"System," Llewellyn said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I had meant to superimpose Gilded Bay onto a new training environment last time, not to overwrite the old dojo. What did you do? This is not what I meant."
There was a pause.
[System Notification: Old dojo environment is available. Relocation in 3… 2…]
"Wait, wait," I said. "I don't know what you're talking about but this is perfect!"
I mean, a pirate hype squad for our training session? Sounded amazing. I was feeling galvanized now. Though… I was a bit flustered at the memory of what we'd got up to on this deck last time. It was a good thing NPCs had no memory, or this would have been embarrassing.
"This is great," I said. "We can train like this. Assuming we don't sink the ship."
Llewellyn raised an eyebrow. "Planning to go all out?"
I grinned. "You'll see soon."
Llewellyn's mouth ticked up.
"Fine," he said.
The deck was wide and clear. It looked like whoever ran this ship had pushed the barrels and crates to the sides. Pirates lined the rails, tankards in hand, clearly expecting a show.
"Aye, someone's getting thrown through a mast today!"
"Betting starts now! Who's pinnin' who first?"
"Hope the captain paid fer reinforced railings!"
I stretched my arms. The sun was high and the air salty. My hangover was gone and after all that kissing… I was feeling amazing.
Llewellyn took position across from me. He looked confident and completely relaxed, which was great but also… annoying. I narrowed my eyes and he grinned.
"No swords," he said. "Elemental Magic only. Show me what you've got."
"BEGIN!" someone yelled from the crowd.
I went for it with everything I had. I summoned Water from my palms, lunged at him, and aimed a fast jet at his chest.
"Aye, the lad came out swingin'!"
"Look at 'im rush the captain!"
"Someone's mighty keen t' get the captain on the deck!"
Llewellyn sidestepped it—and me—without even blinking, and the water splashed harmlessly against the mast behind him, while I recalibrated.
"Too slow, lad!"
"Nearly took the mast out instead!"
"Ship's takin' casualties before the captain does!"
"That all you've got?" Llewellyn asked, grinning.
Damn it.
I launched myself at him again.
I sent three jets in quick succession, varying the angles. He dodged the first two and deflected the third with a casual wave of Air.
Right. Air at that level could disperse my Water easily. I needed to be smarter about this.
I circled him, keeping my distance, sending probing attacks.
He countered each one effortlessly—sometimes with Air, sometimes just by moving.
"Come on, lad! Put yer back into it!"
"He's playin' with ye!"
"The lad's quick! Reckon he'll land one eventually!"
Goddamn it.
Didn't matter what I tried, Llewellyn just waltzed around avoiding it all easily.
I changed tactics. Instead of direct attacks, I sent Water skating across the deck toward him like a tide—low and fast and… meant to trip him up.
Llewellyn snorted and jumped over it.
"That was interesting," he said, "if you were going for a seaside vacation."
This absolute—!!!
"AHAHA! Captain says the lad's opened a holiday resort!"
"Someone fetch the captain a parasol!"
"Careful, lad, next wave'll come with beach chairs!"
I sent a whip at his legs while he was talking. He avoided it, then directed an Air attack at me, reaching me from behind and pushing me forward.
Damn—what the hell?
I stumbled. Llewellyn was there in two steps, arm around me, catching me against his chest before I could faceplant on the boards. Then he grabbed my wrist and twisted me around.
"Too slow," he said against my ear, amused, biting down gently on my earlobe.
"…"
The pirates exploded in cheers.
"Oho? DID YE SEE THAT???"
"That's hardly regulation sparrin'!"
"Captain has the lad cornered and decided t' flirt!"
"AYE, captain's priorities just changed!"
"Lad's gone all flustered!"
"Look at the captain smilin' after that!"
He was. Damn.
I drove my elbow back. Llewellyn blocked it and kissed me, but that still gave me enough room to slip free.
Fine. Time to try something else.
Around us, the pirates were losing it.
"DID THE CAPTAIN JUST KISS THE LAD?!"
"Aye, I saw that!"
