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THEY WERE LEFT IN PEACE for the rest of their journey to the sea, only the faintest of twinges bothering them after the demon's banishment. The port town of New Haven came into sight mid morning a week after the encounter and Rebecca sighed with relief.
"Almost there." she muttered to herself.
Daniel smiled beside her, nodding toward the wide expanse of rolling deep blue water in the distance.
"There is going to be plenty more riding once we cross that."
She scowled at him irritably, not wanting to be reminded.
"I'll be happy to be out of the saddle for a while." she countered.
Daniel raised his hands in surrender, his smile never leaving his face. As they crossed a bridge over the now sluggish brown river, Katherine looked down at it with a sigh.
"I'm going to miss it." she murmured. "I know there are other rivers ahead of us but I've always thought of this one as mine."
"We'll come back to it." William told her. "Might take some time but we will."
Katherine smiled at him.
"Glad to see you're optimistic for a change."
He shrugged and they fell silent, none of them wanting to admit that their thoughts of the future were not entirely cheerful.
Their solitude came to an end as they came closer to the town, a cart joining their road from a rutted and worn track soon after the river. A group of men passed them in the opposite direction a mile before the first houses, nodding a silent greeting as they went by, their handcarts loaded down with picks, shovels and supplies. The hard packed dirt road continued between rows of houses, the timber buildings weathered from frequent sea storms and salt. Narrow cobblestone drains lined the road. Riding between the houses, Rebecca caught the first breath of odour from the town, wrinkling her nose in disgust. William scowled and looked back at her, his eyebrow lifting questioningly. She shook her head, grimacing as another gust of the heavy cloying smell reached them.
"The city I grew up in didn't smell like this." she told him. "Smoke and decay yes, but not shit. We had a sewer for that."
As though to drive her point home, a window rattled open on a nearby building and from an upstairs room, a woman leaned out to empty a pot onto the ground below. Daniel raised his sleeve over his face in dismay as the brown liquid ran into the drain.
"Perhaps I can blow it away?" he suggested hopefully.
Looking around he saw everyone nodding.
"A gentle breeze at our backs ought to shift it on." he murmured to himself, his face dropping into a faint frown of concentration. Moments later the wind turned and the smell faded, Daniel offering them a faint smile.
"Hopefully we can get through town and onto a ship quickly. We'll be better off with a natural sea breeze blowing this stink back from the harbour."
William looked doubtfully at the town and finally shook his head.
"If we can't get straight on a ship we'll have to find somewhere to stay the night."
With a pained look back over his shoulder at the mountains in the far distance, he sighed.
"I hope we can get out of here quickly. I don't want to have to live with that stench any longer than necessary."
Daniel nodded his keen agreement.
"We should be able to catch a ship from here easily enough. The supplies for the gold fields back up in the mountains all come from the port here. There should be ships willing to take passengers."
Finding passage on a ship to the Old World proved easier than any of them had expected. Several ships docked in the harbour were willing to take passengers along with their general cargo. The only problem they encountered was paying for their fare. The pitifully small amount of money they had between them wasn't enough for a single berth let alone the four of them. It did however prove to be enough for a room at a lodging house not far from the docks. Stabling their horses in the cramped stalls behind the house, William muttered to himself in disgust.
"Bad enough I left my mountains. Now I have to put up with this stink overnight?"
Katherine rested her hand on his shoulder, offering him a conciliatory smile.
"It's one night Will. We'll be out on the open ocean and breathing clean air again by tomorrow night."
He scowled and closed the gate to the stall.
"Better get a start on finding something to pay the fare then." he growled. "Sooner we can leave the happier I'll be."
With a little help from his elemental, William scraped together a few ounces of gold, the sparkling dust appearing through the cracks in their lodgings. Katherine watched on in amusement as he slowly pooled it in his hand, the tiny flakes glittering in the light from the window.
"A handy little trick." she eventually admitted to him as he moulded it together into small nuggets. "How far did they have to bring it to have it here?"
He shrugged, a faint smile touching his lips as he bounced the gold in his hand. Faint images of running water and dark earth came to him from the metal, telling him of the gold’s life as it had formed until it had first seen the sun and been washed away in fast running streams.
