Elemental Awakening

Chapter Three

Ashfoot thought about Mazy and her family as they left the volcano complex. She even dipped into her memories, still vivid with perfect detail of when Mazy woke in the Abysmal Plane. That was one mystery that she was forced to forget about, even the sight was unable to aid in answering her questions in regards to that youth. Ashfoot meditated on the whole event for more than a year, until she was forced to focus on training her granddaughter as her replacement. She indulged herself one last time, hoping that the earth elemental and the trek through the unforgiving dessert would bring the family some answers.

Silence sat in Ashfoot’s house as her time to give birth to her twins drew near. She could feel the excitement building and her babies moving inside her. Silence was healthy and the shaman didn’t foresee any complications even though she was expecting two instead of one baby. But Silence requested the shaman to attend to her instead of a traditional midwife. The time drew nearer and Silence had to stand and walk with the growing contractions. As her body prepared her for the arrival of her children she felt something amiss. “Ashfoot, one has stopped moving!”

Ashfoot checked the woman and confirmed that only one child was preparing to enter the world. “Yes and this one is ready to wake with us.” Ashfoot guided the new mother to the prepared bed and helped her deliver the first child. After Mazy came into the world Silence began to cry. She could no longer feel her second child and labor had stopped.

“She is lost!” Silence wailed, and began to choke into racking sobs. Ashfoot checked and found that the woman’s body was already beginning to recover and no other child was on the way. Mazy who was supposed to be a twin was born alone…

Cleo ran through the woods barefoot and the skirt had been ripped from her. She was running but she didn’t know why, it won’t do her any good, he’ll just get her again. She no longer had the ability to scream as he choked her into unconsciousness last time he touched her. Damaging the soft tissue in her throat to the point of no longer being able to work; monster.  And he called her a freak. She was just a little girl with a special gift, a gift that he tried to get rid of. He never had the strength or the intent to kill her but she knew this time if he got her again, it would happen. If only her gift had enough strength to use it against him. If only she could throw the earth at him like she could juggle the stones. And why wouldn’t her mother protect her from this beast. She was useless, Cleo had lost her love and hope for her mother a long time ago. Her mother had more love for the drugs in her arms and needles than she did for Cleo. That’s why she kept that brute of a man around. He kept Cleo’s mom drugged so she didn’t care. He could do whatever he wanted to, to Cleo and her mother would never object. Luckily Cleo was never pushed into doing the things that he did to the older girls in the house. He would just beat her. He wanted the power over her that Cleo had over the earth. If only she could use it right now. No one would listen. No one could listen. She just had to run.

Cleo’s life was perfect before he came from America. Chad. Bad Chad as the kids in the house called him. He bought the house and let Cleo and her mom move in when she was two years old. Her dad had been killed working in a bad part of town and her mom was never able to hold down a job for very long. Her last job she met Chad and they became friends. He had a big house and there were always people coming and going. A lot of older kids from the high school liked to hang out at Chad’s house. And he would let them if they let him do what he wanted to them. He was in jail for about a year because one of the high school girls got pregnant with his baby. Cleo remembered the baby well. She wasn’t a healthy baby because the momma was on drugs the whole pregnancy and wouldn’t eat. But she was very pretty. The baby died a month after she was born. The momma was kicked out of her parent’s house because she had the baby. And Chad was in jail, but wouldn’t have taken care of her any way.

A branch hit Cleo in the face. [Pay attention he wants to kill you!] Cleo thought to herself. [He might make you have a baby this time. And your useless momma won’t put him in jail. Just keep running. You can’t stop running.] She could feel Chad’s fingers breaths from her shirt. [Get to the earth! Just get to the earth.] Cleo knew that the thick leaf cover would keep her from channeling her gift into the stone. She just needed to get to the earth, the stone, and the rock. It would save her life. Finally. She made it!

Cleo ran into a clearing of solid rock, granite. She could feel the stone, but she stopped. Chad wrapped his hand through Cleo’s brown shoulder length hair and yanked. She was being dragged into the foliage again. She turned to Chad and kicked hard enough to make him let go. She dashed back onto the safety of the stone.

“Why you little b***h!” Chad shouted in English, Cleo couldn’t understand. “I will kill you!” he switched to Portuguese. “Do you want that? Do you want me to take you out? I will kill you, little b***h. Then I’ll kill your momma!” he started to move towards Cleo, but he stopped as he felt the earth move. “What? What is this?”

