“How was Dissemination?”

  Azia didn’t want to think about Dissemination. She didn’t have a choice, given who was asking.

  “It was…fine,” she muttered through gritted teeth. “Went…well.”

  Kassy beamed, her bright smile spilling above the tower of books in her arms. “Did you show them all the water stuff?”

  Azia sighed. “We showed them enough. They took it a bit better than I thought they would.”

  “What, you thought they were gonna be mad?” Seleth asked, propping one foot up against a bookshelf. “They were loving all of that. I felt so appreciated.”

  “I don’t think you understand exactly why you’re ‘appreciated,’” Azia pressed. “It’s not you. It’s what you can do.”

  It really was a reflex for him, apparently. Lazy fingers came halfway aloft, and rippling droplets burst to life beyond them. Miniscule as they were, they were there all the same. “I mean, I like to imagine I’m a pretty nice person. That one scary lady liked me. Who was that, anyway?”

  Azia crossed her arms. “Yvette. She’s the lead alchemist of the Institute. You’re lucky she didn’t tear your head off.”

  He grinned. “I’m charismatic. I have that effect on people.”

  If Yvette didn’t do it, Azia probably would first. “It’s because you have your water,” she snapped. “I’ll keep saying it, because it’s true. You’re a scientific anomaly. Of course people are going to be interested in you.”

  “Yvette was nice to you?” Kassy asked incredulously, settling the hefty stack of literature onto the front desk with a thud.

  “Everyone was,” Seleth said. “Real warm welcome, and all that. I could get used to this. All of your friends seemed happy enough to have me around.”

  He turned his head towards Azia, and she shook hers in turn. “Colleagues, not friends, remember? I’m not very close to a lot of them.”

  “I’m special,” Kassy whispered, more than audible. Azia rolled her eyes, if not endearingly.

  In that context alone, Seleth’s grin was tolerable. Each time it was aimed at Kassy, she still feared it, somewhat. “Nothin’ wrong with that. How many alchemists work here, anyway? Work here, live here, whatever?”

  “A lot,” Azia offered. “Easily over sixty. The Tenaveris Alchemist Institute is one of the larger ones. All of them live here, too, yes. It’d be kind of hard to get anything done if they don’t.”

  “And out of all of ‘em, I ended up as the science project for the prettiest one.”

  She groaned. Explaining anything would be miserable, if this was going to be a pattern.

  Once more, Kassy’s arms were well-occupied, and she was battling to see over heavy tomes. “Science project?”

  “They put me in charge of studying him,” Azia explained. “For whatever that consists of.”

  Again, the sunshine that peeked above the books was blinding. “Wait, really? That sounds so fun! Does that mean he gets to stay here?”

  Azia didn’t have much of an alternative. If Seleth’s own words during Dissemination were to be believed, he had little to return to, regardless. Azia's eyes drifted to his. “Do you have anywhere else to go? Am I keeping you from anything?”

  She’d forgotten he’d been fidgeting with his lazy droplets at all. Half-hearted flicks of his fingers left them scattering into sparkling nothingness. “No. I don’t have any place to stay. I’m not at all opposed to hanging out here for as long as you’d have me.”

  Azia hadn’t decided how long she’d prefer to have him, really. It wasn’t worth asking where he’d resided before, given how little he knew of all that preceded their battle. Vulnerable to assessment as he now was, Azia would unravel that part eventually. For now, whatever kept Seleth out of her room was passable--although any bed she gave him would be useless, if his liquid chrysalis had been anything to go by.

  “That means I get to see the water more, right?” Kassy tried, cursing the desk with yet more literary loads.

  Azia raised an eyebrow. “What are you even doing?”

  She smeared her dusty palms along her skirt. “These are the ones Lila was asking for. I think that’s all of them.”

  “Didn’t she ask for those two days ago?”

  Kassy’s smile was eternal. “I forgot.”

  Azia sighed. “Did you feed the fish?”

  “I was…going to,” she said.

  “Feed the fish, Kassy,” Azia deadpanned.

  Seleth cocked his head. “Wait, fish? Like, live fish?”

  Where Kassy had beamed before, her face now threatened to split in two. “Do you wanna see?”

  Her happiness was lost on him, for a moment. “You guys keep going on about not having any damn water, and somehow you’ve got fish?”