"Not as far as you'd think.” he finally told her. “There is enough of it spilt out on the streets and in the taverns nearby."
"The benefits of a gold rush port." Daniel's weary voice drifted from under his pillow. "I'd bet it's everywhere."
William pointed at Daniel’s supine form and Katherine nodded understandingly. Rolling the gold nugget around his hand thoughtfully, he turned to Rebecca.
"Care to try?" he asked, holding the nugget out to her. "I'm sure you need practice working with Earth."
Taking the offered nugget, she smiled faintly at its weight and nodded. Letting the feel of it in her hand draw her mind, she focused on its warmth and weight then let her mind drift in search of more.
An hour later she felt William's hand on her shoulder and blinked in surprise. Looking up at him blankly, he smiled down at her and nodded to a spot on the floor in front of her.
"It looks like you've figured it out."
She looked down, her eyes widening at the small pile of gold flakes mounded before her. Even as she stared at it, several more flakes inched up from between the floorboards and shivered toward her pile.
"Must be a dozen ounces there." he mused in surprise. "Perhaps more."
The blanket covering Daniel jerked and his head appeared, his eyes bleary and hair messy.
"A dozen ounces?" he mumbled in disbelief. "That's worth a fortune!"
William nodded easily.
"It should be enough for us to live off for a while."
He turned a warning glance to Rebecca.
"Now you know how to do it, try not to abuse the power. The elementals won't take kindly to being used that way."
She nodded hurriedly and looked at the pile. It didn’t look all that big to her but she knew that gold was worth good money.
"It's not too much...?"
She trailed off when William shook his head.
"They understand our need and help us by their choice."
Staring at the pile, he finally chuckled softly and shook his head.
"Let's mould it together before we lose it."
The hour that William had spent with her sitting on the floor scraping gold was in the forefront of her mind as she unsteadily made her way up the swaying gangplank to the deck of the ship. Behind her Daniel put a steadying hand on her waist and she looked back at him questioningly. With an embarrassed smile, he took his hand away.
"Sorry."
She rolled her eyes and quickly gained the deck and the half dozen crew waiting there. One in particular drew her attention, his coat and shirt in better repair than the others. He held a hand out to her in greeting.
"Welcome aboard Miss. I'm Captain Ellison and it will be our pleasure to ferry you across to the Old World."
Taking his hand, she was surprised when he raised it to his lips and bowed over it.
"I do hope our quarters will be to your comfort."
Letting go of her hand, he turned to Katherine. For a long moment he paused, his face becoming still as he looked at her before he stepped forward with a broad smile.
"Now here is a face I thought never to see again."
Katherine paused, her eyes darting across his features. After a heartbeat she broke into a delighted smile.
"Ellis Ellison!" she cried. "It's been a long time."
"Thirty years." he agreed. "And you haven't aged a day."
She blushed and dropped her head.
"A little more grey than last we met." she murmured. "And you've grown from the boy I remember."
He waved a hand dismissively, opening his arms to embrace her.
"If I had known it was you looking for passage last night I would have gladly made my ship available to you."
William frowned behind her and looked away. Katherine chuckled, patting Ellison on the back and letting him go.
"I would still insist on paying my way." she admonished him gently.
Shaking his head, his face became set though his smile remained.
"You nursed my parents through their sickness when I was a child. If not for you we would have perished beside that river."
Bowing his head to her in gratitude, he took her hands and brought them to his lips.
"For that I cannot thank you enough. If you have need of anything on your journey, tell me and I shall provide it."
Once he had drawn an assurance from Katherine, he turned to William and Daniel, shaking their hands and wishing them a pleasant journey on board. Sharing a brief word with the man next to him, he excused himself to guide them to their cabin himself. Once below deck, he looked over his shoulder at Katherine with a curious gaze.
"Are they like you?" he asked without preamble. "Gifted with the Elements?"
Katherine nodded, unsurprised by his question.
"You have the pleasure of all four elements." she told him.
His frown surprised them and he looked at Rebecca shrewdly.
"Fire isn't a ship's friend." he told her curtly. "I'd be most grateful if you could keep it contained."
She frowned at him in return and he shrugged, his smile returning in an effort to reduce the sting of his words.
