The usual calm and tranquil forest that provided for the elves was filled with frustrated energy. Blasts of fire streaked through the clearing amidst the pyre I stood with gritted teeth. Cruelty and Anger wafted off my body as I thought about my brother's fate at his ceremony and all of the things that he has suffered over the last 15 years of his life. My amber hair that matched my mother was singed on the ends because of the heat I was putting out.

“Seri, Seri, Seri” A small figure repeated over and over again with a pesky pitch that only made me more frustrated. She flew right in front of my eyes and gave me a huff, placing her tiny hands on her tiny waist. Her pouty face and glare were the precursor to the sudden extinguishing of my flame. “If you don't listen to me I am going to just turn off your fire. My powers aren't for venting and if you would just listen to me for a moment, I could explain what's going on.” She stomped her foot on my nose as she got gradually louder in her scolding.

“What do you mean, ‘what's going on?’ I know what's going on and it’s just another time this world has unjustly punished my brother for no reason. I would know better than anyone that he doesn't deserve this.”

“Pops is handling it and if you had listened to me earlier you’d know that your brother is going to get a title, but he isn’t ready for it. Pops is talking to him right now. Geez. Piper gave me another pout and glare. Her foot tapping at an incredible speed showed the tiny figure's frustration with me but her tiny cute girly form was really killing the fiery argument even if it matched her looks.

“Pops? Don’t the Higher Spirits only have the Father and Mother spirit above them?” My mind was racing with the implication of what she said. I kind of doubted what she was saying and if it had come out of anyone’s mouth but hers I would have laughed. A light chuckle of disbelief escaped my lips “Are you saying that there is a Father Spirit in my house right now? And that he is talking with my brother?”

“More than talking sister, Contracting, your brother is going to be a legend but Pops says he has to wait three years before he gets his title. Pops is here to help get him ready.” Her voice was proud and arrogant as if she was the one contracting with a Spirit that everyone doubted the existence of because of how often they showed their faces.

I stood in the middle of my usual training clearing with a dumbstruck face. “Wait, how do you know that my brother gets his title at 18, and why does he have to get it so late?

“His title is a special one that only one person can have at a time but he has to learn a lot of different things, even sad things to be able to not get overwhelmed when he gets it. As soon as he gets his title he is going to be a lot stronger than even you my Seri.” She gave me a beaming smile. “His title will be given to him at 18 so he has more time to learn. You’ll probably see my dad around a lot over the next three years.”

My mood had completely shifted and I found myself jumping for joy with the news that my brother wasn’t going to be stuck suffering forever. I reached out and grabbed the fairy before me and with a sinister smile on my face.

“So you are going to tell me everything right? That's what best friends are for right?”

Her face was struck with a little bit of fear that only increased when she realized she was stuck in my grip. “Fine, fine, just let me go.” Her voice panicked as she struggled and audibly popped out of my hands when I loosened them enough.

“Your brother is going to get the title of Knower, I can’t tell you what it does for him but you can kind of assume from the title. It's a title that has only appeared once before and Uncle K, the guy who died and had it before, was one of my dad’s best friends and was even there for my birth. He lived to be almost 15,000 years old. Your brother will likely live longer because of his Elvish blood and will likely be more powerful.” She kind of had an inquisitive look trying to do the math in her head

If my jaw was unhinged and dropped from my face it would have sunk into the dirt under my feet. “15,000?” I had to sit down to stop my head from spinning. “My brother is going to live to be over 15,000 years old?”

Piper looked as though she hadn’t just said something unimaginable and nonchalantly floated around me. Ignoring her glare she counted on her fingers, oblivious to everything going on around her.

“He will likely live about 45,000 years actually if I did my math right. Spirits don't usually need math but elves usually live about 3 times as long as humans. So 45,000 makes sense to me”

It was said so casually that if it hadn’t been such a bombshell statement then I would have likely ignored it or passed it off as insanity in any other context. After hearing how long he was going to live, my legs collapsed and forced me to take a seat on the grass.

“My brother is going to live 50 millennia? What is so important about his title that he is going to live that long?”

“I already told you that I can’t tell you that silly, Oli can tell you when he gets his title but that's still for another 3 years. If you don't want him and my dad to pass us up on training, get your lazy butt up off the ground and practice some more.

