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 Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 4:35 pm
 Another day, another lonely set of hours to whittle down. Sunrise to sunset. And endless cycle. The sun always rises in Sildat, every morning, but sometimes Sonal wished it wouldn’t. How sad, one might think, for Sonal to be in this frame of mind. But it wasn’t as if he didn’t want any more sunrises, he would just prefer a couple of days off, a break.
Or better yet, sunrises on days of old.
Days when the sun would first peek over the mountains, making the snowy tops glitter as if stars were being sprinkled over them. Then it would wash over the land, banishing the morning chill. Little cubs would peek their heads out from their mother’s sleeping embrace and welcome the warmth with a hearty yawn.
These were better days. Golden days. Days when they were all together. Not lost.
Now they resided in Rekkadar, thanks to the Harbinger. Here they were supposed to find a miraculous home, but Sonal felt very far from home. He did not feel like they had found anything at all. He missed the mountains, the snow and his family. When he really thought about it, he knew what he was truly missing was far more specific, but he refused to admit that to anyone, even himself.
At least, he reminded himself firmly and with conviction beyond even his own belief, he had Li’amiyo. She was the last glistening gem of home he had left. Her golden coat reminded him of the sun and he smiled. She was his sunrise of home and of now. This is why he stayed with her. She hadn’t always been but she was everything now.
He diligently trotted behind her on their morning walk through Rekkadar. He was unsure of where they were headed, but it didn’t really matter anymore. They weren’t going where he truly wanted to be, they could never get back there. That place and that time were lost.
Li’amiyo smiled as she bathed in the sunlight. She loved the way the light bounced off her shimmering coat, creating quiet a stunning effect. She flicked her tail around gleefully. Sonal must of course being enjoying this sight of her. Actually, any passer-by with eyes would be enjoying this sight. She was the epitome of beauty, without dispute.
Not that anyone would dare dispute her in any respect, for that matter, or else face the wrath of her fiery temper. Her, literally, fiery temper.
Lia was not one to generally use her psionic powers, if she ever accidentally set her beautiful mane on fire, she wasn’t sure she could cope. Better safe than very, very sorry. So sorry she was certain she would become a hermit. Withdrawn to a cave somewhere far, far away never to see the light of day again.
Oh how tragic! she swooned. Because, of course, after years of self-imprisonment she would be rescued by her one true love. A brave Corleo who would travel many years just to find her again. She pictured Sonal as this hero and smiled to herself.
Everything was so much better here. Lia never liked the cold, snowy mountains. Her beauty and colouration demanded sunlight! She loved Rekkadar, it was her new home, as it always should have been. Some people described their history as the fabled Golden Days, but Lia couldn’t understand this description. These were her golden days. Days filled with warmth from the sun and warmth from her one true love. With Sonal by her side, nowhere else could even come close to home.
The pair had never explicitly defined their relationship, but Lia just knew. They were in a new place, breaking the traditions of her old pride. It all just felt so right.
She was so grateful – a concept not often associated with Lia - for the Harbinger. He had blessed the Children with a new start in life. Sonal and Lia were to start this new life together and live happily ever after. The end. There was nothing else for Lia. That simple statement summarised her entire hopes and dreams. She was living her dream; she couldn’t possibly be happier.
Lia turned to Sonal and smiled. This was the perfect place. After a trek down Serpent Road they had reached a valley just before the Cave Mouth. Lia had decreed this day a day of psionic practice. Her skills thus far were quite limited and she was desperate to improve. She simply couldn’t risk her precious mane any longer.
”So,” she cooed, ”Let’s do this. You go first.”
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:08 pm
Sonal was not stupid. He saw the way Lia smiled at him. He knew what it meant. The whole situation was of course his own fault. He had had every opportunity to deflect her affections, but he hadn’t. He couldn’t help himself. She just looked so much like…he couldn’t even think her name. He had given up all hope of ever seeing her again and Lia was all he had, the last tangible relic from a past life he had loved so much. They had come this far together; he at least owed her his loyalty in spite of his slightly selfish reasoning.
