The skies cleared almost instantly when the young prince collapsed on the deck. The first rays of the Day star were shining through from the East, coloring the skies there bright red. Wint looked around, assessing the damage.

Their two boats were practically destroyed, barely drifting above water, but would soon start to sink. The Reverend Brother looked exhausted, almost to the point of fainting himself. Although even at full strength, Wint wondered if he might be able to tideweave them safely to shore on those wrecked chunks of metalline. They were about a few hal’matri from the dock, just at the very limit of her ability to swim there, but not if she had to carry Linda and Fye on her back as well. She reached for her satcomm - they had to call for help.

Aeris Lee grabbed her hand and shook his head. Damn, those foxes moved quickly. He was pointing to something in the distance, coming straight for them. The small vessel approaching them was moving just as swiftly, as if the waters were parting to make way for it. It had already crossed half the distance between them and the dock.

“Oh what fresh Kriyan hell be this now… another gifted shaman? Ye’ve turned this sacred Isle into yer own experimentation lab for abominations, haven’t ye, Big Brother?” The woman spat mockingly in the Reverend Brother’s direction. “Have ye no sense what dangers training men in Gifts presents?”

“I do…” the shaman pushed through gritted teeth. “But in this case you’d be happy to know the person approaching is not a man.”

Wint’s brows furrowed on her forehead as she strained to focus on the shape of the person approaching on the other small boat. It was a woman, alright. The windstorm felt a shiver run down her spine - not just any woman, but a super-ara tide-weaver. She was tall, with a strong, graceful frame, as was typical for most Water twin ladies. Her face - regal and beautiful, exuded a calm focus, without a single sign of strain to maintain the speed of moving water, despite her age. Her eyes were colored blue-green like the seas she ruled over to reach them, sparkling like rare gems on her dark face, with the use of her Gift.

“Did someone call the coast guard?” The woman spoke, her voice itself commanding respect, despite the playful tone.

“Liquitt Aquina?!” Wint couldn’t help but blurt out the name, as the woman prepared to turn her boat sideways and boarded their wrecked vessels with a light, effortless jump. “Former Ruling over seas, Hero of the Great war Liquitt Aquina was on Tib’tai all this time?”

“Lady Tempayah!” The woman greeted in turn, stretching out her arm to shake the other woman’s hand. “It’s been a while.”

Wint pulled her hand back, as if it had been electrocuted. “Aye, it’s been a while since ye locked me up for trying to expose your nepotism scheme. If we had more time, I’d be given’ ye a piece of me mind…”

“Perhaps you should”, the former Ruling nodded. “Or perhaps you should look inward and address your own evasion of responsibility first, super-ara level windstorm Tempayah Wint.”

The tension between the two women was palpable. Liquitt’s accusation rang through everyone’s ears - yes, I did help my daughter ascend as Ruling over seas, but only because no windstorm powerful enough could be drafted as Ruling over storms. At least one such windstorm had used her hacking talents to forge her power level records.

For the first time, Wint backed out first.

“We got no time for this, Yer Former Rulingness”, the Wind native sighed, gesturing at the wreckage around them. “Are ye willin’ to help us get back to shore, or not?”

“I will, of course, that’s why I came”, Liquitt nodded again. “And on the long road back up to the Central temple, I expect you’ll tell me all about what happened last night, right?”

She cast her now dark eyes over to where Linda and Fye were lying down, motionless. Her nostrils flared ever so slightly, but said nothing, just gestured for the others to board her vessel, as she moved to help Wint carry the ones who couldn’t carry themselves.

*****************************************

Tyrannis Pyre disconnected from the meeting with a sigh. Enemies and trouble were everywhere these days - to the South, as usual, but in her own Palace as well, she was sure. Even Aquina Wotar would sooner turn on their newfound alliance than dirty her own hands for once. Of course, she would find a noble reason to do so. She was just like Liq after all, whether she liked it or not. That’s why there were things Tyrannis simply couldn’t afford to let the Ruling over sea find out.

