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Etain sat back down in the seat she had been occupying, and Galetia took the seat Anin had vacated just a moment ago.
“Thank you for meeting with me and offering to teach me how to control my power. I must confess it does frighten me a bit. I fear hurting someone if my emotions get too out of control.” Etain felt she might as well be honest and put the worst out for her to know. If Galetia wanted to refuse her, it would be better for her heart if it were sooner rather than later.
“Well then, it sounds like we know exactly where to start. My dear Etain, please do not fear your power. We have all had to learn to control and wield it. It is not something we are born knowing, and it takes everyone, witches and fae alike, trial and error to figure it out. Try not to be so hard on yourself. This is all brand new to you, and no one expects you to be a master in the short time you have been in this realm.”
Etain let out the breath she didn’t realize she had been holding and smiled at Galetia. “Control would be wonderful and would give me peace of mind. I feel the power inside me is like a raging storm, and I don’t have the slightest idea how to calm it.”
Galetia thought that over for a moment or two, then grabbed Etain’s hands again. “I want you to close your eyes and find that raging storm inside you. I want you to visualize the way it feels.”
Etain could feel her hair tossing around her. She heard something shatter.
“Do not concern yourself with anything else. Now that you have your power visualized, I want you to see if there is anything your power is trying to accomplish with all of its wild energy. Can you see anything?”
Etain studied the image of her power. There were many colors: red, orange, green, violet, and blue. Within the cyclone of colors was a black smokey mass. It was calm, and yet it felt deadly. But at the same time, Etain did not find herself fearing it. It called to her in the same way Ciaran did. She told Galetia all of this.
“The color black has many meanings to witches. It can mean a violent power or even death. Because it is calm and loving, it is obviously your protection. It is likely a power resurrected in you from your long ago grandmother who fled this land to protect her unborn child. She was the last known Walsh witch to be blessed with the sight and she, too, had a black center to her power. See if you can touch the colorful whirlwind. And when you do, think of things that often calm you.”
Etain thought back to a time when she and her mother had been snowed in for six days before the storm finally relented. They had laughed nearly the whole time discussing how dreadful certain neighbors’ homes must be at the moment. Trapped inside their small homes with some of the most deliberately heinous individuals had to be complete torture. Yet Etain and her mother could not find it within themselves to feel sorry for them. They often spent their time pondering the creatures they had read about in their grimoire and the likelihood of their reality or not. They discussed ways to improve certain remedies while trying new herbal tea combinations. Most were enjoyable, a few however, were not.
They had been prepared since they had been taught generation to generation to read the weather. Unfortunately, most of the town had thought them completely mad. Etain and her mother spent the better part of the prior week stocking their home with firewood and a plethora of ingredients they used often. They baked many extra loaves of bread to deliver to the elderly as soon as the storm cleared. They made what must have been a hundred candles and had fully restocked all of their herbal remedies by the time the snow stopped falling. It was one of Etain’s fondest memories of time spent with her mother. Havenston had heeded their warnings from then on, and her mother felt exceedingly proud of that.
Feeling the way the memory had calmed her, she told Galetia she was reaching out to the violently swirling mass of color.
“Wonderful! Now take that feeling and gently push it into the swirling mass. It should begin to slow.”
Etain took the calm and slowly fed it into the chaos. After a few moments, she made a small sound of surprise as the colors did begin to slow. She hadn’t realized her skepticism until she saw and felt the difference instantaneously within her power.
“What do you see now, Etain?”
“The colors are slowing and now merely orbiting the black mass. It looks far more peaceful, as if it is ready and waiting for something.”
“Do you think you are able to touch an individual color and see what emotion it brings?”
Etain reached out for the red one; she felt confident in her sexuality and within her body, like she could seduce anyone if she wished for it. She only wanted to seduce one male, and she knew he would thoroughly enjoy her practicing with this side of her magic.
She then reached out for the orange one and felt the urge to create. This one allowed her to see the threads of power all around her, which she could wield to create any spell or illusion as soon as she learned how. She was particularly excited about this one, because creating new remedies and recipes had been one of her favorite things to do in the Human Realm.
Green was the smallest of the colors, and it gave her a feeling that sent her heart racing. It felt like a future possibility for her and Ciaran, if they ever wished to take it. She smiled softly and gave it a gentle caress to nurture it. She knew they would need an heir, and she was pleased to feel the warm way it seemed to study her. Someday this magic would get to see the world.
The next one, violet, created a sense thatsomethingwas coming. It felt urgent, and as she touched it she felt fear, not for herself, but for someone close to her. She could not get a feel for who it was, so she immediately feared for Ciaran. Needing to keep a hold on her calm feeling, she decided to move on to the final color orbiting the black – blue.
This one calmed her even further, and she felt strength as never before, both physically and magically. She felt she had the power to protect all those around her if only she knew how to use it. Of all of her gifts, this one felt the strongest. She knew without question that if she trained this particular power, she could not only defend herself, but she could defend the defenseless as well. She felt called in a way to do just that; it was empowering.
After she began to get a feeling for all of her powers, Galetia asked her if they were still circling the black mass in the middle.
“Yes, but casually. I feel as if I simply will them to stop, they will.”
“Try it. See what happens.”
Etain knew she could demand they stop, though she had always been one to mind her manners, so she decided to simply ask if they would be willing to stop. She knew at once this was the correct decision. They felt almost sentient, as if they were becoming a team within her.
“Okay – I asked them to please come to a stop and they have. What should I do now?”
“You are doing wonderfully, Etain. Absolutely marvelous. Now, if you can reach through and touch the black as if you were greeting an old friend.”
Etain slowly reached her hand out in her vision and gently caressed the black mass. It rippled in appreciation, so she did it again. This time the black began to wrap around her arm gently. She did feel like it was an old friend, or like a piece of herself that had been kept hidden away from her. She felt the black swirl all the way up her arm before it settled into some shape on her back.
It was then she heard a gasp come from the head witch – one of shock and awe. Etain felt it was only right to tell her powers to continue circling if they wished. Since the black was gone, they looked content to float around peacefully. She did ask them to please not become the raging storm they had been before, unless they felt it was life or death. Somehow she got the feeling they agreed. She felt it was safe to open her eyes and come back to the receiving room she had been sitting in this entire time.
