Among the practical items in our gifted bags was a welcome treat. Coffee. I bring the warm tin mug to my lips and take a slow sip, enjoying the bitterness that overwhelms my taste buds. Little wisps of steam curl off the top, and I follow them as they float through the crisp morning air.
Mina is still asleep, so I take my beverage and find a quiet spot by the water for some contemplation. This place, it's special. I don't know why, but it has some sort of spiritual significance. I can feel it. I zero in on the clear water, and suddenly, I get it.
There's nothing here except for the earth and the water. I can already bend the earth. Anahita sent me here so that I can get in touch with the water aspect of my abilities. I mean, that's what I'm assuming. All my "superiors" have hinted that I have those powers in my skill set. There's no hard evidence that I do, but now that we're here, my instincts are screaming that I have to try and tap into them.
I drain the rest of my coffee and head back to camp. Mina snores on the ground next to our dying fire, wrapped up in a sleeping bag. She seems to be a bit tangled in the thermal padding, and twigs, among other bits of forest, have been swallowed by her curly mass of hair.
I lean down and shake her awake. "Mina. Mina, wake up," I utter softly. She responds quickly, awakening with a start.
"Wha- is something wrong?" she grumbles, rubbing her eyes. She sits up in a frenzy, as ready for drama as she can be in her drowsy state. I place a gentle hand on her shoulder.
"No! No, dude. Calm down. Everything is fine."
Mina groans and leans back onto her elbows. "Then why would you wake me up?" she snaps.
I smile and shake my head. "Someone is not a morning person." I pass Mina a cup of the now cold coffee. She takes a drink and glares at me, but I can already tell that she feels a bit better than she did at her initial awakening.
I relay my epiphany to Mina as she sips on her drink. She nods thoughtfully without one snarky remark, a sure sign that the caffeine is doing its job.
"So how long do you think that we'll be here?" she asks, gulping down the last little bit of coffee in her mug.
I twirl a stick around in the dirt at my feet. "It's hard to say. When I was training at the village, I didn't feel like I was anywhere close to a breakthrough."
Mina smiles encouragingly, but I can see the disappointment behind her eyes. "Let's get started then, I guess," she says cheerfully, but as soon as she thinks I'm not paying attention, she releases a small sigh.
...
"I have to be calm, right? That's the only way I'll be able to do this."
Mina shrugs, and lets her hands fall to her sides again. The water ripples gently around her finger tips. "I don't know how any of this works. If you feel like you need to be calm, then I'll just... stand here and try to not be distracting, I guess."
Mina and I stand about twenty feet away from one another in the lake, adorned in the wetsuits that we found in our packs.
It seems a bit silly to be wearing a full wetsuit, but at least it covers everything. Besides, there's nothing else to wear. All our other new clothes are too pristine and fresh to be used as swimsuits. That only leaves one option to wear to brave the freezing glacier water. How convenient that Anahita would include them in our packs.
I roll my eyes and inhale deeply. I try to block out Mina's presence and focus on the tranquility of my surroundings.
I squeeze my eyes shut and raise my arms stiffly. I wiggle my toes into the muddy pebbles under my feet and try to make a connection to the water in a similar fashion that I practice with the earth.
The frigid mountain water doesn't warm around my knees as I wish it would, but I persist nonetheless. I unfurl my clenched fists and raise my hands to the sky. A splash sounds in the distance, and my eyes fly open excitedly.
My heart races in anticipation, but the elation falls short when I see the real source of the noise. Mina sits sheepishly in the water. She flushes a deep shade of red as I raise a mocking eyebrow. "I'm sorry." She lets out an awkward cough. "I, uh, fell."
"I can see that," I manage, biting my lip to restrain a laugh.
Mina rises with an embarrassed scowl. "Try again, just relax a bit. You seem a bit tense," she prompts, obviously trying to change the topic. Putting the focus on my failure instead of her embarrassment. Low. I bite back a retort and comply, only to get the same results as before. None.
...
"Again, Kiana. Try harder." I don't think Mina meant for her statement to hold malice, but the subtle bite behind it gets my blood boiling.
We've been here at the lake for a couple weeks, and I'm no closer to unlocking my talents than I was when we got here. Mina has been very understanding with me, but even her superhuman patience is waning.
She wants out of here just as bad as I do. The days are long here, and the only past time is my training. Plus, the knowledge that another day here is another day where Nasrin is potentially in danger is torture.
