“Concentrate, child.” Tesha bit back the sigh that rose to her lips as she stared down at the little girl sitting beside her. After witnessing Qas̆pahti tap into the realm of Arallû, even if it was only for a brief second, she had reluctantly agreed to mentor the girl.
For three weeks, they’d met by the lilac waters and she’d tried to teach the child to meditate.
It had not been a winning experiment. They’d only been sitting for twenty minutes, and already the child’s legs were bouncing up and down like a pan of corn roasting oe’r the fire.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the little half-troll had succeeded in reconnecting with the lake twice since, Tesha would have checked the whole thing up to her imagination. Despite Tesha’s best efforts, Qas̆pahti didn’t seem any closer to being able to reliably influence the water than before. There was clearly something about the child’s abilities she didn’t understand. At least for now, the Fey’s curiosity was stronger than her annoyance.
The child’s leg stilled, and her eyes screwed shut even harder. All was quiet for a few minutes, and then the jostling began again
This time, Tesha didn’t bother smothering her sigh. This isn’t working. “Qas̆pa, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes?”
A pair of wide lavender eyes popped open immediately and the girl leapt to her feet. “You sure?”
Tesha chuckled. “Yes, run along…” The girl zoomed off, and she had to raise her voice to be heard. “But come back in a few minutes - we’re not done!”
She watched as the child scampered down the craggy child and into the shallows of the rocky beach. The purple waves rushed to meet her, nearly knocking off her feet, but the girl recovered in balance and splashed happily.
Tearing her eyes away, she tried to concentrate on the problem at hand. Qas̆pa’s training wasn’t going well but, in truth, Tesha wasn’t sure if the fault lay with the girl or with her. She had barely been out of training herself when her city was lost, and though she’d been groomed for leadership, she had never expected to have it thrust upon her so suddenly. I wasn’t ready for any of this. Unbidden and unwelcome tears wet the corners of her eyes, and she brushed them away hastily. Tsiāhu’s beard, she scolded herself, get it together.
She forced herself to comb through the memories of her own training. She’d been avoiding it thus far, afraid to face the pain that remembering all who had died brought - not one of her former mentors had survived the city’s fall, choosing to sacrifice themselves on the walls while the remnant escaped - but if she wanted her people’s traditions to survive, she would have to remember. Not for the little troll’s sake, but for her own.
The tears ran freely down her cheeks as she searched through the ruin of happier days, and as she did, Tesha understood her mistake. She’d done a fine job of replicating the exact lessons she’d been taught, but true understanding couldn’t be achieved by mere mimicry; even a golem could copy simple spells, but that did not make it a mage. I’ve been going about it all wrong, she realized.
She took a moment to compose herself, brushing her tears dry and blowing her nose on a handy leaf before she went to fetch the girl.
Qas̆pa was still frolicking in the waves as Tesha climbed down onto the beach. Spying the approaching Fey, she rushed out of the ocean, furiously brushing the beads of water off her arms and legs as she ran. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she called out apologetically. “I forgot. Am I really late?”
Tesha allowed herself a small smile. She still had a hard time allowing a Gemlirian - even a half-blooded child - to live in their community, but she had to admit the child had slowly grown on her. Like a fungus. “It’s fine,” she reassured her. “It gave me time to reconsider how I’ve been teaching you. We’re going to something different now.”
The girl’s worried expression slipped away, only to be replaced by suspicion. “Something different?” She questioned. “You aren’t going to make me cut stones like Limmy, are you?”
Limmy? She couldn’t help but laugh as she realized Qas̆pa was referring to Aphora’s third-in-command, the tough and brawny Mullu-lim. I’ve got to remember to call him that at our next meeting. “No, child, I’m not going to make you cut stones. In fact, we’re going to have some fun. We’re going to go for a swim.”
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The Fey’s words had done nothing to ease Qas̆pahti’s apprehensions. The last few weeks had been tough. She was supposed to be attending school, but the kids still teased her nearly every day, so she played hooky more often than not. Most days, she’d pester Limmy relentlessly until he agreed to train her, but momma had recently left on a mission, and he’d refused.
“I’m sorry, Qas̆pa, but until Aphora gets back, I just don’t have time. You really should go to school.”
Stolen novel; please report.
She’d shot him a look like he’d gone stark-raving mad, and the elf had simply laughed. “You’re not even going to pretend to listen, are you? Tell you what, I think if you go bother the pretty green lady, she’ll eventually give in.”
Qas̆pa had listened to his second piece of advice and Limmy had been right. Tesha had turned her down at first, but she came back each day until finally the Fey had agreed. But the training thus far had been hard, much harder than even the chores Limmy made her do. And even worse, it had been boring.
Each morning they’d hiked out into the small, strange forest that rose between the city and the small cove of the purple sea that Tesha seemed to especially love. And then they’d just sit around, “meditating.” If she didn’t know better, she’d think the Fey was trying to trick her into taking a nap; as it was, she simply didn’t understand what the point was. How was sitting around and breathing going to help her be a mighty magician?