"I've been on this earth long enough to learn a few things." he stated. "One of which is that Fire is attracted mostly to women."
Pausing in the narrow corridor, he turned to survey them.
"Earth?" he asked, lifting his chin toward William.
William nodded silently and Ellison glanced at Daniel.
"I expect that makes you Air."
Daniel nodded and Ellison’s smile broadened at him.
"This being a sailing ship, I suspect you and I might have a few things to talk about then."
Turning to a door beside him, he nudged it open and stepped back.
"These aren't large rooms but the four of you should be comfortable enough in here." Looking directly at Katherine, he gave her a warm smile. "As I said above. If you have need of anything, you need only ask."
The rough sea lurched under her feet and Rebecca’s stomach belatedly followed it a moment later. They'd barely passed the shelter of the bay before the full power of the ocean swell had borne down on the ship. She had discovered far too late that she was defenceless against it and the sickness that it induced. Clinging to the rail, Rebecca gave in to the inevitable and let her head drop over the side to vomit into the salty spray. Panting with the effort, she pushed herself upright again, staggering and falling against the rail as the deck disappeared. A hand gripped her shoulder and she looked up to see Daniel standing surely beside her, rolling naturally with the swell as he looked at her worriedly. She flushed with embarrassment, wiping vomit from her chin.
"You're not taking this well are you."
Rebecca shook her head, keeping her mouth closed in case her stomach rebelled again. His grip on her shoulder tightened slightly and he gave her a pitying smile.
"If I could control water, I'd see if I could smooth the sea for you."
He sighed and shook his head, his free hand gesturing toward the full sails.
"Unfortunately for you I can only control the wind."
Rebecca groaned and pushed herself upright once more. She was sure there was nothing left in her stomach but it felt as though there was more swirling around inside. At the same time she felt that it had been tied in knots and squeezed in a vice. She fought the feeling long enough to answer.
"I can work with water a little." she ground out. "But this is the ocean. No one can control that."
Daniel smiled and shrugged.
"Control it? Perhaps not, for a normal person." he conceded. "But if you were to ask it to please behave?"
"His idea is worth a thought." her elemental whispered. "You are suffering and we feel it through you."
She doubted she could do anything but even the slim chance of calming the sea sparked a weak hope in her. If the Air elementals were right and she was an Avatar, that ought to count for something. She groaned as her stomach queasily rolled over again, then desperately stretched a hand out to the choppy waters, silently calling to the water elementals she could feel in her head.
"Please for the love of the Path, ask your cousin to be calm."
While their answer wasn't comforting, through her nausea riddled mind she could feel their unspoken apology.
"She is powerful and will not bow to our request. Nevertheless, for the Avatar we shall ask."
She waited for what felt like an age, her stomach roiling as much as the sea below. Eventually the elementals returned in her mind, their voices laced with satisfaction.
"She has agreed. She will calm the surface for now."
Bracing herself against the rail, Rebecca took her knife and gingerly drew blood from her wrist. Letting it drip from the knife point into the water below, she gratefully muttered to them.
"Thank you. I am in your debt."
Daniel raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"You have that much power over them?"
She shook her head and slumped to the deck miserably, bracing her back against the rail.
"I asked and they agreed."
Daniel sat beside her, bowing his head in thought.
"You've obviously got some power with the elements if you can ask the ocean to be calm." he mused. "Perhaps we can begin working together now that we have time." He smiled at her when she turned her pale and sweaty face toward him. "Or perhaps we should wait until you're feeling better."
Her brief thankful smile disappeared as quickly as it came, wiped away as she scrambled to her feet to vomit over the rail again.
It wasn’t until the next morning that Daniel was able to begin training sessions with Rebecca. When the seas had eased to a long and gentle rocking the previous afternoon, she had gone below and cocooned herself in her bunk. She had refused dinner and slept for fourteen hours straight, finally waking to nervously eat plain biscuits and water for breakfast. When that had stayed down, she had agreed to follow Daniel to the open deck.
"I can feel the fire in you and I've seen what you can do with it. As it is there is no one here who can help you with that. William and Katherine have the skills to teach you about Earth and Water. Which leaves Air, and me."
