44th of Vhalar, Arc 720
“I think it’s time I trained you a little more so we don’t have another arson incident,” Everton announced, taking off his glasses and setting them down on the wooden steps of his back porch.
“It’s not arson if it’s on accident,” Cierne muttered, tying her flamboyantly colored hair in a ponytail
Everton sighed and looked to the sky, clearly annoyed with his pupil’s response regardless of how correct it was. Arson was a criminal act done deliberately, but Cierne had merely lost control of the flame she had been directing, inevitably causing a fire in the abandoned building she had occupied.
The two of them were in Everton’s backyard during the dwindling light of an arbitrary evening. After the Naer had come over for a routine visit and some catching up, he had suggested he help her practice her magic so she could have better control over the fiery element she had recently named her kin.
“Have you been practicing any meditation?”
Cierne chewed on the inside of her cheek and shuffled her feet awkwardly. “I’ve been trying, but it’s difficult,” she admitted, hating herself for sounding so incompetent.
“Meditation will help you remain calm in stressful situations; it can also prevent said situation from ever occurring. But it takes practice.”
She nodded her head. She knew this. With anything, practice was crucial to becoming perfect. But meditation? It seemed so boring and her mind was always racing with various thoughts. It was not ideal for her to sit and clear her mind with nothing to do.
As though reading her mind, Everton continued. “Meditation is more than simply sitting in an open room with your eyes closed. It could be focusing on your breathing; it could be creating images in your head to help you find comfort.”
It still sounded boring.
“I’ll work on it,” Cierne said, hoping to stop Everton from continuing the conversation. She wanted to get to the good stuff; to practicing her magic and learning new techniques that would help her become a stronger mage.
Her mentor sighed again and tucked a long strand of sandy brown hair behind his ear. His eyes blazed a dark blue in his pupil’s direction, but he realized too late that she wasn’t looking. He decided in order to capture Cierne’s attention and to get her to actually listen to him, he would have to appeal to what it was that interested her. And that consisted of magic.
“Take a seat,” he instructed, doing so himself. He waited for the girl to follow his directions before proceeding. She was hesitant because they were outside and the only thing to sit on was the naked ground, but eventually she obliged, finding a cross legged position amongst the grass, in front of Everton.
“Think about what you’re feeling, and I’m not talking emotionally, although that is important. I’m talking about what your body is feeling.”
He paused for a moment and watched Cierne close her eyes in order to obtain a better grasp of the task she had been given. Closing your eyes helped block out extra, nonessential stimuli such as sight.
He continued, closing his own eyes. “Feel the cold air against your skin. Feel the warmth under your skin from your blood flowing systematically through your veins. If you focus really hard on certain parts of your body, and picture that particular area in your head, you can hone in on it and really get a feel of what that part of your body is doing.”
Cierne did as she was told, focusing on her nose. It was a strange sensation. She felt a subtle buzzing in the aforementioned area as her concentration held fast to it. She didn’t think about her body as a collective entity but as separate parts working together to create a whole.
She pictured her nose taking in breaths and exhaling them out the same way. She imagined smelling flowers and psychologically she began to smell lavender, one of her favourite scents.
“Do you feel the ether swirling inside of you?” Everton asked quietly. He didn’t want to disturb Cierne’s progress.
“Kind of,” she said, though it was difficult and she wasn’t exactly sure it was anything other than gastrointestinal distress.
“Focus that ether you feel to your hands just as you focused all your attention to whatever part of your body you were just concentrating on.”
She did, though it took several attempts.
“Now take a deep breath and manifest your ether in the form of whatever element you wish, though I’m sure you’ll choose fire.”
As Cierne did this, Everton too began to manipulate the ether within his own body to create a swirling sphere of air which hovered several inches above his outstretched hand.
Cierne took a deep breath in through her mouth and out through her nose before focusing on her right hand which she outstretched from the rest of her body. The extension of her hand from her body made it easier to focus on that area without having to wade through the rest of her body. Trying to concentrate on your stomach was difficult because there were so many other components in the way like the lungs, the chest and the lower abdomen amongst other organs. This way was easier, she realized.
