We've reached a junction in the corridor—left leads to the channeling classrooms, right to the fire tower. We both stop, hovering in that space between parting and staying.

"Cade reminds you of someone," I say. "That's why you're helping him, right?"

Raith goes very still. "What makes you say that?"

"The way you looked at him. Like you were seeing someone else. And what you told me about your brother. Gareth. It just seemed like maybe there was something there…"

He's silent for so long I think he won't answer. When he finally speaks, his voice is rough, like he has to force the words out.

"He’s a lot like Gareth. Yeah." The admission seems to cost him something.

I wait, not pushing, giving him space to continue or not.

"Gareth was a fire, like me," Raith says, his eyes fixed on some distant point. "My younger brother, but still smaller than other kids his age. Easy target."

I hear what he doesn't say—that Gareth isn't alive anymore. That something happened to the brother he speaks of in past tense.

"Is that why you came to Confluence?" I ask softly. "Because of Gareth?"

His eyes snap back to mine, suddenly guarded again. "He's one of the reasons. Yes."

It's not the whole truth. I can see it in the way his shoulders tense, the way his elemental, Pyrin, paces restlessly at his feet, flames flickering with agitation. But it's more than he's shared before, and I know better than to push my luck.

He takes the brief pause as an opportunity to change the subject. "Have you and your fish started practicing together yet?"

"Tell the scarred fire human I am not a fish. I am a dragon who chooses, out of generosity, to appear as a fish to avoid terrifying the lesser beings around me. As one who has seen my true form, I expect him to acknowledge the grandeur and splendor and not make foolish fish jokes."

"Not yet. But I'll make sure we do soon."

"Good," Raith says, but there's warmth in his voice. His eyes meet mine, and for a moment, there's no impending Crucible, no danger, no complications—just the two of us standing too close in an empty corridor, drawn together by something neither of us fully understands.

"I should let you get to class," he says, breaking the spell.

"Right. Yeah. Sestra is going to pop a blood vessel with how late I am. Gods know she already hates me for being a failure of a water channeler."

"You didn't tell me you were struggling in classes."

"Just channeling..." I look around, making sure we're alone. "What I am... it doesn't work the same way as a normal affinity. Nothing she teaches works for me. And I can't keep up with the other waters. But I can't show Sestra I'm progressing in other areas. Obviously. So... she just thinks I'm terrible and despises me for it."

"Fuck her."