The earth vibrated with Cleo’s thoughts and Chad could hear what Cleo wanted him to. [You are week! And you already killed my momma with the poison in her veins! You can’t kill me!] Chad began to shake with more than just the movement of the earth. He began to quake in fear. He knew he shouldn’t have let her get to the stone. This was her only chance, and he needed to kill her, to get rid of her. She was too powerful, and it scared him. She was a freak, a disease that needed to be cured. Did she know that’s what he had been trying to do, he just couldn’t bring himself to actually kill her. “Look we can talk about this!” he tried his best to pull himself together. “Look I’ll make her stop, I mean she’s your momma.”

The earth shook even harder [You think she’ll make me better! You tried to kill me! You said you were going to kill me!] She paused and the earth rose up to cover her naked legs. [It’s my turn bad Chad. You can’t hurt me ever again!] Cleo gathered her strength, and focused her mind. She could thank Chad for one thing, her ability to focus. All the beatings had given her a reason to want to be stronger. So any time Chad was gone she practiced and waited, biding her time for when she could make herself get rid of him. [Are you ready Chad?]

“What? For what?” He had a really bad feeling that he was going to have to answer for a lot of deeds.

When the police found Chad encased in a solid block of granite except for his head the next morning, they were quite confused. Every one of his crimes were detailed and neatly carved into the stone in which he was encased. Chad was just babbling “I did it, I did it.” He repeated his litany over and over again. It took a solid week with people working round the clock to chip Chad out of the block of stone. Chad was charged with one crime that wasn’t carved into his confessional block, and that was the disappearance and possible murder of Cleo.

When Cleo encased Chad and told the earth to leave him in the town square she knew that she had to get away. She knew she had to find a way home, the home that she had dreamed of her whole life. She dreamed of a desert, but lived in a jungle paradise. She dreamed of craggy mountains and endless tunnels and caves. Cleo dreamed of people that she has never met or seen, but she knew that they would be her family. Cleo drew the earth to her with one final push of her power. She encased herself from the bottoms of her feet to the top of her head. She was trapping herself in layers and layers of granite. She inhaled her last breath in Brazil and blew out. The granite casing exploded away from her.

Before her stood a girl that looked just like herself. With brown hair, eyes and dolce de leche colored skin. They were both on the shorter side for their age and looked like would be well fleshed without being obscene when they are grown.

Behind the girl stood two adults, apparently the girl’s parents. They looked surprised to be seeing their daughter’s twin. The girl just smiled back. “My name is Mazy this is our dad, Jade, and our mom, Silence.”

Cleo responded in her earth speak and every one could hear her through the vibrations of the earth. [I’m Cleo. I’m so happy to be home] Cleo and Mazy ran to each other and locked in a fierce embrace. Mazy’s parents just looked in wander. Maybe this is why the shaman was confused at Mazy’s birth. She couldn’t see the twin once she passed into the dreaming world.

The trip back to the village was long, but not as arduous as the trip to greet her had been for Mazy and her parents. Cleo was able to make it easier by creating bridges over chasms and moving boulders out of the way. Every earth obstacle that had slowed the trio on the way out was now negated by Cleo’s ability to push the earth. The journey back to the cactus paw village took only two nights when the trip out had taken five nights. When the family had reached the cactus paw mountain range Cleo didn’t need any help finding the secret entrance to the caves below. Weather it was her affinity with the earth or her memories from her dreams, there was no telling.

There will be much celebrating when the twins return to the village. Not only was the elemental found but she was a lost cactus paw! Cleo’s dreams growing up seemed to prepare her for her life with the cactus paw she seemed to know everything that they were trying to teach her already. She would rumble back through the earth that she knew all the plants or animals already. Cleo didn’t share her past on earth with her parents, she knew that they would be furious, but wouldn’t be able to do anything about it here.

Mazy dreamt about Cleo and her world as often as Cleo had dreamed about the abysmal plane. They truly were sisters, and now that their souls had been reunited they were unable to be separated. Even though the shaman’s teachings and the histories told that the earth elemental was supposed to be a male Mazy refused to pack male clothes, and instead packed a set of her own clothing. Mazy had known her sister was coming. Now her parents were glad that they had made the concession.  

Once Cleo made it into the cave complex she finally felt safe, she felt welcomed. Cleo smiled. She was home.

As Cleo was coming home so was the wind elemental. Talon stepped through the village entrance with a man his age moments after Cleo and Mazy came home. Talon brought the wind elemental to the great hall immediately after Mazy brought Cleo. Bothe parties related their stories of how they found their elementals. All villagers were pleased that two more elementals had been guided back. And everyone wanted to know exactly how it happened. Talon retold his part of the tale slowly.

