Chapter 103 — "Secret"
The east practice hall was not private.
This was the first thing Seraphina discovered.
The second thing she discovered was that this was apparently fine with everyone except her.
The hall had a viewing area.
Elevated.
Along the back wall.
Where students who were not currently practicing could sit and watch students who were.
Technically for observation purposes.
Learning from others.
Improving form.
In practice—
Gossip.
Pure gossip.
Sitting up there with snacks and opinions.
Seraphina looked at the viewing area when she walked in.
At the students already there.
At the way their attention moved immediately to Kael walking in behind her.
Several of them.
At once.
She looked at the floor.
At the routine sheet on the stand.
At the mirrors.
At the space that was going to contain them both for a month with an audience.
"There are people up there."
She said.
"Yes."
"Watching."
"Yes."
"Us specifically."
"The practice hall is shared."
"They’re not practicing."
"No."
"They’re watching."
"Yes."
She looked at the viewing area again.
A girl near the front was saying something to her companion.
Both of them looking at Kael.
Not subtly.
Not even attempting subtlety.
Seraphina looked at Kael.
He was reading the routine sheet.
Completely unaware.
Or appearing completely unaware.
With Kael the distinction was always unclear.
"Do you know them."
"Who."
"The ones watching you."
He looked up.
At the viewing area.
At the girls looking at him.
Then back at the routine sheet.
"No."
"They know you."
"Apparently."
"Does that happen often."
He turned the sheet over.
"Does what happen often."
"People looking at you like that."
He looked at her.
His expression doing nothing specific.
"Like what."
She looked at the viewing area.
Then at the floor.
"Never mind."
She moved to her starting position.
He looked at the viewing area once more.
Then at her.
Then at his starting position.
Moved to it.
The mirror showed them both.
And the viewing area above them.
And the students watching.
And all the space the routine would eventually close.
She looked at her reflection.
At the starting position.
At the arm angle.
"From the beginning."
"Yes."
They moved.
The sequence starting.
Not perfectly.
The first pass never was.
But the bones of it were there.
The structure.
The shape.
Something that would become something with time.
She moved through the first eight counts.
He moved opposite.
Then the sequence required them to face each other.
She faced him.
He faced her.
The routine held them there for four counts.
Looking directly at each other.
Which was fine.
Which was completely fine.
Which she was fine about.
Obviously —
She stopped herself.
Counted.
Four counts.
Then the sequence moved on.
She moved on.
He moved on.
The practice continued.
By the third pass something had started working.
Not the whole thing.
Sections of it.
The middle sequence specifically.
Where the movement had a particular quality that she hadn’t expected from the notation.
Something that felt—
She looked at the mirror.
At both of them moving through it.
At what it looked like from outside.
She stopped.
"That section."
"Hm."
"The middle eight."
He stopped too.
Looked at the mirror.
At where they had just been.
"Yes."
"It’s good."
"Yes."
She looked at the notation.
At whoever had designed this routine.
At the specific intelligence in it.
"Who makes these routines."
"The festival committee."
"They’re not bad."
"No."
She looked at the full sequence.
At the structure of it.
At where it was going.
At the end she hadn’t looked at directly yet.
"From the top."
"Yes."
They moved again.
The third pass was better than the second.
The fourth better than the third.
The viewing area had gained three more people.
She noticed in the mirror.
A boy near the back now.
Looking at her specifically.
With the particular expression of someone who had opinions about what he was seeing.
She looked at the floor.
At the routine.
At the counts.
At nothing that wasn’t relevant.
The sequence brought them face to face again.
Four counts.
Kael looked at her directly.
The way he did everything.
Completely.
Without performance.
She looked back.
Four counts.
Then moved on.
The boy in the viewing area said something to his companion.
His companion looked.
Both of them looking at Seraphina now.
She didn’t notice.
Kael did.
His gaze moved to the mirror briefly.
At the viewing area.
At the boy.
Then back to the sequence.
His expression unchanged.
Just slightly more present.
After the sixth pass they stopped.
Water.
The routine was physically demanding in ways the notation hadn’t fully communicated.
Seraphina sat on the floor against the mirror wall.
Kael sat beside her.
Not close.
Not far.
The distance of two people who had been moving together for an hour and had settled into a natural proximity without discussing it.
The viewing area was still occupied.
She looked up at it.
At the girl from earlier who was still there.
Still watching Kael with the same expression.
"She’s been here the whole time."
She said.
"Who."
"The girl."
"Which girl."
"The one who’s been looking at you since we started."
He looked up at the viewing area.
Found the girl immediately.
Looked back at his water.
"I don’t know her."
"She knows you."
"She knows of me."
"What’s the difference."
"One is a person."
"One is a reputation."
She looked at him.
At the side of his face.
At the profile she had been looking at for fifteen years from various angles.
"Do you find it annoying."
"What."
"People looking at you like that."
He thought about it.
Actually thought.
Not a deflection.
"No."
"Why not."
"It doesn’t change anything."
She looked at the viewing area.
At the girl.
At the boy who had been watching her earlier and was now watching Kael with a completely different expression.
"The boy up there."
She said.
