A few minutes prior…

  Amos puts a cup of tea on the table for Taleya.

  “So. Why are you here?”

  Taleya pouts. “Come now Amos. I was serious before. We are old friends are we not? Is it too much to think I missed you?”

  Amos stops himself from rolling his eyes. “Ok fine. Then why else are you here?”

  Taleya smirks and takes a sip of the tea. “Originally I came to ask for your help in training Alea.”

  Amos crosses his arms and leans against the cabins counter. “Why? You’re more talented than I am. And judging by what I’m sensing from outside, she’s talented enough.”

  Taleya frowns slightly. “I wonder if he taunted her knowing he’d be able to or just hoping for the best.”

  “My guess would be the latter.”

  “I have a new idea. Let’s train them together. They could both use someone to push themselves against. And with both of us working with them, there’s no question that they’ll excel.”

  “You still haven’t answered my question of why you wanted me to help you train the girl in the first place.” Amos says gruffly.

  Taleya sighs. There’s never any beating around the bush with him.

  “You’re no fun. Fine. There’s a tournament in Dunham in six months. I want her to compete. Now that I see the great Amos Statler has an apprentice, maybe the boy should as well. Why did you take on an apprentice by the way? You never showed any interest before. In fact if my memory serves I distinctly remember you saying that apprentices were only for fools and the naively nostalgic.”

  “An even older friend than you called in a favor.”

  Her eyes opened wide in surprise. “You can’t mean…”

  “Yea. So I couldn’t reasonably say no.”

  Taleya squinted at Amos and smirked. Her intuition hinting at her. “You old softie. You like the kid don’t you?”

  Amos felt his frown grow. “I do not like him. I am training him. You do not have to like someone to train them.”

  “Whatever you say old man.”

  Amos’s eyebrow twitches. “Your suggestion has merit.” Taleya smirks at the quick change of subject. “Training them together would allow them to push each other. But there’s a problem. If we’re going to do this both you and the girl must sign an oath of secrecy.”

  Taleya’s eyebrows raise, caught off guard by the demand. “Obviously you’re not going to tell me what would require that level of secrecy, but is that really necessary? I would not bind Alea in such a way unless absolutely necessary.”

  Amos nods. “And I would not ask it of you if I didn’t believe it was that important.”

  Taleya sips her tea again to give herself a second to think.

  I’ve never seen him like this. He’s always been serious, but nervous?

  Finally she nods her head once. “So be it. If you really think it’s that important then I’ll believe you. And if it’s really that important then that must mean you think the boy will go far.”

  “I do.”

  Taleya nods and then gets up. She walks over to the window and glares at her apprentice for going too far. The boy didn’t use his element, so it stands to reason he can’t yet. And then she almost goes all out on him?! The girl will be punished later.

  She walks back to the table and sits backs down.

  “You shouldn’t worry too much.” Amos says. “The kids tougher than he looks. If there’s one thing I taught him it’s how to take a hit.”

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  Taleya looks skeptically at him and see’s an evil little grin on his face.

  “Maybe it’s a good thing you don’t take many apprentices.”

  He just hums noncommittally.

  “It’s the boy’s element isn’t it?”

  Amos gives her a brief look and then turns to the door and fetches the children.

  …

  “What exactly is an Oath Scroll?” Will asks. He tries not to make it sound like he’s not completely ignorant of everything to do with this world but it gets exceedingly more difficult the more he is exposed to.

  Will, Alea and Taleya are all sitting at the kitchen table while Amos is leaning against the kitchen counter.

  “It’s an expensive enchanted piece of equipment that is used when people want to hold themselves or others to an oath.” Answered Taleya. “In this case, to hold Alea and I to an oath of secrecy.”

  “How exactly is that enforced?” Will asked.

  “Magic boy. Now let’s get this done and move on.” Amos interjects.

  Amos then takes two pieces of parchment like paper, about the size of a standard sheet of paper from Will’s old world, out of a side drawer in the kitchen.

  “You just have these lying around?” Will asks incredulously.

  “Flippancy will serve you less than studiousness boy.”

  Will smiles sheepishly. “Apologies master.”