It didn’t help, either, that the green woman clearly didn’t like her. Oh, she never said anything, not like the children at school, but Qas̆pa wasn’t stupid. She’d seen the look in the Fey’s eyes when she’d squirmed and wiggled and the frown she wore when Tesha thought she wasn’t looking. A look of distaste. A look that said the Fey only saw a Gemlirian sitting before her, not a child.
So when Tesha proposed going for a swim, she had her doubts that it was actually going to be a fun excursion.
An hour later, those doubts had proven correct.
“Come on, child, keep up!”
The shore was nothing but a thin, barely visible line now. Even the scraggly, twisted pines that dotted the cliffs were too small for her to really make out. Worse, a squall had risen along the water as they swam. At first, it had brought nothing but light rain and a rather chilling wind, but the waves had soon been stirred up and now Qas̆pa found herself tossed to and fro between the increasingly high crests and the troughs below them.
“Come on,” the woman called again, waving her arm from fifty feet away. And, though perhaps it was just a trick of her eyes, Qas̆pa could swear she saw a smirk on the Fey’s face.
“Aargh.” Growling in frustration, Qas̆pa’s arms flailed like windmills, and her legs fluttered bravely against the flow of the water. Utterly wrapped up in her angry, frenetic swimming, she saw the wave too late to dive beneath the surface, too late even to close her mouth.
A wall of purple water, now hued a deep violet in the storm, crashed over her far. She was tossed on her back, choking on a mouthful of water, as the wave carried her along. Flailing desperately, coughing and spitting, she managed to right herself just in time for another wave to wash over her head. She was dragged beneath the water as the currents pulled her down toward the ocean floor. A sea of slimy plants enveloped her, their arms wrapping around like slithering snakes and she slammed into the bottom. It was mostly sand, but a sharp rock sliced into her back, releasing a ribbon of blood that blossomed around. Her eyes flashed open, and Qas̆pa flailed her arms, desperate to ascend back to the light shining down from the surface.
It was useless. The plants wrapped tight around her limbs with a strength that far surpassed what the little girl could muster. She was trapped. Her lungs screamed for air as she struggled, her eyes desperately searching for any sign of salvation, too scared to even form coherent thoughts.
Then something peaked through the kelp. Fear paralyzed her limbs as a long, twisting serpent rose from the violet depths and shot straight toward her. Its dark, blue scales glistened in the dim light as it wriggled its way toward her, propelled by two thin fins that tapered off into jagged claws. It grew closer, opening its mouth to reveal row upon row of thin, needle-like teeth.
She screamed, expelling the last of her air, and then, something clicked. A burning seared down her spine but Qas̆pa barely noticed. She could feel the water. No, not just feel it. She could command it.
She made no attempt to control the magic she hurled toward the fast-approaching serpent. Her essence poured into the world around, and the lilac waters shifted. An underwater wave collided with the beast, knocking it off course. It righted itself, gnashing its teeth, and continued its charge.
Black spots swam across her vision, and she realized she was about to pass out. The water swirled around again, slicing through the kelp that bound her, and dragging her toward the surface, but the sea serpent followed in hot pursuit, its speed faster than hers. She wasn’t going to make it.
And then, the waters above her head split in two, and she was dragged to the surface as a green blur dashed between her and the beast. Suddenly wielding a long lance, the Fey smashed into the serpent head first. The beast shuddered, and the sea around turned it red, but with a violent shake of its head, it succeeded in dislodging the spear and the Fey that wielded it.
It struck fast, its needle-like teeth glinting in the light as it went in for the kill. The Fey blocked the blow with the shaft of her spear, but the creature’s strength could not be denied so easily. The spear shattered, and its teeth nipped her, drawing blood. She squirmed away from its grasp, diving into the kelp below and the beast followed.
Qas̆pa watched in horror, sure Tesha was about to be consumed - and her soon after. But then something happened she hadn’t expected. The sea of grass that had swayed and swerved with the rise and fall of the waves, suddenly defied their nature. The Fey shot out of their grasp but the serpent was not so lucky. The kelp tightened around it, dragging it down into their embrace, wrapping around and around the beast until it was wrapped as tight as a mummy.
Tesha waited in the waters above it until its imprisonment was complete; then, drawing a new weapon from her pouch, she dove. Again and again, her spear struck down releasing fountains of blood that turned the lavender water a deep violet. Only when the serpent’s struggles ceased did she turn her eyes back to the surface.
When her head broke the waves, she fixed her eyes on Qas̆pa. “Are you okay?”
Was she okay? She really wasn’t sure. The fear and terror of the last few moments was not something she’d forget soon, but she was alive and…
The realization of how she’d attacked the serpent suddenly hit her, and she quickly reached out with her essence. The connection still felt faint, nowhere near as strong as before, but she could feel the ocean. A smile lit up her face. “Yes."