"He was looking at you earlier."
"At me."
"Not the same way."
Kael looked up.
Found the boy.
His expression did something.
Small.
There.
Gone.
"No."
He said.
"Not the same way."
She looked at the floor.
At the routine marks.
At the practice space.
"Does that bother you."
He looked at her.
"Does what bother me."
"Him looking at me like that."
A pause.
Longer than his other pauses.
More considered.
"Yes."
Simple.
Direct.
She looked at him.
He looked at the floor.
His expression completely controlled.
The specific controlled.
With everything underneath it.
She looked at the floor too.
At nothing specific.
Something moved through her chest.
She didn’t examine it.
Stood up.
"Again."
He stood.
"From the lift."
She looked at him.
"We haven’t done the lift."
"We should see what it requires."
She looked at the routine sheet.
At the lift notation at the end.
At the specific instructions.
At what it required.
"Not today."
"Why."
"We haven’t done the full sequence cleanly yet."
"We’ve done it six times."
"Not cleanly."
"The fifth pass was clean."
"The fifth pass was acceptable."
"Seraphina."
"Aina."
He said it quietly.
The way he said it.
Natural.
Like breathing.
She looked at the routine sheet.
At the lift.
At not today.
"Tomorrow."
She said.
He looked at her.
"The lift."
"Tomorrow."
"The full sequence first."
"Obviously."
She caught herself.
Changed it.
"Of course."
He held her gaze for a moment.
Then moved to his starting position.
She moved to hers.
The seventh pass began.
After practice.
The viewing area had emptied.
The hall quieter now.
Just them and the mirrors and the late afternoon light.
She was gathering her things.
He was looking at the routine sheet again.
At the full sequence.
At the end specifically.
At something.
"What are you going to ask for."
She looked up.
"Hm."
"The prize."
He set the sheet down.
"If we win."
"The winning request."
She looked at him.
"What prize."
"The festival prize."
"There’s a festival prize."
He looked at her.
"Yes."
"What is it."
"One request to the royal family."
"Granted without condition."
She looked at her bag.
At the things she was gathering.
At nothing specific.
"Hm."
"What would you ask for."
She picked up the routine sheet.
Folded it.
Put it in her bag.
"It’s a secret."
She said.
He stared at her.
"A secret."
"Hehe."
The sound.
Small.
Light.
Completely her.
He looked at her.
At the bag.
At the routine sheet inside it.
At the expression on her face that was doing the thing it did when she had already decided something and wasn’t sharing it yet.
"You already know."
"It’s a secret."
"You knew before I told you about the prize."
"You literally just told me about the prize."
"Aina."
"Kael."
He held her gaze.
She held his.
The practice hall mirrors showing both of them.
The late afternoon light.
The empty viewing area.
The space between them that the routine had been slowly adjusting all afternoon.
"It’s a secret."
She said again.
Lighter this time.
The hehe underneath it without the sound.
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then at the mirror.
Then picked up his bag.
"We work on the lift tomorrow."
"We do the full sequence first."
"Then the lift."
"We’ll see."
"Aina."
"Kael."
He looked at her.
She looked back.
Then walked toward the door.
Stopped.
Without turning.
"The middle eight."
She said.
"Yes."
"That section."
"Yes."
"It’s the best part."
He said nothing.
She walked out.
He looked at the door.
At the space she had been standing.
At the mirror showing the empty practice hall.
At the routine sheet visible in his bag.
At the end of the routine specifically.
At the lift.
At tomorrow.
He picked up his bag.
Walked out.
The hall settled behind him.
Empty.
Quiet.
The mirrors reflecting nothing now.
Just the space where something was being built.
Slowly.
One pass at a time.
Outside the academy gates Daren was on his bench.
He looked at Tax landing beside him.
"How was practice."
Tax looked at the academy building.
"Productive."
"And."
"The viewing area had six people by the end."
Daren sat up straighter.
"Six."
"Five watching Kael."
"And the sixth."
"Watching Seraphina."
"How did Kael react."
Tax looked at nothing specific.
"He said it bothered him."
Daren stared at him.
"He said that."
"Out loud."
"To her."
"Yes."
Daren looked at the academy.
At the building.
At the tower.
At everything happening inside it that he couldn’t see.
"Rowan."
He said.
Rowan was standing nearby.
Papers in hand.
He looked up.
"Kael told her it bothered him."
"That someone was looking at her."
Rowan looked at his papers.
Then at the academy.
Then back at his papers.
"Good."
He said.
One word.
The specific one word that carried the weight of everything he wasn’t going to say about it.
Daren looked at the tower.
"I really need to get inside that academy."
Rowan turned a page.
"Twenty two days."
Daren looked at him.
"Until we might have tokens."
Daren looked at the tower.
At the twenty two days between him and it.
"Fine."
He said.
Tax looked at him.
"You sound like her."
Daren considered this.
"I’ve spent too much time on this bench."
"Yes."
"It’s affecting me."
"Probably."
Daren ate the last of his bread.
Looked at the tower.
"Twenty two days."
"Yes."
"I can wait twenty two days."
Tax said nothing.
Which was agreement.