Ranvir shook his arm out as he stepped into the afternoon heat. The sun hadn’t let up since yesterday and even as it headed towards evening; it seemed determined to melt the very stone of the plane.

He rolled his shoulders, a zing of pain moving up his injured arm as Kyriake let him towards a corner of the training ground. He soon realized they were headed for an enclosed courtyard of the estate that lay towards the back.

As they entered, Ranvir examined the area. Twenty meters on all sides with three meter tall walls, it was enough to keep anyone’s wandering eyes away from them, though it wouldn’t stop anyone’s tether-sense. Perhaps that was what Kyriake’s presence was for.

“The power of an element can come from many things,” Kyriake began walking alongside the wall. “Depends on which parts you want to highlight from within it. Fire is explosive, or it can be scorching, or it could cleanse, it all depends on what you want it to do.”

Ranvir looked at her for a moment before calling his power forth. Mana flowed through Amanaris-space and directed it through his Absolute. “There was a reason I changed my element,” he said. “Stone is strong, but rigid. It might’ve been a great fit had I allowed for a higher control.”

He generated a handful of sand, focusing on making a minor mound at the center of his palm. Yellow light gathered, crystallizing to sand. He frowned slightly as the mound piled from around his fingers, too big for him to hold within a single a hand.

“There is leeway in sand,” he continued reasoning. “Its less rigid nature and the way it spreads allows for mana to disseminate throughout it and spill over without losing as much function as stone,” he started manipulating his material, creating a twister at the palm of his hand. It wasn’t perfect, flinging grains in every direction, slowly losing mass. Then he tried focusing it into a single structure of hardened sandstone. It turned into a crumbling brick that wore away at his touch.

“Where does sand naturally live?” Kyriake asked, jarring Ranvir from his musings.

“In the desert,” he answered, as he attempted to make patterns within what he had left in his hand. He made a wavy line that was not an attempt at making a snake, nope.

“Where else?”

“I guess, it also appears alongside rivers and lakes,” something was flying towards his shoulder. It was small, about the size of his finger, and didn’t move quick. Though his senses barely caught it before landing. He turned, feeling a chill run down his spine as the sound of sand rubbing together sounded close to his ear.

Looking to his shoulder, he found the locust sitting idly rubbing its feet together and glaring at him with that unnerving intensity. Ranvir licked his lips and smiled at it before turning his attention to Kyriake, who was looking at him amusedly.

“Not a fan of insects?”

Ranvir shook his head.

“That’s pretty normal,” then she waved dismissively. “You’ll get over it.”

Ranvir smiled as he tried and failed to hide his doubt.

“Back to the topic at hand,” Kyriake said. “How can you best use the strengths of sand you need? Is it the sand of a desert? A dune slowly blown across the expanse over decades and years? A sandstorm, all-encompassing and consuming? The riverbed sand flowing along beaches and bottoms of rivers, constant motion wearing down the grain?”

Kyriake spoke slowly, her tether-sense weighing heavily on Ranvir, guiding him through the motions. First, the mound of sand became a dune, then blew up into a storm, until it fell down and ran a path across his palm as if dragged by the waters.

“I think—“

“Don’t,” Kyriake interrupted immediately. “I’m not interested in what you think. I want to know what you feel. Being a braced, or being a dad for that matter, there are moments of thought and consideration, then there are moments of emotions and actions.”

Ranvir closed his eyes, trying to sense what he felt when he moved the material above his hand. That was also why he was completely unprepared for the rock that hit him. It struck his fingers just hard enough to sting and make him drop the sand.

“Call it back,” Kyriake ordered. Ranvir’s mind reluctantly let go of the thought of how she’d hidden the stone from his senses so completely.

Reaching out with his Absolute, Ranvir pulled the sand now piling on the ground up with his Dagger. It flew into the air, shooting up through his Discipline and into the air before spattering down around him. The locust chirruped a noise that wasn’t quite its usual tones, an inflection of some other note was inserted.

“Slowly, perhaps,” Kyriake offered. “This is about the feeling, not the job.”

Ranvir took a deep breath and closed his eyes again, feeling more aware than ever of the creepy creature crawling on his shoulder.

More tentatively this time, he called on the remaining sand before him. Slowly this time, it felt like he had set about watering a thousand plants with a forty liter waterskin and he had to carefully choke the flow to not waste it.

“Do you feel that?” Kyriake asked.

“Not really, if I’m being honest.”

“Then how about seeing it?”

Ranvir opened his eyes, his Perception rapidly adjusting to the change in lighting. The sand spiraled upwards, not in a stream but a mist of grains, returning to his hand. He cocked his head, then looked to Kyriake.

“Now you’re allowed to think,” she said with a tiny smile curling the corner of her lips. Something about the smile seemed familiar.

“It spread out naturally. It didn’t return in a single stream or in clumps,” Ranvir said. “Sandstorm…” he turned his head looking at the locust on his shoulder, then shut his eyes. “You knew.”

“I had a suspicion,” Kyriake said. “But it’s good to have what passes for confirmation in these cases.”

The storm locust stopped its rhythmic noise as it realized they were both scrutinizing it.

“So…” Ranvir began. “What does that mean for choosing my Abilities?”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Obviously, I wanted to combine something with my elemental, since the Ability runs itself,” he began. “That opens up synergies much more than normal Abilities.”

“It makes them easier but not a guarantee,” Kyriake agreed. “I read up on your file. I hope that’s okay, you favor internal and ranged Abilities. Personally, I would suggest looking for an Ability that enhances the physical aspects of both you and your insect.”

“Internalized doesn’t seem to really fit with sandstorms or my nature of spreading out, though.”

Kyriake lifted a hand, a yellow glow deeper and richer turning towards brown appeared around it. “There are internal enhancement that focus on a single point within your body, but there are also Abilities that spread it over your entire physique. That said, I’d begin with a completely internal Ability. It’s okay to think about synergies. Working towards them is great training, but that shouldn’t come first.”

Ranvir frowned, but nodded. He realized what she said was true, but it was so hard to resist. Synergies were such a powerful tool to the braced. Two Abilities working together, enhancing power and efficiency. But even simple synergies were incredibly complex.

Ranvir shook his head, sensing the person sneakily approaching the enclosure. He didn’t turn towards the opening, but glanced at Kyriake to see her leaning against the wall with a mildly amused look on her face.

“How about you start with getting a feel for your element?” she suggested, as the presence, Ranvir now recognize as two distinct forms snuck inside.

Ranvir nodded, his back to them as he began swirling the sand in a figure-eight pattern between his hands. Kyriake shifted, acting like something caught her attention on the other side of the yard, causing the figures now creeping along the wall to stiffen in fear. The older woman didn’t look at them as she began walking away.

There was a barely choked back giggle, which caused the other party to let out a ‘meow’ from its place between the first person’s legs.

“Did you hear that?” Ranvir asked.

“Hear what?” Kyriake asked, not turning away from the most fascinating stain in the world.

“Must’ve been the wind,” he commented, shrugging and returning to his exercise. It was actually good for him to get a sense of the way sand moved most naturally for him. Fast was apparently part of that, because as it sped up, so did his control became slightly easier. It still wasn’t great, and he was spraying sand everywhere as he worked, but there was enough that he could at least get five minutes before having to refill it.

“Hiya!” Frija cried, jumping onto his leg and wrapping both arms and legs around it. “You’ve been hit by Sneaky-Claw! Half-cat, half-human!” Then she bit him.