Talon was raised by his mother’s parents. He had an aunt that was only five seasons older than him and was more of a sister to him. As his parents were unable to care for him do to the demands that their positions put upon them. They loved him dearly but realized that his grandparents could give him a better life than they could. Talon loved his parents and felt well cared for as a child. He loved his aunt Parespine and cared for her as a sister, they were inseparable as children and every bit of trouble they got into she took full credit for. Once Talon reached the age of accent into manhood it was decided that his father’s family would take his charge. Living in a house hold of females would more than likely slow his education. So on his twelve turn birthday he moved to the opposite side of the hive to start training as a blacksmith.

Talon showed real promise as a black smith. His talent drew him to fine daggers. His skill crafted functional works of art. These daggers were in truth talons, they were so perfectly crafted and so well balanced that they became extensions of one’s self. He crafted each to uniquely speak to one person, but never to the same person. Each was designed on commission he would work one design at a time, never jumping projects. He would only pick up a new project once he completed another.

Talon received his tracking stone the day he finished a particularly astonishing dagger. The first that he created with a gemstone, it was for Lamasuli. As she was coming into her own as a warrior leader and Talon was seeing her as a woman. He was hoping to impress her. The gem was a clear ruby, you could only see the red in dim light, and otherwise it looked as if he had used a diamond. As he received his tracking stone and left the council hall he quickly went to his house and wrapped his gift and freshened up so as to impress. He then walked down to Lamasuli’s parents’ house, just missing Avensong and Dankiyet, and handed Lamasuli the dagger carefully wrapped in an embroidered linen dress.

“Please don’t give this back.” He looked at Lamasuli expectantly “I spoke with your mother and Ashfoot… they said that I may… court you.” He rushed on “I’m leaving now…to find Wind.” He knew that if she accepted this that they would dance at the next planting festival, and would be engaged to the entire Cactus Paw tribe.

“Oh!” Lamasuli fingered the fine fabric and smiled. “This is no warrior drab.” She leaned in close and lightly kissed Talon next to his eye. He turned and she smiled once more as she watched him leave. She whispered to herself. “This on the other hand is what makes a warrior.” Lamasuli palmed the dagger and tested the weight. It sang to her, the dagger felt elated to be in her hand, as though it was the echo of her soul. She regretted that one day she may have to use it. She understood that the blade would be changed.

Talon packed his things and set off on his own. He walked the first night till the sun was cresting the horizon. At this point he ate his ration and pulled his cloak over himself. He lay next to a boulder and blended seamlessly with the stone outcropping. He did this for three more nights until the morning of the fourth day just as he was falling into sleep he felt the tugging. At first it was gentle, and then quickly it became more persistent. It started as the tracking stone, but then his entire body became the magnet. He started moving in the direction but walking wasn’t fast enough. He began to run, he ran with the sun. Talon’s feet were aching and blistered but he shouldered the pain as his mission came close to an end. The Sun sat at its zenith and his body felt thirst. Sweat poured from him, but Talon continued to run. He could swear that his feet were carried on air as he drew near to the one spot that he knew would bring the air elemental into the world. Talon’s feet left no prints in the dry sand, but the blood running from his ragged feet left a trail; for a few minutes, until the flies consumed it. Talon ran until the Sun sank to its nightly rest. Suddenly as the last rays of light disappeared behind the horizon he stopped. This was it. This was the spot that air would take form. The air thickened, then convalesced, then expanded. In a boom that knocked Talon down, a boy walked out of the air. He materialized as if the air came together, and this boy; or man rather stepped into the world.

Talon looked at the man and waited for him to adjust. The man looked around and tried to figure out exactly where he was.

“My name is Talon, I am your guide.”

The man turned to him as he spoke. “Where am I?”

“You are in the abysmal plain; there is more world to this, past the mountains and green lands past the scar of earth.” He paused and pointed in these directions. “My tribe and village is this way we need to be moving.”

“I’m Sui, but why am I here?”

“You are the air elemental; you have the powers of the winds.”

Sui was puzzled he did not understand any of this, and it felt as though his head was humming. It was all he could do to listen to this strange man. Sui sighed and Talon flew backwards.

“UAAHHH!” talon slammed into a stray boulder. Sui was astonished.

“Did… was that me, I’m sorry!” Sui tried to correct the situation he pulled Talon to his feet

“Don’t worry you will learn to control it later, we need to get to Ashfoot.” Talon brushed himself off and guided Sui to move to the village. Sui was able to gather a better hold on his ability as they moved back to the village. He still felt the humming or maybe it was a buzzing, his head felt very full. As though a swarm of locusts were slamming against the insides of his skull. He let Talon know what he was experiencing, and Talon related the story of the water elemental’s entry into the world. Sui could only think with dread that the elementals had brought back an infestation.

As the first rays of sunlight began to creep up over the horizon Talon made to set camp, and Sui stopped him. “Talon, I don’t feel the buzzing in my head right now. Can we continue to travel?”

