Water

by Terra Harmony

  "Oh."

  "You can have it."

  "Oh, no. It’s obviously, umm, special to you." I tried to hand it back.

  "It is special to me, and so are you. That is why I want you to keep it. Besides, you can use a little luck." Just as he placed his hand around my own to push the rock back toward me, a small blue butterfly landed on the rock. It was smaller than the one I’d seen at my saining, but just as beautiful. Micah and I both stared in awe, careful not to breathe and scare away the delicate little insect. I risked a glance to the sky, keeping watch for any more hungry owls.

  "See?" Micah whispered in my ear. "There is something about that rock." Our hands, still locked together, were as sturdy as an oak. "One of our former Gaias could send messages, similar to what you do with me, only with animals. The animal would eventually find the intended recipient, or pass on the message to another of their kind until the message was delivered." I cut off my own snort as I mentally discarded the image of kangaroos playing telephone. How distorted would that message be?

  The butterfly stayed a few seconds longer, then fluttered off, disappearing in a swirl of falling cherry blossom petals. I smiled and said in a low, distracted voice, "I think I will hang on to this for a while."

  He smiled. "Come on, let’s get you something to eat."

  Chapter 17

  By the Book

  Micah burst into the library, "Cato!"

  A throat cleared from the back of the room, "By the tree, Micah."

  Before he even reached Cato, Micah was talking, knocking over stacks of books as he pounded past them. "Do you know what he did to her? I thought we were through with that archaic practice."

  Cato patiently waited until Micah came into view, then asked, "You are alone?"

  "Kaitlyn is in bed."

  "Good. She will need her rest no doubt, with the training schedule you created." Cato set down the book he had been reading. "To answer your question, the Seven is no longer marking Gaias or elementals. But apparently Shawn has taken it upon himself to continue the practice – he admitted to doing so even with Sarah."

  Micah crossed his arms, "He has gone too far."

  Cato raised one eyebrow, "May I remind you, Ardwyad, that with the fate of a Gaia looming over Kaitlyn's head, what Shawn did pales in comparison."

  Micah's flinch did not escape Cato.

  Cato narrowed his eyes, "Despite your relations with her, I assure you, Kaitlyn is no different from every other Gaia we've had. Her mission remains the same; as does yours. There can be no deviation."

  "Do not preach to me Cato. I can probably recite the doctrine better than you." Despite the bite in his voice, Micah kept his glower planted firmly at Cato's feet.

  "Of that, I have no doubt, my boy."

  Micah raised his chin, "But Shawn is a loose cannon. He is a danger to us all, and especially to Kaitlyn. If it is my job to protect her—"

  Cato held up his hand, effectually interrupting Micah, "Say no more." Cato smiled, looking on approvingly at Micah, "Always on mission."

  Micah met Cato's eyes with a hard stare, his jaw set.

  Cato cleared his throat again, "I've sent Shawn away to liaison with the Spanish government for our upcoming visit."

  "But he'll be back?"

  The smile disappeared from Cato's face, "He is your brother, after all."

  "But the mission of the Seven supersedes everything else, including family ties." Micah turned to leave, but looked back at Cato, "Like the doctrine says, right Cato?"

  Cato was left without words.

  Chapter 18

  As Always

  The next couple weeks were more relaxing than any since arriving at the Chakra. According to Micah, Shawn was sent away on temporary hiatus from the Seven, which helped relieve a lot of tension. Still, my shoulder was taking a long time to heal, even with mud treatments. Micah rarely left my side, for which I was thankful. We spent a lot of time talking and I took on a less physically demanding training agenda. Alex trained me on weapons, which consisted of anything I could operate using only my left hand. And, of course, the rest of my time was spent on mental exercises with Micah.

  The mental exercises at times were more taxing than physical training, ending with both of us covered in sweat – a real problem considering I couldn’t shower with my shoulder still healing. Micah ran at least two baths for me each day, and developed a time consuming hobby of creating different herb mixtures using a variety of flowers found around the Chakra.

