Adan calmly surveyed the people in the room. The Elder’s and Keepers showed a variation of reactions, from shock and fear to awe. It pleased her to see that Duke Kimba was heavy on the awe side. She had wanted to make a show of power at some point in this discussion and Keeper Kaelen’s reaction had given her the opportune moment.
Adan had perhaps taken it a step longer than she intended though. She clenched and loosened her fist uncomfortably. The infernal fire was tricky. Too sensitive to her emotions.
“You are going for the rule-by-fear approach,” her A.I. noted, not sounding very pleased. “Sai notes that, statistically, such an approach might be effective short-term, but typically less so in the long run.”
“I’m not really here for the long run,” Adan countered self-mockingly and glanced at Lynn beside her. She had seen fear in him too. It hurt more than she wanted to admit. She brushed it off. “Besides, I’m more aiming for the bad-cop-good-cop approach.”
“You are being very generous with him,” a note of concern hung over the A.I.’s voice. “Adan, you will ne-. . .”
“I know.” Adan cut it off. “Drop it.”
“. . . Affirmative.”
On Adan’s other side, Duke Kimba cleared his throat.
“Cough. Well, as Lynn points out, a smaller infiltration group might be able to reach the captive King in the capital’s dungeons, if that is where he is kept. If we can secure him and make a public reveal of Emberon’s betrayal, that could indeed flip the tides in our favor.”
The younger of the females, Soraya seemed to gather her courage and spoke up. “While I agree that saving the King is our best course of action, and while I don’t agree believe in the superstations about male ice benders,” she paused, looking carefully at Adan as if to make sure the statement wouldn’t anger her, before continuing. “While that is the case, public opinions shouldn’t be underestimated. Their fear of the prophecy, their fear of the world’s end, will likely push them to discard their King if they learn he is collaborating with Lynn.”
Keeper Kaelen nodded enthusiastically at this, but dared not speak up again.
Adan smiled. “We will just need to find more evidence of Emberon’s crimes.”
“Easier said than done,” Kaelen scoffed silently to himself but Adan ignored him.
She glanced at one of the reports flashing by her retina and smiled wryly and started a timer in the corner of her eye.
[0:25]
She had plenty of evidence recorded, but collecting it physically would take some time. If Emberon knew about her existence, he would probably act differently but, at least for now, he just thought of her as a strong ally to Lynn, not a total game changer. With this in mind, she knew what his most likely next action would be.
[0:17]
Getting into the castle would be easy for her alone, but that would not have the desired effect. She wanted to give Lynn the freedom he never had and changing people’s prejudice was not done in a heart beat.
[0:05]
Actually, that was not true. A large, watershed event, could turn people’s perception around drastically, in practically no time at all.
[0:00]
“Elder Kimba! Elder Kimba!” A shout came from outside the tent just before Sera ran in with a note in her hand. “Marquees Dalila has sent news!”
“As expected,” Adan’s lips twitched with satisfaction but stiffened as she noticed Lynn’s hands clenching in his lap. Clearly, he too had realized what the message likely said.
Lynn stared at the note in the young girl’s hand with dread.
He knew his mother. If she had reached out to Duke Kimba at this point, it could only mean one of two things. Either they had been collaborating for a while and she was making her way here with reinforcements but had been delayed. Or, she was still at the boarder and something important enough had taken place that he, Lynn, needed to know of it.
Neither option was great, but at least the first one was slightly better.
Duke Kimba received the note but quickly turned to Lynn solemnly, and held out the small scroll to him.
He received the scroll and the moment the ring of water touched his fingers, it slithered loose from the parchment and crawled up Lynn’s hand like a warm caress, before evaporating in the are like mist. The smell of lilacs filled the room, before fading and taking Lynn’s last hope for good news with it.
It was his mother’s greeting. A way to share contact through the water even over long distances while ensuring that only the intended recipient could get to the content of the letter.
Steeling himself, Lynn unrolled the scroll.
“My dearest Lynn, know that you mother is very proud of you. I know that this will reach you eventually. You have always been resourceful and when I heard that you had managed to escape, I knew you would stop at nothing to save your father and brother.
“I had planned to join you at the capital with our family’s army but at dawn this morning, our scouts spotted several platoons of Valdmanic soldiers making their way to the boarder and our spies brought news of a full battalion on its way further in.