  Kassy clasped Seleth’s hand in both of her own, tugging hard enough that he nearly stumbled. “Come here! Come look at them!”

  He didn’t resist. Where she more or less ran, Seleth had little choice but to stagger in Kassy’s exuberant wake. It was enough for Azia to chuckle, and seeing him succumb to energy beyond his own was strangely gratifying. He rarely stopped talking. Kassy would always outdo him on that front, regardless.

  The dichotomy between aging paper and the tiniest of tropical enclosures was always striking. Nestled behind looming shelves and lingering ladders, the little sea Kassy nurtured in the depths of the library still served as its sole splash of color. She brought brilliant neons to an archaic canvas, shimmering comfortably within their glassy home.

  The speckled crumbs of brown wedged between the pebbles spoke to care, at least. She actually had bothered to feed them last night, whether or not scolding was involved. For as fast as she ran all the way there, Azia was always shocked that the innocent creatures didn’t dive behind whatever greenery would shield them from Kassy’s approach.

  She was, too, shocked that Kassy didn’t outright shove Seleth up against the tank. The proximity she ended up with was fine, apparently. The fish didn’t mind her volume. That was for the best. “These are my babies!” Kassy cried with far too much glee. “Aren’t they pretty?”

  Seleth’s eyes widened. He slipped his hands into his pockets, bending down and peering past the glass. “Are these real?”

  “They’re real,” Azia confirmed, her hands settling onto her hips. “Took a lot of work, I’ll tell you that much.”

  For a moment, he met her gaze instead, never straightening up in full. “Alright, I’m officially confused.”

  Azia couldn’t pinpoint exactly why his ignorance was satisfying--for this situation alone, really. She smirked. “When we lost the water, we lost most of what depended on it. Animals, plants, everything that needed it to survive. It triggered a mass extinction event. It took years upon years, but the alchemists managed to reconstruct most species that were wiped out through gene sampling and cross-breeding. Perfecting the methodology was hard, and it was definitely a process. We still haven’t gotten everything back.”

  Seleth flinched. “You brought back fish? You guys are scary, you know that?”

  Azia scoffed. “We know. I promise you, you’re not the first person to say that.”

  Seleth opened his mouth. Whatever words he meant to offer up never made it out. Kassy almost crashed into him, pressing up against his shoulder excitedly as she dragged her fingertip along the glass. “They’re angelfish! That one’s Cinnamon. That’s Mars. The one behind the rocks is Linh. That one is Lillith. Lilac is next to her.”

  “Which all still sound way too close to Lila.”

  “But I like them,” Kassy whined.

  Seleth’s eyes followed each colorful triangle as it drifted idly past, ignorant to his prying gaze. “You guys…don’t have water, right? So…what is that?”

  Azia did the same, trailing the little fish with her eyes. “Esua.”

  He narrowed his own. “Esua?”

  “It’s a substitute,” she clarified. “Remember how I said we adapted? That’s how. It’s a replacement, and it’s as close as we’ve ever gotten to the real thing.”

  “Did you guys do that, too?”

  This time, the satisfaction in her smile was most definitely pride. “Yeah.”

  “Huh,” Seleth said plainly, never once tearing his gaze from the ambling colors beyond. “I’m willing to believe anything you say, at this point.”

  Azia grimaced. “What, do you think I’m lying?”

  Seleth shrugged. “Not at all. You gotta admit, this is a lot to take in, though. This isn’t how it--”

  He cut himself off. She raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t…what?”

  He never found the same sentence again. Vibrating as she was, Kassy overshadowed him. “Do you like them?”

  For her, he grinned. “Yeah. They’re really cool.”

  “It’d be cooler if you fed them,” Azia warned half-heartedly.

  Kassy clasped her hands behind her back, her smile undeterred. “I will! I promise they’ll get breakfast. Did you get to eat yet?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not really that hungry. I ate dinner late last night. I’ll probably get something later.”

  The thought left Azia wincing. Her head snapped to Seleth. “Oh, God, when’s the last time you ate? I never even bothered to ask. I’m sorry. You were just wandering around out there. Have you even had anything to drink since you got here?”

