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Kana smiled. There was a bright and lively feeling to the group of people around her. She was cold and exhausted, but it was a nice place to be. It was funny. She hadn’t been cold or tired since she came out of the tank... until today.
Kabyl took her by the arm and walked past the grouping to urge Kana to sit comfortably next to the fire. “Here, take what you need. We can light another fire.”
Kana looked around, and Elioth was calmly arranging small bits of wood in a pile. She reached out and felt the waves of heat that the fire was putting out. Kabyl nodded, and Kana pulled the fire into herself and soothed the cold spot that had been settling in.
The light and fire flickered and went out. Kana sat back and sighed as her shoulders relaxed. “How did you know I could do that?”
Kabyl smiled. “You are an elemental. You can get sustenance from the same flames that you expel. The exercise we engaged in today was to show you your physical limits. If you give off heat without replacing it with something, you will drain yourself until you pass out.”
Elioth chuckled as he sparked a small flame that he placed on the previously burning logs. They caught in under a minute, and the fire was crackling away.
Kana watched the flame. “How useful can it be when you can just create it anytime you like?”
Kabyl smiled. “How useful is my frost when the world around me is already frozen? It isn’t what you can do; it is what you learn to do with it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that after recharging yourself, you can light fires wherever you need to. You can light items on fire and collect the heat, or you might be able to tap into the heat below us.”
Kana looked at the floor. “What?”
“Under this area is a web of pools of molten rock. We aren’t going to get there for a while, but the goal is to see if you can manipulate anything in an excited state.”
“Excited state?”
Kabyl smiled. “We will have a lot of instruction for you on how your dragon moves molecules. First, we are going to give you the basics that you haven’t already caught on to. Eltrinia sent a text that you had an interest in knowing about the world around you. That’s good. Our dragons are curious. They had no idea that they would be activated in this generation, but now that they are up, they are going to do an excellent job. We have the books, the schoolhouse, the lab of all outdoors, and the empty crater where you can practice all you like until you need me to take you home. The only time I will need to leave you alone with my parents is when we are called to peacekeeping duties.”
“Is that what the matching clothing means?”
Kabyl nodded. “That is what it means. We are finishing our apprenticeship.”
“Can I be a peacekeeper?”
Kabyl blinked in surprise. “Would you want to be? You have the power of flame. You could have other opportunities in the world.” She smiled. “We will discuss some other life paths after you have a full grasp of your capabilities.”
“So, you are really my mentors, not just a place for Eltrinia to stow me for a while?”
Kabyl laughed. “Yeah, I take my responsibility seriously. You are my student; I am your mentor. Elioth is your mentor; hell, the whole community here can be learned from. They know how to survive and thrive in all kinds of ways.”
Kana took stock of the heat signatures that flared brightly in the village around them. “All of these people depend on fire.”
Elioth chuckled. “Now you are getting it. Your first order of business could be to find a way to tether your fire to something small so that anyone here could light a fire by adding wood.”
She blinked. “I can do that?”
Kabyl chuckled. “I think there are a lot of things you are going to need to try. Today is the first day of you learning what you can do.”
Kabyl’s mother brought over a cup of tea. Kana looked around at the family that was relaxed and smiling. Trin’s choice was now understandable. She had been thrown into the depths of a loving group dynamic. Now, Kana had to decide whether to sink or swim.
They did make a lovely cup of tea.
Chapter Five
“Right, so start the bonfire.” Kabyl sat on a pile of rocks she had dropped in the crater for that purpose.
Kana stood in the clear spot that Kabyl insisted she start with every time in the last week. “A bonfire? Not just a fire?”
“Light as much of it up as you can. See what you have left today.”
