Just when Akihato was sure she would be too frightened, she surprised him and reached for her first stone. He was impressed she went for the red one after seeing what it had done to him. He had not expected her to be so bold.
How curious...
She breathed a visible sigh of relief, however, when the stone remained opaque.
“Well.” He grinned. “We can rule out fire. And likely water as well. Try the brown or yellow next.”
With a nod, she returned the red stone and plucked up the brown one. Nothing happened.
“Not so unusual,” he remarked. “Try again.”
She reached for the yellow. Once again, nothing happened.
Hanamei looked at him inquisitively, silently asking what to do next, but the truth was, Akihato had no idea. This was incredibly unusual. In fact, he had never heard of anything like this happening before. It raised his suspicions about her, but he kept those hidden well beneath the surface. “Interesting... try the blue and green. It’s not unheard for the opposing elements to shift around.”
She obeyed, this time with far more confidence. But neither one of the stones had any reaction either.
Leaving Akihato with one option. The only problem was... he wasn’t sure if it was even possible. That’s what he’d been studying. He could sense a great power within Hanamei, bubbling below the surface of her conscious mind. She had been hiding it, trying to be normal, and that had caused the power to grow without guidance. If she wasn’t careful, if she wasn’t taught, then she could have another outburst. This one far worse than attacking a Warlord.
“I wonder...” he mused, turning away to stare at his cabinet as though it held the answer. There was a strong possibility it did.
He glanced down into the bowl at the five stones, wondering briefly if perhaps he had gotten it wrong. What if Hanamei’s power was not that of a Zosara but something entirely different? No. He brushed the notion out of his mind. New magic didn’t just appear. There was a logical explanation for this, even if the possibility was slim. Perhaps her magic was just too weak at the moment to affect the elemental stones. If that were the case, all he needed to do was give it a little help.
That made his decision. He approached the cabinet again and began rummaging about once more, this time for something else. The stone he was looking for this time was far different than the others, but with it, he could determine one way or another what element she was attuned to. This time he tugged out a grey pouch that was a lot bigger than the first, but he didn’t place its contents into a bowl.
Akihato turned back to Hanamei and gave her a reassuring smile. “This will help,” he continued explaining, loosening the drawstrings and dropping the much larger stone onto his outstretched palm. “It’s a chaos stone. Zosara use them for complex, ritual spells to either boost the power or channel their focus. This one is more of a trinket...” He held it up for her to see. It looked like a smooth, black rock.
“You see,” he went on, “each element of magic, every living and unliving thing really, is also made up of void and chaos. These two opposing elements have always been vital to the natural order of the world and take shape in many things. Such as man and woman, light and dark... You get the idea.”
She nodded slowly.
“What I’m about to ask you might be a little difficult, but just do your best.” He extended the stone to her. “Hold it in your hand and try to reach for your power. Imagine it filling you and flowing into the stone, then—“
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As he was speaking, she reached out to take the stone from him. The instant it left his skin, it reacted to her touch, filling with glowing light that momentarily blinded him. She let out a startled cry and recoiled from it, dropping the stone to the floor. As it fell, it returned to its natural state.
Akihato stared in shock for a moment before quickly reaching out to inspect Hanamei’s hand. “Did it pain you?” he asked, sounding more gruff than he intended. There were no burns or marks on her skin, but her fingers were still warm where they had been touching the chaos stone.
She shook her head. “No... it felt...” Fear and confusion warred on her face. “It felt good.”
He couldn’t keep a frown off his face. Could it truly be possible? He reached down and retrieved the stone. “Try again. It’s all right; you did nothing wrong.” He did his best to reassure her.
Hanamei hesitated for just a moment before setting her jaw and taking hold of the stone once more. It filled with light, shimmering and glowing just as strongly as before. Now that he was prepared for this reaction, Akihato grabbed the bowl from where he’d sat it earlier and motioned for the woman to hold out her other hand.
If she is truly attuned to chaos, then all five of the elemental stones will react to her touch now... One by one, he dropped a stone into her waiting palm, and one by one, they glowed when they came into contact with her skin. She winced when the metal stone touched her, and Akihato noted it took a little longer than the others for it to react. It never did glow as brightly.
Having seen enough to be convinced, Akihato allowed her to return the stones into their respective pouches, and then he put them back in the cabinet. He took that short moment to compose himself, to keep his apprehension and uncertainty from showing. All Hanamei needed to focus on now was learning to control her magic. She needed a teacher and guidance, not to be worrying over what it meant for the world that she even existed. It seemed she’d borne that weight long enough, and he was determined to alleviate the burden.
“You’re full of surprises,” he finally said. When he turned to face her again, he was grinning widely. “Do you want to know what your attunement is?”
“Not metal,” she commented, a slight frown marring her brow. “It didn’t seem to agree with me...”
“Yes, a very astute observation.” He nodded, his grin spreading. “You have a special gift, Hanamei. I’ve never heard of a Zosara attuned to chaos, but I’m certain you are. This gives you an incredible amount of power. It means,” the more he spoke, the more excited he became as he pondered the possibilities this opened up for her, “your limits will be few. What others must learn through hard work and study, you will know instinctively. You will not be capable of creating the elements, but you can manipulate and control them, which is arguably just as powerful.”
It should have made her feel better, but as she listened to his words, there was only fear spreading across her face. “I’m not... I can’t wield such power...”
Akihato shook his head, crouching down in front of her. He placed a hand on hers. “No, Hanamei, right now you can’t. But I can teach you how. That is all you need, someone to guide you, instruct you. That is all any Zosara needs. With training, you will have nothing to fear.”
“I may not,” she said, “but even with my limited knowledge, I am certain such power is dangerous. Others will have cause to fear me, and rightly so... What if you teach me and all you succeed in doing is creating a monster?”
The words hit him hard, her insight surprising him. He had no way of saying for certain she would never harm an innocent, that her incredible power wouldn’t corrupt her heart and cause her to commit terrible acts, but perhaps... “I cannot know the future; none of us truly can. Even an air Zosara has limits to what they can divine. But I believe being aware of the responsibility you face is an excellent sign your heart will remain pure and strong.”
He squeezed her hand and rose. “Now, enough of this dark talk. I will ask Ren to give you a proper tour of the tower and the grounds. You are welcome to make this your home until you decide whether or not you wish to remain here under my tutelage. Should you decide to part ways, I will take you wherever you wish to go and do my best to assist you in starting a new life.”
Offering to help her up, he guided her toward the door. He had a great deal of research to do. Finding out if there were other Zosara like her was now his chief concern. It was also necessary, he knew, to seek out the Masters for their blessing and wisdom in taking on a new student. There was undoubtedly insight to be had there as well.
As he strolled down the hallway beside Hanamei, he couldn’t help but feel a strange mix of apprehension and excitement. Whatever the future held, he knew the world was heading toward drastic changes, and he would be right in the center of them.