  She was shocked when he simply shrugged again. “No, don’t be sorry. I’m fine. I don’t eat.”

  She only stared. “You don’t…eat?”

  Seleth nodded. “Or drink.”

  “At all?”

  “Nope.”

  “I…how?” Azia pressed.

  At last, Seleth straightened up, surrendering every beautiful creature that still swam beyond the glass. “Just don’t feel the need. I’m fine how I am. Never tried. Not really sure what happens if I do.”

  Azia paused. “You’re…strange.”

  It was a sentiment she’d already offered, in different words. Rude or not, it was true. Seleth took it with grace and gave it right back, grin and all. “You’re still not so normal yourself. I’m not the one who’s been playing God.”

  Azia bit her lip. It wasn’t worth arguing over. It never was, really--although she doubted he would’ve carried the same true malice. In a perfect world, it would stay that way. Anomaly or not, she preferred the grin that annoyed her to whatever judgment he could harbor. “Appreciated” as he was, he was in too deep to back out, anyway.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  There was safety that came with a pencil in hand, if not leafy books to go with it. By comparison, there was zero safety that came with Seleth on her bed. Azia had hardly had a choice.

  He was far, far too elated to be in her room again, and it was a miracle that wandering fingers didn’t interfere with everything she owned. Enough of her tools were delicate beneath her own hands, as it was. If he so chose, he could soak everything she possessed, and Azia would have no way of stopping him. The thought was miserable, given how much would dissolve beneath his inexplicable gift.

  Seleth crossed his legs comfortably, armed with little more than a smile and eager words. “You’re gonna be gentle with me, right? For whatever this is? I’m a sensitive guy. I mean, if you’re not really the gentle type, that’s fine by me, too.”

  Azia’s sigh was heavy enough to pain her lungs. She threw what aggravation she had into granite against paper. “I have questions for you. I have a lot of questions for you. I can’t even think of everything I want to ask you right now, and I’m definitely going to miss a lot of stuff, but I need to start somewhere. Can I ask you things?”

  He leaned back on his palms. “Things?”

  “Things,” Azia reaffirmed. “About you. How you…work. How you exist. They might get a bit personal, but this is really important. I’m only asking for scientific purposes.”

  Seleth’s grin was immediately concerning--as ever. “You know, if you’re into me, you don’t have to cover it up like that. Get as personal as you want. I’ll give you whatever you’re looking for.”

  She’d thought to ask if he could bleed, at some point. She could always stab him with the pencil and find out the hard way.

  “I want something in return, though,” he said suddenly, leaning forward instead.

  Azia blinked. “What?”

  Given that his grin had never faltered, she very much should have known better. “How many questions do you plan on asking me?”

  Azia tensed. “I…a lot. Like I said.”

  “How about this?” Seleth began, raising a finger. “For every one question you ask, I get to ask you one question in return.”

  Azia tilted her head slowly. “About?”

  He crossed his arms. “Anything I want. You, mostly.”

  “Me?”

  “You get to ask about me, I get to ask about you,” Seleth said. “That’s a fair trade, right?”

  Granting him permission was a disaster waiting to happen, knowing what was surely on his tongue. Still, her inquiries took priority. It wasn’t worth arguing with. “I…guess. Fine, then.”

  He was satisfied with that, apparently. Once more, he was reclining comfortably, crossing his legs much the same. “Hit me with whatever you’ve got. Don’t be shy.”

  Azia tapped her pencil rhythmically against naked paper. “I’ve got some stuff about you already. You…can make water, obviously. From your hands, right?”

  She half-expected him to demonstrate. Instead, Seleth only grinned. “Yup.”

  “And that’s how you control it.”

  “Yup.”

  Azia tapped the point of the pencil along every sentence she’d scribbled down previously. “You sleep in a bubble. It’s made of water, and it’s reflexive. It happens naturally. You can breathe in there, somehow. Is that right, too?”

  “Sure is,” Seleth affirmed.

  “The water you make,” she went on. “You can…change it. You can manifest it in different ways, and you don’t have to put a lot of effort into it. You said in Dissemination that it’s as easy for you as breathing.”

  “Right.”

  “You don’t remember where you came from…”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you don’t remember why you were in the desert at all.”

  “You got it.”