“Now that I think about it, I really don’t wanna lose to pops so hurry and start practicing.” She flew around behind me and tried to push me off the ground with her tiny body.

“So your dad is training Oli?”

“Yeah, it is going to be important that he knows how to fight. If you have any chance of keeping up with him, even if he is starting a while after us, we need to keep training. Plus, next year is your Titling ceremony. You’ll finally be able to unlock your heart space and we will grow a lot faster.” Piper continued to push on my back but failed to move me even an inch.

Standing up, I set myself to continue with my fire training. I thrust my fist forward with a gush of flames over and over till I felt my eyesight dimming and slightly lightheaded. Piper made me do 20 more reps than I usually do and I was exhausted

“Don’t sit still yet. We have to do control practice next. Momma and Pops both said control is the most important so we can’t skip it.”

“I know, just give me a moment to rest. We don’t usually do that many reps and my arms hurt. I don’t know if I could pull a bowstring, even if it's magical if I don't rest my arms.” I gave Piper a little flick on the head with my tired arms and she did an exaggerated twirl before sitting on my forehead.

“That was rude, you know. Maybe I shouldn’t teach you how to fight hand to hand.”

“What was rude was making me do 120 reps of burst punches. I know I need to have some hand-to-hand experience and all but I definitely am fit more towards the bow.” I sat silently for a moment catching my breath. “Actually who taught you how to fight hand to hand? You are kind of tiny so I don’t really see why it would be useful.”

“It was my dad, the Spirit your brother is going to be learning from. He made all of us learn how to fight. Even if our bodies are small we can pack a punch. If you can hurt people far away and up close then you are going to a lot more dangerous”

“I guess I get it. I really hope I get something related to archery for my title though. I feel like all the puzzle pieces just fit together for me whenever I hold a bow. “

“Yes, Yes, you are a prodigy in the fire and the flames, I understand.” Piper gave another grumpy little pout and crossed her arms.

I snorted a very un-girly snort. “Stupid jokes like that are why we are contracted. Let’s get back to work then.

I stood and adjusted my stance as if I were firing an imaginary bow. Earlier I was just expending energy from my firsts. In terms of difficulty, this magic is something someone without a greater spirit would not be able to perform. I felt the energy begin to leave my body and Piper’s will released my magic and gave me more control over the essence that she changed within me.

A bow, five feet in length, wreathed and formed of flames, sprouted from my hand. The ends of the bow licked formlessly at the air. The familiarity of the smoldering bow in my hand reminded me of family campfires and elven smores. The smell of fire wafted towards me and a thin string of fire connected the two ends of the bow letting off a loud pop similar to the sound of a blazing oak.

No wave of heat beyond the comforting warmth of a hearth ran over my body but the dirt and grass below curled away from the blazing weapon.

I reached toward the string with my right hand letting my essence farm another shape of an arrow. My pointer finger rested on the blazing arrow shaft and I let my pointer and ring finger pull back the arrow on the taught fire string.

My hand came to rest beside my nose as I peered down the arrow towards my target, a painted circle on a tree about 50 yards away.

Silently, I released my hand from the arrow and a roasting wind tossed the underbrush around me and the arrow as it flew. A soft thunk of wood sounded out through the forest followed by an explosive force that shattered the tree and sent burning splinters around the destroyed tree.

“You meant to do that right?” Piper questioned the strength of my arrow with a dropped jaw. “Most of the time your arrows just disappear from the tree after they strike.”

My head hadn’t wrapped around what I had done yet when she asked. “I think I never reset my imagery from when we were practicing hand-to-hand. The kicks and punches we do make me think of explosive imagery. I didn’t know I could apply that to an arrow. I probably should be careful about letting my mind wander like that.”

Piper extinguished the small fire that was beginning to spread through the dry brush and turned towards me, “yeah that might be a little dangerous. I wasn’t going to teach you that for a while yet.” She gave me a silly look with a slight apologetic grin about pushing me too hard.

“I am glad you understand why it happened, just be careful with it. Fire essence isn't just heat or heat energy but energy itself. It wouldn’t surprise me if that last shot ripped your adrenaline reserves out of you. You are going to be really exhausted once you return home after that shot, sister. I’ll walk home with you to see how Pop’s is doing and to make sure you get back safely.”

