Element [The Darkling]

Chapter Eight

Baghra's hut was small and dark as I entered it, looking around at the books stacked high on the floor, against the stone wall.

Baghra was supposed to be the one who could teach me how to use my powers, but I already knew that, and I was satisfied with what I had.

I'd gone so long never using my powers, I didn't need to be super strong.

"Hello?" I called, not wanting to scare Baghra. There were two simple wooden chairs in front of the fireplace, but there was no one there. She really did live simply in her tiny little stone hut. It was dark in here, the only light was the orange tinted firelight.

"So you're the brand new thing." I turned around, coming face to face with an older woman who was actually a few inches shorter than me. She had long white hair, the top half of it pinned up in a bun, and she was dressed in all black. "Let's have a look at you," She remarked, unimpressed as she circled me. "I see through your disguises. In here, you will be yourself." She snapped her fingers without looking at me. "Show me your true self."

I hesitantly changed my hair to its black color with the white streak and she stopped circling me, facing me. "An Elemental who wastes her time training with Botkin? You need no help in the fighting area, so I hear." She remarked. She observed me like she knew me.

She walked over to her chair and sat down. I followed her cue and sat down in the chair facing her. Our knees were nearly touching from how close we were.

"Where are your parents?"

"My father died when I was four, my mother when I was eight." I replied.

"Where did you grow up?"

"Keramzin."

"You slipped through the cracks and stayed where you didn't belong. Where do you belong?" Baghra asked me. She didn't beat around the bush. She jumped straight to the facts, her face emotionless as she bluntly demanded answers to her rapid fire questions.

"Out there." I replied, and she tilted her head to the side. "I'm not Grisha. I belong in the fight, where I can be of use."

"You don't really believe you're not Grisha?" Baghra asked, amused. "You call yourself an Elemental, and that's fine. It's a good name for yourself. Who came up with it?"

"I don't know. It was passed down through my family in a whisper." I replied, shifting in my seat, uncomfortable with the personal nature of these questions.

"And who told you that?"

"My Mother."

"She's the one who trained you?"

"Yes."

"She knew what she was doing. Was she like you?"

"Not exactly." I said, and she examined me. The pause in her interrogation gave me the understanding that she wanted me to clarify. "She wasn't a tailor."