Rebecca looked him up and down as he smiled at her.
"I've had a little bit of experience with Air." she pointed out.
Daniel nodded, one finger tapping his chin thoughtfully.
"So you've said before. And I've seen you use it myself. The question is, how much control did you have?"
Before she could answer, he held up his finger, a faint smile creasing his lips.
"I don't need to know how well you controlled the demon." he added. "I know how much control you had there."
She fell silent, remembering how she had burned out the last time she had tried to use more than Fire and the rampant destruction that had resulted from it
"I didn't control them." she admitted. "It felt like they liked my idea of what I wanted them to do and they went along with it."
An errant breeze lifted her hair and Daniel chuckled.
"They can be very accommodating if you want them to be mischievous."
Taking her hand, he drew her toward the ship's rail to look over the water.
"Let's make a start with something easy."
Pointing over the rail, he lifted his chin at the gentle swell.
"Let's see if you can lift spray from the top of the waves."
Closing his eyes, his face creased in concentration. Fifty yards from the ship the swell ruffled under a stiff breeze, the crests turning whiter and whiter until streamers of fine spray whipped back from them. As quickly as it had come, the breeze died and the swells settled back into their endless smooth rolling. Daniel opened his eyes and smiled.
"Your turn. Visualise what you want them to do. They can be wilful and likely to try to escape your control but if you keep the picture firmly in your mind, they will mostly behave." Looking over her shoulder, his smile widened. "If you don’t concentrate, you're likely to disappoint your audience."
He motioned to the waves and stepped back, ceding the stage to her. Glancing behind her, Rebecca saw several sailors had paused to watch them, their attention drawn by Daniel's brief display. She groaned, her shoulders slumping as she stepped up to the rail.
"Path save me from making a fool out of myself." she muttered in resignation.
The elementals rose in her mind before she could call them, their light voices overlapping each other in excitement. One in particular came through clearer than the rest, calmer and surer.
"Welcome Avatar. Air is ever at your bidding."
She relaxed at the smooth flow of the words, her momentary uncertainty washing away.
"I have worked with your Brothers." she thought in reply. "Will you work with me?"
"We will serve willingly." the voices chorused.
She smiled and closed her eyes, picturing what she wanted them to do. Their acceptance flowed through her and she opened her eyes, focusing on the swells twenty yards from the ship. The surface of the water began to swirl, spray rising as the wind whipped it up. Several of the watching sailors applauded politely at her effort and Daniel rested his hand on her shoulder.
"Feel the air, feel what it wants to do and guide it. The air is fluid but once moving, it will bend only so far."
She nodded distractedly, her eyes on the tiny tornado now pulling salty spray ten feet into the air.
"I could do more if I combined them." she muttered.
Daniel's hand tightened on her shoulder.
"Not right now. We will work with Air for now."
The voices whispered in her mind, soft and almost childlike in their gleeful play with the sea surface.
"We can do more. Let us show you."
The tornado rose higher and Daniel frowned.
"Control. Don't let them loose."
She sighed and concentrated, shrugging aside the disappointment from the elementals. The tornado settled and began to bend. The spray trapped inside it defined the shape as it rose into the air and became a sphere. Daniel applauded softly beside her.
"Good work. Can you hold it?"
She nodded. The elementals rested easily in her mind, their disappointment fading away as she directed them to begin circling the ship.
"Don't let it go behind us." Daniel warned, watching the progress of the sphere. "If they join with the elementals providing the wind in our sails, we're all likely to get wet."
As the ball of spinning spray approached the stern she extended her senses to the elementals Daniel was controlling, sending a tendril of thought to them. The stiff breeze filling the sails hitched momentarily, the sails snapping in protest before they filled once more. Daniel frowned, his hand firm on her shoulder.
"Rebecca?"
"I've got it under control." she answered his warning tone absently. "Trust me."
The swirling sphere swept past the stern, a brief misty spray speckling their faces before it was past and heading away. With a sigh she let it go and watched it disintegrate. Daniel patted her shoulder.
"That's very good work."
"We shall always be at your call, Avatar." the wind murmured as she breathed out in relief. "To train with you is an honour."
