AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lifted an eyebrow.
“Earth magic is quiet, and steady. It thrives under gentle control. No earth fae can understand what it feels like to have the life and death of fire or water running through their veins.” He lifted a hand and patted the center of his chest. “They feel the earth and air around them. We feel the fire or waterwithinus.”
Okay… that actually did seem right, as far as what I’d seen.
So I nodded.
“What happens when you try to ignore your anger?” he prodded. “When you focus on something else?”
“It fades,” I said with a shrug.
“And then returns instantly the next time some tiny thing happens. The fire is like that. You can try to ignore it, try to control it. But the harder you try to force it to be something it isn’t, the more volatile it becomes, and the better chance you have at losing your grip on it entirely.”
I sighed. “Great. I really want to be a ticking time bomb.”
“You’re not going to be a bomb.” He looked way too relaxed for the conversation we were having, or the stress I was feeling. “You can’t control fire, just like you can’t control your emotions. But being a fire fae isn’t about control; it’s about acceptance. When you get angry, you have three options, right? You can try to force the emotions away, which doesn’t work. Forcing the emotions away can lead to an explosion, and possibly hurt the people around you. Or you can admit your anger, work through it, and talk through it. Embracing the emotion in that way gives you power over it, rather than letting it have power over you. That’s how you prevent yourself from becoming a bomb.”
I wanted to groan.
Why couldn’t I have one of the easy elements? Having the wind or earth around me didn’t feel like a problem. It wouldn’t require much of a struggle.
But this?
This was miles out of my comfort zone.
And yet, I had no other options.
“How do I embrace and understand my fire?” I asked him.
“You stop ignoring the way it boils beneath your skin, and release it. Every damn time.”
I groaned. “So losing control is the answer.”
“No. It’s impossible to lose control of something you’ve never had a real grip on, and you nevercanbe and neverwillbe in control of your flames.”
Dammit.
This just kept getting better.
“Accepting that you don’t control the fire is the first step. Letting it burn the way it needs to is the second step. After you’ve burned the emotions you let simmer below your skin for so long, the fire becomes a balancing act. When it needs release, you let your fists burn until it’s settled. When you get stressed, you let your fire express that stress until you’ve come to terms with it. If you don’t work through the emotions, you will never find an equilibrium with your fire.”
“You’re the bearer of fantastic news,” I grumbled at him.
He shrugged. “When you’ve balanced your fire, it will respond properly to your emotions. It will protect you, of its own volition, when you’re in danger. It will dance along your skin when you’re happy. It will breathe life into your chest when you’re tired. Fire is an incredible gift, as long as you make peace with it.”
Balance felt like a pipe dream.
But it didn’t sound like there was an alternative, so I was going to have to embrace it.
“Alright. So what do I do? Just catch myself on fire?”
“It’s not as simple ascatching yourself on fire. You need to free your flames entirely—accept them. Burn brightly. Let them engulf you, the way the elements did when you became a fae. Push your magic out, until you can breathe deeply again without the fire trying to escape.”
I groaned. “This sounds terrible.”
He grinned. “Yup. I’m going back to the river; you’ll want to strip if you’re going to blaze.”
I watched him stride back to Ivy and Flood, who had the water in the air around them and were moving it fluidly, forming shapes.
