Elementals

Fire

Roxy widened her feet a bit more as she lined up with the others. Each now had a furnace in front of her. "These furnaces hold wet wood, and for 45 minutes you will light the fire, make it raging hot, and then keep the embers hot. I will then soak the wood again and you will start over." Pax, an elder Elemental teacher solely focused on the art of fire, called through the room. He was to the side, drinking tea and seemingly bored with todays lesson already.

"Are we keeping it blazing hot for 45 minutes or are we putting it out and starting it up again for 45 minutes over and over again?" Des asked and only got a look in response.

"Go!" Pax shouted and flipped a hourglass with only so much sand. Z was the first to raise the heat to his standards, and then Emmerson. It took 5 minutes to get everyone to the first extinguish. Lia was last, not getting the hang of it right away.

St the very end of the testing the 'winner' as Pax liked to always call out was Elijah. He hadn't progressed a lot through Fire, but today was a giant step forward. Once they were done with the furnaces it was time to talk technique.

"Talia, why do you breath evenly when working with fire?" He called her out quickly, he had noticed early in her training that she always seemed to take fast shallow breaths when working with fire.

"Because when you work with fire you are the creator and the controller, if you breath evenly then the fire will be constant and controlled better." She was humiliated enough and Pax knew it. He gave her a nod before looking around.

"Zacharias, why is it best to reserve your strength when working with fire?" Pax saw the eye roll even as he kept his eyes roaming.

"Because you never know when you need it for survival or when you need it to fight." He repeated the words he has heard and read and repeated since he was 8 years old.

"Correct! Desmond, tell me why it is lucrative to raise the temp over time rather than starting off hot." He encouraged knowing that Des never really knew how to control temperature let alone have complete control over his fire.

"Well, for one with the wet wood needed to be dried with a constant temp before actually being lit with a higher one, using a low temp wont get make us too tired as well." He added and rubbed his nose as he looked right at his teacher.

Pax asked each student a direct question pertaining to what he thought they did wrong during the 45 minutes before telling them what they were going to do next. "Cook a fish... perfectly."

He waved them up and turned, knowing they would all start to follow. He led them right into the kitchen and opened up the freezer before pushing out a fish per student.

"Perfectly how we like it, or how you like it?" Myra asked as she looked at the fish in front of her, a little creeped out that it was looking at her.

"Is there a difference? If it is burnt it is burnt. You shall start over." She nodded and looked at the fish in front of her.

Pax sat down and gave a nod of his head, and all of them started to moved the fish around, the only one to put it on a stick like you would for a grill was Lia. Pax watched them, amused at how many the new Elemental burnt and got frustrated.

"Like this?" Lia waved her hand at the fish, her first and only.

"Perfect. You may eat." Waving his hand at her she moved to take it off the spick it was on and onto a plate. Watching the skin peel off in a whole piece. The scent coming off the only fish cooked right drew the attention of the others in the room.

Lia slowly ate, not liking how some of the others were watching her. After the smell of burnt fish got too heavy in the air, Pax stood up and held up his hand.

"Anyone want to tell me what Talia did different?" Pax asked and looked around the room.

"The spick?"

"Nope." Pax answered immediately and looked to Lia. "What did you notice?"

"I did it slow and steady like a fire would for a normal person." She shrugged and he nodded before looking at the others.

"Fast and high flames don't always make things perfect. Some times slow and steady wins the race." He turned and waved his hand over the fish left over, taking his time to talk about how he kept the temperature even and equal. Lia kept eating, already understanding. Once all the fish were done he waved his hands to the others and they all took one. "For those who don't understand what a perfect fish is like, taste this and never think about another kind again."

The kids all ate, and Pax took his leave telling them all to practice as much as they could with their own heaters in their rooms. Lia was first done, and after a subtle laugh from Des when she looked down the lane at Z, and as soon as she wiped her mouth she got up on the double, almost tripping over her chair before rushing out of the room.

She set her mind to going to her room and get some practice on the furnace. She changed from her long skirt and into shorts before sitting cross legged in front of the furnace. Creating a flame in her hand she tossed it into the wood and watched it take over the wood that someone had added during the day.

She raised the heat, watching the embers down below give off heat waves once the wood was almost gone she calmed it and sat up. Taking her hair down and running her fingers through it before braiding it again. This time not so tight.

A knock made her jump and she dropped the braid as she stood. She walked to the door and opened it, noticing that it was time for chores. "Here. Just one letter." Z held out the letter in his hand and she gulped and nodded. "I never realized your hair had gotten so long." He told her and watched her cheeks flame up a bright red.

"Yeah, Pax and all the other masters asked me to keep it up, pinned and tight so it would never get in the way, or catch on fire accidently... you know... because I had that habit when we were young." She stammered out, only to be even more embarrassed about admitting that.