Although, she thought with a slight smile, she should be thankful in a way to her darling fool of a son. His little escapade had made all this possible. Just like a pot of stew boiling over a strong fire, all the scum had begun to surface since he’d disappeared.

Her little Fye. Beautiful, delicate and naive. He was a part of her and as such, she treasured him greatly - there was no boundary in her mind between them. A transgression against him, was a transgression against her and the Earth snakes had taken the bait so readily, it was almost laughable.

“The simplest traps are always the ones your prey will struggle the most within”, her mother had told her when they were out hunting once. Oh, how right that old fire hag had been! Offering Fye’s hand in marriage to that barbarian the gravity-wielders called a Princess was the lure - simple, effective, genuine on its surface.

Fekh was a cunning woman for her age, Tyrannis knew that, or rather - she was counting on it. From the moment the engagement of the two was announced, the Empress had to just count the day star cycles before the Earth snake’s move. A promise is one thing - even honorable women go back on their words and politicians are not honorable by definition. Fekh knew that all too well.

A prince offered could be easily taken away, but a prince already taken had to be offered to his taker - such was Magmalia’s law, taken right from the Sacred Text - “If a woman happens to meet a virgin and rapes him and they are discovered, she shall pay his mother fifty pieces of precious metal. She must marry the young man, for she has violated him. She can never divorce him as long as she lives.”

And in that very last verse was where Tyrannis’ trap would snap shut around a struggling Earth Princess. Fye would be married, unable to be pushed aside as just another pretty thing in Fekh’s harem. He would be thus First Husband and the heirs produced from his seed would be the only ones eligible to the throne. All the Empress had to do was ensure he was the only one able to produce a daughter.The rest of the Princess’ toys would be subjected to the same poison her dear late husband had unknowingly ingested for the better half of his too-short life.

Tyrannis’ smile widened as she stared at the small vile in her hand. Viruses were such simple creatures - tiny, single-minded, able to be hidden in food or drink, slipped to their unwitting victims and wreaking havoc with their bodies. This particular strain had baffled her Imperial micro-biologists for the past deca-rotation or so, since the prince-consort had passed, but keeping his remains proved useful in the end. The Earth snakes had always been gifted with this sort of thing, but a virus that targets and destroys only “x” chromosome sperm cells was a spectacular scientific feat in and of itself.

Her Kai… She had loved him so, what seemed like a full lifetime ago now. Fye had inherited his father’s beauty and quiet focus. Were she a mere citizen, she would have loved nothing more than to care and provide for her two golden boys as long as her muscles gave her strength and her Gift of Fire burned in her veins. Although, she reminded herself, her smile turning sour, had that been so, no Earth snake or Fire traitor would’ve dared poison her beloved’s seed with this Kriyan virus…

No matter, things were as they were and the South-Magmalian desert-dwellers would get their comeuppance quite soon. Tyrannis Pyre was not one for forgiveness, she much preferred revenge - the more brutal, the better. She was just about to end her night on that merry thought, when the meeting comm chimed again, signaling another incoming call.

When she answered, she first thought it was again Wotar, probably looking for that apology she was never going to get. Then, the connection stabilized and the image before her, although bearing a striking resemblance, was of a woman much older than the current Ruling.

“I see you still aren’t one for sleeping early, Tyr”, the dark-skinned woman said, a playful glint in her deep brown eyes.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Water Dragon herself. Are you about ready to come out of hiding yet, Liq?” The Empress snapped back, although the half-smile on her face mirrored Liquitt’s playful air.

“Oh, could I ever hide from you, Your Excellence?” The water lady laughed. “I told you back on that dark day that I have better things to do than play politics for the rest of my life - some problems just can’t be solved with mere tongue-dancing. A long time ago, you used to believe that too.”

Tyrannis’ eyes narrowed, a wave of burning anger rising in her chest. All those years and Liquitt still couldn’t bring herself to speak openly about the day Kai had died. Once a diplomat, always a diplomat, she reminded herself, but tonight was a bad night to test her patience.