  Amos just hums again. He then proceeds to take out a special pen and ink and then scribbles on both sheets of paper for a few minutes. After he is all done he signs the bottom and then slides a sheet to Alea and a sheet to Taleya.

  Both women read and then reread them for a couple minutes and then Taleya nods.

  “Sworn to complete secrecy pertaining to the attuned element of Will Asher and the subject matter of this secret being the element in the first place?” Alea asks, seemingly seeking clarity. “So I won’t be able to talk about what his attuned element is or even that the secret is about his element?”

  “Correct.” Amos states.

  “And this is for a period of…” she glances back down at the sheet. “Ten years? Why ten?”

  “The ceaseless questions of the youth.” Amos shakes his head slightly. Will notices he deigns to answer anyway. “After ten years Will will be strong enough where this shouldn’t matter. Either that, or I will have been able to make some inroads with some old contacts to set up some protections.”

  Alea looks back and forth between everyone else in the room. A skeptical look on her face as if she’s having a hard time believing this entire thing is necessary.

  Will see’s her look over at her master, seeking guidance. She smiles softy and nods at her apprentice. “This will be acceptable.” Taleya says. She then signs the sheet of paper.

  Will stares in wonder as the sheet of paper disappears into puffs of light. A few of those small particles of light flee into Amos’s chest, but the majority fly into Taleya’s.

  Will watches Alea sign and then the same scene plays out.

  “With that done, let’s get down to business. Will, Alea will be joining you in training for the next six months. Taleya and I will be training you both.”

  “Excuse me?” Alea says with a little fire in her voice. “Master what is this? Is this necessary?”

  “You can’t be a loner forever child. Not only can you benefit from Amos’s training, but learning to work with others is something you need work on. And he is master Amos now.”

  “Surely we would be fine on our own. Master.” She seemed to remember to add that last part at the last second, Will noted.

  “Maybe. But this is a good opportunity for you, and you are better off with this new arrangement.”

  Alea frowns but after a couple seconds gets her facial features back under control and looks back at Amos.

  “I’ll work hard master Amos. Thank you for this opportunity.” Alea says. Her words seemed clipped and slightly forced, but honestly, Will thinks she did a good job at the attempt at being polite.

  “I know you will. You will have no other choice.” Amos says. Alea’s eyebrow twitches slightly but she controls herself. “Now Will, why don’t you tell the women what your element is.”

  The attention turned to Will and he became slightly flustered. “Um, it’s, uhh..”

  “Out with it boy.” Amos says.

  “Lightning. My element is lightning.”

  Both women’s eyes widen in surprise.

  “No wonder you wanted us to sign Amos.” Taleya breaths. “This could upset everything.” Taleya seems lost in thought for a moment. “Amos, if we’re not careful…”

  “I know, which is why I agreed to your help.”

  “While that’s impressive, are we sure it’s an issue?” Alea says. “It might raise some eyebrows and get some people interested, but everyone has a different level of affinity for their element right? And the vast majority of the world is on the lower end isn’t it? This isn’t an issue if his affinity isn’t high.”

  “Normally you may be right. Though I think you’re underestimating how interested certain groups would be. Will?” Amos says.

  Will gets the hint and raises a finger. A single, very tiny but very visible spark of gold flickers above his finger and then goes out.

  Will realizes as he does it that that’s about as much as he can produce without feeling a pain deep inside him. Based on what his master has stated before, Will can only guess that it’s the lightning putting a strain on his soul.

  At the sight of the spark Taleya gasps. Alea, meanwhile, scrunches her face in confusion.

  “Master what’s the progression of the lightning element’s color tiers? I don’t think I’ve ever actually learned that before.” Alea asks.

  “Gold is the third tier of power for lightning after Red and Orange, in that order. Amos how is this possible? I was under the assumption the boy had just unlocked the use of his element.”

  Amos takes a second to respond. “Suffice it to say Will has a unique understanding of the elements. I would ask that we leave it at that.”

  Alea speaks up again, a question popping up before she could ask herself if it was wise of her to ask it in the first place. “Of all elements or just his own?”