"It looks nice down for a change." He told her as he leaned and she simply gulped before looking away. "Okay, I will leave you to your letter. The Twins have one too." He told her before nodding and moving on. Sneaking a glance back before she closed her door he felt his own emotions rise. He liked seeing her blush, but the more he did it the more the twins made fun of her for it, so Z lived for the moments when they were alone to get her to blush.

He made his way towards the twins only shared room at the school and knocked, not getting an answer right away Z simply slipped it under the door before realizing that was all he had to do. He was surprised there wasn't a letter for Elijah, but tomorrow was Saturday and that meant that Elijah's mom was making her way up the mountain and didn't have time to write.

Wondering around the dorms before heading towards the training grounds he spotted Myra. She was going through the basic forms for Air but nothing was happening. He waited and watched and each time she took a small misstep she got angry with herself and moved to start all over.

"You know... one wrong move with Air isn't going to hurt you. Before Belinda was needed we had an older master, and he told me... what I am going to teach you." Z jogged down the stairs, waving his owns arms around, going through the basic motions before aiming the burst of air at a tree and getting it bend slightly.

"How did you- you're on the stairs." Myra whined as she looked from him to the tree and he just moved to stand in front of her.

"Where is the air?"

"Everywhere?" She asked like she didn't understand the question.

"Above you." He told her and she nodded. "So, think about this... will air crush you like earth will if you mess up?"

"No, but it could-"

"Nope... don't think. Just answer my question. Could air kill someone with out you willing it?" He asked and she shook her head again. "Could you hurt yourself?"

"No?" She didn't know what he wanted for an answer but Myra couldn't come up with one possibility that would lead her injured from practicing Air.

"Correct. The motions we are showed in class and in books are structured. But the air moves freely above us, so don't be so stiff. Relax, do the motions but do what feels right to your body. Try again and don't try and correct yourself. Keep going." He encouraged and the stepped back to watch her.

Myra took a deep breath, letting it out slow as she walked a good distance away. She turned, took another deep breath before taking a step, turning her body, swirling her arms as she went, taking two more turns of her body, one more than necessary but since she did make an over calculation Myra took the advice and went with it. Thrusting her arms out when she stopped she not only sent a burst of air, she sent one so powerful that it pushed the tree right into a window until both glass and wood were broken.

"Oops." She winced and looked to Z who was just beaming with pride.

"Amazing!" He held open his arms and moved to hug her. She hugged him back and giggled as they heard a mild curse from behind them.

"Who did that?" Belinda's shout was louder since she was making her way closer.

"I did. I messed up a form, took an extra turn and I didn't realize it would be that powerful." Myra spoke up as she turned to face her teacher.

"What were you using? Earth?" Belinda asked as she moved around the two teenagers.

"Air." Belinda turned with an impressed look before looking right to the tree again.

"Way to go. But maybe no more extra turns now that you know what you can do." She sent her a wink before Belinda turned and waved her hand, swirling just her fingers she lifted the tree and moved it away from the window. Forcing more earth to form bricks once she could see the damage in the wall. "We will send for a new window."

"When will it be here?" Myra asked knowing that some animals were always trying to get into then buildings for food.

"By next week. Until then, I guess we should all live with a little breeze in the classrooms." Belinda smiled at both of them before focusing on Myra. "You are progressing quiet well with a little help. If only he would be this open with helping all of his peers." She shot Z a look before nodding her head at them both.

"Not everyone listens to me the way Myra does." Z told her and she just shrugged.

"One day you might need them all to listen to you. You are the oldest. And one day you might be their Elemental leader."

"Not if they don't listen." He laughed at the mere thought of him being in charge.

"How about you two go and read something. It is supposed to rain this weekend, and if and when it stops you guys can come out here and dry everything with that wicked wind. No more windows though." She smiled as Myra walked to Z and he led them both towards the library.

"What else did that teacher tell you?"

"Just something that helps me focus on the bending. He had a chant, Air above me, Earth below me, Water around me, and Fire within me. It used to help me focus on where I was drawing my power."

"Used to? You don't use it anymore?" Myra asked as they pushed open the doors of the library.

"I don't need to remind myself each time I practice. And all these books in here... they help you focus on what to do with that control." He moved quick and pulled a book from a shelf, it looked well read and as he flipped the pages before showing Myra something.

"What is it?" She asked as she tried to read the small print on the diagram.

"It's what we do. How we use the things outside of our body. It's all up here." He poked her head softly and she tilted it before looking back at it. "We can do anything with the right amount of power, imagination, and technique." He told her and while she soaked up what he had to teach, she also loved feeling like she had someone who cared about her schooling.

Myra and Z were the only two fully given up when their parents discovered that they were Elementals. Myra had been found at 8, so she was old enough to remember her parents. Zachariah was merely a baby when he was given away. The bond they formed over tutoring and playfulness made them the only real family they felt like they had.

Z always made sure she was never picked on, or sad or lonely. He was there just when she needed him, and while she would never say it out loud... he was the best non brother she could have ever found here.