by Regan Claire
“Okay okay, I’m up, I’m up!” I told him in my most ungracious voice. I’d get up, but I didn’t have to be happy about it.
I got dressed in a pair of black yoga pants and my favorite purple tank top then made my way downstairs, where about a pound of bacon, a couple of eggs, and a croissant were waiting for me.
“Eat up, Della. You’re going to need the energy. Cash, leave her bacon alone, there’s plenty over here.” My uncle defended my bacon. I knew I liked him for a reason.
It took a few moments of food shoveling for my stomach to feel almost uncomfortably full.
“So, what’s on the agenda today?” I asked finally, shooting a disgusted look over at Cash who looked like he was training for a food-eating competition.
“I know a good spot with some privacy. We’ll talk over the basics first, discuss what you already know and what you think you’ve done already, then we’ll go from there.”
“Why do I have to be there, Dad? I learned this stuff years ago,” Cash said, finally halting his gorging to chime in.
“Because you need to work on your shielding,” his father told him.
“But Della’s nowhere near ready for that yet. I still don’t get why I have to go.”
“Della’s powers were a little, er, unpredictable at Uncle Luke’s yesterday. We’ll need to shield her when we start working on things. This will be a good opportunity for some real life practice for you.”
Connor didn’t give Cash a chance to reply and shoved a sloshing cooler into his arms to take to the car.
“So, I’m unpredictable?” I asked while standing up from the kitchen table.
“No one could have predicted what happened at Luke’s store yesterday; so yes, you are. I’m still not sure I believe you did all that with only one Gather, but it’s better to be safe. We’ve got to get a move on though, kiddo. Leave the dishes, Ellis knows we’re in a rush today,” he said before I had a chance to finish rinsing my breakfast plate.
I didn’t really know why we were in a rush, or why I was considered unpredictable, or even why only one Gather shouldn’t be able to explain the destruction in the store the day before. No matter how frequently I didn’t know something, I still couldn’t get used to it; in fact, I was pretty sure my curiosity was giving me ulcers.
We took my uncle’s dark sedan, both me and Cash sitting in the backseat like children. After several minutes, and going over the causeway and into the picturesque town on the water called Manteo, we pulled into the parking lot of the Waterside Theatre.
“Dad, what are we doing here?” Cash asked as we all got out of the car.
“I wanted a little more privacy for our lessons with Della. It’s why we need to be here so early; we only have until two before rehearsals start.”
“What is this place? Is it a movie theatre?” I asked doubtfully. It was outside, so it couldn’t be a normal movie theatre. I’d certainly never heard of it.
“No, it’s an outdoor theatre for plays. The Lost Colony is playing right now. We’ll take you some time. It’s a great show, and every Outer Banker needs to know the story. I’ve worked something out, and we’re allowed to practice here during the day Monday through Thursday. I’ve got another place in mind for the weekends. We just have to be done by two,” my Uncle told us as he led the way through the gates and into the massive amphitheatre.
I vaguely remembered something about a lost colony from my American History class in high school. Well, high schools. But I didn’t really remember the details other than its being lost.
Connor led us down the center aisle until we were at the stage area. It was close to the water, and even though I couldn’t see it over the back of the stage walls, which looked like a wooden fort, I could still smell the distinctive Sound smell.
“Ok, Della, tell me everything that you know, or think, about our abilities,” Uncle Connor said.
“Not much. Aren’t you supposed to be telling me?” I didn’t know much, after all.
“I just need to know what you know.”
So I spent the next five minutes telling him about Gathering elements, how I could make the water come towards me before absorbing it. I told him about the day before with Luke, how it felt to Temper Air. As an afterthought, I told him about the runs I’ve always enjoyed, especially during rainy weather. “And Dove said that he could see me Gathering through my feet. Is that why I like running barefoot?”
“Yes, you’ve probably been unconsciously Gathering a little bit every time you do that. I’ll have to say Della, for a while I wasn’t sure you had any of our abilities. You have a very strong Shield. It seems you only let it down during those times when you are more at ease.”
“What’s Shielding?”
“It’s our most defensive ability, and the only one we can do with the Spirit Element, since we’re doing it with our own Spirit, or aura as Dover would call it. We can also Shield with different Elements, depending on what’s needed. It’s very difficult, and Cash is still learning. It’s protecting ourselves. Usually from detection or from an elemental attack. I’m not sure how you would have subconsciously learned it…” Then he shut his mouth, thinking about a childhood where you have to subconsciously learn a powerful defense mechanism to survive would be like.
Bad. Really bad. It couldn’t be all that impressive a defensive magic if I really had been using it all these years. If it had been, I suspect my childhood would have been a lot less therapy-inducing. I kept my thoughts to myself, however. I didn’t want Uncle Connor to feel guilty over something he’d had no control over.
“So,” he finally continued, “you know about Gathering, and Tempering, and now a little bit about Shielding. There is also Bending, and Reading. Bending is manipulating the elements. Cash, Bend Air for your cousin.”
Suddenly the light breeze I had been enjoying turned into a large gust of wind, nearly knocking me over. It ended as quickly as it began, allowing me to regain my balance and glare at my cousin.
