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"Are you okay?" she asked, lowering herself down onto her knees and letting my head rest in her lap. She brushed her hand across my forehead and I shivered at her cool touch. I felt like I was burning up, although it was quite mild outside.
"I'll be fine," I rasped, looking up into her deep brown eyes. "I don't know what happened. I've never felt anything like that before."
Her brows creased and she chewed anxiously on her lower lip as she studied me. "I think the storms are getting closer. That must be what Kiango is facing right now." Her eyes flickered up to the windows of the palace where I knew Ember was sitting alone in their room and I was struck by the sorrow I felt on her behalf.
"Help me up," I said, sure of what I needed to do.
"But-"
"No buts. If that storm is coming here, I have to be ready to stand against it. I need to do this."
With Anya's help, I was soon sitting up again, and although my head swam with the effort, I managed to hold myself steady when she moved back to the edge of the ring.
"Remember, go slow. You can control it. I know you can. Let it pass through you and into the ground."
Anya's words were a soothing salve to my frayed nerves. I began again with deliberate pauses between each word. Again, I felt the tendrils of Re'Utu's power at the edge of my consciousness, seeking a way in insistently, but as I let my scales come up over my flesh, I narrowed my focus until I had chosen my quarry and then I slowly drew it toward me. As soon as it began to pulse, trying to crack me wide open again, I stiffened and breathed through the pain, holding it at bay until it mellowed. Then, I let it pass through me, all the way down to the base of my spine and into my lower extremities where I felt the warmth buzzing excitedly before leaving me again.
I picked up another stray thread of energy and repeated the process, directing it through my body more quickly this time, so that it was whisked away with only a moment of its whispering presence in my bones. Over and over, I reached out and found Re'Utu waiting for me, and I forced myself to face Him directly, daring him to give me more.
At last, I held to the final wisp of power, coaxing it closer before it flickered suddenly and then faded from my hold. I was exhausted, worn down by the effort of fighting each internal battle, but I was also filled with the satisfaction of knowing that I had done my job.
