by Larissa Ladd
After several moments the sensations began to abate, becoming a low, though constant humming she felt in her bones. Aira knew she needed an outlet for all of the energy coursing through her; her grandmother had found her outlet in cooking, healing, and gardening—tasks uniquely aligned to her element. If she ever hoped to find stability, Aira knew she would need to find similar outlets. She thought wryly if she could leave her house, or do anything other than her translation work, she might have a better chance of figuring out ways to vent her nervous energy.
She got out of bed, slipping into pajama pants; she had slept in her underwear and a tee shirt, but it was certainly not attire she needed to be walking around in. Aira knew her grandmother would object to it—especially if either Dylan or Aiden were awake. The smell of coffee and breakfast greeted her when she opened the door to her bedroom. She closed her eyes, breathing in the heavenly aroma and smiling. As she walked through the hall leading into the kitchen and dining area of the house, she heard Dylan speaking with her grandmother, asking questions about some process.
“How do you do the pulling?” he had asked, as Aira stepped out of the hallway. Dylan was seated at the table in a tee shirt and pajama pants, both of them baggy on him, obscuring the shape of his lean body. Aira was surprised to find herself slightly disappointed; Dylan had a nice-looking body. She sat down at the table, unwilling to interrupt the lesson clearly going on.
“You’ve got a good handle on pushing—I could see that immediately. Pulling requires a little more focus, but I think you can learn it quickly.” Aira’s grandmother looked up and greeted her with a smile, pointing to the coffee pot to indicate Aira should serve herself.
Aira stood and poured a cup of coffee, fascinated by the information her grandmother was imparting to a fellow water elemental.
“When you’re pulling the pain or illness out of a person, you have to think of it like drinking it in—like a glass of water you’re taking in through a straw.” As her grandmother stirred a pot of grits meditatively, Aira doctored her coffee and sat down, sipping it.
“Tell me the incantation again,” Dylan said. Aira’s grandmother pronounced it slowly, and Aira was surprised—as she always was—at the sensual tone of the water-based spell. All of the water spells had a subtly erotic flavor to them, she thought, remembering the various words she had heard her grandmother recite in the elemental language. Her grandmother had managed to find books of the air-aligned language with which to teach Aira incantations, but she knew if she had grown up in an exclusively air-oriented family, she would have had more teaching in that area. Dylan murmured the words in a quiet tone, focusing on getting the pronunciation right. Aira knew Dylan was keen to learn more about healing—he was intrigued by that aspect of his alignment, more so even than the possibilities of attack and defense that came along with water.
As if on cue, when her grandmother finished bringing the meal to the table, Aiden appeared.
“Never late to a meal, are you bro?” Dylan said, smirking. Aiden wore pajama pants but no shirt, and Aira forced herself to look away from his lean chest and toned stomach, to ignore the sudden welling of lust she felt.
“Hasn’t caught up with me yet,” Aiden responded, pouring himself coffee and sitting down next to Aira. She was uncomfortably aware of the heat that radiated from him, and shifted to the side slightly, trying to get her incipient lust under control. As they ate, Aira’s grandmother told the two brothers she needed them to run an errand for her; Aira knew by the diplomatic tone her grandmother had information for her ears only—she was likely to get a lesson and much more before the two men returned.
“You’re sure you’ll both be safe?” Aiden asked.
Aira almost chuckled at the look her grandmother settled on the fire elemental.
“The day that I’m not adequately able to protect myself and my granddaughter on my own property is the day I’m dead and cold,” she said, haughty and proud. “Dylan knows the plants I’m looking for,” she said in a different tone, glancing with affection at the younger of the two brothers.
With the meal finished, Aira cleared the table while the brothers got dressed to leave. She felt anxious, worried about what her grandmother might tell her. As soon as Dylan and Aiden were gone, her grandmother sat down at the table, looking down at her hands for a long moment. Aira joined her grandmother, waiting patiently. She knew whatever it was the older woman had to say, it was important.
“Before we start on your lessons, there are some things you need to know,” she said, meeting Aira’s gaze with hesitation. “I wish I had more time to explain the way things are, but…”
Aira looked at her grandmother sharply, hearing something under the words.
Lenore shook her head. “I am the Regina Undinae,” her grandmother said. “The queen of water elementals. The elders hold nominal power over all of the elementals, but each element has a ruler—a person who controls the most power for that element. It’s an important role in the politics of our people. I help the elders make decisions that impact all water elementals—even when someone has to be put to death. There is currently no ruler for the air element; an elemental ruler has to die in order for a new one to ascend.”
Aira stared at her grandmother in shock.