“As such, I can no longer join you at the capital. Your uncle and I cannot abandon the boarder and our people at this point. It pains me to admit it, but if reinforcements from the capital don’t arrive at the boarder with a month, we will be hard-pressed to stop this invasion on our own.
“I would like to be able to tell you to just run away my dearest, to save yourself.
“As a mother, that is what I should say.
“But I am also the Marquess of Gakkvisa, protector of Solmani, and you are my heir. . . . Lynn, the capital must be secured and the royal army reclaimed, or neither Gakkvisa nor Solmani will remain on the map.
“I wish I could help you do it, but I know you, my dear, dear son; You are strong. You are resilient. You are wise beyond your years. I know you will find a way.
“I love you, my son. No matter what happens, know that I and your father love you.
“Always have. Always will.
“Your mother, Dalila.”
Drops fell on the scroll, blurring the ink script slightly. Embarrassed, Lynn wiped his eyes but a warm hand stopped his movement.
“It’s okay, Lynn.” Adan’s voice was calm and soothing. “We are alone.”
Confused, Lynn looked up. At some point, the tent had been emptied.
“It’s okay,” Adan repeated, patting him softly on his back.
The pain Lynn had been forcing down, broke though to the surface. His vision blurred and he leaned forward, hiding his face in the nape of Adan’s neck. She didn’t speak. She just sat with him in silence, slowly and reassuringly stroking his back. Calming his erratic breathing. Grounding him.
Lynn wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally started to calm down. He took a deep, steadying breath, bringing Adan’s nutty scent with it. There was something more to it now that he hadn’t noticed before. Figs?
Adan seemed to notice the difference in him. She stopped petting his back and fished out a handkerchief from some unknown place.
“Your mother is a strong woman,” she noted as she handed over the silky fabric, “And so are you.”
As Lynn wiped his face, Adan straightened out his clothes.
“We will make it in time to help her, too.”
She brushed a strand of hair out of his face, her fingers hot as the brushed against his skin.
“Ok?”
Lynn blinked. Could he dare to believe it? Adan had pulled off miraculous things before, but this. . . .
Adan calmly met his gaze. Her smile was soft and caring but beneath the surface lay unbridled confidence. She believed it was possible. Knew it was possible.
“Ok.”
The woman’s smile widened further, stunning Lynn slightly.
“Good!” Adan smacked him firmly on the shoulder. “Then let us get some food in you. Tomorrow we will start gathering more intel and increase our training. We will build a small guerilla group to enter the capital and save your family.”
She stood up and walked towards the opening in the tent. “We will need to show off the benefits of those ice bending skills of yours to sell you in with the troops.”
“Adan.”
Lynn’s call stopped her from leaving the tent. She looked back at him quizzically.
“Thank you.”
Adan collapsed on the rough bed she had been provided by the Sun Tribe. She had assured them that she could sleep in the same conditions as everybody else but they had insisted to give her a singular tent and soft furs to lye on. Well, softish.
“If I didn’t know better, I would have thought they knew I was female. . .” she grumbled.
“Why not reveal it to the elders earlier today? Their Chief and Head Keepers already know.”
Adan glanced at the wall of the tent. On the other side, she could hear the Sun Tribesmen discussing in hushed voices. Normally, no one would hear them, but Adan’s hearing was good enough that no conversation in this camp was out of her range if she wished it. Most whispers where about Lynn and his disaster-bringing ice bending.
“I can’t go scaring them all into submission,” she sighed, drowsily closing her eyes
“So, what is the plan?” her A.I. asked.
“Hmm?” Adan mumbled, half asleep. “You heard the plan. Infiltrate. Rescue the good people. Capture the bad ones.”
“Sai meant your plan. Time is running out, in more ways than one.”
Adan yawned. Fire bending seemed to drain her of energy fast. She needed more training.
“The poetic A.I. said that I could find the answer close at hand and that it involved the local legends. I too need to get back to the capital to continue investigating. Maybe I can find a way into those mystical rooms now that I’m awakened.”
The A.I. remained quite.
As Adan closed her eyes to sleep, her hand, subconsciously, moved to her shoulder. The fabric there was still slightly damp. It had been unbearable to watch him cry. Utterly heart wrenching.
For a moment she had seriously considered leaving camp right then and there. To use all her strength to simply stop the advancing armies herself. Permanently. Bloodily. That the notion had struck had scared her, but what scared her more now was that she didn’t really care about the consequences it would bring.