He smiled back. It was as happy a smile as he could muster and it seemed to please Lia every time. He had not truly smiled in a very long time. She didn’t seem to notice and the arrangement was working for both of them. He placidly allowed Lia to call the shots; he knew he would never going to get around her dominant, selfish and controlling nature. She was still so young at heart and Sonal’s protective “older brother” instincts couldn’t help but kick in. He had protected her this long; he was not going to stop now. He needed her. In her, he saw home and most times this was enough.
The pair had not practiced their psionics in a very long time. They had spent most of their days simply travelling and surviving. They had almost become as simple, non-gifted, wild cats. It was nice to finally have a chance to experiment with their powers again.
He nodded, wondering what he should try first.
The warmth from the morning did not allow for a lot of moisture in the air. He closed his eyes and reached out searching for a source. He knew there was water near the cave mouth but they were a little far for him to attempt to control that.
Then he remembered it had rained last night. He concentrated his search below his paws. There he found traces of the night’s downfall slowly be absorbed by the roots of the grass.
Oh no you don’t. He thought.
He concentrated on the space just underneath his front left paw. He imagined the water being pulled away from its natural direction and being drawn back out of the soil. He breathed deeply and slowly.
Ah-ha! He had it. He opened his eyes.
As he lifted his paw a trail of water followed. He lifted it all the way up to in front of his forehead. He smiled and placed his paw carefully back on the ground. It was bone dry.
The trail of water began to swirl about forming a bubble in front of him. A moulded it, envisioning a perfect sphere. Eventually the water became quite spherical. It was not perfect by any means, but it was a decent first attempt.
He closed his eyes again and breathed out. The sphere of water instantly froze. It dropped slightly but he opened his eyes just in time to ensure it remained suspended by manipulating the unfrozen centre of the ice bubble.
”Now Miyo,” he did not look at her as he spoke, instead focusing on the ice-bubble, ”Melt it.”
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Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2013 10:49 pm
Lia watched in awe as Sonal manipulated the water. She couldn't for the life of her understand where the water came from. To her it seemed to have appeared out of no where, but this couldn't be true. Sonal had told her once that, unlike her, he could not create water from nothing - there had to be a water source for him to manipulate. But where had this stream of water come from?
It was so calming to watch Sonal perform this skill. She cocked her to the side in wonder as the water rose up to form a bubble and freeze. Her eyes widened. Amazing.
Her expression instantly changed from wonder to annoyance as she heard Sonal utter the nickname she so despised. The nickname came from her childhood and there was no memories from that time she wished to have resurface.
She glared past the frozen bubble, directly at Sonal.
"Don't call me that." she whined and continued in a mocking voice,"Miyo, miyo, miiyyooo. I am not a child!"
SPLASH!
WIthout even realising it, Lia had heated the frozen bubble enough to completely melt it within a few seconds. It splashed onto the ground. Her anger definitely intensified her psionic ability.
Lia smiled. She'd used her power and nothing had caught fire. Brilliant.
Alright then, time to try something a little more exciting. She thought.
One advantage of a fire shanak was her ability to ignite fire from anything, she didn't need a source as Sonal did. She took a few cautionary steps back, putting distance between her and Sonal. Her tail flicked left and right in anticipation. A fireball, she would throw a small fireball. She had yet to master control of her fireball throwing ability. It usually only worked when she was angry and they never landed on their mark. The inherent fear on mane-burning was ever present.
She closed her eyes and mustered all her concentration, which in reality wasn't a lot. She took several deep breaths, envisioning the skill she was about to perform. She wanted a massive fire ball to blast out of her paw. She lifted it up and slowly drew it back. She steadied herself and with one big swipe she released the fireball and ignited the air.
When she opened her eyes, however, it wasn't exactly how she imagined. The fireball had been so small it went out almost as soon as it ignited, leaving only a small black cloud of smoke that quickly disappeared. Disappointed did not even begin to describe how she felt. She had failed.
"What?! What did I do wrong? This is too hard." She whined.
She withdrew into a sulk. Why could she not do this?
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Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:43 pm
He couldn't help but call her Miyo, he was so fixated on the past where everyone had called her that. Mahsa and Miyo. Sonal knew she hated the nickname for the same reason he adored it, but he also knew anger drew out the most potential for her powers. Which happened to be a good thing in Lia's case - it wasn't hard to get her fired up. It was lucky she was a fire shanak as Sonal wasn't sure she would ever be able to master any other kind of elemental manipulation. Maybe electric? But definitely not water. For water you needed to be tranquil and calm, in control of your emotions. If Sonal was a calm lake, undisturbed by even the slightest ripple and so still and clear you could see both it's depths and your reflection simultaneously, Lia was a raging typhoon, a force of destruction. Uncontrollable.
