Page 44 of Suffer No Fools
"Tovey's been sharing power with me for too long. He lets me use the bit of air reserve I have, and then he converts my core earth power into air. It's always been easier for him to share with me than with anyone else. I think it's because I have so little air to offer. With Petri, Tovey pulls from their air, leaving nothing in reserve." Stan shrugged. "My earth reserve isn't as big as Tovey's air, though, so I'm just as empty at the end of the night as any other air weaver would be."
"What happens when you run out of reserves?"
"Hunger, or pure exhaustion. That's why we watch Hannah so closely. Storms can wear them out, and no one wants them to fall from the crow's nest."
When they arrived home, they declared their date over. There was work to be done for the last hours of sunlight. Once Tovey had eaten his bread bowl, they returned to the barracks and the beach beyond. Stan handed Hugo his wooden practice sword in the low light of the setting sun.
Hannah and Efren were already there. From what Hugo could tell from their strange stances and the lightning bouncing around the edges of a boundary Niall held in place, Efren was learning lightning weaves.
"Efren's doing that?" Tovey asked.
"It's the strangest thing," Niall answered. "The more we practice water weaves together, the more balanced he's become. Even my grandmother can't explain it." Niall dropped the shield he'd placed around the ring.
"Is it your bond?" Stan asked. "Vadim said you are bonded, same as Nola and Yvette, and Vadim and Klaus."
"Aye, it could be," Efren said as he climbed from the pit. He clapped Tovey on the shoulder and shook Stan's hand before coming to stand beside Hugo. "Your Majesty, we're putting together our plan of attack."
"Olivia said we would discuss at the banquet tomorrow."
"We will share with everyone then, but we would like to get your input on our ideas first."
Hugo couldn't keep the delight from his face, but he tried to dim it down when Stan frowned at him. Yes, Hugo was bad at hiding his emotions, but these were his friends and fellow conspirators. If he couldn't share his honest feelings with them, who could he trust?
"Tell us where and when, and we'll be there." Hugo had never looked forward to a meeting more in his life.
#
Stan
Everyone on the island crammed into the new banquet hall beneath the sentinel oak. Stan and Jermain had maneuvered the cave walls into weight-bearing pillars. They had also shifted the floor to form enough stone tables and benches to seat everyone, including the first ship of delegates from Glamiere.
Tovey snapped his fingers in Stan's face, and he shook himself awake. "Too much fun last night?"
Gods, they'd gotten up to all kinds of fun with Hugo. The young emperor hadn't known the joys of ass play. They'd watched as he made himself come with his own fingers for the first time. They were pacing him through so many firsts. Stan wanted to be there for all of them.
"Tonight, I want to fuck you while you suck him." Tovey kept his voice low enough no one could overhear, but the heat rushed to Stan's face, same way it always did when Tovey made a lewd comment in public.
Still, Stan was wary of the offer. Too many times, Tovey had talked about plans for later, only to fall asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Tonight, Stan couldn't blame him. They'd all been up before dawn to bathe and prepare for the meetings with Efren and the Elders. It had been a harrowing day of arguments, alliances, and compromise. Hugo was far better at negotiating than Stan had expected, but he still gave himself away too often with his expressions.
Afterward, they'd had to prepare the room for the banquet. Stan had already eaten his body weight in shrimp and more of Petri's delicious bread, but he needed more than food to replenish his energy. He needed a good night's sleep. Tonight, he predicted he would fade as soon as his head hit the pillow.
After the harrowing arguments earlier in the day, sharing their decisions with the people of Aquarion had been anticlimactic. So far, all they could agree on was the timing and their destination. They would set sail for Stony Eel Island at the beginning of the fourth month. That would give them the advantage of warmer waters to thaw the ice barrier between them, as long as Coryn hadn't already thawed them. Another ice weaver wouldn't be able to break Frost's ice weaves, but warm winds or the work of a strong fire weaver could hasten the inevitable. It would eventually thaw. Stan hoped they had time to ensure it melted on the pirates' terms.
Frost insisted no one had attempted to use fire against his weaves. They hadn't reached the ice field with an icebreaker ship, either. Hugo said they had one, but they used it only when severe storms in Landale required humanitarian aid. Otherwise, they waited until spring. Everyone hoped they would wait until spring to attack Aquarion, too.
In the meantime, the only way around the ice was a narrow strip of sea off the southern coast of Glamiere, where Coryn's ships would need to sail past cannon turrets and through fleets of fishing vessels that sometimes chased Embertide's naval ships for sport.
After dinner, Efren introduced Hugo to the first delegation of water weavers from Glamiere. They were all rough-around-the-edges sea captains. The woman kept drinking judiciously from a flask in her inner coat pocket. The two men looked like they were in a contest to see who could grow the longest beard, though both were oiled to perfection, and one had a mustache that curled upward toward the corners of his eyes. The fourth captain wore a cowl so deep their eyes were nothing but glowing specks. Stan watched them carefully, but they didn't appear to be armed, thank the gods.
Their offer of assistance was underwhelming. They hemmed and hawed about treaties and laws Stan had never heard of, but he got the gist of it well enough. They wanted a fleet of small, fast ships to spread the word along Glamiere's coastline. In return, they would share Emperor Hugo's new proclamation that all former Embertide citizens would be welcomed back if they helped him remove Coryn from power. It seemed a fair enough offer, except Aquarion was a small island with few trees. Stan and Jermain could nurture the grove of palms north of the barracks and the few hardwood trees around the sentinel oak to produce enough wood for one more sailing vessel, but a fleet? That would require months of daily weaves from more earth weavers than they had.
"We can organize a party of earth weavers to sail to Glamiere and build your ships with your resources," Hugo compromised.
Jermain sputtered for a moment, but the captains instantly agreed with the plan. "That's an excellent idea. Our earth weavers are skilled craftspeople, but they're not skilled in the art of war. If you could spare someone ..."
"Aquarion makes the best sailing ships on the ocean," another said. "We've seenWildfirein action. Captain Nola can roll up on our trade vessels like they're sitting still."
"Wildfirewas one of my greatest accomplishments." Jermain stood a little taller from the praise.