“I had hoped when you were born that you would be water-aligned, so the primacy of the water element would continue for another generation. When we—your mother and I—discovered you were air-aligned, we knew it would cause disturbance in the politics of our people. We hoped one of your cousins, or another of the powerful families, would produce an heir… but as of right now, you are the strongest air elemental of proper age.” Aira’s grandmother paused. “When I die, you will be in contention to become the Regina Sylphaea, the queen of air elementals. Whoever you’re allied with will have power, and if the elders determine that you’re fit, you will have to make life or death decisions for other air elementals. The family that targeted you, Alex and Dolores, they are all under threat from the elders. They’ve brought too much attention to themselves from regular humans. If you were allied with them, they would stand a chance at survival. If you are not allied with them, you may have to make the decision whether they will all be put to death…or only some of them…or none of them. And also what other appropriate punishment should come.”
Aira sat back heavily in her chair. “But, Alex said something about you, your power over their family,” Aira said, confused.
Her grandmother nodded. “When there is no ruler of a particular element, the other elemental rulers are called upon for their opinion. I refused to offer an opinion either way; I abstained from voting. But when I die, there is no immediate successor to my position—there’s no heir to the house of water. If you become the ruler of air will have direct power to decide the fate of any and all air elementals, as well as forming an opinion on others. There’s a monarch for earth, and one for fire; the ruler for earth voted the family should be obliterated, while the fire queen voted for them to be saved. If you became the ruler, your vote would determine their fate. And believe me, you won’t be allowed to abstain from deciding. This issue has been ongoing for years; the elders have been pressuring me all along for my decision on the matter.” Lorene took a deep breath, expelling it in a sigh. “As my granddaughter, while you’re not the ruler of the house of water, your opinion will have clout in that house—whoever is the proxy for the water house, if they’re asked, will likely stick with your opinion.”
Aira nodded, already feeling the weight of the decision that might come to her. “But isn’t there a proxy for the house of air, then? Why haven’t they voted?”
“When it was suggested that you might be in contention to rule the element, the proxy for air said he didn’t feel comfortable casting a vote—particularly since I refused to.” She smiled slightly and drew another deep breath. “If you’re going to be in contention, you need to be prepared for it.”
Aira thought about what her grandmother had said before.
“Grams, you said I would be in contention when you died.”
Her grandmother’s green eyes stared into hers and Aira felt her own eyes burning with tears. “We don’t have very much time,” she said simply. “Let’s get to work on your lessons.”
Aira pushed aside the bitter sadness she felt at the sudden knowledge that she didn’t have much longer with her grandmother, and tried to focus her mind entirely on the lesson. Her grandmother brought out a heavy tome, a book of air-related magic, and opened it to the more advanced spells.
“It’s all well and good that you’ve found a sudden knack for the persuasion ability that comes along with your alignment,” her grandmother said wryly, “but you need to be able to control it, to use it with finesse. When I saw you’d gained that talent, I started researching magic associated with it.”
Aira struggled to keep her focus on the lesson. She was able to read the text, to pronounce the incantations with no problem—but a spell without intent, even for an elemental, was difficult to manage. She learned how to enact hypnosis on another person, how to manipulate the emotional state of another person, and other variations on the basic premise of persuasion. There was no one for Aira to practice on specifically; her grandmother was impervious to her persuasive abilities. Even when Aira tried a spell that would take away whatever pain she was feeling. It was not a healing spell—the basic illness would still be there, unlike the spells her grandmother excelled in—but it could give the other person relief, or allow them to forget their pain.
By the time Dylan and Aiden returned, Aira felt she had achieved a certain level of mastery on the particular aspect of her abilities they had focused on for the morning. Her grandmother also told her the two of them would be training Aiden and Dylan both to be impervious to her ability to compel.
“I have a great deal of faith in you,” her grandmother had said with sadness in her voice. “But I also know the temptation to manipulate anyone and everyone, to force them to do your will, can be too strong for even the most well-intentioned air elementals who are given that ability. So for your own safety, we’re going to protect your guardians against your capabilities.”
Aira asked for a break when the brothers arrived, needing to be alone with her thoughts more than she needed a rest specifically. She went to the other end of the property, finding one of the ponds her grandmother’s hands had carefully arranged and planted. She sat down on the bench alongside the pool, listening to the quiet rippling of the water as tears began to well in her eyes. She had known her grandmother wasn’t going to live forever—there was no immortality among elementals—but knowing her grandmother was going to die soon, that she felt it was so imminent she wanted to make sure Aira was adequately trained before she passed, was far too real. Aira shivered, curling in on herself as she stared at the water blankly.
She bit her bottom lip to stifle the sob that threatened to rise in her throat. Her grandmother should be alive for several more years—elementals live longer than humans, most of them retreating as they approached one hundred, moving “off the grid” so as not to call attention to their status. Her grandmother was just over 80. It wasn’t right that she should be contemplating death so soon. Aira thought bitterly, there must be something wrong indeed—there must have been something that couldn’t be cured, some problem even the powerful older woman, even the elders, couldn’t heal. Aira shuddered, beginning to cry in earnest as she considered that, all too shortly, she would be bereft of her grandmother’s guidance, of her scolding and opinions and spirit. She would have to handle everything on her own.
