The months at the Academy passed faster than anyone expected.
For Solin, they passed almost ridiculously fast.
He had settled into Academy life with the same peculiar mixture of curiosity, confidence, and complete disregard for what was supposed to be impossible that seemed to follow him everywhere.
He had made friends and received several marriage proposals from the young Princesses.
Jarek remained his closest companion in the combat courses, though Jarek insisted that Solin cheated because he could "feel the universe cheating for him."
Luma had become his library companion.
Marcus was responsible for approximately seventy percent of the trouble Solin got into.
And Varek—
Well, Varek was Varek.
He rarely spoke about himself, but he was almost always nearby.
Solin had also begun impressing the professors.
Not because he was the most powerful student.
He wasn't.
What impressed them was his ability to understand things quickly and, more importantly, to ask questions nobody else thought to ask.
One professor eventually made the mistake of telling him:
"You have mastered this material."
Solin looked at the final examination sitting on the desk.
"Then can I take it?"
The professor blinked.
"Take what?"
"The final."
"You aren't scheduled to take the final."
"I know."
"Why would you want to take it?"
"Because if I've already learned everything, I'd rather move on."
The professor stared at him.
"You wish to challenge the course?"
"Yes."
The professor smiled.
"Very well."
Two hours later, Solin walked out with a passing grade.
A very high passing grade.
The professor stared at the results for several seconds.
Then he looked at Solin.
"I dislike you."
Solin grinned.
"Thank you, Professor."
The unexpected result gave Solin something he hadn't anticipated.
Free time.
His schedule now contained an empty period where the course had been.
He could spend it in the library.
He could train.
He could sleep.
Or, occasionally, he could take a longer lunch.
It was during one of those lunches that Solin noticed her.
She sat alone.
She always sat alone.
He had seen her before, but only in passing.
She was humanoid.
At first glance, she looked almost human.
Almost.
Her skin had a faint silvery-gray cast, her hair was dark and unusually fine, and her eyes were large enough to give her a perpetually startled appearance.
She was small.
Very small.
And thin.
Not merely slender.
Frail.
She seemed almost as though the Academy had been built for people twice her size.
That day, three students stopped beside her table.
One of them laughed.
"Careful, Nerys. They might mistake you for luggage."
The others laughed.
She lowered her eyes.
Another student tapped the table.
"Did you eat today?"
Nerys said nothing.
"Maybe she forgot."
They laughed again.
Solin stopped walking.
He looked at them.
Then at her.
Then back at them.
He walked over.
"Is there a problem?"
The students turned.
One of them recognized him.
"Nightwater."
"That's my name."
"We're just joking."
Solin looked at Nerys.
"Are you?"
She shook her head.
Solin turned back.
"Then I guess you're not very funny."
The laughter stopped.
One student stepped closer.
"You want a problem?"
"No."
Solin smiled.
"But you seem to."
There was something about the smile that made the student reconsider. Something that said, you want pranks? I'll give you some pranks.
He looked at the others.
"Come on."
They walked away.
Solin watched them go.
Then he looked at the empty chair across from Nerys.
"Can I sit?"
She stared at him.
"You don't have to."
"I know."
"People don't usually."
"I noticed."
She looked at the chair.
Then at him.
"Okay."
Solin sat.
For several moments neither spoke.
Finally Nerys said:
"You're going to regret this."
"Why?"
"Because now they'll tease you."
Solin shrugged.
"They already tease me."
"Why?"
He smiled.
"Apparently I'm strange."
Nerys looked at him carefully.
"You are."
"See?"
She almost smiled.
Almost.
"What is your name?" Solin asked.
"Nerys Vale."
"Solin Nightwater."
"I know."
"Right."
She looked down at her food.
It was barely touched.
"You should eat."
She frowned.
"Why?"
"Because you're hungry."
"I'm not."
Solin looked at her.
"You've been staring at that food for ten minutes."
Nerys sighed.
"You notice too much."
"My dad says that's a problem."
"Your father is Barry Nightwater?"
Solin nodded.
"You know him?"
"Everyone knows him."
Solin grinned.
"Yeah. That's another problem."
That time she actually smiled.
It was small.
But it was real.
Over the next few weeks, Solin kept sitting with her.
At first, Nerys barely spoke.
Then she started answering questions.
Then she began asking questions of her own.
She discovered that Solin could talk for hours about his father's ridiculous adventures.
Solin discovered that Nerys could spend hours in the library without apparently becoming bored.
She knew obscure histories.
Ancient languages.
Forgotten civilizations.
She could identify architectural styles from planets Solin had never heard of.
Eventually he asked her why.
"Why do you know all this?"
She shrugged.
"I like knowing things."
"That's not an answer."
"It is to me."
He smiled.
"Fair enough."
One afternoon, they sat beneath one of the Academy's enormous artificial trees.
Nerys had a book open.
Solin was supposed to be studying.
Instead, he was watching her.
"What?"
"You look different when you're reading."
She closed the book.
"Different how?"
"Happy."
She looked away.
"I'm happy sometimes."
"I know."
"How?"
"You smile."
She touched her mouth unconsciously.
"I do?"
"Sometimes."
Nerys looked at him.
"You're strange, Solin Nightwater."
"I've heard that."
"I mean it as a compliment."
"Then thank you."
She smiled.
And somewhere along the way, without either of them noticing exactly when it happened, the lonely girl at the empty table stopped being lonely.
She had a friend.
A very unusual friend.
A boy who had arrived at the Academy surrounded by legends and expectations, yet had never seemed particularly impressed by either.
A boy who had once been told he was destined for extraordinary things.
And who, when given a choice between sitting with the important people and sitting with the lonely girl everyone else ignored—
had simply chosen her.
Nerys Vale was beginning to discover something the Academy's professors had not yet fully understood.
Solin Nightwater didn't merely change the people around him.
He made them believe they could change themselves.
And that, perhaps, was going to prove far more dangerous than his resonance.
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