Amazonians were not supposed to form emotional attachments, for good reason.
But even in his pain, the man had been beautiful to her. She knew the death and destruction wouldn’t help him. So, she had reigned in the urge. She hadn’t killed for him, she had just held him silently as he cried.
If she dreams tonight, she would probably fall to the temptation of bending down to kiss away those tears. Would they taste salty? No, probably sweet.
Like crushed mint.
Dawn came too soon. Lynn grumbled as the sounds in the camp started to increase, indicating the beginning of a new day. Lynn had always been a light sleeper and news from yesterday plus the new environment hadn’t helped. Begrudgingly, he stared at his tent partner, Duke Kimba, who was snoring deeply.
Lynn sighed and slipped out of his bed roll and pulled on a new set of clothes. As he strapped the pants into his boots, Lynn couldn’t help but chuckle lightly. He really didn’t miss those cumbersome dresses he usually needed to wear-they might look loose and flowing but they were always in the way of movement.
Grabbing a basin, Lynn headed out to get some water to clean himself. It wasn’t until he stood in the line of Sun Tribesmen waiting for their turn at the nearby stream that he remembered that he was an ice bender. Stepping out of the line, Lynn placed the basin on the ground and started to concentrate. He focused on his own body, trying to feel the blood flow through him before manifesting that flow out of his palm.
The surprised gasp from the crowd told him he had succeeded before he even opened his eyes. In his basin, clear water was swirling around peacefully but the faces of the Tribesmen around him were not as peaceful.
“It’s really true . . .” someone murmured in horror. “He controls water!”
“Flame embrace us!”
Lynn clenched his fists. Adan had made herself clear yesterday, both in the meeting and later during dinner among the star eyed Tribesmen. She would not allow anyone to harm him, but it didn’t stop the people from fearing him.
He wasn’t wanted here.
There was another gasp, even more reserved than the first.
Lynn looked down and noticed that the water in the basin had frozen to ice. He had lost control. Again. Panic started to grow within him and it didn’t help that he could feel the temperature dropping around him too. The Tribesmen started to act, the stronger ones shielding weaker people behind them, starting at him vigilantly.
For a moment, Lynn considered to run away but new that if he did, he would never gain these people’s trust. He tried to calm his breathing and focused on the ice in the basin, willing it to warm up. To melt.
He could feel that it had just started to work when, “Ah, Lynn!” Adan’s voice rang through the crowd and Lynn glanced over to see her come walking from the river, dripping with sweat and a towel wrapped around her shoulder. She seemed to have been working out. Lynn swallowed.
Adan stopped in front of his basin with partially frozen water an smiled warmly. “So you were bringing me some water to cool down?” She bent down and picked up one of the blocks of ice still floating in the basin and ran it along her neck. She sighed in satisfaction. Lynn followed the melting water drops, his water, as they slid down her neck and rolled along her collarbone before disappearing in Adan’s clothes.
Instantly, all the water in the basin, including the ice cube in Adan’s hand, evaporated in a puff of mist.
“Adan!” Fearful that he might have burnt her, Lynn stepped forward, wanting to inspect her hand—but was blocked by two male fire benders. “Hey!”
“Keep your distance, Ice bender,” they warned. “You clearly have no control over your powers.”
Lynn flinched, but Adan didn’t seem too bothered.
“Now, now, it will take more heat than that to hurt an Ancient,” she said as she pushed between the two men and help up her perfectly fine hand for them to see in the process. “No one has perfect control right from the start.”
A little flame danced at the feet of one of the men, causing a black mark on his pants as he jumped back with a yelp. “Not even me.”
“Forgive us, Ancient Adan!” The watching group seemed to realize the danger and quickly kowtowed on the ground. “It’s just, he is male! It feels so unnatural to see him wield water. . . .”
“Exactly! We know he is your friend, Ancient Adan but water is a female element! It is bound to go out of control in his hands. Perhaps he will bring destruction by mistake.”
Lynn staggered a bit at this notion. That he would never willingly destroy the world he was sure of, but the crowd did have some merit in their words. He was having a very hard time controlling his powers, much more than he had thought he would. What if he really did end up hurting Adan-hurting those he cared about-by mistake?
