun to slip into this conversation.” I shot her a smile as I walked towards her.

I saw her cheeks raise, the corners of her mouth parting as she flashed her pearly white teeth in a smile.

“Good show out there.” I gestured where the river had been. “No Harpo today?”

“He didn’t want to come in.” She rolled her eyes. “He always does this. He acts like he wants to go somewhere, and the moment we reach the destination he hisses and runs into the nearest bushes and disappears for the whole afternoon.”

She brought her fingers up to the side of her head and fiddled with her earring.

“Come join in the meditation fun.” She patted the ground beside her tenderly.

I sat down next to her and crossed my legs.

“Reflecting on your match?” I asked.

I could respect that. It wasn’t often that I saw someone taking their training so seriously. There was a reason she was in class one.

“I’m trying to figure out how Cresp got his fish to move so fast.” She pouted. “Look.”

She shuffled her body to get more comfortable and raised a hand in front of her. The ring on her finger glowed and with a slight twitch a pool of water exited, streaming towards me.

There was a shift in the mana around the water, and it curved and twisted into the shape of a fish. Gold squawked as the creation appeared in front of him and swam through the air like it was water.

Its skin rippled like the surface of a disturbed lake.

“No eating it.” Roxxy wriggled her finger teasingly at Gold. “This fish will give you stomach aches for weeks.”

The puffer flapped his wings in response and shut his beak.

“I didn’t realise you were coming today.” I watched the fish fly through the air.

Unice had mentioned the people coming today during our metal magic class, but I’d zoned out when she was talking because of the severity of the work.

“I’m actually here as a plus one. Cresp just figured out the family spell, so the moment the week is done all his free time is going to be taken up learning our side business of fish attraction. I wanted to whalecome him properly to the business, and that means spending time with him.”

I stared at her and she looked warmly back at me.

“It’s oh-fish-al, he’s going to be hooking those fish in droves. It’s a slippery business but that comes with the water magician territory.” She bit her lip and looked at me.

She was slipping in fish puns into our conversation. I could see her holding back laughter, and the joy was infectious.

Two people could play this game.

“I suppose any fin is possible with magic.” I responded smoothly.

She stared at me, her mouth hanging open. Then she shook her head lightly and smiled.

“I’ve dolphinately heard better.” She grinned.

There was a moment of silence. Then Gold ruffled his feathers beside me, letting out a low chirp into my ear.

“You’re right.” I scratched his neck. “She’s definitely trying to bait me. Well, I won’t let her hook me in.”

Roxxy raised her knees to her chest and a mischievous smile spread across her face.

She moved her finger and her conjured fish splashed across my vision, mocking me.

“I’m warning you now, I was raised by a water magician. I cod do this all day.” Her back straightened.

Gold squawked in return, and I raised my hands tauntingly.

“Just let minnow when you’re ready to give up.”

It turns out that she knew a lot more fish than I did. The visits I’d taken to the city fish market had given me a few names to say, but Roxxy knew about fish I’d never even heard of. I didn’t know if they were unique to the world, or if she was just making them up.

It didn’t matter.

The terrible puns served as a great ice breaker, and soon Roxxy was pointing out the different people at the party around us and telling me about them.

I knew they had to be students, because some of them had vaguely recognisable features, and they were all around my age.

Realistically I wasn’t going to talk to everyone at the party, so I wanted to see if there was anyone I’d get along with.

Thankfully, Roxxy knew most of them even if she didn’t hang out with them, and she was more than happy to tell me their details when she heard I wanted to make friends.

“You probably have the most in common with him.”

I followed her gaze and saw her looking at a rotund boy smiling happily as earth mana danced around him. I had seen him in my earth magic studies class, but he was reclusive and usually hung around the back.

He wasn’t in first class like we were, but that didn’t matter to me.

“Edmund Oswald the 3rd.” Roxxy’s eyes sparkled

Then her expression grew sombre.

“I haven’t seen him in a while. He got phased out of the social circles he was in because of his lack of talent.” She traced a circle over the hem of her dress. “It’s a horrible way to go. Imagine all your friends turning their back on you after promising they wouldn’t.”

She inclined her neck and tapped the back of her head against the wall.

“I’m not close to him, but I don’t even think he was that bad. He just wasn’t as big as people hoped. His family is supposed to rival the Destins, and his bloodline even lets him turn his skin to stone, and later metal, but he hasn’t unlocked it yet.”

“Oh?” I looked at him with interest.

Stone skin was one of the spells I had considered learning. It was good for defence and helped greatly with raising physical strength.

I probably wouldn’t have to watch out for Amanda’s claws during our spars if I had that spell.

“Yeah,” Roxxy pointed from one person to the next.

“Edmund, Patricia, Jemal… you know what, why don’t I just introduce you to them personally?” Roxxy stood up and straightened her dress, blond hair glowing over her shoulders.

She quickly dragged in a few of the other people, most of whom had lost money betting against Cresp in the fish race.

Thankfully, they already knew each other and were taken in by Gold’s unusual appearance.

Edmund quickly recognised me.

