Tyrant in the Shadows

Part 15

Four years later

Ivan and Delaney still struggled to figure out what Julie's power was. They assumed Miriam knew what it was but she refused to tell them. She also didn't have a partner. She insisted she didn't need one. With her powers, their strength, they almost agreed. But that was the way the outpost worked. It annoyed them, Miriam knew that, but she didn't want to trust anyone else with her life. Or their life with hers. They almost partnered her with Sophia-she still had no partner-but they argued too much. They were too much like siblings. It didn't mean they didn't trust one another, but they butted heads too much.

It was amusing to watch, the two senior officers had to admit.

Eventually, a potential partner was found. But only because they were the last two I partnered in the class Miriam was in. 

"Ivan, Delaney, Julie wants to know when she can learn to fight," the now seventeen year old elemental said. She started speaking before she's even made it in the room.

"Fighting with what?" Delaney asks, "You keep insisting she doesn't have powers."

"She doesn't. So probably weapons. Knives and such."

"Isn't she seven?" the female tilts her head, frowning.

"Well, yeah. But she's bored. And she wants to get out of school," Miriam laughs.

"Ah," the two say at once.

"Yeah. That makes sense," Ivan laughs too.

"Well?" the young girl scoots from beside the door to stand by her sister, "Pleaseee!?"

"No. You can't fight shadows with knives."

"Why don't you just tell us what her power is," Delaney chides Miriam.

The teen's eyes harden. The trust shut off immediately, "Julie doesn't have powers. I've told you that pretty much every day for the past four years." She spun around and grabbed her sister's arm, dragging the complaining girl away.

"What are her powers that makes Miriam so protective?"

"It has to be some power," Ivan agreed, chewing on his lip.

Sophia was the next person to walk in the room, "You asked Miriam about Julie's powers again?"

"Yup," Delaney sighed and sat down, rubbing her face.

"You feeling alright?"

"Yeah. I guess I'm just not getting any younger."

"Are you sure about that. You don't seem to be slowing down any," Ivan smirks when she punches him, "Never mind. That was weak."

Delaney stands up and punches him in the gut, "I'm sure it was," she smirks back when he buckles over, holding his gut.

...

Miriam, now in her dorm, was edging on angry, arguing for the thousandth time why Julie couldn't tell people her power.

"But you said it might be able to defeat the shadows," Julie was saying, eyes downcast and voice quiet.

"I know that I've said that. I also told you that I didn't want to see you possibly hurt. You couldn't even have a partner to watch after you this young. And how exactly are you supposed to train the power of soul when the only souls around are people? What if you accidentally killed someone?"

"That's why I want to fight," she muttered.

"But how? On a battlefield with shadows? That's too dangerous. You could hurt the people there to train you and protect you from them," Miriam was pacing, her mind flashing through every horrible thing that could happen to her little sister in a battle.

"Maybe you should just let her. Send her on the battlefield alone, ready to go after her if need be," Rhodes, Miriam's supposed to be partner and roommate suggested.

"Are you CRAZY!? She's seven. Seven. It's not happening," Miriam spun to glare at him. This was one of the problems with their partnership.

"Sorry, sorry," Rhodes put his hands up in a sign of defeat, glancing with a smirk at the sparks at her clenched fists, "Careful. You'll trigger the sprinkling system again."

The sprinkling system was installed when Miriam started having nightmares about her family's death. They continued to be useful even after they stopped when her anger got the best of her. Most of the class found it terrifying that Miriam accidentally set fires when she got mad but Rhodes generally found it funny. He liked to regrow whatever vegetation she destroyed fighting shadows as well.

No one could figure out quite why the pairing system ended up getting those two together, but it was usually amusement for all so they laughed first and questioned later.

In reality, though the two were quite the argumentative duo, they did trust each other. And they did care about each other. The unconventional pairing was a powerful one, and worked together well in the heat of a battle. As long as they were able to protect each other, they were ok being stuck together. 

Even if Miriam wasn't ok with it.

"We need to get to sleep," the raven haired girl eventually stated, "Training is supposed to be rougher than usual tomorrow."

Rhodes agreed, so the blonde child left the room, muttering under her breath about schoolwork she'd put off until last minute.

"Night, Rhodes," Miriam muttered, turning off the lights.

"Goodnight, Fire Girl. I'm glad I was in my bunk before you asked if you could turn out the lights."

"Oh, shut up."

He laughed, but he did shut up. So the two fell asleep as they did every night, Miriam worrying about Julie, and Rhodes laughing at Miriam.