The rod slipped from Tiago's hand and clattered against the stone. Suddenly, fire bloomed in his palm, making Arin's eyes widen so much it felt like they might bulge out.
"Now," Tiago fumed, "there's no stopping me from killing you." The words barely left his mouth before he hurled the fireball toward her.
At first, the others didn't hear any screams or wails, which only made Tiago intensify the flames. The fire swirled, forming a circle around Arin, desperate to burn her to the ground and erase any evidence she had been there.
Still, there was no cry of pain, no sign that the flames were affecting her.
"Tiago, Roldar from the Merit Tribunal is on his way. You have to stop now," Koa said earnestly from Tiago's left.
But Tiago didn't stop. Not until Rhory stepped to his right and clasped his hand, forcing the flames to cease. At that precise moment, Roldar entered the room.
Roldar looked like he was about to say something he had forgotten earlier, but when his gaze swept across the room and he noticed the lingering heat in the air, he frowned instead.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Tiago was practising toning," Koa replied quickly, the first to speak.
Roldar frowned, his brows pulling together. "Toning? What is that supposed to mean?"
"It's, uhm…" Koa glanced at Rhory, then back at Roldar, clearly trying to come up with the right explanation. His mouth opened and closed once before he ended up stuttering instead of answering properly.
"Something our late Grandmaster taught us," Tiago said smoothly, sounding far calmer than he had moments ago. There was no trace of the earlier rage in his voice.
Roldar stared at the three of them for a long, heated second, as if weighing whether to believe that. Then his gaze slowly drifted around the room, taking in the faint smoke still hanging in the air and the warmth that had not fully faded.
"I suppose you were teaching the new student that?" he asked, looking around again.
When he did not immediately see Arin, his frown deepened. He was just about to question them about her whereabouts when a rough cough suddenly cut through the thick fug of smoke — coming from the very spot Tiago had aimed his flames.
The smoke was so thick in that area that Roldar couldn't make out the figure clearly, but he knew someone was there.
He slowly turned back to Rhory, Tiago, and Koa, who suddenly seemed far less composed than before. They exchanged brief, uneasy glances, as though silently deciding on the same story.
"Don't tell me," Roldar said, his voice dropping lower, "that you were practising toning… or whatever you choose to call it, on your new roommate."
His gaze hardened.
"Especially with your fire affinity, Tiago. What if he had died in the process?" His jaw tightened. "Why would you go to such extremes?"
He waited for a response but none came.
Roldar slowly lifted a finger and pointed it at them. "I will have you lot reported to the Maesters. And you will be dealt with accordingly."
With that said, he turned toward the direction of the room the coughing had come from moments earlier, and where the fog of smoke still lingered.
Drawing on his own air affinity, Roldar extended his hand and pushed outward in controlled waves, dispersing the smoke carefully.
The smoke responded to his will, lifting and shifting under the pressure. What had been thick and blinding began to thin gradually, peeling away from the center in slow spirals. Bit by bit, the fog cleared, until the space it had concealed was finally revealed.
Roldar had expected to see Arin collapsed on the ground burned, injured, perhaps even at death's door.
Instead, what stood before him made him pause.
A structure of stone had risen from the floor, forming what looked like a protective tent. The earth curved upward and inward, shielding whoever was inside from every direction.
"Good heavens," Roldar breathed, stepping closer as he took in the craftsmanship of it.
The earth bending was unlike anything he had seen before. Roldar gaze slowly shifted to Rhory.
"What in the name…" he began, then redirected his attention to the three of them. "Is this what you mean by 'toning'?" The meaning of the word was still lost to him, but his curiosity was evident.
Koa stepped forward immediately to explain. "Yes, toning is a new technique of ours. We were trying to see how his dual veins would respond to it,"
Roldar held his gaze for a moment longer than necessary before giving a slow nod.
"Very well then. Undo it so he can come out. He needs to take his measurements and be given his uniform."
"No!" Arin's muffled voice cut in from inside the stone structure, sounding panicked. "I can't come out now. Please, you all should go on without me. I want to practice some more," she rushed out.
The stone swallowed most of her words. All Roldar clearly heard were "practice" and "more."
He stroked his beard thoughtfully, still staring at the structure.
"Very well then," he said at last. "If you wish to practice more, I will leave you to it. But you must report for your measurements before the sun goes down. You will need your uniform for the new student welcome ball."
With that, he turned and began making his way out of the room. Before leaving, he paused briefly, glancing once more at the three boys, then at the carefully structured stone tent.
"Toning," he muttered under his breath, sounding faintly amused before exiting completely.
Once Rhory, Tiago, and Koa were certain Roldar was gone, the tension visibly left their shoulders. They exchanged a brief look before walking toward the stone structure. Tiago's lips curved as he stepped forward and knocked against it.
The sound echoed inside like a coffin being tested.
"Come out, Toad," he said lightly.
His tone was almost pleasant.
"We need to practice some more."
Inside the stone tent, Arin's pulse raced as the weight of her own lie settled heavily on her chest. Wanting to stay back and "practice" had seemed like the only thing to say in the moment. Now it had cost her even more.
It was only a matter of time before they undid the shield and got to her.
But this time, it wasn't the thought of them hurting her again that made her afraid.
Before the structure had risen around her, the first wave of fire Tiago unleashed had burned straight through her clothing. Which meant she was now completely naked, and one wrong move away from being exposed as a girl.
"Fuck," Arin muttered under her breath. "I'm fucked."