My bow, still present in my hand, began fading from existence. I began to sway and felt really dizzy stepping backward to catch myself from falling over. I had never been essence exhausted before and it felt awful. The explosive arrow took much more essence than I realized and if Piper didn’t warn me about my coming exhaustion from my still present bow, I would be sprawled on the ground.

Releasing the bow stopped the energy drain and the dizziness halted at a minor spin. I tried to sit on the ground but Piper stopped me, urging me to walk home before resting. “If you sit down, you will not be able to get back up” She chided.

“You could have gone a little easier on me today, you know. This is making me nauseous.”

“I’ll make sure you get home safe.” She gave me a motivating push on the back that had much more force than I expected from her six-inch height.

I ended up stumbling home, tripping on roots , covered in mud, and barely able to keep my eyes open. Nearly tripping on nothing as I stepped through the door alerted the house that had an extra… person in it?

“Oy, Piper, what did ya do to the poor girlie? She looks like she wrestled the earth and lost!” The stout little man stood no taller than the edge of the table. My parents turned towards me from the kitchen and my mom rushed over to hold me up, knowing by her motherly instincts that I was about to fall over.

“Ah, it's no problem. She just worked herself too hard today.” She passed my state off as if it were nothing and I gave her a sharp glare.

“You worked me like an ox today Piper. You have to take some credit for my state too, ya know.” She gave an embarrassed chuckle and floated over to the gruff, but miniature man. She sat on his shoulder like it was completely normal and began to talk like nothing had happened.

“Pops, how did talking with Oli go?” She poked him in the cheek from her perch.

“Ya little rascal, ya need to stop doing that. Yer getting too old to sit on me shoulder.” He brushed her off with the back of his hand then to my shock floated over to me. An earthly yellow surrounded his form as he moved towards me. My mouth gaped as I made the last connection to who I was in the presence of.

“You're the Father Spirit of Earth aren’t you. I thought she was pulling my leg with all the things she told me about Oli.” My legs finally went out from under me.

“Oh dear, we can discuss it at dinner.” My mom exclaimed as my weight dropped onto her shoulder. “Let’s get you upstairs and cleaned up. I'm sure once Oli wakes up, we can explain what is going on.”

“Ya exhausted yer essence didn’cha. Piper was always a little bit of a loose cannon when it came to her own training” He let out a hearty chuckle.

I let my mom ferry me upstairs where she helped me clean up and laid me down on my bed where I slept till the smell of elven steamed buns lifted my head from my slumber.

My short nap was interrupted by the smell of dinner and a small knock on my door. “Come in,” I exclaimed. The door opened and I got the first glimpse of my functioning brother since he locked himself away after the ceremony. He just stood there meekly as if waiting for permission again. “Don’t just stand there, I already said come in.”

“Sorry, I…” I cut him off.

“You don’t have anything to apologize over. I know this isn’t an easy time for you. Honestly, I am glad you came to talk to me because I didn’t want you to shut me out and was nervous that you were going to disappear again.”

“That is what I am sorry for. I hurt you when I shut myself away. You, Mom, and Dad are the only people who I am close to, and if I had leaned on you like I always do, then the news that I don’t have a title yet wouldn’t have been so bad.” His sentence trailed off into a murmur as he got the last words out of his mouth.

“You know, you are supposed to be the older sibling. I’m your baby sister: if you need anything, you can always ask me. Piper told me a lot about your situation so I probably can help more than you think.”

“What kind of stuff did she tell you?” His curiosity had piqued and he finally showed a little of his curious self that he had been missing since the ceremony.

“She told me that you are likely to live 45,000 years. Your title is apparently super special. I don’t know what makes it so special but if Piper’s training is anything to go by, you are going to have a rough three years of training ahead of you too. “

Oli looked dumbstruck. “I knew I was going to get trained but don’t just glance over what you said first. Did I hear 45,000 years correctly or did you add a zero?”

“You heard me right”

There was a long pause where Oli didn't breathe and I waved my hand in front of his face. He shook and then shot to his feet. He was pale. Nearly as pale as when he came home from the ceremony.

“Does that mean I am going to outlive everyone I love?”

His words shook me. I hadn’t considered that. Before I could say another word he took off down the stairs in pursuit of some answers.