  Azia didn’t need to add more notes. What she’d written already had held firm. “You…don’t eat. Or drink, you said.”

  Seleth cocked his head, just as comfortably. “Nope.”

  “So, how do you have any energy? You have to sustain yourself somehow, right? You can’t just…go forever.”

  He chuckled. “Just get me some sunshine, and I’m happy.”

  Azia raised an eyebrow. “What are you, a plant?”

  “It works,” Seleth said with a shrug. “I’ve never needed anything more than that. If I’m in the dark for too long, I feel awful. I’m an outdoors-y kind of guy. If I’ve got a little sunlight and some fresh air, that’s enough to keep me going forever.”

  Azia eyed him warily, even as her pencil moved. “You’re not screwing with me?”

  “Got no reason to,” he insisted calmly.

  She paused for a moment. “I…alright. So, if you don’t eat, then do you--”

  “Hold it,” Seleth interrupted, raising one stifling finger. “We had a deal, remember? My turn.”

  Azia remembered. In truth, she’d hoped he’d forgotten. She suppressed a groan. “Fine.”

  He took far too long thinking about it. Eventually, a gesture meant to hush settled into a lazy finger gun. “How old are you?”

  Azia sighed. “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.”

  She gave up on suppressing the same groan. “Twenty.”

  Seleth’s smug smile was concerning, and Azia didn’t want to dissect it. “That’s pretty young for an alchemist, isn’t it?”

  “How do you figure?” she asked. “You don’t know the first thing about us.”

  It probably came out more harshly than she’d meant for it to. It was true either way, and Seleth took it in stride regardless. “You’re right, but I always thought you’d need to be, like…older, I guess. It looks like you’ve got some sway in this place, too. Pretty impressive for twenty.”

  Azia threw the question back. It was her turn, anyway. “How old are you, then?”

  He shrugged again. “Not a clue.”

  She had a feeling he’d say as much. It was worth a try. “You don’t look much older than me,” she offered. “If at all.”

  “That’s a good thing, right? We’re even more compatible.”

  Azia rolled her eyes, doing what she could to cast them back into her notes. She shirked his courting in favor of lead to paper, already regretting her decision to press him at all. It left her awaiting the inevitable.

  “What made you want to become an alchemist?”

  Her scribbling slowed. That question, at least, was tolerable. Unexpected or otherwise, she didn’t bother fighting the tiny smile that settled onto her lips.

  “Family,” Azia said. “My father was an alchemist, too. My mother was a researcher, and I think she was a bit heartbroken when I didn’t follow in her footsteps instead. My father ended up in Kovire. I ended up here in Tenaveris. Personal choice, to be fair.”

  Seleth nodded. “Was it hard?”

  That was two questions, technically. Azia indulged him anyway, for how the topic warmed her soul in the slightest. “Yeah. It’s…not at all an easy feat. The exams were a nightmare, and you never really stop studying. They tear you down and build you up. Not many people can pull it off. It took everything I had, and there’s still days where I feel out of place. For what we’re meant to do, though, I get it. They need the best of the best. I want to be that for them, whatever it takes.”

  Seleth’s gaze was shockingly gentle. Ultimately, his grin was the same--if not mismatched with his words. “I told you. Smart and gorgeous.”

  It wasn’t as aggravating as it could’ve been. She kept what warmth she’d earned and shunned what flirting he’d dipped into. Azia’s pencil trailed down the slowly-filling page, snagging along notes half-finished. “So, about the eating thing. You don’t eat. You don’t drink. Do you…excrete?”

  She hated asking. It was for science alone, and she was hardly shy about it. Seleth was largely unfazed, although he raised one judgmental eyebrow.

  “Excrete?” he repeated.

  “You know, like…” Azia began, tapering off quickly. Any vague motions she could’ve made would’ve been crude, at best. Knowing him, he would’ve gotten the idea.

  Seleth got it anyway, eventually. “Are you asking if I pee?”

  She sighed. “Yes.”

  He tried and failed to stifle a laugh. “This is what you’re asking me now?”

  “I take it back,” Azia muttered.

  “No, I don’t,” Seleth finally offered. “Do you?”

  Her blush was a reflex. She despised that it showed up at all. “I know you know the answer to this.”

