I glance over my shoulder and see students whispering and a few smiles behind me. The flying fish is admittedly one of the least impressive forms any elemental has taken. Except, of course, the poor earth affinity who tethered some kind of large mosquito thing.

"Oceanus."

The selector's eyebrow twitches up, but he nods and scribbles the information down on his parchment. "Congratulations, and thank you for your service."

Before the selector has even finished his sentence, Typhon turns himself invisible to other eyes and shifts back into his dragon form. He growls low and angry in my mind. "You owe me a great debt for that, angry human."

As I walk back to my place, I catch Serena staring at me, her brow furrowed. She leans over to whisper something to Malakai, whose single eye narrows, jaw tensing as he watches me pass.

A problem for another day.

The dining hall buzzes with an unfamiliar energy as students settle in after the ceremony. Some gather around the warm fires, trying to dry off and warm up after standing in the downpour for over an hour.

Soaked hair and uniforms or not, the atmosphere in the dining room among first years feels almost like relief.

Maybe I didn't want to cheer during the ceremony, but I have to admit I feel what everyone else feels. For the first time in two months, it feels like we've earned at least a moment to kick back and relish in how much we've overcome.

Typhon refused to leave my side to go check on Raith, so I had to rely on second-hand information that students in the healer's room were visited afterward by the selectors and allowed to present their elementals in private.

I'm surprised to find myself already itching to go check on him.. My fingers tap against the wooden table as I think about his tightly regulated, so-rare-they're-almost-nonexistent smiles and the intensity in his eyes. The memory of his warmth beside me in the elemental plane sends a flush of heat to my cheeks.

Just thinking about the way he looked at me then—like I mattered, like I was worth protecting—makes my heart do this stupid fluttering thing I can't seem to control.

I settle for keeping an eye on Malakai, Serena, and the students I know for sure are part of his unofficial little army. So long as they're here in the dining hall, Raith should be safe from any sort of assassination attempt.

"You can relax, angry human," Typhon says. "I know the fire touched and his safety are important to you. I've established a line of communication with his elemental, Pyrin. I will alert you if there's any cause for concern. Pyrin says the fire touched is currently resting and safe."

"Oh. You can do that?"

"The things I can do would make your fragile meat brain explode with wonder."

"Right. Well, thank you."