“I do so appreciate your social calls and sweet nothings whispered in my ear, but some of us still have actual jobs to do in the real world.” The Empress replied, letting just enough of her annoyance slip in her tone. “So what’s this about? Did you get bored of chanting with the shamans and wanted to have a proper women’s talk about the good ol’ days?”

Liquitt’s image remained still for a moment and knowing Tib’tai’s poor tech infrastructure, Tyrannis wondered briefly if the connection had frozen. Then, the meeting software chimed once more, indicating the call was transferred to another device - the water lady had switched to her satcomm and a new image was projected before the Fire Empress. It looked like a shamanic medical wing - its floors and walls covered in ornate wooden panelling, decorated with colorful mandalas. There was just one bed currently occupied and it was surrounded by pretty decent, although slightly outdated med equipment. That wasn’t what suck out to Tyrannis the most however, as the bed and its surrounding machinery were covered by a transparent, metalline-like bubble, which isolated it from the rest of the room completely, safe for the aircon machine attached to its side. Was that transpariline? Finally, her eye stopped on the person in the bed. It was a boy of no more than sixteen rotations with long, silky strawberry-blond hair. The Empress felt her heart skip a beat.

“Don’t you worry, Tyr, never a dull moment here on Tib’tai. This morning, for example, I fished your very own little boy from the open seas.” Liquitt’s face returned to occupy the projector, as she turned her satcomm cam back on herself. “It’s ok, he’s very much alive. “

Tyrannis re-focused her gaze on her friend. “He’s been found”, Wotar had said. “He’s currently with someone discrete and … trustworthy.”

“I am grateful to you and your daughter for finding him, Liq”, the Empress spoke again, her voice sounding softer.

“That’s not all I called you about, Tyr”, Liquitt drew in a deep breath. “I had no idea you’d spoken to Wotar about him, but she couldn’t have known about this either way…“

There was something off about the way her old friend’s voice drifted at the end. Unlike her daughter, the former Ruling had delivered many a bad news in her time, so she had some experience. Still, Tyrannis could tell by the strain on the other’s face, the task hadn’t gotten that much easier with practice.

“What’s wrong with him?” The Empress prompted, impatience burning inside her again.

“Too early to tell if it’s wrong…” Liquitt began, but shook her head and continued, a bit more firmly this time. “No, he’ll most likely be ok. More than ok even - you might be pleased, who knows, you like power so much…”

“Cut the Kriyan massive shit, Liq!” Tyrannis slammed a fist against her desk, making her image jump on the other end of the line. “What power are you on about?”

The water lady fixed her old friend with a stern gaze which didn’t quite match the slight upturn of her mouth.

“Divine power, Tyr. Your son is the Lightning Child.”

The Empress felt her jaw drop. The Lightning Child? Impossible, Fye couldn’t be… he was… well, a he for starters. Then she felt an unpleasant chill run down her spine. In general, Alaian men couldn’t develop Gifts, that was a well-known fact. The exceptions were the shamans, of course, but their Craft had no link to a natural Source and the Herb made any potentially dangerous power outbursts more manageable. Theoretically, men shouldn’t be able to connect to forces of nature due to their lack of emotional control. At least that was what the mainstream narrative was. Anything other than that was deemed an abomination and hunted to extinction like those poor East-Air pretty boys with their tails of wind.

“No… NO!” The Empress shouted. “You fix him, Liq, you fix him right now! I can’t lose him too!”

“There’s nothing to fix, Tyr, nothing is wrong with him.” Liquitt shook her head again.

“Fine, then I’ll come pick him up tomorrow.” Tyrannis snapped.

“That wouldn’t be the best idea…”

“You said there’s nothing to fix.”

Liquitt sighed. She was expecting a similar reaction from her old friend and was currently weighing her options on how to continue the conversation in a more or less productive way.