“We really shouldn’t, you are not used to the sun here.”

“Can we travel as long as I feel comfortable?” he paused in his request. “I believe that this whole expedition is to get me home, am I correct?”

“Yes, Sui, as you wish. I just warn you that it is not as hospitable as you are used to.”

“I have traveled deserts before. I’m a monk and have made my pilgrimage to the great deserts of the waking world.” Sui believed now that his life on earth was in preparation for the abysmal plane. Sui noticed an out crop of rocks in front of the direct rays of the sun. It had a few varieties of cactus growing around it and some huge grey flowers. “What are all these plants called?”

“Um that is a Hook-spike cactus and that one is a No-spike cactus.” Talon pointed at the plants as he named them. “And that is the cloak flower, we use it in dyes.”

“Do the cacti here have liquid or water stored in them?” Sui took a moment to examine the spike less Varity of cactus.

“Yes the Hook-spike there has water in it and mature No-spike cacti have water, but the immature nodes growing at the top there should have a thicker oily substance.”

“Hmmm that is very useful.” Sui snapped one of the smaller oil filled nodes off of the top of a shorter No-spike cactus and plucked one of the cloak flowers. He found a rather flat round stone at the rock out cropping then began to crush the flower into the oily cactus. Talon looked on perplexed. He began to understand as Sui smeared the contents on his exposed face, hands and arms.

“That is very clever. What are you going to call it?”

“In the waking world, it would be called sunscreen.” Sui rose to collect more ingredients. “It is going to be very easy to sweat this mixture off we will need to make up a lot of it for the trip back.” He looked around for a smaller stone to use as a pestle so that he could grind up the ingredients faster. “Do you have a water container that I can put this in?”

“Yes, I can have one.”

Sui looked up puzzled at the way that Talon had said that then understood as Talon cut a melon sized No-spike node off of a mother plant then began to drink the water from the gourd like container. After he had slaked his thirst with the contents he handed the node to Sui. Sui tried to finish the water himself but had to empty it on the ground. He chose a spot near a cloak flower, to aid in its growth and health. All things were connected and he gave his prayers of thanks to the plants for their aid.

The rest of the trip went smoothly, Sui didn’t have any of the buzzing problems during the day and he was able to drink leach flower tea to sleep through the buzzing at night. The days were swelteringly hot but bearable and their skin did not blister with the skin dye on. Talon was afraid that they would be grey forever, but luckily the oil kept the cloak flower from actually changing the color of their faces. As the fifth day ended Sui noted that they were very close to the village, he could feel the stirring of breath through the tunnels.

“Yes we are close enough that we can keep going, without getting too tired.” He looked at Sui and laughed, “But let us wash our faces so that we don’t scare my friends.”

Sui returned the laugh and agreed. They came into the cave and listened to Mazy and Cleo’s story as well. Talon was greeted by Lamasuli, and introduced her to Sui. Lamasuli introduced Sui to Wendy. Wendy laughed when she noted that Sui had the powers of air but her name was Wendy.

None of the elementals seemed to notice that they were all from different parts and countries of earth but could all understand each other. Cleo and Mazy moved into one house in the warrior wing run by a female warrior that would be marrying later in the year. Lamasuli would be taking the responsibilities as the house captain the leader of an entire wing in the warrior house. That is roughly two hundred warriors assigned to the wing, a wing was the group that a house captain was in charge of not an actual physical structure in the warrior house. Only twenty warriors of each wing lived there because the rest had families but every day they would return to the practice grounds in the middle of the warrior house to train. Lamasuli, Wendy, and Dankiyet already lived in one communal apartment in the house and were glad to welcome Mazy and Cleo. Dankiyet was not able to live with her elemental as the fire elemental for the first time in six cycles has been a male. David lived in the apartments next door and would be sharing with Sui and Talon. It was close enough for their comfort, no one had locked doors in the cactus paw and if anyone needed anything they could just duck into the adjacent dwelling.

Once Sui and Talon moved into the warrior house with David they started getting settled. The apartments had six bedrooms and one common area with a kitchen each. Each bedroom accommodated six warriors. All beds and rooms were filled. There were only five apartments for the warrior house, with only the unmarried warriors living there. Talon had never needed to be in the warrior house before now, he was the blacksmith, but now he needed to guide his elemental. It took an afternoon for the three males to get settled David shared his story with Talon and Sui once they were finished. Their three roommates Quake, whose sister Ushas was in Parespine’s house, Ezra who left a large extended family who would be on the nomad trail after the planting festival, and Naaki who chose the warrior path as opposed to his parent’s craft tailoring, listened in when they weren’t busy.