The Seventh Clan (First Draft)

Aura - Chapter 2

I woke with a start, sweating and gasping and clutching my leg, before realizing it was just a dream. But it wasn't a dream! I remind myself, shaking my head to try to clear the image from my mind. It just was a long time ago, that's all. I told myself, trying to bring myself back from the past. I lifted the edge of my tent, and looked outside. It looked to be dusk, which would mean that I had been asleep for no more than an hour. That should be acceptable then. I think to myself, that means I can stay in here for a few more minutes. So I laid back down on my bed and tried to continue remembering from where my dream had left off.
    I was fading in and out of consciousness, and not really being able to piece anything together. I could sense a weird sort of rocking in my body, which was an odd sort of feeling, and my leg had a weird sort of painful itchiness to it. And the voices, there were a lot of those. Most of them were just dull murmurs, and the few I could understand made no sense at all.
"Did you see that? I haven't seen that much raw power in years!"
"I know! It's incredible, but I don't understand! Aura has never been at all gifted with magic, it was always her brother with the skills in that regard."
"I don't think any of us understand it, but it is what it is. I guess we will see when she wakes up."
"I suppose that is all we can do, wait and see."
And then the voices faded away, and so did everything else.
I remember waking up the next day, after I had been stabbed. My entire body was sore and hurt no matter what I did, but it was my leg that was the most painful. It felt like my leg was having a hole burned through it, and then sliced and stabbed at the same time. It was unbearable! And so I screamed, trying to do something, anything to stop the pain. Eventually I ran out of breath, so I stopped screaming. I could hear people running to the tent that I was in, running to check on me. But that's not what I was focused on at that moment, right then I was realizing how light I felt, like I could do anything and there was nothing to stop me. It felt... amazing! I was barely aware of the side of the tent being pushed open as I enjoyed this wonderfully light feeling. My face must have displayed my ecstasy, because the blurred image of my brother standing in the doorway of the tent had an extremely confused expression on his face.
"Aura??" Gale asked gently, his worry clear in his face, snapping me out of my blissful trance. "Are you alright? Do you remember what happened?" He spoke carefully as he sat next to me on my small mattress, careful not to touch my leg.
"Ummm. I, I don't know. My leg hurts, although I'm sure you heard that when I first woke up." I said, blushing beet red as I spoke. "But.. that's not it Gale..." I let my voice trail off, scared that he won't understand, scared that my own brother will think that I am crazy. But at this point, I have to tell him something, so why not tell him the truth?
"Well, what is it Aura?" Although his voice was relaxed and joking, I could see the truth in his face. He was scared for me, and I didn't really understand why. I mean sure, I had been stabbed, but that wasn't anything new. I had been stabbed before, both in training and when assassins had infiltrated our camp, so why was this so much worse? I started to try to get up, so that I could examine the wound, but Gale immediately pushed me back down, shaking his head.
"You really don't remember what happened after you got stabbed do you?" I shrugged and shook my head.
"I can't say that I do." Gale looked scared, more scared now for me then he was when his own life was at risk.
"Is that what you weren't telling me little sis? That you can't remember anything?"
I sigh, then nod.
"Yes Gale it is. I just didn't want to tell you in case you worried yourself too much about me! I'm sure I'm fine. Whatever happened yesterday is in the past, and I'm alive, and so are you, and that's what matters. If you really want to know though, the last thing I can remember is the wind sweeping through everyone, then me getting stabbed and then falling and then the screaming..." I trail off, the memory of the horrible screaming searing itself into my brain  and reminding me of the man I had killed. "That was you, wasn't it? The big gust? You saw me in trouble and then saved me!" I exclaimed. Gale laughed and shook his head slowly, "Oh no little bird, you have it all wrong." I laughed a bit at the nickname my brother had given me when I was just a toddler, then gestured for him to continue. "Let me gather the others, and then we can tell you what happened okay?"