From her first lesson with Daniel, she was given little rest as Katherine joined him the next morning and the two of them worked her through repeated exercises with Water and Air. She progressed so rapidly with Air that after only two days Daniel took her to the stern of the ship and lifted his chin at the sails.
"You've likely realised that I'm helping guide the winds to speed our journey." he told her.
She nodded. She could feel his intent in the stiff breeze that blew past her, hear the soft voices in the wind calling to him. She heard him sigh and looked at him as the wind died away. The calls from the sailors drew her attention to the sails falling slack above her and she glanced at him questioningly. He lifted a hand to the sails, offering her a smile.
"I've kept us moving swiftly for three days. I think it's your turn."
She frowned at him.
"You want me to move the ship?"
He nodded calmly.
"I've had to keep half a mind on the wind all this time." he pointed out. "It isn't as hard as forming tornadoes and lifting spray from the waves but it is a constant drain. I need a rest."
She looked up at the drooping sails, her frown now turning inward. The sound of footsteps climbing to the stern deck brought her gaze to Captain Ellison joining them.
"Wind's died." the captain pointed out. "Taking a break son?"
Daniel nodded and Ellison turned to look at her speculatively.
"Still a long ways to go before we reach the Old World. Though I was led to believe you're a Flame I've seen you working with both him and Katherine. Makes me think there's more going on."
His gaze turned up the sails briefly before he turned it back to her.
"Any chance you'd be able to speed us on a little longer?"
She hesitated and Daniel reached out to put his hand on her shoulder to squeeze reassuringly.
"She can do it." he answered confidently. "Whether it's only for an hour or two or perhaps a whole day, I'm sure she will be fine."
Captain Ellison nodded and turned away.
"I'm sure she'll do for a spell."
Watching his departing back, Rebecca sighed and spared Daniel a frown. He chuckled and waved at the sails.
"It's the next logical step in your training." he pointed out. "Keeping the Air in the back of your mind while you concentrate on something else. I'll let you get us moving again, then I'll have Katherine come back up to work you through more Water exercises. When you can keep the ship moving along as quickly as I have while paying attention to her lessons then I can safely say that you've matched my skill."
Lifting his hand up to the sails once more, he inclined his head.
"Let's get started."
Rebecca lasted until the sun began to set, suffering through Katherine's disappointed frowning when she lost concentration and they were doused in heavy spray on more than one occasion. Swiping her dripping hair from her eyes in frustration, she grimaced and turned to look at Katherine unhappily.
"You're not focused today." Katherine stated. "You were doing much better yesterday."
"Yesterday I wasn't trying to keep the sails filled." she snapped in return. "How can I focus when I've got the wind whispering in my head all the time?"
Katherine raised an eyebrow.
"Daniel failed to mention that when he called me up."
Rebecca scowled in Daniel's direction, a faint anger stirring in her when she saw him relaxing against the railing at the bow of the ship. She didn't hesitate to send a thought to the elementals all around her, feeling their glee at what she pictured in her mind. A moment later a swirling bubble rose above the railing, bursting above him and showering him with ice cold water and a large panicked fish. His howl of indignation was lost in the loud laughter from the sailors on deck and Katherine's chuckle beside her.
"Serves him right." she said in satisfaction. "I apologise if I've been short with you this afternoon. He could have saved us both some lost patience if he'd let me know what he had entrusted to you."
Patting her on the back, she smiled at Rebecca when she turned and lifted her chin to the taut sails above them.
"I think our lesson is done today. You managed to get him saturated without missing a beat."
Rebecca looked at the sails in surprise, a smile pulling at her lips at the sight. Katherine quickly drew her attention back to her.
"How do you feel?" she asked. "You've been drawing on the elemental’s power for hours now. I wouldn't have been pushing you so hard if I'd known you were using two elements."
Rebecca paused at the worry etched on her face.
"I feel alright." she finally answered truthfully. "Perhaps the beginning of a headache but..."
"Then we'll stop." Katherine cut in firmly. "I won't risk you burning out."
"You have grown." her elemental whispered at Katherine's statement. "Water and Air are becoming second nature to you and I doubt you will soon burn out with them."
A faint undercurrent of jealousy ran through the words, souring their praise.