SPLASH!
Sonal smiled as the water hit the ground. It was a proud smile, as a teacher beams at hardworking and successful student. He knew she could do it. It was all well and good for Lia's powers to work when she was angry, but she needed to learn to control them when she wasn't. That would take time. For now this was good enough.
"Good work."
As Sonal realised Lia was planning another skill, he also took a few cautionary steps back, a few noticeably larger steps than Lia. Goodness knows what could happen next. Sonal had very little idea of what Lia was really capable of and she seemed quite annoyed.
He braced himself for what she might unleash.
She was concentrating so hard, it really looked like something amazing was about to happen and then ... poof. A little spark jumped off her paw and disappeared into a black cloud of smoke.
Sonal couldn't help himself. He burst out in a hearty laugh that had originated in his belly. His body shook. It wasn't a nasty laugh or mocking laugh, Sonal was not capable of such cruelty. It was merely a very amused guffaw. Ah, it felt nice to laugh again. As she whined his amusement only grew.
"Good try." He sighed as his chuckles subsided but the smile remained plastered across his face. It was warm.
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Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:28 pm
How dare he laugh at me!
Lia was livid. Actually, livid didn't even really quite begin to describe how she felt. She was humiliated, dejected and annoyed. The combination of all these emotions was too much for Lia. It bubbled inside her, burning and igniting a fierce anger. In a matter of seconds this anger manifested itself into a real flicker of fire. She snarled and a flame quivered into life, originating at her toes. It licked upwards, burning savagely for a few seconds before it extinguished itself.
While the original flame went out, it was too late to say the same for the fire now beginning to burn at Lia's mane. At first she was too in shock from what she had caused to notice. When she finally did notice, she was in shock. Her eyes widened and she screamed. Her mane! Her precious, majestic mane! She bent down into submissive position.
"Get it off!" She squealed as she shook her head about violently, "Get it OFF!"
She was like an indignant little child throwing a tantrum.
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Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:43 pm
Sonal was definitely not laughing anymore. It had all happened so quickly and Lia had gone up in flames. She was on fire. This was bad. He sprinted over to her, cursing the distance he had put between them. Despite all of Lia's short comings, Sonal was still her protector. And she needed him.
"Roll Lia, roll! Stop, drop, roll!!"
The flame licked around her face. Still in motion he closed his eyes and concentrated. He called upon the water in the land. He didn't need a lot he only needed to wet the ground, so it too didn't go up in flames as well. The last thing they needed was a grass fire. He could feel the water lifting from the roots, he tried to calm his breathing as he made it over to her. He stopped, willing her to roll as he drew the water from the roots in the ground to the surface. He lifted it higher and higher and higher...
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Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2014 8:53 pm
Stop, drop and WHAT!??! Sonal was not making any sense and the fire crackling in her ears mingled with the sounds of her own screams prevented her from processing Sonal's instructions. This was it, it was all over, she was going to lose her beautiful mane forever! Curse this fire shanak! Why couldn't she have been water, like Sonal, much safer and much less dangerous to her pretty, pretty head.
Sonal bounded towards her and then he stopped. Whatever he was doing was not helping. Just standing there?!? Yes, of course, that was going to do a lot of good. A fat lot of good in saving her mane! Lia, the way she was, had not even considered the life threatening consequences of her current predicament. No, of course, her mane was her number one priority.
Suddenly she came to terms with Sonal's words. He wanted her to stop, drop and ROLL! Oh! Roll! She could do that. She threw herself onto the ground violently and began to roll back and forth. How strange? The ground was wet. The fire went out almost immediately after a couple of good rolls in the damp ground. Sonal must have conjured the water to the surface. She collapsed onto the ground out of sheer relief. He had saved her mane! Oh Sonal, my he-
Her thought was cut short as a sudden spray of water rose up out of the ground. It was like a sprinkler had been turned on. It rose up around Lia, a little less than a metre of the ground and only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to completely drench Lia from nose to tail. She squealed again. This time louder but less frightened.
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