I try to clear my mind of all thought, but I know that I'm already destined to fail. The water doesn't respond to my efforts, just as I predicted. Mina meets my eyes as I open them, and she looks just as frustrated as I feel.
She clenches her fists. "Kiana," she mutters through clenched teeth. "Please, could you just focus. Try again."
"I can't, Mina. There must be some other reason that we came here. I just can't do this."
She shakes her head. "Don't say that. You can do this."
I slap the surface of the water, furious. "I can't, Mina! I can't, I can't, I can't!" I shout.
It's beyond infuriating that I can't tap into these powers that I'm supposed to have. I can't please myself, and I can't please my friends or a goddess. I'm upset that Nasrin and Ali are gone. I'm angry with the fact that the universe isn't giving me anything to work with, and I'm not doing any of the good that I was promised.
My palm stings from its contact with the glassy surface of the lake. This just feeds my anger, and I pound the water again. I can't hurt the water; it's not a person. I know that. I don't even want to hurt anything. I'm just mad. Pure and simple, and I need to vent that anger.
I begin to kick my feet, and now I'm thrashing around, a flailing mess of limbs in the water.
A scream escapes my lungs and pierces the quiet. My vision blurs, but I can still see Mina back away from me through my rage fueled haze.
I blink rapidly, and my mind clears enough to reveal that my clouded vision isn't just my mind. There's a giant wall of swirling water separating my friend and I. Mina looks frightened out of her mind, causing my own heart to fill with fear. I gasp, and the entire storm of water crashes down into the lake, sending a miniature tidal wave over my head.
I'm sopping wet. My hair is plastered to my face, and my clothing clings to my body.
Mina stands to the left of where I last saw her, her jaw agape. She too is drenched from head to toe. A silence falls over us, and we just stare at each other, too bewildered to speak for a solid minute.
"Aren't you gonna, you know, pass out, or something? Isn't that usually how this works?" Mina asks slowly.
I look down at my palms. My breath is so out of control that I probably look like I'm having an asthma attack. "I-I don't know. I don't feel tired at all. I feel... I feel good, even."
"Good? Good how?" Mina asks cautiously.
"I don't know. I guess I feel energized. I can't really describe it."
Mina slicks back her wet hair and spits out some water. Her hands fall to her side, and we lock eyes again. My heart races, and I must look terrified, because Mina breaks into a grin.
"Why do you look so upset? Kiana, you did it!" she exclaims, flashing a hand over her mouth.
I shed my uncertainty and join in on Mina's laughter. My chest loosens, and the first true feeling of comfort I've had since we got here warms my chest.
...
Mina pours some of our dinner stew into her mouth. "It was crazy, Kiana. I can't believe you didn't even realize what you were doing. It was all swirling around you, like- like a tornado or something. It was crazy!" Mina spaces out for a minute, and when she comes to, her shoulders droop.
"And, honestly... it was kind of scary,"
I cast my eyes to the ground. I never intended to scare her. "I'm sorry," I whisper, ashamed. I don't understand where all that rage came from. I've never felt that angry, and I've never had an outburst like that. The fact that Mina had to witness it fills me with remorse. A light hand rests on my own, and I raise my eyes to meet Mina's.
"Don't be sorry. I know you would never hurt me." I smile appreciatively and swallow the lump rising in my throat. "Plus, it was pretty cool, now that I'm looking back on it."
I stare at Mina blankly before breaking into a laugh. The heavy mood of the moment fades instantly, a fact that I'm extremely grateful for.
We fall back into silence, and I pick at the hem of my shirt.
"I had to be angry to draw those powers out there in the lake. I don't like being angry, Mina, and the dark place that all of those emotions came from scares me." My hands are shaking so badly that I have to put down my bowl. "When I'm dealing with earth, I never have to pull my powers from anger."
Mina chews her lip thoughtfully. "Maybe it's like when you're working out with improper form. It can hurt you, strain you, make you tired, and you won't get any stronger. Maybe you're just drawing your power from the wrong places."
I throw my hands up. "How can feeling angry be a good thing? I mean, I've always been taught that anger is a negative emotion."
Mina raises her hands defensively. "There has to be a balance to everything. Being mad all the time isn't healthy, but it's just as bad to dismiss your emotions. Kiana, I think that you're always so wrapped up in trying to be conscious of other people that you don't have enough regard for yourself. Maybe it's time that that changes."
I shake my head. "Maybe it is."
...
Author's note
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Happy New Years (to my whopping four readers, lol), and thanks for reading.