Uncle Connor chuckled at us, the continued. “Reading is both very easy, and very difficult. It depends on what you’re trying to discover, and which Element you use. You can hear conversations that are happening, see past events, or glimpse a piece of the future. It’s easiest to do something of the present, or past. The future is really tricky. I never managed the talent but my mother had several accurate premonitions. Even she wasn’t as good as my grandmother Llewellyn.”
“Wait, so we can tell the future?” It sounded so useful!
“Well, potentially, yes some of us can see a glimpse of the future. Enough to prepare if something’s going to go wrong,” he said.
“Is there anything else?”
“Of course there is, but we aren’t going to bother with it until you get the basics down.” Now it was Connor’s turn to get my evil eye.
“Ok, so why don’t we work on Bending right now,” then he shouted over to his son. “Cash, Shield up with Earth, okay?”
“Why?” My cousin asked, not one for instant obedience.
“Because you’re terrible at it, and if you’d seen Luke’s store yesterday you’d realize you might need something a little more substantial.” Connor looked at me, “Okay, Della, we’re going to Bend Air since it’s easiest, for obvious reasons.”
“Wait, what obvious reasons?” Nothing about this was obvious, and I kinda wished Luke were there with his gentle-giant voice.
“Well, for one thing, you’ve already done it, even if you didn’t mean to. For another, there’s a decent breeze today,” he said, not explaining anything at all.
“Um. I still don’t understand.” I could see Connor take a breath to keep his patience, it’s like he forgot that I really was new to all of this.
“Well, I’m pretty sure you bent Air yesterday at the store, it’s the only thing that explains the destruction. And it’s hard to bend something that’s stationary. It’s why we work with Earth last. Water can be easy too, but not always convenient on land. Fire is too dangero
us to start with, and though it’s easy to Bend, you should wait until you have more control or you could hurt someone.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a red lighter. “Now, to Bend Air, you first have to Gather it. Anything you do, whether it’s Tempering, Bending, or Reading, will use up energy, and you need to collect before you try to do anything. Eventually you’ll learn to replenish as you go, which is necessary for Shielding and why it’s so difficult. Now, go ahead.” And he did something I thought was strange; he took the lighter in his hand, flicked a flame on, then made it disappear.
“I’m going to Temper Fire while you do this, so I can see what’s happening and direct you better,” he explained when he caught sight of my questioning look. I looked around for a couple minutes trying to think of another question to ask, when I realized I was procrastinating.
“Okay, here I go.” I closed my eyes and started to Gather, adding more Air to the stuff I already felt inside of me from before. I kept going, thinking that Connor would tell me to stop, but he didn’t, so I kept collecting more and more of the element until I started to feel full in a very zingy kind of way.
I finally opened my eyes, unable to Gather any more of the element, and looked at Connor for some guidance on what to do next.
“Shit,” was all he said, his eyes wide with shock, and his chest puffing a little quickly like he was out of breath.
“What did you do, Della? Dad never swears!” Cash said from his spot a few feet away, where he was brushing dirt off his hands, probably from touching the ground to Gather Earth. I shrugged since I had no idea what I’d done.
“She didn’t do anything I didn’t ask her to do, son. Just give me a minute to catch my breath.” Cash and I exchanged very confused looks before Connor went on, “You Gathered so much so fast, Della, that the air closest to you started thinning out. Made it hard to take a full breath.”
“I didn’t notice anything,” Cash said unbelievingly.
“You were far enough away, it only seemed to affect the four to five feet around her.”
“Oh, I read about that in Llewellyn’s diary.” I had only told him about the journal, not the specific entries. “She said something about being able to suck the air away…”
“No, no. That’s something different. You can learn to do that with Bending air. This was… you were like a funnel, you were Gathering so much. While I was Tempering, you looked like the eye of a small cyclone.” He looked at me for a moment with something like awe. “At least now I know that Luke wasn’t exaggerating.”
“What does it mean?”
“Not sure, other than you have a deep Well for storing energy.” My uncle’s words held no meaning for me.
“He means you can hold a lot. Usually, our ‘Wells’ are kind of shallow, which is why it is so important to Gather often when doing anything.” Cash explained much better than his father.
“Oh. So, it’s not bad or anything.” Cash rolled his eyes at me, something I thought only teenage girls did.
“Cash, I want you to go stand over there, just in case, and start Shielding while I walk Della through Bending.” I didn’t like the sound of “just in case”, but since we were going to continue with the lesson, what I was about to do couldn’t be that dangerous. Right?
“Ready, Della? You need to open yourself up the way you do before you Gather, but instead of pulling it towards you to Gather, I want you to try to push it away. That’s the easiest to start with.”
Opening myself up was easier said than done, but I did what he asked and felt around the energy inside myself until I found the little ball that felt like Air. Then I tried to feel what was outside myself at the same time and push. But nothing happened.
“That’s okay, you’ll get it. Just try again,” my uncle, not so helpfully, told me.
“Dad, you care if I add something?” Cash called from his “just-in-case” distance away. My uncle looked at him and shrugged, which Cash took as an affirmative since he started walking over to me.