"I will ask for your knowledge when there is more to safely burn." she thought in return. "I ask for your patience until then."
"A wise choice." her elemental agreed grudgingly. "A tinderbox in the middle of the ocean is perhaps not the best place for my manifestation."
Rebecca woke the next morning, a faint edge of hunger prickling through her stomach. Even with the ocean staying calm and Daniel's lessons distracting her, she had still felt an undercurrent of discomfort so her hunger came as a welcome sign. Cautiously easing out of her hammock, she tiptoed from the cabin and closed the door softly behind her. Lightly walking along the corridor, she suddenly stumbled and lurched into the wall. Frowning, she looked back at the floor to see what she had tripped on. The sudden tilt of the deck beneath her feet made her stop, her frown deepening as she realised the ocean had begun to heave again. She hurried to the end of the corridor and pushed through the door to the deck outside. Stumbling again as the deck tilted, she staggered to the rail and looked at the deep swell below.
"Is this your doing Miss Hargreaves?"
She looked up to the stern deck at Captain Ellison's growling call.
"No sir."
Captain Ellison descended and crossed the deck to join her by the rail, pausing to stare at the rolling swell thoughtfully.
"I knew that flat calm was too good to last." he grouched. "At least the wind is still behind us."
Glancing sideways at her, she easily read the question in his eyes.
"The wind will stay behind us." she assured him. "Daniel is still sleeping so I'm guiding it."
"He's been a good teacher then." he murmured to himself.
Smiling at her before he turned away, he called back over his shoulder as he climbed the short ladder to the stern deck.
"Either that or you are a quick study."
Sitting with her back against the mast she looked up as Daniel walked toward her, his feet sure against the gently rolling deck.
"Couldn't control the sea forever?" he asked as he joined her. "Not feeling sick?"
She shook her head. The elementals had prevailed against the ocean as long as they could but the ocean had finally returned to ignoring the little ship bobbing along on its surface. She had known the moment it had happened when the swell had deepened, sending the ship into a sharper rocking motion. Despite that, her sickness hadn't returned. The pitching of the deck now felt familiar to her, as though it had always been meant to do that.
"I think I'm getting used to it." she answered. "I managed to eat breakfast."
Daniel chuckled and sat beside her.
"Glad to hear that." he said cheerfully. "I was wondering if you were going to be able to eat anything aboard. You would have starved before we got to the Old World if you couldn't keep anything down."
She scowled, looking away to the rolling swell beyond the railing.
"I've never been on a ship before." she murmured. "I never thought it would be so..."
"Sickening?" he interjected.
She nodded. She couldn’t even start to describe how unready she had been for the experience.
"I thought riding for days on end would be the worst thing I'd face before..."
She stopped and looked at him, her face pale as she trailed off. He nodded understandingly, neither of them willing to give voice to what lay ahead of them.
"I wasn't ready for this." she murmured in a small voice, her gaze dropping to the deck.
Gently nudging her with his shoulder, Daniel smiled at her.
"What does your elemental think?"
Rebecca shrugged.
"We haven't really talked about it." she admitted reluctantly. "I should have asked her already but I guess part of me wants to ignore it for as long as I can."
He nodded understandingly, knowing he had had the same thought. His own mind would often shy away from the idea of what they would face, the nightmares he had shared with her forming clearly in his head any time he thought about the future. He shivered slightly and forced his voice to remain light.
"Well maybe you should ask...her?"
When she nodded, he paused and his smile faded to a thoughtful frown.
"What's your elemental's name?" he asked. "It would be respectful if I addressed her by name."
Rebecca coloured and he chuckled, shaking his head. He was mildly surprised at how little Rebecca knew about their customs. There was no doubt that she had the power to wield the elementals, and wield them well, but her knowledge beyond that was sorely lacking.
"Haven't you learnt your elemental’s name?" he asked.
She flushed deeper in embarrassment, her fingers tracing the grain of the wood beneath her. She let her eyes follow her fingertips so she wouldn’t have to look up at him.
"When I said we hadn't talked much, I should have said we've never really talked much except when we're fighting shadows." she answered defensively. "And since we've been together that seems to be all we do."
