Chapter 18
I grew tired of feeling defenseless in a world where everyone around me had extraordinary power at their fingertips. If Queen Sessi wanted to take humans into Corenathia to enslave them, she’d have to do so over my dead body. I vowed to make her mission as difficult as possible, but in my current state, I couldn’t even fight off a minnow if I desired to.
Which is why, with each step I took, my excitement grew. I followed Dax as he entered the training facility where the Guardians trained—his long, pale hair brushing across his massive back with each step. The facility stood across the south side of the palace. It was nothing more than a sandstone building that resembled a warehouse, with its backdoors opening into a large, sandy training arena. Warm sunlight filtered across the grounds and poured through the windows of the facility. As I strode through the double doors behind Dax’s towering form, I couldn’t help but notice all the various tools designed to inflict pain: long, shiny swords encased in a glass cabinet, tall wooden staffs tucked into the corner, several nunchucks hanging from metal hooks in neat rows, bows and arrows resting just beneath them on a wooden crate.
But that wasn’t what drew my sole attention. A wall of cascading fell into a large, natural pool at its base, where several half-naked, incredibly gorgeous Guardians milled about—every inch of their ripped warrior’s bodies on full display. Some appeared to be cooling themselves, their deep breaths indicating they’d just completed their training. Others manipulated the water into all kinds of shapes and sizes. Spheres. Discs. Arrows.
Jagged rocks of the deepest charcoal color framed each side of the descending waterfall, and what appeared to be a cave peeked from just beyond the veil of water. I stood gaping.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
“Just a little.”
Dax smiled in amusement. “This is where we start our training.” He shifted his attention to the Guardians in the water. “Okay, everyone! Times up! We need to train our little Princess!”
I scoffed. “Little Princess?”
Dax tied his hair with a leather tie at the nape of his neck. “You’ll want your scales covering as much of your body as possible. Wouldn’t want you to get nicked. I’ve spent more time in the infirmary than I care to.” I had no desire to visit the infirmary either. I summoned my scales to my collarbone and down to my wrists, leaving only my face, feet, and hands exposed.
A murmur of laughter echoed off the walls as the Guardians exited the pool. They each bowed—one of them openly scanning me from head to toe with a lift of his lips and causing my cheeks to heat—as Dax led me into the water until the water rose to my waist. It lapped against my scales, calm and inviting.
“Alright,” he began, motioning over me. “It’s clear you’ve already mastered morphing. Any questions on summoning your scales or morphing shapes?”
I lifted my hand, watching my protective skin shimmer against the light as I wiggled my fingers. “None so far.”
Dax nodded, placing his rugged hands on his chiseled hips. “Very well. So, for your first lesson, we’ll go over manipulating water, but most importantly, how to use it in self-defense. Soon enough, it’ll become second nature, much like morphing.” He held his palm in the air, and several tiny streams of water fell into it. “Water can be both a weapon and protection.” The water thinned and moved up his bare arms, blanketing them with a thin layer of water, like a caterpillar crawling across his fair skin. “The water, while not impenetrable, can lessen the effects of some elements, can block out most of them. For example, if a Fire Fae were to catch us unaware and we cannot summon water quick enough, we may get burned.” The layer traveled up his defined torso, thick neck, and bulging biceps until his entire body was covered in a glimmering shield of water. “But if we can summon our water shield, we can protect ourselves.” Dax held his arms out, wiggling his fingers. Droplets of water floated before him, transforming into thousands of long, sharp-looking needles. He shot them into the waterfall with a flick of his wrist, and my mouth fell open. “We can also take down our enemies,” he said with a sly smile. The water shield dropped unceremoniously back into the pool with a splash. “It’ll take some time to train you to that level. So, we’ll start with some basics.”
Dax carefully grabbed my hand, laying it flat on the pool’s surface, the water dancing over my fingertips. “Begin by mastering the art of communication with the water, attuning yourself to its essence, and absorbing the energy generously bestowed by the goddess. She is in all things. Close your eyes and call to Atabey.”
My brow lifted. “Call to Atabey?”