“There really isn’t”, the water lady reaffirmed. “But there are things he needs to learn, to practice… You need to give us some time…”

“Us? Who’s us? If you let some filthy shaman drug him up, I swear to the Goddess, Liquitt…”

“Tyr…” The water lady’s voice went quiet with an icy chill to it and a slight blue-green glint flashed over her eyes for a moment, before she contained herself. “I need you to trust me, like you used to, please. I promise he will be ok - no one will drug him, no one will ordain him as a shaman, he will be just fine. But I need you to give me some time - can you do that? For old time’s sake?”

“How much time?” Appealing to Tyrannis’ non-existent sentimentality rarely if ever paid off, but at least she sounded less angry now.

“At least an Air-moon… maybe more, I’ll stay in touch.” Liq replied hurriedly, afraid she might miss the fleeting window of firestarter calm, if she hesitated. “You think you can keep your noisy southern neighbours in check for that long? I hear they’ve been a bunch of naughty girls lately…”

“I am perfectly capable of containing the gravity-wielders…” Tyrannis snapped again, but drew in a sharp breath and softened a bit, seeing the flicker of sadness on her old friend’s face. “And your daughter is quite capable at containing the mischief they caused in your neck of the woods.”

“Thank you”, the water lady nodded. “So we have a deal?”

“Deal”, the firestarter shrugged. “But you best keep me abreast of his… development. If you’re right, and he really is the Lightning Child, you might be playing with something even more dangerous than fire, Liq.”

“Was that concern for my wellbeing? From the Empress of Magmalia no less?”

Tyrannis shut the meeting off instead of replying to Liquitt’s final burst of cheek. These days were sure full of surprises, she mused, a small smile creeping onto her thin lips again. The Earth ladies impersonating firestarters with yet another one of their Kriyan machines, Wotar reaching out over the cold war curtain for support and now this…

The Lightning child… Oh, Fye, what have you gotten yourself into, you precious fool?

*************************************

Liquitt stared at her satcomm screen for a moment longer, as it displayed the meeting ended message. She hadn’t spoken to Tyrannis since that horrid day the court lads found her husband dead in his chambers. She wasn’t sure if she felt reassured or disturbed by the fact her old firestarter friend hadn’t changed one bit in all these rotations. If anything, she had gotten rasher, quicker to anger and potentially even more dangerous.

Liquitt had to wonder if she’d made a mistake calling her. On the one hand - there was nothing else she could do - Tyrannis would have found out where Fye was either way and eventually - the condition he was in. The water lady sighed and took a step towards the transparilline bubble around the unconscious boy. He had been like that for the full day-star cycle it took them to get back up to the top terrace, since they couldn’t use the broken cargo lift. Was she too quick to promise he would be ok?

Her thoughts were cut short by the sound of the automatic door sliding open behind her with a hiss. She turned to face the group that entered. What a bizarre bunch they were! If she were in a better mood, she might think of a joke that could start like that. An anarchist, a priest and three Storm foxes walked into a med room…

“He hasn’t woken up yet?” The Reverend Brother inquired, making a bee-line to stand before the barrier surrounding the boy.

“Not yet” Liquitt shook her head. “He has been through quite an ordeal. How is the girl?”

“She has some burns - internal and external from the shocks” The oldest East-Wind male said as he moved to the center of the room swiftly, but quietly, followed by his two sons. “Thankfully, the Herb’s effects had begun to wane when she approached him, so she should make a full recovery.”

“That’s a relief at least”, the water lady sighed.

“What about ‘im then? He up for a miraculous recovery too?” Wint brought their focus back to the boy in the bed.

“Too early to tell”, Brother Ma’ala shook his head. “The Herb should be out of his system already, but he abused his body quite a bit to use a Gift he has no idea how to control. We need to wait for him to wake up before we know more.”

The group fell silent a moment, tension clearly visible on all their faces. No one dared ask how certain the Reverend Brother was that the boy would even wake up on his own.

“Is it possible that he drained it?” One of the younger East-Wind boys asked. He had a thoughtful expression and a few white strands in his raven hair. Lao, Liquitt remembered. “We travelled with him on the ship for two nine-days (weeks) - he had no outbursts at all, perhaps he has no conscious way of tapping into his Gift?”