    After about ten minutes my brother had managed to gather everyone who had been in the battle field with us, as well as Dr Lutei, who insisted on being there to help explain everything with a softer tongue then what the older warriors might. By now I was very concerned, as they only gathered this many warriors in one room for the most extreme matters, because in the case of a surprise attack it would be nearly impossible to defend anyone outside of this tent. I watched silently from the corner of the room as my brother and his fellow warriors conversed, seemingly trying to figure out what to tell me. Finally, Dawn, one of the best warriors came over to me and spoke. "Come on Aura, we are ready to explain now." I brightened and pulled my blanket off, flinching at the sight of my bandaged leg, then lifted myself up, off of the bed until my toes just grazed the ground. Dawn watched me with concern, hands ready to catch me if I started to fall, but staying a step away so I didn't feel pressured. I very gently stretched my right leg until my whole foot was flat on the ground, leaning heavily on that leg as I placed my left on the ground as well. Slowly, and very carefully, I adjusted my weight until I was standing on both feet, grinding my teeth together so that I didn't scream. I'm stubborn though, so I took my first step, forcefully clamping my mouth shut so I didn't cry. My next step was considerably better, since I was stepping on my right leg, but the next was torture again. I forced myself to walk though, until I had limped my way over to the table everyone was seated at. I took the chair Gale offered me gratefully, and sank into it happily.
    "We are going to have to make this brief everyone!" Cyclone barked out harshly. "I don't want all of my warriors trapped in this stupid tent for too long, so lets get this over with. Aura?"
"Ye yes?" I stuttered out, startled by the sudden outburst of my name
"What do you remember from the battle?"
"Well... I remember everything before I was stabbed, do you want me to go into detail about then or just afterwards?"
"From what we know afterwards should be fine." Cyclone stated, then looked around the circle for confirmation. When all he received in return was nods and murmurs confirming what he said, Cyclone motioned for me to continue. I opened my mouth to continue, but Gale interrupted me before I could say anything.
"Wait! Sorry to interrupt but I just remembered something that Aura said earlier." Gale turned to me, "Aura, was the big wind gust before or after you got... stabbed?" Gale flinched as he said stabbed, and it occured to me that he may feel responsible for my pain.
"Before, but why? What does that have to do with anything?"
Everyone got really quiet, and Dr Lutei wrote down a few notes, then murmured "So it wasn't in response to the pain... interesting..."
Cyclone nodded thanks to Gale and then looked at me. "Aura? Can you please start fairly soon before the wind gust? That should be good." I nod, then start.
"Well, I saw that Gale was fighting two people by himself and that I was the closest person, so I started running towards him. As I was running a Glacie tripped me, she was mad that I killed her husband. I can't say that I blame her. She was holding me, forcing me to watch Gale fight the older Ice Warriors. I just felt so useless, I got so mad and I could feel rage building up, so I just let out a scream and released all of my anger. I'm assuming that's when Gale saw me and sent the wind gust around."
I finally finish my story and look around, observing everyones reactions to my story.
"Can I tell her?" I hear Gale asking the doctor. Silence followed for a second, then Lutei said "Someone has to, her brother telling her would probably be the best. I'll take everyone out of the tent, get her back in bed and tell her and then call me when you are done so I can check her leg." Gale nodded, then came over to me.
"Hey Aura, you did great. How's your leg feeling?"
"Thanks I guess, I don't really know what I did good at if I'm being honest." I let out a low chuckle, and then lean closer to my brother's ear. "Hey Gale, after everyone leaves, can you help me back to my bed? It was... painful, getting over here, to say the least." I watch as Gale flinches again at my mention of pain, but he nods and responds. "Of course! I'm always going to be there for my little sister."
    Once everyone was out of the tent I allowed Gale to pull me up, holding me up so I was balanced on my right leg and leaning on Gale. It was balanced this way that I hobbled my way back to my bed. It was much less graceful than before, but also significantly less painful, so I considered it a win. I flopped onto my bed happily after hobbling over, letting go of Gale's helpful arm.
"Thanks Gale, that helped a lot! I'm not going to lie, I was too stubborn to ask for help before, I didn't want anyone to think I was weak."
"I figured as much little bird, which is why if you didn't let me help you now I would have just thrown you over my shoulder and carried you. You are pretty light you know!" Gale teased, gently tugging on my hair.