It was difficult not to feel angry at her grandmother for what seemed like abandonment. She knew, rationally, if her grandmother could live longer, she would. While the elemental was somewhat cold-natured in some respects, and certainly quick to put people in their place, she loved deeply, and Aira knew her grandmother loved her particularly, in spite of the frustration she brought the older woman. Aira rubbed at her nose angrily as it began to run with the tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She knew the best thing—the only thing—she could do to make the situation better was to do exactly what her grandmother said, in spite of how irritating it may be to her. She would ease her passing by being obedient, by learning everything she could from her grandmother until the very last. At least, she thought, her grandmother didn’t just have her—she had another water-aligned elemental she could educate, that she could bequeath some of her skills to. Aira buried her face in her hands, knowing without having to be told that she couldn’t inform Aiden or Dylan about what was going to happen. She would have to bear the pain of knowing alone.
CHAPTER 4
DYLAN KNEW SOMETHING HAD CHANGED; when he and Aiden came back from the errand Lorene had sent them on, Aira made herself scarce—disappearing for an hour, only to come back looking thoroughly exhausted and red-eyed. When Dylan asked what was wrong, she answered levelly that she’d twisted her ankle exploring a less-frequented part of the property; but she hadn’t been limping when she walked into the house. Her grandmother offered to look at the injury, Aira said she’d rest a little while instead, that it wasn’t badly injured, it just hurt. Dylan watched her limp down the hall and wondered what was really going on.
Dylan thought Lorene was different too as the older woman went outside to inspect the plants he and Aiden had went about the county to retrieve from different nurseries and friends. Lorene examined the plants in detail, bending over and leaning in close, her wrinkled hands carefully and delicately tracing over leaves and blooms as a contented smile formed on her face, It was the softest, most beautiful expression Dylan had ever seen on the elderly woman. He smiled to himself just seeing her delight—the clear and present love she felt towards the plants.
She sighed and straightened. “I’m going to need some help planting these where I want them,” she said to Dylan. He nodded; it was clear Lorene was much frailer than she had been when he had first met her. Oddly, it seemed that, at the same time, she was shining with the power that was coursing through her—the way Aira almost seemed luminescent from the elemental energy that coursed through her since she came into the full possession of her abilities.
As they dug holes to assist her grandmother in planting the various items that they had gathered for her, Dylan couldn’t help but think that Aiden was hiding his concern for Aira poorly. Lorene kept up a fairly constant stream of information about the different qualities of the plants, occasionally turning the delighted, joyful smile he had seen before on individual specimens. Aiden, as he worked, kept glancing at the house where Aira was.
“This one you have to be careful putting into the ground,” Lorene explained to Dylan, who was kneeling next to her, absorbing her instructions and information. “It tends to shock easily, so you want to make sure it’s set up right.” The older woman was carefully smoothing the thick, rich dirt around the plant, as carefully as if she were tending to an infant. “But if you make a tea of this, mint, catnip, and ginger, you’ve got a potent cure for the cold,” she added, glancing at Dylan to make sure he was paying attention. Dylan nodded, looking down at the plant long enough to memorize the look of it. He reached out and carefully caressed one of the leaves.
Dylan was not the only one who noticed Aiden’s preoccupation. Lorene kept glancing at the elder brother, making a face to herself that Dylan caught in flashes, He could tell she was amused, but she held her silence as they worked their way around the property gradually, retrieving whichever specimen she wanted to plant next and then finding a place for it in the particular bed she wanted it to be. Eventually, Lorene stopped in the midst of an explanation regarding why she was putting a few pennies around the plant she had just firmly put into the ground, looking at Aiden sharply. “If you’re that worried about her, go and talk to her. I’m sure she’d appreciate the company.”
Aiden looked at Lorene in confusion and surprise, and Dylan laughed out loud.
“Dude, you’ve been looking at the house every five minutes.
I’m sure Aira’s fine, but Lorene is right—check on her if you’re worried.”
Aiden shrugged. “It’s just not like her—she should be helping anyway.”
Lorene snorted, stiffly rising from her knees to her feet. “So then go and roust her,” Lorene suggested. “It’s about time the two of you start your own training anyway.”
Dylan remembered that Lorene was particularly interested in the two of them becoming impervious to the psychic persuasion Aira was capable of exerting.
“How exactly are we going to do this?” Dylan asked Lorene as he matched his pace to hers, following her into the house.
“I’m going to teach you a kind of mental discipline, and then you’re going to strengthen it while Aira tries to use her persuasive ability against you.” Dylan glanced with uncertainty at the woman.
“But isn’t there a danger the more often she uses it?”
Lorene nodded slightly. “There is, but there’s a greater danger if you’re not prepared for the possibility—if you’re not able to keep her from manipulating you later. My granddaughter is about to be put through a great deal of turmoil; if nothing else could change her over, the things I’ve seen might.” The older woman shook her head, and Dylan noticed her eyes welling with tears. She looked at Dylan, stopping suddenly a few yards from the front door. “Aira has a difficult time ahead of her, Dylan. I need you and Aiden to be especially vigilant.”
