The Cinders of Dezu

20th: The Taffertys (1)

The icicle rotated and grew thicker before it split into four identical pieces. Then, like a kaleidoscope, the four rotated, creating a spinning circle that defied the laws attempting to pull it to the forest floor. Cairo had his hands out trying to mimic the movements he was creating. It was easier somehow to help his mind visualize the motions before they were rendered.

Julian floated down behind him with a bounce in his step as his feet hit the ground.

"Whoa, bro!" he said as he spotted the floating ice design.

"Right?" said Cairo, "I'm like Iceman now!"

"Well... I mean you're more like Frozone."

Cairo turned to look back at him.

"Dude... why are you like this?"

"What?? Is that racist again?"

"Yes!!"

Cairo looked back at what he was doing.

"Huh..."

Julian put his hands on his hips as he continued to look up at the spinning shard.

"So it just comes out of the air?"

"At least partially, I think so. The more humid the better I think. When you were flying us here, the air seemed thinner and not just for breathing but something about the moisture. I was way more aware of it."

Julian stood next to him as he watched Cairo create a second circle of icicles and float it into the first, creating a sphere.

"I bet you never thought your straight A's in science were preparing you for this."

Cairo smiled.

"And I bet you regret sneaking to copy off of me instead of learning about gravity."

Julian scoffed.

"You were very good at making sure I never got away with that."

Cairo laughed and shook his head.

"I'm serious, man!" said Julian, "We were little! And you were a tiny little goodie two shoes! Wouldn't let me copy off your homework to find out what two plus three was."

"Cuz' you needed to learn it yourself!" Cairo said.
"Yeah aaaaand I hated you. You finished your test early and brought it to the teacher and I was still slumped over trying to figure it out."

They both laughed. Cairo combined the rotating icicles into one large one and started separating it into tiny ice cubes. He rotated the ice cubes creating a shifting abstract sculpture.

"And I would have kept hating you if you hadn't done what you did next. You remember?"

Cairo laughed to himself. Julian had a funny habit of telling the same stories over and over again. It was an old man trait in a young mans body. This one was one of Julian's favorites. It obviously meant a lot to him, so he let him continue.

"What happened?" he asked.

Julian smirked.

"You leaned over to my desk when the teacher wasn't looking. And I just knew you were going to give in and give me the answers. But you still didn't! You remember what you did?"

Cairo started slowly forming the floating ice cubes into a shape like a rudimentary cloud with an animal head on it.

"I made you count the sheep."

"You made me count the sheep!" Julian said, throwing his arms up, "There were five sheep next to the problem that I could have counted to the whole time and you made me count them to put two and three together."

Cairo kept silently laughing. He always told the story with the same pun.

"After my grades went up, my mom never wanted me to stay over anyone else's house but yours."

"I'm sorry, man," Cairo said, dropping the cubes from their sheep shape and stacking them on the ground like a Jenga tower.

"I'm not," said Julian, "because even though you were a goodie good, you weren't a snob about it. That's why you were cool enough to hang out with me."

Cairo nodded a sarcastically.

"Thanks, bruh."

"Yep, don't mention it," he said, shaking him by the shoulder.

"I really won't!" Cairo said, as a snowball formed in his hand.

Cairo turned to him and Julian returned a smile with his tongue between his teeth. He was greeted with a face full of powder.

"That's ridiculous!" Julian said, "Year round snowball fights??"

Cairo dropped his cubes and the small pillar fell as he started lobbing more snowballs at him. Julian backed up and put his hand out. The snowball stopped its acceleration and shot back towards Cairo. This time it was him with a face full of snow.

"No... no way!" he said, in disbelief.

"Hey man, you can move ice, I can move that and everything else too."

"Naw man, I'm not losing a snowball fight with ice powers."

Cairo started a hail of white shots at him over and over as he chased him through the trees. Julian kept trying to catch each one and reverse their momentum with gravity. Cairo made a ball so large he could barely palm it and launched it at his friend. Julian ducked and it struck Talia in the face.

Julian stumbled upright and Cairo covered his mouth. The snow quickly dissolved into a steam on Talia's cheeks. She raised her eyebrows.

"Thanks for that."

"Talia I am so-"

"I found them, it's this way."

She started heading down a thin trail. The boys followed quickly behind.

Shortly, they found themselves in a small camp comprised of a tent and several makeshift stations for washing and cooking. Next to the campfire sat a young man. He was on a log seat, leaning over with something in his hands. He hardly noticed them come out of the trees.

"Corliss?" Talia said.