Daniel nodded slowly, his face clouding over in thought. He silently reminded himself that she hadn't been brought up learning the history and customs of the Path, only stumbling into it by the most unfortunate coincidence. Putting that thought out of his mind, he swept an arm around the almost empty deck.
"There are no demons or shadows around here now." he pointed out. "And you've said yourself that you are getting used to the ship's motion. Perhaps it is time you and your elemental share a few things while you have the moment."
She sighed and nodded, knowing that there was no point putting it off. Patting her on the shoulder, Daniel stood and looked down at her.
"I'll leave you and your elemental in peace."
Her elemental whispered in her mind as Rebecca watched Daniel walk away.
"He is correct." it murmured. "It would be respectful to speak to us by name."
Rebecca rolled her eyes and set her gaze on the rolling sea.
"It would make a change from our conversations about burning shades." she agreed. "So I guess you already know my name."
Her elemental laughed airily.
"I am inside your head but it would be rude for me to pry through your memories without permission." it told her smoothly. "However, I hear much, so in answer, yes. I know your name. Miss Rebecca Hargreaves, daughter of William."
Rebecca nodded to herself. Even though she hadn't wanted to think about it, she had wondered how much an elemental would see inside her head. Her elemental didn't wait for her question.
"My name is Varya." it told her proudly. "Varya of the Char."
"The Char?"
Varya sounded oddly subdued when she answered.
"There are many families within the Fire, the highest of them being the Incandescent. They are the oldest and brought light to the world many millennia ago. I am of the Char, one of the younger families."
Rebecca closed her eyes, shutting out everything else as she spoke to Varya silently.
"You don't sound happy about that."
Varya sighed, the sound whispering through her mind.
"To be of the Incandescent would be to control unimaginable power. I could be revered by all Fire Elementals. Even one of the other older families would be more revered than I."
Rebecca frowned, her brow drawing down over her closed eyes.
"You control more power than I have thought possible." she thought. "So much that I would burn out if I tried to use it without your help."
A shiver of pleasure rippled through her and Rebecca laughed softly at her elemental’s pride.
"I would not choose one of the elder elementals." she continued. "I am only human and I have no wish to be reduced to a cinder."
Varya sighed again.
"That is why it falls upon us of the younger families to guide your minds." she whispered. "The eldest are not gentle and would leave you a burnt out husk without remorse if they thought it would further their own ends."
When she paused, Rebecca opened her eyes and looked out at the endless swell of the sea. The salty breeze lifted her hair from her face and she breathed it in gratefully. A thought occurred to her.
"The relic we are searching for, it's a fire elemental isn't it." she said softly.
"It is." Varya answered simply. "The heart shard of an Incandescent bound to a weapon. Many of the oldest Elementals allowed themselves to be shattered and bound in the Elder Days as an alliance with humans against the Darkness."
Rebecca turned that information over in her mind, thinking about it carefully.
"The Spear is obviously an old weapon. What about something newer, like William’s rifle? Would that have the power we need?"
Varya hesitated before replying.
"His relic is not one of the first elementals, though it was forged by them. He holds the heart of an Earth elemental, one that draws on the blood shed by Ancients on innumerable battlefields."
While Varya’s answer hadn’t actually answered her question, Rebecca still learned something new..
"So his relic combines power from both humans and elementals." she finally said.
"It does. And is all the more powerful for it." Varya agreed. "Though it will not be enough to banish what we shall face."
Rebecca shivered involuntarily as the conversation turned to the future, feeling the blood drain from her face as she paled.
"I have been too afraid to ask what it is." she murmured. "Now I know that I can't put it off any longer."
Varya's reply was subdued as though she too was afraid.
"We face a child of the Greater Darkness." she whispered. "What your people would call a demon."
"But we've faced one already." Rebecca said in confusion. "We didn't need the relic for that."
"You faced one of its lesser brethren." Varya corrected sadly. "What attempts to break through to this world is far older and more powerful. Along with the First Families of the Elementals, it was once a part of the world’s creation before it turned against the Path. Our only chance is to find the relic. Only it has the power to match it."
Daniel was on deck controlling the wind when a man sitting high up in the rigging called down cheerfully.
"Land! Land ahead!"