His face turned gravely serious. “I know in the Above World, such things as calling to spirit or a god may seem…silly, like calling out to some phantom unreachable being whose existence is debatable. But I hope you’ve seen enough proof with your own two eyes to know that nothing is debatable about Atabey. The goddess hears you, listens to you. You have only to call her, and she will answer,” he pointed at the swirls and curves inked on my wrist, “especially with that mark.”
His words rang true. I’d felt it in the cavern that day with Draevyn, and my tiny experience was enough to know Atabey existed. I let loose a breath, closing my eyes and letting my other senses take over. I heard the crashing sound of the waterfall meeting the pool below and felt the push of the ripples under my hand. My surroundings came to life behind my eyelids. Just beneath the surface of the water, a blue string of light brightened, playful in its energy, as it snapped to and fro on an errant current, edging closer to my palm. It gave a few light taps, causing me to flinch.
“Don’t be afraid of it. Embrace it,” Dax encouraged.
I inhaled deeply, the blue string caressing my palm. Suddenly, it latched onto my hand and began creeping up my arm. My breathing accelerated, but I remained determined to be still. My eyelids squeezed, my natural instincts imploring me to open them, but as the energy reached my upper arm and spread to my collarbone and down my torso, a sudden calm came over me.
“Good. That’s good, Ash. Now, give your palm a flex or two.”
As my fingers expanded, I felt the flow of the water move at my command. My cheeks lifted into a grin I couldn’t contain. The water called to me from some natural, deep-seated place within.
“Excellent. Now, turn your palm up and imagine a ball of water,” Dax directed. “Not too big. Just a small sphere.”
Turning my palm face up, I imagined a ball of water the size of a softball, the small streams of water tickling the lines of my palm as I imagined a perfect sphere.
“Open your eyes.”
My lids slowly opened to reveal the exact shape I saw in my mind, the light catching on the different angles of water within as it rotated in my palm. My gaze snapped up to Dax, whose proud smile expanded on his face. “Water Fae.”
Looking back down at my creation, I couldn’t help but agree. “Water Fae.”
A surge of energy rose from the water, and the sphere suddenly tripled in size.
“Whoa,” he said, jerking back.
“What’s happening?”
Dax’s brow furrowed. “Not entirely sure, but I’d say the goddess is pleased.” As if in confirmation, the energy beneath the surface intensified. He scanned the waters as if a living, breathing thing were about to emerge. The waterfall slowed until it came to a complete stop—a glowing blue tint similar to the one I’d envisioned reflecting off the water. Dax’s cobalt-blue eyes went wide.
I shuffled in place. “Uh, has this happened before in your training?”
“Not with a single pupil,” he murmured. “Not even your mother when she was learning to connect with the goddess as a faeling.” He shook his head, glancing back at the waterfall. “I’ve never seen the water react like this. The goddess gives us the power to move the water, to create shapes—even weapons. But never to pause its movement. And it’s certainly never glowed like that. This is unheard of.”
A ripple of worry traveled down my spine. I shook out my hand, and the sphere dropped back into the water, the waterfall resuming its journey to the pool below.
Dax’s stare remained fixed, his arms crossing over his chest. “Hhmph.”
I cleared my throat. “Great. Well. I love adding to my unusualness. Nothing like having a human-like Fae queen with never heard of powers to rule the queendom.”
His gaze slid to me, his eyes so severe that I stilled. “You must not speak of this to anyone.” He scanned the room, sighing in relief. “Thank the goddess that there was no one here to witness that,” he murmured. “We need to keep this between you and me until I can determine exactly what just happened. Such occurrences aren’t normal. Humans and Fae alike tend to fear the unknown. Promise me you’ll say nothing.”
“Not even my father?”
“I will tell your father. I keep nothing from him, but no one else must know. Promise me.”
Despite my mind momentarily drifting to Draevyn at the thought of keeping something like this from my…friend, my head dipped in a nod. “Of course. I promise.”
Seeming satisfied, he reached for my hand, turning my palm up once more. “Let’s try this again. I want you to get comfortable with your gift.”
I attempted to summon a few spheres throughout the remainder of my lesson with Dax, but comfort eluded me as I thought about the significance of my newly discovered talent. It was another anomaly to add to the growing list of oddities in this new world I found myself in. Asherah the wallflower. Asherah, the shark whisperer. And now, Asherah with the gift to stop water in its tracks. No, I wouldn’t dare tell anyone about this.