  Seleth raised his hands defensively. “I’m not even asking to be weird. It’s just…you guys don’t have water. That includes internal stuff, right? So, how does that work?”

  The context made it less awkward, granted. Azia still couldn’t wipe the splotchy scarlet off her face in full. “Remember what I told you about esua? The substitute?”

  He nodded again. “With the fish?”

  “It’s for everything,” she said. “It’s in us, too. We adapted to it, and our bodies work around it. It’s an identical equivalent--mostly. Whatever water could manage, so can esua. To the naked eye, you wouldn’t know the difference. We still have all the same processes, and we can still do all the same things.”

  “Huh,” Seleth murmured plainly. “You guys created it yourselves, right? What’s it made of?”

  Again, it was technically two questions. Azia was nice about it, given that he was being reasonable. She tapped her pencil against her wrist as she counted. “Liquid nitrogen, ammonia, blood, hydrogen, human tissue, and a…few other things.”

  “That’s…elaborate,” Seleth mused, his expression surprisingly neutral. “And that’s really all you guys need?”

  Three questions, then. Azia indulged him anyway. “Honestly, calling esua a substitute might be an understatement. It does amazing things inside the human body. It’s incredibly versatile. It’d take hours to get into the details.”

  “How’d you make it, anyway?” he asked. “Like, I know you’re alchemists, but how does that actually work?”

  Three was enough. She finally cut him off. “Do I ever get a turn?” Azia finally interrupted.

  Neutrality didn’t last. Seleth smirked. “My bad. By all means.”

  The question would probably return next round, anyway. Azia took her time with her own. Eventually, it left the tip of her pencil speared towards his fingers. “Show me your water.”

  Seleth didn’t resist in the slightest. His hand came up, and his tiny bubbles sprung to life. Not once had the consistency changed, nor the gorgeous tint of aquamarine that she was growing accustomed to. Azia leaned in close, stemming the urge to poke at the rippling current with humble graphite.

  Observation wasn’t a question, technically. She noted what she could from up close, every scratch of a pencil against paper filling the stretching silence. She was somewhat astonished at how patient Seleth was with her, content to still his tranquil tides for her viewing needs. So near to her eyes, the shading was consistent--if not as gorgeous as ever. If she touched it, she wondered if it’d be as gently chilling as she recalled from earlier.

  “I always expected it to be more…clear, I guess,” Azia murmured. “I’m surprised that it’s so blue.”

  Seleth smiled softly. “That’s just how I am. It usually is. I’m a special guy, you know that. ‘Scientific anomaly,’ or whatever the hell you keep saying.”

  Not once did Azia tear her eyes from the frothing purity. “You are an anomaly. I don’t even know what to formally call you. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it. You said you’re the only person you’ve ever--”

  She cut herself off. Only now did she pin him with a gaze far sharper. “Wait, 'usually is?'”

  Seleth blinked. “What?”

  “What do you mean 'usually?'” Azia pressed.

  “Not following.”

  “It’s ‘usually’ clear. Is that what you meant? How do you know what ‘usually’ is?”

  Seleth was quiet. He returned her staring with notable discomfort. “I’m seriously lost.”

  It took time to will herself to back down. Even then, it still irritated her--in a different way than he normally did, granted. When Azia embraced silence once more, he took the initiative. To be fair, it was his right.

  “So, the…thing with the fish,” Seleth tried. “You said you guys managed to bring back stuff that got wiped out without water, I think. Not everything, though, right? Are you repopulating, or something?”

  Azia was grateful he hadn’t returned with the same sentiment of unnatural intervention--teasing or not. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but it’s not a very hospitable world outside. Everything is mostly cultivated in captivity. It’d be wonderful to release them someday, but that would involve somehow distributing esua globally in a self-sustaining manner. Right now, that’s just about impossible.”

  He was back to one question per turn, at least. Again, Azia was fixated on the same ambling cerulean. Asking almost felt invasive, and yet science still took priority. “Can I touch it?”

  Seleth’s grin was back, too. “Thought you’d never ask.”

  She didn’t want to know how he meant it. She’d technically already done so, albeit without his cooperation. The hand that didn’t grasp a pencil came extended with hesitation, and Azia’s fingertips slipped into his static stream. Resisting the urge to pull away in the face of the sudden chill was difficult.