He turned to look up at the stern deck where Captain Ellison stood beside the wheel. The Captain glanced down at him and nodded.
"We're well ahead of schedule." he called. "Keep this wind behind us and we'll be in port in a few more hours. May as well go below and let everyone know to get ready."
Daniel nodded and crossed the deck to the door, pushing it open easily with the roll of the ship. Descending the stairs, he ducked under the low ceiling and hurried to their cabin. Rebecca looked up as he entered, a relieved smile on her face.
"I heard the call." she told him, inclining her head to where William and Katherine were packing away their meagre possessions into their saddlebags.
"The horses will be glad to get off onto dry land." William growled. "And so will I."
Katherine laughed softly, reaching out to lay a hand gently on his shoulder.
"You may not have enjoyed this crossing but I certainly did. I have not had a chance to converse with so many water elementals in years."
William scowled and bent his head over his saddlebag. Daniel couldn't help but smile when he heard him mutter.
"Give me dry land any day."
It was late morning by the time the crew threw heavy lines down to the workers standing on the pier below them, both parties swiftly making the ship fast to its mooring with practised ease. A gangplank was passed up from the dock and secured, several workers striding up it to the deck to join the crew. Rebecca and Daniel followed William across the deck to meet Captain Ellison where he stood at the head of the gangplank and he nodded to them in greeting.
"Must thank you for the best crossing we've had in years." he told them sincerely. "I doubt we'll ever have another as fast or as smooth again."
Daniel grinned and looked at Rebecca.
"She did most of the work."
Ellison glanced at her, the corner of his mouth turning up.
"I'm sure your first day at sea convinced you to help out."
She nodded, colouring with embarrassment as she murmured.
"If I never get on another ship I'll be happy."
Ellison chuckled and tilted his head toward shore.
"Off you go lass."
As she set her feet on the gangplank, he added softly to her.
"Think of us if you feel like going back again."
They didn't have to wait long for their horses to be unloaded, a pair of experienced handlers walking them down a wide gangway to the dock. Already saddled and ready to ride, William instead chose to walk the horses into the city, iron shod hooves ringing loudly on the heavy salt stained timber.
"Don't want them getting spooked near the water." he growled, eyeing the crowd around the docks distrustfully. "They're fidgety enough from being cooped up on a ship."
Rebecca nodded absently, her mind occupied by the fact that she was in a new country. While on the ship she hadn't thought about it much but now that she had her feet on solid ground once more, she realised that she was the furthest she had been from her childhood home. Beside her Daniel reached out to touch her elbow uncertainly. When she glanced at him he offered a faint smile.
"Feeling better now that we're off the ship?" he asked softly.
She nodded again.
"I feel a little unsteady." she replied truthfully. "I keep expecting the ground to move under me and then it doesn't."
Daniel laughed, shaking his head.
"You got used to the sea’s movement and now it's gone."
"And a good thing too." Varya murmured in her mind. "There was little between me and the infinite power of the ocean."
She was surprised to hear the tone of relief from her elemental.
"What would have happened if we'd sank?" she whispered.
"Unless you could swim the ocean to reach shore again, there would be nothing for me to survive on. Nothing to burn." Varya murmured. "In short? Oblivion."
The revelation that an Elemental could be completely destroyed came as a surprise that made her eyebrows rise incredulously.
"You can die?"
Varya's voice was faint and distressed when she replied.
"We are ageless but we are not all immortal. The Four Great Powers shall never die but we lower elementals do not have that luxury. The ocean would have destroyed me utterly simply because its power is so vastly greater than my own. It is one of the four and so would extinguish my spark without noticing."
Daniel's hand on her arm interrupted her thoughts and Rebecca frowned at him, pulling her mind back to the reality of the busy docks that surrounded her.
"What?"
A minute shake of his head and a lift of his chin made her look around to see a cluster of One God priests nearby blessing those leaving the docks. William glanced back at her warningly and pushed his way through the edge of the crowd, keeping his distance from the priests.
"Now is not the time to chat with the voices in your head." Daniel muttered to her.
Rebecca nodded in sober understanding, eyeing the priests distrustfully. Following in William's wake, they passed the small gathering and entered the city.