Adan however, just laughed. “So you say that because water is a female element, Lynn-a male-can’t be trusted? Then what about fire? That is a man’s element. Would a female fire bender not be trusted?”
Here the crowd seemed to hesitate. There were no female fire benders in the Sun Tribe, but the females were nonetheless touched and protected by fire. But a female who could control fire . . .
“Impossible!”
Lynn had a bad premonition and instinctively wanted to stop Adan’s next move but he was a beat to late. Before he knew it, Adan had pulled off her loose-fitting jacket, only to reveal the tight top she always seemed to wear beneath. Two round mounds and distinct waistline instantly gave her gender away.
“I guess you can’t trust me either then.”
Adan winked at the stunned crowd and turned to drag Lynn away. He could feel the heat from her bare arms through the fabric of his shirt and wished he had opted for thinner clothes.
‘Focus Lynne,’ he reprimanded himself. ‘Now is not the time!’
Adan lead him all the way out of camp, not stopping until they were back on the other side of the hill they had first spied from. Once there, Adan let him go-her heat still lingering-and fell backwards on the grassy hill. Laughing wildly.
“Did you see that look in their faces?” She gasped between laughs. “Utterly priceless! I need to save that video and look at it again later!”
‘Ideo?’ Lynn frowned at the unfamiliar word. Lynn noted it in his mind togheter with other odd words she let slip at times. Previously, Lynn had thought that her those words came from the Sun Tribes but yesterday, he had tested them discretely on Kimba and others during dinner. No one here understood them.
Adan’s laughing slowed down. Propping herself on her elbows, she observed him carefully.
“You okay?”
Lynn blinked and slowly shook his head. If anyone else had asked him that-his family included-he would have instantly put on a brave front. He surprised himself with his honesty.
He sank down next to her in the grass.
“I expected them to fear me. I’ve lived my whole life knowing that if I was even found out, I would be feared and hated. I knew that, and yet . . .” Lynn paused.
“It still hurts to see it now?” A look of profound understanding flashed by in Adan’s eyes.
Lynn nodded. “To be honest, the Sun Tribe’s reaction was not as bad as I expected. I have you to thank for that.”
Adan chuckled awkwardly.
“We didn’t get the chance yesterday,” Lynn pushed, “will you tell me what this Ancient Adan is all about now?”
A deep sigh. “You wouldn’t believe it even if I did.”
“Try me.” He paused. “Adan, I want to know more about you.”
Silence.
“Actually, I’ve already told you the truth,” Adan mumbled after a while, and Lynn could have sworn he saw her muscles twitch in pain. But the moment was too fleeting, and Adan continued talking.”
“I do come from another place than here, a country far far away. I live there with my sister and plenty of . . . cousins. This whole fire-water-bending business isn’t really a thing there and we met on my first day here so I was a bit out of the loop at the time.”
Lynn narrowed his eyes as he was listening. Instinct told him that Adan was speaking the truth but still withholding something.
“Apparently, people from where I live have visited the Sun Tribe before, many many years ago. They happened to also be infernal benders so after they helped save the Sun Tribe, it started all sorts of legends about people like me.”
“What is your home country called?”
Adan laughed. “We are kind of nomads, moving around a lot, but I guess Tellus would be our origin.”
This time Lynn was sure that he could see her twitch in pain. He frowned. Was telling him this physically hurting her?
‘What by the Moons is going on?’
“Are you . . .” Lynne paused. He had so many questions but now he wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to keep asking.
Adan gave him a wry smile. “What?” She didn’t outright say it but Lynne could tell she was giving him permission to keep asking, despite knowing that he had figured out that it would hurt her.
“Are you . . . I mean, are there many like you where you are from?”
“In what way?” Adan leaned over, close. “Devilishly handsome and witty?”
Lynn pushed her away, exhausterpated. “No! I mean people with your insane reflexes, and extensive knowledge in warfare!”
Adan laughed merrily for a while and Lynn almost thought he wouldn’t get an answer. She even stood up and brushed of the grass of her clothes before turning to face him.
“In proportion to the population, we are infinitely few.” A pause. A grunt. “But I’m glad we are few. People always fear those significantly stronger than themselves, even when they are there to protect. Even more so when they don’t understand that strength.”
She held his gaze, the moment heavy, but then she smiled mischievously. Her thoughts had moved elsewhere.
“Since they already fear you here, let’s give them good reason to.”
Snowy Publications 