  By no means did it hurt, and she was ultimately satisfied with the sensation. Seleth kept every bubble steady in his masterful touch. Azia graciously took what leeway she’d been given, wiggling her fingers experimentally within the cold waters. The color was uncompromised, the structure equally so. It was fluid, and the slightest of pressure impaired her movements.

  When Azia finally withdrew her hand, she did so almost reluctantly. The stinging chill remained, clinging to her damp fingertips on the way out. Stray droplets plopped onto the sheets, and she smeared her wet skin along her pants. In place of gentle waters, her journal soaked up every observation that helpful graphite could offer. She’d documented the sound already, preciously bubbling as it was even now. It took time to account for which of her senses went unstimulated.

  Azia met Seleth’s eyes without hesitation this time. “Can I taste it?”

  Every muscle in his body stiffened simultaneously. Whatever fragile azure burst across his cheeks was new, and his words were utterly absent. He did little more than stare, for a moment, his hand still aloft and his waters still flowing. Azia, too, stared.

  It took Seleth time to move in any capacity, and he at last averted his eyes. “I-I…that’s…we’re, uh, moving a bit fast, here, don’t you think?”

  It had taken Azia far, far too long since their first meeting to find his limit. This was it, apparently. Abundant blue in place of scathing red was of much more interest. “You’re blushing,” she noted aloud.

  Seleth rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand uncomfortably. “I mean, that’s a pretty big thing to ask a guy you just met.”

  “No, you’re blushing. You can blush. It’s…blue.”

  “I…” he started, faltering quickly enough.

  Pencil on paper overtook him. Seleth rescinded his bubbles, tainted by whatever breaking point he’d reached. Curling fingers sufficed to banish rippling currents, as always. Azia didn’t want to know what was going through his head in any capacity. If it was enough to make him, of all people, blush, it was definitely nothing good.

  “T-The repopulation stuff,” he finally stammered. “Are there things that are impossible for you guys to fix? Like, stuff that’s permanently lost?”

  Azia looked up from the journal. “We don’t actually know. I like to imagine that’s not the case, but there’s definitely some organisms we’re having a harder time dissecting the genetic sequences of than others. Believe it or not, some of the plants are rough. Spider lilies were awful. Took us forever.”

  Seleth settled his cheek into his palm, gradually liberated of burning blue. “You guys still have sunflowers? Or is that a rough one? I liked those.”

  Azia shook her head. “Sunflowers weren’t that hard, actually. We figured those out pretty quick. We’ve got plenty of sunlight for the plants, I’ll tell you that much. The Institute actually has a nursery, if you’d like to see it at some point.”

  He beamed. It was pleasant, actually. “That sounds cool. I kinda wanna see what you guys ended up with. This whole alchemist thing is pretty--”

  “What do you mean ‘still?’”

  Seleth stopped. Azia once more fixed him with sharp eyes she couldn’t restrain. Where he was silent, she refused to succumb to the same.

  “We ‘still’ have sunflowers? Relative to when?” she pushed, her voice harsher than intended. “Where did you get ‘still’ from? And…‘liked?’ Past tense?”

  He clung to the same silence, helpless to do more than stare.

  “Seleth, what do you mean by ‘still?’” she repeated.

  “I don’t know.”

  Azia’s eyes widened. Seleth’s hardly mirrored her. He only blinked slowly, reclaiming his gaze in peace. When he offered it to the sheets alone, it took Azia time to find softer words.

  “Have you…seen sunflowers somewhere else before?”

  His voice was just as quiet. “I don’t know,” Seleth repeated. “I…maybe. I think so.”

  “Where?”

  “No idea.”

  “You said you liked them.”

  “Yeah.”

  Azia paused. “Have you ever been to any other Alchemist Institutes besides this one?”

  He shook his head. “Didn’t even know this was a thing until yesterday.”

  “And have you ever…seen a wild sunflower in the desert before? Somehow?”

  “I told you, I don’t even remember getting out there in the first place.”

  It was Azia’s turn for silence. Her eyes drifted down to her notes. She didn’t bother. Instead, she closed the little journal altogether, settling it into her lap.

  “Seleth,” she began softly, “sunflowers haven’t existed naturally for 6,000 years."