“I didn’t realize I could push anything,” I admit. “If we’re being honest, that’s one more thing I’d rather not be capable of.”

“You project. You push. You bother.” The way she looks at me brings heat to my cheeks. “You pull?”

“I can sense emotions, not project them. They influence me to a degree, so yes, I pull.” My fists clench at my sides. “I can also negate emotions, but that’s not the same. It’s stopping whatever makes me uncomfortable.”

None of this is hot news. Dad is a case in point, but a cease fire significantly differs from an assault. I don’t want any part of that. How can I trust anyone to decide for themselves with some stupid innate ability to sway them? How can I trust myself if they’re able to sway me? Opposite problems. Same outcome. Lack of genuinely authentic connection.

“You no like pull?” Her condescending tone annoys me.

“No, I don’t like the pull any more than I like the push.”

“You push. You bother. You bother me now, begging for add fuel to fire.”

I sink to the ground, pulling my knees to my chest. “I’m not trying to fight. I just want this all to go away.”

She shrugs. “No pull. No push.”

“It’s that easy, huh?”

She kneels beside me, placing her hands on my shoulders. “You learn.”

“I can’t even figure out what powers I have. How will I figure out how to use them?”

“Learning come. Take us long time fit. We unit now. Ryan teach. He water. You sponge. He give good soak. Never will force to listen. No drown.”

“What did he teach you?”

“Life from living thing. Evadne seek. I speak. Dreyna filter. She strain usable energy. What left make full. Life from animal. Living thing. No human. Akantha make unit power strong.”

“What about plants?”

“Blood is key.”

They’re a team. Their gifts are secular processes that keep overall production moving. Any interference impacts the output. I look up at her through thick lashes, wrapping my arms tighter around my knees. “You think helping us will interfere with the fulfillment process? You won’t have enough energy to sustain you? Someone won’t keep pulling their weight, and you’ll need help from the Tribunal?”

Discussing solutions seems more promising than combating continued objections. In her mind, if their process fails, they’ll have to seek external assistance or revert to other means of feeding. Neither is a suitable prospect.

“Tribunal not help. They bother,” she squashes my assumption like I want to squash the mosquitoes feasting from every bit of my exposed skin.

“Why would they care?” I rub my eyes, the skin burning where I touch. “Why would they interfere now?”

The Amazon Coterie might be living outside the typical radar, but it isn’t like the rainforest shields them entirely. If the Tribunal can see all, what difference does it make if I came? They’re bound to know they have no intentions of helping me.

She blows out an unsteady breath.

“The only thing I’m trying to accomplish is a reconnection I’m ill-equipped to perform myself. I broke Ryan and Mel, Aella. I’m responsible for fixing them.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Breaking or fixing small bother. Tribunal big bother. They use you all gone.”

“I’m not what they’re looking for. The Sentry proved that by leaving without me.”

Her laugh is an airy, high-pitched sound contrasting the gruffness of her voice. “Lack faith do not fit status, Little Fire.”

I don’t have an inferiority complex. I’m not undeserving of the supposed gifts I was given. It’s just they aren’t gifts. Every one of my abilities is a curse.

“You are not same. No transition. No power.” She steeples her fingers, pacing around me. “You make unit bond weak.”

“Not deliberately.”

“Such power from fence rider.” She kneels down to stare me in the face. “You are dangerous.”

I swallow hard.

“Tribunal do not think highly of Amazon Coterie, but we no make strong force. If you choose side...” She sighs. “Clear to me we must choose only your side.”

“I’m not standing against or with them. The only place I’m standing is here, with you, in the Amazon, where I’m asking for your help to fix my friends.”

“We no fix them.”

Not gonna lie, I’m past frustrated by the communication difficulties we’re having at this point. “I’m not asking you to choose sides. I’m sorry you feel my very presence chooses for you. It doesn’t. Whatever prying eyes are watching this conversation will see the truth.”

She resumes her pacing. “Earth shield do not fail.”

And now, I understand her fear. The most terrifying thing in the world is lack of knowledge when you’re accustomed to knowing everything. The Writers have a blind spot. Barry. They can’t see through him, just like neither Aella nor Evadne lit up like a light parade over our arrival. It’s the reason the Sentry was sent in the first place. They simply have no idea whether I need protection or not.

“Aella, I’m sorry.” I wring my hands. “As soon as we leave, they’ll see you again. They’ll know you’re not involved in whatever non-commitment I make. This request is completely separate from anything relating to the potential war. A war that, quite frankly, I’m not even convinced will happen in my lifetime. You said yourself, I don’t want to transition. I won’t transition. This war could happen well beyond my human years, but Mel and Ryan need our help now.”

“We no fix them.”

Am I gaining ground here? This hill is steep, and my legs are tired. I don’t even have the emotional fortitude to defend this one. Could be I’ll just burn the whole thing instead.

“Transition make strong flame,” she throws in.

How does transitioning solve the problem? Even if it helps me focus my powers, transitioning weakens them. If I can’t reconnect Ryan and Mel as a human, it won’t be any easier as a Solathair. It isn’t worth the risk of an explosive flame-induced misfortune for a maybe.

“I can’t transition, not without endangering everyone.” I lower my head to my knees, hiding my tears.

“You choose side, Little Fire,” she commiserates.

“I haven’t,” I argue.

“No Solathair. No Sumair. New side. War for human.”

“The only side that matters.”

She stands, brushing her hands on her animal skin pants. I’d be sweating those things right off my legs. Wouldn’t mind a smidge of that Solathair no expelling can right now. They can probably smell me all the way back in CC.

I look up at her, tears rolling down my cheeks. “Will you help me?”

I’m emotionally and physically drained from the journey. I don’t have much energy left for another round of debating why she and her friends should help us.

She responds to my plea with apathy. “We no fix them.”

“You make no decisions without the collective unit agreeing.”

“We are whole unit.”

I lift to my feet to firm my position. “If I’m being told no, I’d prefer the refusal from the person I need the help from.”

Aella inhales deeply, proceeding to whisper into the trees. The sound is nothing like words. It reminds me of standing in the forest in the middle of summer, listening to the wind drift through the leaves. Were the trees conversing? Or were they communicating via an interpreter like Aella? I guess from a technical standpoint, Evadne is the interpreter. Aella just blows the whistle.

A few minutes later, my family is surrounding me. Aella used her ability to coax them to our location. It wasn’t a polite request. They’ve been hypnotized, so their movements are robotic. Now, I fully grasp the magnitude of her siren ability and how powerful a weapon it could be in the wrong hands. I’m not the only dangerous one. We all are.

Evadne is a giant ball of anxiety, her eyes pinballing around the group. Aella calms her down by patting her head. She’s obviously the parent in their relationship, and I hope the same isn’t true for Akantha. I don’t want to cause a rift in their group. I don’t want to destroy their systematically functional process. I don’t want to force them into an alliance, but I’m not giving up until they all want me to. I need Akantha’s help. Until she refuses me, I’m not giving up hope I can correct what I did to Ryan and Mel.

She’s smiling nervously when she steps through the tree line. Unlike my friends, her appearance isn’t trance-induced. Apparently, Aella can control her flow…or did Akantha grow resistant to it over time? She twists her long hair in her hands, her apprehension nearly knocking me back to the forest floor. She’s made her decision. Is it yes or no?