“You think he might wake up unable to use Lightning at all?” The other boy - Lei - asked, finishing his brother’s thought.

“Unfortunately, that’s highly unlikely.” Liquitt said in a hushed voice. “Once a Gift is awakened, you can’t push it to dormancy again. He will keep having these outbursts.”

“So he’ll have to stay behind that barrier… indefinitely?” Lao asked again.

“Any strong emotion could trigger another outburst” , the Reverend Brother replied, pursing his lips. “You saw him out there last night - he’s quite dangerous, we cannot predict how he’ll feel when he wakes up. Or even after that - it’s best he stay behind transparilline for now.”

“It would have been best to not give him that poison, Reverend Brother”, The East-Wind man, Aeris Lee, said - voice barely above a whisper. “Judging from all the equipment in this wing, I’d say this wasn’t the first time your recruitment technique backfired, ye?”

Brother Ma’ala drew in a sharp breath and fixed the other male with a chilling gaze. Liquitt studied their faces and postures - these two didn’t like each other, that much was for sure. So why then did it feel like they were closer than they seemed at first glance? Was all this some kind of twisted show? Or was there something else that pulled them together, even as their opposing personalities tugged the other way?

“Alright, alright”, Wint spoke up again, raising a hand in the air. “Let’s lower the testosterone in the room a wee bit, ye? Lest ye want to be thrown yourselves in isolation?” She eyed both of the men with a warning gaze just in case they thought she might be joking about locking them up. She wasn’t. “We have a bit of a conundrum on our hands, seems like. We have to hand the little brat over to his scary momma, but we obviously can’t do that when he’s practically a ticking time bomb. Brother Ma’ala, ye seem to have some experience dealing with Gifted males, any ideas how to tackle this one?”

The Reverend Brother narrowed his eyes at her. He looked a bit taken aback, Liquitt noted, as if he didn’t expect Wint to turn the conversation around on him the way she did. Although the former Ruling had spent the past ten deca-rotations on Tib’tai, there was still so much she didn’t know yet about brother Ma’ala. The man drew in another deep breath and whatever emotion was lurking below the surface was again swept under the cold impenetrable mask of head shaman.

“It is true, the situation is indeed quite dire”, he spoke, voice deceptively soft. “Nevertheless, there is something we can do…” He took a couple of steps towards Aeris Lee and gently, carefully placed a hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Or rather, someone who can help the boy.”

The East-Wind native’s expressive eyes widened in shock.

“Are you suggesting…” the Tailwind began, then bit his lower lip and took a step back, shaking the shaman’s hand off. “Have you any idea what you’re asking?”

Wint eyed the exchange with narrowed eyes, then shifted her weight to her other leg, an air of impatience about her, but not enough to call the Reverend Brother’s diversion out. Instead, she said:

“Aye, we’re asking the only man in the room who’s mastered a Gift without losing his marbles to help the boy master his.”

Lee shook his head, a haunted expression on his beautiful face.

“No, there has to be another way.”

“Aye, there be another way - we all die at the hands of the Fire Empress when she comes to collect her precious offspring. Won’t she love the idea of having to transport him in a giant electro-proof cage? I imagine that would significantly reduce his marriage prospects.”

The East-Wind man kept his dark brown eyes firmly planted on the floor, deep in thought. He recognised the gravity of the situation alright, but that didn’t mean he had to like it, or even take it without a fight. Tailwinds don’t usually roll over and do as they are told.

“I’m not the only man to have mastered a Gift in this room”, Lee said, finally looking up and pinning the Reverend Brother with a loaded gaze - two could play the diversion game.

“Ha! Typical, lord Aeris, so very typical.” The shaman let out a dry, humorless laugh. “I wonder, is evading responsibility a Tailwind trait or are а general Wind native one?”

The bitterness seeped in his tone, as he threw an accusatory glance at Wint. Before anyone could wonder about that though, he turned his attention back to the East-Wind man:

“I wish I could train the little prince, my lord of Wind, believe me I would love nothing more than to claim I was the Master of the Gift who taught the Lightning child. However, from what we’ve all witnessed last night, I think it’s safe to say the way his power works is closest to Wind and Storm, whereas I am a shaman first and a moderately successful tide-weaver - second.”