"Hey! Back off!!" I swiped feebly at his hand, laughing despite myself as he caught my hand with ease. "As soon as my leg is healed I'm going to absolutely destroy you in a training match, this isn't a fair fight right now!" Gale just laughed at me and grabbed my other hand, holding them captive while he spoke.
"I don't doubt that, so how about I leave you here to rest up so we can spar all the sooner. Although, you should see this as a gift that I'm letting you get stronger first, so don't embarrass me too much alright?" I gave up fighting against him and just relaxed into the bed, trying not to focus on the searing pain coming from my leg.
"All right, but I make no promises. Thanks for taking care of me, I love you!" Gale smiled a small, sad smile, then responded.
"But it's you taking care of me little sister, my little bird, I wouldn't be here without you. But I love you too, now rest up. I want you back out there and fighting tomorrow at dawn!" He grinned, but the smile didn't quite make it to his eyes.
"Wait, what do you mean? When you said that you wouldn't be here without me?"
Gales smile slid from his face, and his eyebrows furrowed together in a familiar look of worry. I watched as he pursed his lips together, most likely debating how best to answer my question.
"Well... we both remember what happened out there in the field right? I was being attacked, you tried to run in and got stopped? Well, the thing is, I never saw you being held by that woman. The only thing that I saw was the two guys that I was fighting, and then suddenly the wind picked up and everything turned to chaos."
"What, what are you saying Gale? You didn't send the wind gust? But it had to have been you, everyone else was already out of energy! You were the only one who could have gained extra strength from the need to protect their sibling!"
Gale shook his head slowly and looked up to the roof of the tent, seemingly examining the folds of the canvas before responding. "No, Little Bird, I wasn't. You were there too." He stared right into my eyes as he finished his sentence, so that I could see myself reflecting back, could see that my brother was being entirely serious about this.
"What? No. Surely there was someone else? You know as well as I do that I have never been any good with my powers, sure I made a little puff of dust on the battlefield earlier, but that was about the limit of what I can do. I'm not strong like you, the air doesn't respond to me like it responds to everyone else. Gale, honestly, you can't seriously believe that it was me!"
Gale shrugged his shoulders and stood up, took a step away and turned back to face me, before responding in his calmest voice. "I don't believe it, I know it. Just like everyone that was in the meeting knows, and just like you, deep down, know too. Come on, you have to feel some sort of difference? Just think about yourself for a moment, does anything feel different than it did before you passed out?"
I laughed humourlessly for a second, before responding "Yeah, my leg hurts like Okers. But other than that? No." Gale frowned at my casual use of our next worlds name, but didn't say anything about it.
"Okay, Aura. Please just listen to me alright? Just close your eyes and take a deep breath.." I shook my head but listened to my brother anyways, because who knows, maybe I will find something. "Alright, just keep breathing okay? Now imagine you are looking at your reflection in a calm pool of water. Start looking at your head, and slowly move down until you are looking at your feet." I did as he asked, and found myself seeing a light teal glow around my reflection that I had never seen before when we did this exercise in school. "Do you see the glow Aura?" Without waiting for a response he continued. "Focus on the glow, watch as it sinks into your reflection. Now, what does it feel like?" I gasped a little as I became aware of the feeling that I had felt right after I screamed. The feeling like a dam breaking, letting lose everything that had been trapped, releasing what I now recognized as my power.
"It... it feels like a wave, a wave the size of a mountain has been released, and I feel so much lighter... I feel...." My voice trailed off as I fought to find a word to describe what I felt. "Powerful?" Gales quiet voice pierced through my vision and I turned to him smiling.
"Exactly."
"See? I told you that it was you." Gale smiled at me in a compassionate way that comforted me. "I should let you get to sleep now before Dr Lutei kicks my butt, but we can talk about this more when you wake up, okay?"

I smiled in return, and watched as he slowly walked away, my eyes already shutting as I drifted off to sleep. The last thing I heard before I completely succumbed to the sleep was Gale's soft voice, whispering,
"I'm sorry I didn't take care of you better, my little sister."

    As my past self drifted off to sleep I allowed myself to return to my current reality, rubbing the scar in my leg as it throbbed, remembering the pain of it that first month.