  Although we spent most waking moments of the day together, and shared the same bed every night, he kept a respectful distance. He made no more sexual advances, which was fine with me. Our relationship had escalated too quickly. The gap seemed healthy. It allowed us time to get to know each other. We had a similar sense of humor, which I found fortunate. Unfortunately, we also shared a similar sense of competition. After dinner we often played card games to fill the time. Inevitably the loser would spend the rest of the evening sulking. Our only reprieve was when others joined us – Micah and I worked well as a team. The others seldom had a chance.

  Micah dealt the cards to a group of four of us as we played spades in the living room. Sitting opposite each other as partners, Micah and I had the advantage in play, letting one another know what was in our hands. It was a mental exercise that we were becoming masters at. Underneath the table we kept our bare feet locked together. It was easier to communicate if we were touching. Our points grew steadily and evenly. Alex was getting more frustrated with each hand and Cato, who only played at my insistence, quickly learned to keep his bids small. I won the hand.

  Cato took the cards from Micah, shuffling them before dealing. He pushed the deck to Micah to cut it. "A few more tricks and Micah and Kaitlyn will be at 500 – do you want to go another round?"

  "Oh, they have more than just a few tricks." Alex mumbled. "They’re cheating."

  "Now, Alex," Cato scolded. "Those who blame their failures on others have only failed themselves."

  Alex gave a dismissive grunt. A tickle inside my head meant Micah was trying to send a message. I opened up to it. The corner of my mouth rose slightly, letting him know I understood. At the same time each of us selected all of the spades from our hand and pushed them toward Alex.

  As expected, Alex turned bright red and slammed his hand down on the table. Cards scattered across the room. "I don’t need your charity!"

  I stifled a giggle and Micah turned away to hide his smile. Cato raised an eyebrow at the two of us, then pushed himself away from the table. He crossed his arms and addressed Alex. "It is just a game, Alex. What exactly is troubling you?"

  Alex stood, turned and began walking away.

  "Alex." Cato’s voice echoed through the room. Alex stopped in his tracks, reluctantly turning around. He took a couple of deep breaths, then walked back.

  "It’s just…" Alex paused and looked at me.

  "Yes?" Cato prodded.

  "I’m bored. I do nothing all day. Spend maybe an hour a day with Kaitlyn, because Micah keeps coddling her shoulder. You know if we have to ship out soon, she is not going to be prepared. But it’s not just that." Alex paced. "There are no missions to plan, no projects for me to help with, there is nothing for me to do. I feel…useless."

  Cato leaned back in his chair and looked Alex over, studying him. Finally he spoke, "I agree. You need something to do. Come see me in my office tomorrow morning, before Kaitlyn’s lesson."

  Alex kept looking at Cato, waiting for more of the plan.

  Cato, however, was not known for oversharing. "You may excuse yourself now. We could do without another outburst."

  Alex threw his hands up in the air and left the room, stomping as he went.

  Micah cleared his throat and began cleaning up the mess. I helped by collecting the cards. Cato broke the silence, "You two are getting good at that."

  We both paused momentarily to give Cato an innocent ‘I don’t know what you are talking about’ look.

 
Cato narrowed his eyes at us. "Don’t give me that. I know what you are up to."

  Micah came to our defense, "We have been spending a lot of time on mental exercises. We can’t do much else until Kaitlyn heals. Anyway, her mastery of this particular discipline is more important than any other. If something goes wrong on assignment she has the rest of us to help her out."

  Cato raised an eyebrow. "You know that isn’t always the case. Many a time a Gaia has been left fending for herself. Although I will admit, Kaitlyn is quickly becoming one of the most powerful I have seen in my lifetime."

  I tried my best to suppress a prideful smile.

  "Which isn’t always a good thing, mind you." Cato gave me a pointed look. "You need time yet to heal, but you can’t just sit around doing nothing. Otherwise I might be dealing with tantrums from three people. I want you to continue doing your exercises, but with another focus. You need to learn to interact with nature, not with Micah." He turned back to Micah, "Incorporate more elements into the exercises. And she needs to learn to do it under distress, or with severe distraction."

  Cato stood slowly and looked at me again, "Once you have mastered that, you can go on to handling several tasks at once."

  "Oh, can I?" I let slip a little more sarcasm than intended.