She felt something warm heat the palm of her hand so she opened her eyes to examine. There in her outstretched hand was a small flame flickering dimly. A thin tendril of smoke swirled above the fiery mass, dissipating into the air just above her head.
Everton saw this and smiled. “Good,” he praised, recognizing that the Naer needed positive enforcement in order to remain productive. He had learnt this after the many arcs he had taken getting to know the girl.
“What do you feel now?” He asked softly, moving his own ball of air from one hand to the other.
Cierne took a moment to formulate her thoughts. How did she really feel? Emotionally she felt elated, there was also an inkling of power, a subtle sense of passion but another feeling altogether- one of remorse? Physically, she felt warm all over her body, but mainly in the hand that held the ball of fire. Her body was relaxed, but her mind was strained as she kept her focus on her defiance.
She expressed these thoughts to her mentor who nodded his head by way of understanding.
“Try to make your mind feel as your body does. Relax it while continuing to remain in control. Picture something that comforts you. Sometimes that helps me when I’m trying to focus on bending.”
Everton wasn’t exactly the best at teaching, but teaching was only half of what it made to be a good teacher. It took personal experience and it took compassion, and he was full of both of those things.
Cierne took another deep breath of the cold Vhalar air, feeling it coat her lungs with its crispness before exiting out through her nostrils.
She pictured being beside the hearth inside Everton’s, a fire waging brightly within it. She envisioned herself wrapped up in a blanket, surrounded by the other children of the home. Wyn was playing with Laina with some dolls, Sezyn was prodding at one of his pet bugs, and Quinn was reading a novel of enormous size. Everton was stationed sitting on his special chair in the corner of the room, a smile lighting up his face as he watched the children he had helped over the years. He was content. The children were content. Cierne was content.
“I feel content,” she announced.
She looked up and found Everton smiling still, his blue eyes sparkling in the sun’s setting rays. He looked content as well. More than content.
“Now, I want you to transfer your element to this spoon.” He extracted a spoon from out of his pocket and tossed it directly in front of her. All she had to was reach down… while still concentrating on the burning fire in her other hand and… she grabbed it and held it close to her flaming orb.
Cierne was hesitant. What if she couldn’t do it? What if she failed?
Everton noticed her tentativeness and addressed it.
“Just concentrate on what you want the spoon to look like. Pull from your fire and ignite the end of the spoon. Remember, it takes patience and focus, but I believe in you.”
His reassurance was all the Naer needed to continue. She pushed away her fear and coaxed the element to transfer from her hand to the spoon. Her whispering voice was heard aloud as she told the element what she intended to do.
Slowly but surely a tendril of fire danced away from its source, flickering brightly as it did, and soon enough the end of the spoon was set ablaze.
“It’s a technique we call Caress,” her mentor whispered, playing with the air that frolicked through and around his fingers.
Cierne was delighted. She had never before thought of using fire on an object, at least not intentionally.
“Now, let go and allow your element to return back to the universe,” Everton instructed, flicking his hand so that the air that flowed above it vanished.
Cierne timidly called the fire from the spoon to transfer back to its original source in her hand. Once it had, she willed the ether to diminish, in hopes of extinguishing the source of ignition.
“Shit!” She exclaimed as the fire kissed her palm before dissipating entirely.
Everton got up and rushed to her aid, examining her hand for any serious injury. A small burn marred her flesh, but otherwise she was fine.
“It’s important to continue to focus even when ridding yourself of the element’s presence,” he explained, eyeing his pupil with concern.
Cierne made a mental note to remember his advice. She would definitely need it in the future when she went to practice her magic again.
She nodded her head in acknowledgement, her ponytail bouncing against her back.
“Now,” Everton said, pulling Cierne to her feet and leading her back to the house. “Let’s put some ice on that burn.”
Cierne had no argument against that so she dutifully allowed herself to be pulled back into the house.
“You did good today,” Everton said once they were inside.
The Naer smiled. She did, didn’t she?
x