It was Lee’s turn to bark out a laugh.

“Evading responsibility? Oh, that’s rich. Unlike what you may think, Reverend Brother, I have in fact not forgotten who I am. A demon, an abomination, a Tailwind” he spat the words out, looking around the others in the room, daring them to cut him off, “ I spent my whole life persecuted or in hiding, simply because of what I can do. So don’t you dare talk to me about responsibility to a world which has wanted me dead for as long as I can remember.”

Silence reigned over the room once more as no one dared look up to face the fury in the Tailwind’s dark eyes. He was right, of course. Weren’t they all a bit shameless to ask him, the ultimate outcast, to suddenly step in and help the very same world that had brought him so much pain?

“So what - yer just gonna run away?” Wint asked.

“I’ve lived as a fugitive my entire life”, Lee shrugged. “It will be a bit harder now, with the children, and without Tan there to support me, but definitely not impossible.”

The Reverend Brother slapped a hand to his thigh loudly, exasperation cracking through the emotionless mask on his face.

“Listen to yourself, Lee! You’re seriously considering running away again? How did that help you all these years? How did it help your wife? Or your daughter for that matter…” The warning flash of white in Aeris Lee’s eyes didn’t deter the shaman one bit as he walked over to grab the East-Wind man by the collar of his tunic and gave him a good shake. “You don’t want to help a world that’s hunted you as an abomination all your life? Fine! Then help us build a better world for that poor boy over there. This is the Lightning Child, man, do you get it? The Lightning Child is a male. Are you honestly too stubborn or too narrow-sighted to understand what this means?”

Wint and Liquitt stood on edge, ready to jump in and drag the two men apart, but Lee drew in a shaky breath and opened his eyes, which were thankfully, still dark brown. He pushed the shaman off himself firmly, but not too forcefully and straightened his crumpled clothing. When he raised his head again to face them, there was a glint of something in his intense stare that wasn’t there before.

“I think I finally do understand, Reverend Brother”, he said, voice low, yet powerful enough to be heard throughout the room, like thunder, rumbling in the distance. “Alright, I will accept the boy as my apprentice,” he raised a hand in the air, cutting the enthusiastic reactions he could read on everyone’s faces off. “However, I will do so on my own terms.” He nodded towards the unconscious boy behind the barrier. “Lightning child or not, he will not become a plaything in any of your political mind games, I will make sure of it, do you understand?”

Liquitt nodded to herself. So that was the true face of a Tailwind - the very thing that had terrified her sisters on the Wind twin enough to turn to genocide. Not a demon, or an abomination - just a man who refuses to bend to anyone’s will but his own. There were very few things she could imagine more subversive than that to a society like the one on Alaiah. Yet, strangely, she couldn’t help but feel glad that it was precisely Aeris Lee who the Goddess had put on Pyre Fye’s path like this. If anyone could accomplish the near-impossible task of teaching the boy control, it was this man.

“I do understand, lord Aeris”, she spoke and moved to stand before him. He stared at her, brows furrowed in confusion, as she hit her left shoulder with her fist and bowed, giving him the full military salute, reserved usually for highest ranking Wardens. “I am truly grateful for your decision and I hope one day soon, our whole world will be. May the Goddess light your path.”

“Um… should we like… call his mother or something?” The boy called Lei awkwardly chimed in.

The former Ruling turned to face him with a small smile on her lips.

“I already did. She will be here after an Air moon rotation.” She waved a hand at the concerned looks on the others’ faces. “Fear not, that should be plenty of time to at least get the prince out of that Kriyan bubble. The rest can be… negotiated.”

Lee barked out a short laugh.

“Of course. In that case - would you all leave me to tend to my apprentice?” He moved to sit the plush chair just outside the transparilline barrier, reclining its back a bit to make himself comfortable. “We have a lot to talk about when he wakes.”