After the first ten minutes he’d started treating me like I was his best friend. Especially after he’d found out I had attuned to metal. Apparently, the information wasn’t that widespread, since most people announced the attunement grandly like Unice did.

The conversation flowed towards the subject of money, and different ways I could get rich.

“Patricia, if he could move silver out of the ground, he’d be rich already.” Edmund patted my arm emphatically. “I’m telling you that it’s more difficult than it seems.”

His statement wasn’t unfounded. The Oswald family had a metal magician in it, an uncle that sometimes visited and helped Edmund train.

His dad was also a high-ranking member of the guild.

I listened intently to his stories, trying to absorb any piece of information that I could. New skill or element information was rare to come across.

Especially for metal.

“You haven’t even attuned to metal.”

Patricia, another noble child that had wandered over after Roxxy’s introduction, held a glass up to Edmund’s face and its contents rippled dangerously close to the edge.

“I will soon.” Edmund protested. “I was just talking with Alexis about this in his study. He thinks that with a few more days of training with my uncle I’ll get close.”

His words reminded me about the host of the party.

“Where is Alexis?” The afternoon had passed in the blink of an eye.

I looked around but I couldn’t see Alexis anywhere.

“I bet he’s moping because Unice had to leave so early.” Roxxy hopped into conversation. “Those two are trying to get in as much time together as possible.”

I’d seen Unice around, but she was always busy with one group or another, her recent attunement making her a popular addition to the social circles.

I was glad that not many people knew about mine.

I’d rather they got to know me for who I was.

“I should probably start looking for him to say goodbye.” It was already getting late.

Most of the guests had already left and I could see Edmund and Patricia nodding their heads.

“Next earth magic class we should catch up a bit more.” Edmund’s belly jiggled as he shifted towards me. “Maybe I’ll even get my metal attunement in the next four years and join you guys in metal magic studies.”

“That’s the dream.” I gave him a thumbs up.

He seemed like a nice person, and I could always use more of those in my life.

“I’d better get going as well.” Roxxy nodded. “If I stay here, I’m going to be carping about myself all night long.”

I held back a smile. Somehow, the other two students hadn’t noticed Roxxy slipping fish puns into most of her sentences during our conversations.

The trio left the house together, and I’d seen Hutton and Cresp leaving earlier together with Unice.

That left only strangers with me in the mansion.

I walked past the meditation rooms as I tried to find Alexis to say goodbye. Gold flapped his wings, his head drooping down sleepily. He’d been up all day, and socialising was tiring even for birds.

It seemed that greeting and saying goodbye to the host wasn’t a big tradition among the noble households. They came and left as they pleased.

I could hear the whispers of the remaining students floating in the air around me, too faint to make out individual words. There was nobody in sight, but I could see faint shadows lingering under the closed doors of the meditation rooms.

I’d seen Alexis staying on the ground floor all night, but he might have gone to his room. I entered a small corridor between the kitchen and more rooms, ready to give up my search and go home.

Then a head of blonde hair bobbed next to me.

“Roxxy?”

I’d thought she’d left already.

Gold chirped in confusion, and I put my hand against his neck to let him know he could continue resting. I stepped back to make space for the girl.

“Hey!” She smiled cheerfully. “I had something I was curious about.”

Her red dress flowed about her, and she looked at me curiously.

“I saw you staring at my water mana before, right? I think I saw you wave at it.”

Had I?

I couldn’t remember, but I had greeted most of the mana I had seen today. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d waved at some water mana that was hers.

I wasn’t subtle about what I could see. It was like my earth creation, I didn’t go out of my way to display it, but if someone spotted it then I didn’t hide it either.

“I did.” I nodded.

Roxxy beamed at my response.

“I think I saw you waving at a few other places.” She wriggled her nose playfully. “I'm guessing there are a few different manas that you can see.”

I frowned.

This was getting close to being personal. I’d had a good time talking to her today, but we hadn’t had the time to grow that close.

She saw my expression and stepped back, chuckling lightly.

“That’s perfect.” Her eyes gleamed. “Oh, it looks like Alexis is here.”

“Alexis?” I turned around but the corridor was still empty.

My eyes moved back towards my friend, but they only found empty space.

Roxxy had disappeared.

I looked around the area, but nothing looked out of place. No doors were opened, or closing, and I couldn’t hear any footsteps.

Where had she gone?

I heard something shuffling behind me, but before I could move to see what it was, something grabbed my arm and Gold flapped his wings in surprise.

“Hey, Andross.” A voice called out.

It was Alexis.

His fingers gripped my arm gently, and I was moved to face him. Fire-red hair and gleaming crimson eyes greeted me against the backdrop of the darkened corridor.

“I’m glad I could get you alone. I’ve been wanting to have a talk with you for a while.” He let go of my arm and stood back. “Everyone’s headed off, so it’s the perfect time.”

“Everyone?” I frowned.

I’d seen people inside the other rooms downstairs, and I’d just been talking to Roxxy. My ears perked up and I realised I couldn’t hear anyone else.

The mansion had gone quiet.

“It’s uncomfortable standing around here.”

Alexis towered over me, a smile on his features and crimson hair sparking with flames.

“Let’s talk in my study.”