"Well, I reckon that counts as a hit!"
I attacked with Water again. This time, when Llewellyn countered with Air, I reached into the Magic Field.
I couldn't use Air myself, but once it had been summoned I could reach for it and use it. So… I did.
It had worked with Gléonwon's Fire after all; surely Llewellyn's Magic wasn't that different?
It wasn't.
I felt for Llewellyn's Air, caught it, and redirected it back at him.
Woah.
Llewellyn jumped to the side and avoided it, but a few nearby barrels were sent flying in a small tornado.
Somewhere a pirate yelled, "Someone save the grog!"
Ha! I grinned.
Damn, that had been amazing.
I knew Llewellyn was strong, but not this much! What the hell.
Even this secondary wielding of his Magic after it had already left him was almost too much to handle.
Through the bond I could feel that Llewellyn was clearly delighted by this development, which—well.
Damn, okay. I was weak. And not just in the… strength sense.
"That was impressive," Llewellyn said. "And it's something we can actually use in Distorted Realms. Let's work on this. I attack you, you reach for my Elements, and use them against me. Let's see what you can do."
Wait… He wanted me to do this again? Consistently?! I'd almost toppled over just now!
Llewellyn didn't give me time to protest and attacked with Fire.
Ah, I wasn't ready!
I dove to the side, rolling across the deck. A rope nearby caught fire.
"Llewellyn! The ship!"
"I know what I'm doing," Llewellyn said, unperturbed. He extinguished the flames with some Water, the deck barely singed.
"AYE, WATCH THE SHIP!"
"Crew'd appreciate stayin' afloat!"
"Warn us before ye start throwin' Fire around!"
I scrambled up. I was breathing harder now.
Llewellyn was ready to attack again and wasn't even winded.
Damn it.
Llewellyn launched another attack. I threw up a Water wall.
"I thought we were training!" I called, ducking. "Or is this just a fight now?"
"Practice," Llewellyn said with a grin, dodging another jet of Water. "You're still standing. I'd say that counts as progress."
I sent another wave at him, which he deflected easily.
"You can't win using Water against me," Llewellyn said, amused. "So, are you going to use my Elements or not?"
"…"
It's not that I didn't want to; it's that I kept missing the right moment. Besides, that amount of power was not easy to wield!
Just as Llewellyn attacked again—
[System Alert: 'Crisis Management' is active! Assistive timing prompts for Element interception available. Enable support mode?]
Wait, really?!
I said yes.
…Amazing.
For the next fifteen minutes, I rolled around, expanded into the Magic Field, grabbed his attacks and turned them against him. That one time he used Water I actually managed to wield it with complete control and splash him from head to toe.
Ha!
"Interesting," Llewellyn said, dripping wet, shrugging the water off in a way that suddenly reminded me of Lumos. "So your Water control transfers to my Water Magic too. Care to try again?"
We tried again.
I really had complete control over the Water Element like this, even if it was his Magic. It felt insanely good.
Besides, for once I was the dry one, while Llewellyn was soaking wet, his clothes so drenched they were practically transparent.
I grinned. Yeah, I could see the appeal now.
Llewellyn seemed to have caught that through the bond somehow, because his eyes snapped up. Or maybe I'd voiced that telepathically.
He lunged over. He caught me, pinned me to the deck, grinning, before crashing a wave over me until I was fully drenched. Then he leaned down and kissed me.
Uh. What!
"Again," he said, still dripping, looking down at me. He seemed happy and… definitely amused. "See if you can pin me."
...My stomach did something weird.
Meanwhile, the pirates had gone wild.
"There he goes again! That's one way to throw a man off balance!"
"Captain's got a weakness fer that lad!"
"Thought this was a spar, not a courtship!"
I snorted and… well. Fine. I reached up and pulled him into another kiss.
"So this is how you want to play it?" I asked with a grin.
Llewellyn looked entirely too pleased with himself. Through the bond, I could feel his satisfaction, too.
Well!
If he was going for underhanded tactics, then I was absolutely going to take advantage of that too.