“Della, if you let yourself get really still you can almost feel how the Air you’ve Gathered and the Air outside of you are still connected. Like a lasso or something. You want to use that connection when Bending. Got it?” That made much more sense, and I saw that my Uncle was nodding his head in agreement. Cash jogged back over to his safe distance away and my uncle signaled me to try again.
Damned if Cash wasn’t right, because as soon as I felt around, I felt that connection he was talking about. It wasn’t really like a line, or lasso; it was more like a magnet. So, using that, I tried to push again.
And my Uncle Connor went flying a good 20 feet away from me.
I don’t know what he did to keep himself from being injured, but he looked fine when he stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants.
“Dad, did you see that?” Cash yelled from across the stage area to where his father had landed, hooting in excitement while I did everything I could not to panic at my mistake.
“Yes, Cash. I saw it.” Connor replied dryly while he walked back towards me.
“That was a good start, Della. This time…”
“Are you serious? That was supposed to happen? Are you okay?” I asked him.
“Yes, I’m fine, I got my Shield up in time. It just seems that with your deeper Well, you have a little more…” he searched for a word.
“Oomph?” I provided the word that Luke used the day before, making Connor chuckle.
“Yes, a little more oomph. You’ll learn to use smaller amounts of energy as you gain more control. Beginners always go all out, you just have a bit more to go all out with. So, let’s try that again, only this time I think I’ll stand behind you.”
Connor pulled out a plastic grocery bag for me to blow around, making Cash get it and bring it back at first, until I got the hang of blowing the bag back towards me. After a couple hours, when I was making the bag dance in all directions, not just back and forth, Uncle Connor decided it was time for me and Cash to practice together, this time with me trying to blow things into him while he practiced his Shielding. It was, apparently, the best way to practice. It was also really fun.
We started off with light things, like pine needles. The Shield was really cool. Connor made Cash use his Shield at different sizes, so sometimes the pine needles would suddenly stop just an inch away from his face, then he’d push the Shield out larger and they would stop a couple of feet away. When he used a larger Shield, I noticed that some of the needles would get through, once even lodging in his mouth and making him sputter. The larger shield must be more difficult for him to use, so when I knew he was doing it I tried to be more forceful to get through his barrier. You know, payback for being a constant pain in my rear.
When Connor noticed what I was doing, he instructed me to push myself and try something a little heavier. So he pulled out a bag full of small sea shells, and let me at it. After I got good with the shells, we tried small rocks, then sticks, and so on. Cash seemed to be getting more and more tired, and after the second golf ball hit him in the gut, Uncle Connor called a halt to our practicing. Throughout our lesson together, Cash had to pause several times to Gather more Earth for his Shield. Every time Connor shook his head and admonished that he needed to learn to multitask.
“The Clades will not wait for you to Gather for your Shield before they attack!” he said the last time, after he’d called for the stop.
“I know, I know. I’m working on it. She just kept breaking them down faster than I could Gather.”
“Okay, Cash. This time I want you to Temper with Fire while you Shield. Maybe you can figure out another defensive plan. Della, why don’t you try to Temper at the same time, too. I’ve been thinking that you probably overdid it with Luke because you were using your entire store of energy. Try and separate a smaller portion before you Temper with it.” Connor tossed me his lighter. Cash had his hand in his pocket, draining his cell battery for the energy. He’s a smart man, my uncle. Sneaky too, because he’d known what
was happening for a while and wanted to see if his son could figure it out on his own.
It took me a few minutes to focus on what I was about to do. I was nervous, not only because I’d never Gathered from a flame before (what if it burns?), but also because the last time I Tempered was far from a good experience. I was afraid that the same thing would happen again. I flicked open the Zippo, sparked the light, then Gathered from the tiny flame. It was such a small amount that I instinctively started searching for a larger source of Fire to Gather from, feeling around for the warm type of buzzing that I now associated with that particular energy before I remembered that burning too much while Tempering was probably what caused all my issues the day before.
I spent another minute or two trying to figure out how to do two things in tandem. I decided that Tempering with Fire would be easiest to do first so I closed my eyes and did the little cloud trick I learned the day before, and was especially careful to only use part of what I’d collected since I wasn’t sure how much was too much. I felt it work instantly, felt my body become more attuned to the elements around me.
Opening my eyes revealed a world full of wavy colors, almost like ribbons, wisps, and clouds all over the place. I wondered if the sheen over my uncle and cousin meant anything special, or if all people seemed to vaguely glow when Tempering. Cash’s Shield looked like a brick igloo surrounding him. I thought I would have difficulty focusing on Tempering and Bending at the same time, but it was surprisingly easy. The two were so different that after I started Tempering it required no thought to keep it going, and I was able to focus on Bending my way through Cash’s Shield.
Uncle Connor tossed the five golf balls back on the ground, and I picked them up and swirled them over to where Cash was, seeing his Shield flare up when the balls hit it. But I didn’t get through on my first assault, so I tried again, putting all my focus on getting through his Shield. This time, all five hit at the same time, making his Shield flare up especially bright, and the next thing I knew, Cash was holding on to his shoulder. I’d gotten in again.