  "I’ll leave it to Micah to mind the details." Cato placed a hand on my good shoulder. "I don’t envy you. Micah can be a tough teacher."

  I glanced at Micah, but he appeared to be deep in thought. I let out a sigh of regret. Cato laughed and patted my shoulder hard, twice.

  I listened to Cato’s slow footsteps echo down the hallway, then finished picking up the mess, letting Micah sit with his thoughts.

  As I slipped the last card on top of the deck, he snapped to. I shook my head. "Questionable timing, as always."

  He smiled, standing and grabbing my hand to pull me to my feet. "Come on, you need to get some sleep. Tomorrow will be an … interesting day."

  Half an hour later, we were both buried under a nest of blankets, intertwined with each other. His breathing said he was having just as much trouble falling asleep as I was.

  "Do you have any regrets?" Micah whispered hesitantly into the darkness. "I mean, with me?"

  I didn’t respond right away, carefully concocting an answer in my head. "I’ll admit things moved quickly for us, but I don’t regret anything that has happened between us," I added, "so far." I was fully aware Micah was capable of anything, and I was certain I had not witnessed his worst hour, or his best for that matter.

  Micah didn’t answer right away himself. He left it long enough that I began to wonder if he was going to answer at all. "I’m sorry," he mumbled under his breath, so quietly I could barely hear.

  "For what?" I whispered back.

  He never answered. A few minutes later his breath slowed with sleep.

  Questionable timing, as always.

  Chapter 19

  Eyes on the Prize

  The next morning Micah escorted me to Alex’s training room without giving me a chance to finish our conversation from last night. Alex jumped into the lesson right away on, of all things, whips, using only my left hand. My right arm no longer needed a sling, but neither was it very useful.

  I started by simply trying to hit a mark with the whip. Alex dipped the end of it in red paint every so often so he could track where my hits were landing. He instructed me to use some of my "voodoo" as he so eloquently put it to encourage the whip to hit its mark. Not that he knew much about that side of the business. I glanced at Micah for moral support only to discover he was no longer there; the distraction earned me a sharp bite at the ankle.

  "Ow! You drew blood!" I accused Alex as I turned just in time to see him retracting his whip.

  He smiled. "Keep your eyes on the prize – and the prize is not Micah."

  "Says you," I mumbled underneath my breath. "Why are you in such a good mood, anyway?" I took a shot at his leg and missed, but managed to draw blood from my other ankle when I pulled in my whip using the wrong technique. "Damn it!"

  Alex guffawed; his smile was contagious. I couldn’t help but follow suit. He brought over the first aid kit and started tearing open Band-Aids. We sat down in the middle of the floor, Alex bandaging my ankles, until our giggles subsided.

  Silence settled over us.

  "I talked to Cato this morning," Alex said.

  "Aaand…" I prompted.

  "Aaand, we are going on assignment," his eyes lit up.

  "We, as in..."

  "All of us." Now he sounded like a kid in a candy shop with a fifty dollar bill.

  I did not share his enthusiasm, "I thought I wasn't supposed to be ready for missions until after a year of training." I fiddled with a piece of thread hanging from the hem of my shorts.

  He cleared his throat and made a visible effort to tone down his excitement. "Cato said it is a small assignment, and that maybe we all needed a break from the Chakra."

  "When do we leave?"

  "Next week." He scooted closer beside me, "Don’t worry about it, you’ll do fine, Katie."

  I lifted my eyes to him. Alex had picked up the habit of calling me Katie, just like my parents used to.

  He opened his mouth to speak again, but the sound of the door opening cut him off.

  "Alex?" Micah hesitated in the doorway. "I have to take Kaitlyn now..."

  Alex hopped up, then extended his hand to me. "That’s okay, I have lots to do." He gave me a wink and took my whip. "To be continued."

  "Yeah, just wait until I can use my right hand." I challenged, watching him over my shoulder as Micah led me out of the room.

  We walked toward the kitchen in silence, Micah strangely withdrawn.

  I tried to start a conversation. "Where did you go?"

  "Cato summoned me," he said. "Did Alex tell you?"

  "About the assignment?" I asked.

  He gave something barely classifiable as a nod.

  "Yes. Do you think I am ready?"

  "I think you are strong, but, the only way to tell if you are ready is by trial. We only have a few days before we leave. We’re going to step up our game."

  "Ok, what did you have in mind?"

  He avoided my gaze. "You’ll see. Let’s just do this before I change my mind."

  I frowned, discomfort hitting my stomach at the foreboding statement. He led me into the kitchen, then the walk-in freezer. Micah pulled on a handle and a gust of cold air rushed out at us. I looked up at him confused.

  Taking a deep breath, he finally met my eyes. "Whatever happens, just concentrate. Try to remember this is only going to help you and…don’t hate me."

  "What?"

  He grabbed my arm and pulled me into the large freezer, forcing me to take a seat on a chair in the middle of the room before I could react. He tied my hands to either side of the chair and started in on my feet.

  I thrashed, trying to free my arms from the bindings while keeping my legs away from the rope. I felt my shoulder wound rip open. The fresh whip cuts on my ankles fared no better. "What are you doing?"

  His only response was a rough tug at my ankle, tying it to the leg of the chair as quickly as possible. He stood, grabbed a flower pot off of the shelf, and set in on my lap.

  I looked at it, still doing my best to pull myself free, only succeeding in making the chair rock back and forth. A pot of dirt. He reached into his pocket, pulled out something small, and tossed it unceremoniously on the dirt.

  "This is a seed; you need to make it grow. When there’s a bud, I will let you loose." He turned toward the door.

  "Wait!" I called after him, my teeth already starting to chatter. "Why in here?"

  "Cold is a good distraction." He didn’t look at me.

  I suddenly remembered Cato’s orders and groaned inwardly. "You are just going to leave me here? Why can’t you freeze your ass off too? I thought we were partners!"

  He stepped outside, pushing the door halfway shut. "Because anger is also a good distraction.
" The door closed with a loud thump.

  So help him, if by some miracle I ever did get this plant to grow, and he let me loose… I thought of all the things I would do to him, put a mental push behind the images and sent it to Micah. All I got in return was the image of a budding plant. I set the plant on fire in my mind, but erased the picture before sending it out. I needed to conserve my energy. I clenched my jaw, trying to stop the chattering, but it was no use. It only spread, making the rest of my body shiver violently. The thin workout clothes I wore did nothing to ward away the cold. He wasn’t going to let me die in here, but resolve set in. Damn if I would fail this task. I’ll finish quickly and then let Micah feel the full brunt of my anger.

  I looked at the pot sitting on my lap. First things first, the seed needed to bury itself. I tried to send the seed images of dirt completely surrounding it but nothing happened. Stupid idea. Probably only animate objects could receive thoughts. Next I let half the pot slip in between my legs and I held it firmly there. The cold ceramic instantly stuck to my bare skin and burned. I shook my entire body as violently as I could. The seed just bounced around on top of the dirt. I shouted. "Stupid seed!"

  I huffed in anger and continued to think. The brief undertaking kept my mind off of the cold, but now it was quickly seeping back into my bones. I thought of Micah, warm in the kitchen, probably enjoying a hot lunch. "Anger is a good distraction," I huffed under my breath. "I’ll show you anger." Then it hit me. "Yes, I will show you anger."

  I conjured memories of the typhoon in India, memories of my parents funeral, and even memories of Shawn. I kept them strong and stable in my mind, then tapped into the frequency of the earth below the house, drawing in its energy. I felt it shake slightly in response. "Not enough," I muttered. Next I sent the borrowed energy back, shooting into the ground. The earth rolled harder. I repeated the process, sucking in waves then returning them with all the anger I could conjure. Frozen food began falling off of the shelves around me, but the rumbling and shaking was doing its job. Small dirt particles were jumping around in the pot, and the seed slowly disappeared into the nest of soil. As soon as I thought the seed was down far enough, I stopped the energy waves. The earth didn’t subside immediately, but slowly settled. I focused back into my surroundings. I wasn’t shivering anymore, which was probably a bad thing. Exhaustion was starting to set in. The cold and my exertions were causing my body to shut down.