A Court of Heritance and Destiny

Chapter 9 Freya

She stood outside as the sun climbed over the mountains, the morning light fought to find its way down between the snow covered trees. Winter had come early to the mountains, and while Orion claimed that the winters here were dull compared to the Winter Court, but Freya had never seen anything like it. The ice crystals in the snow made the sunlight sparkle, the frost that covered the tree stems made her lose her breath at times. The green in the forest was different from the greens in the Spring Court, deeper, richer, she wanted to use the world alive to describe it.

Dressed in warmer clothes, provided by the cabin, she waited and waited. Orion was still inside. He had asked her to wait. So she stood there, taking in the breathtaking view of the oncoming winter. Was she nervous about this? Freya didn't know. A mix of fear, excitement and... Maybe she just wanted a reason to talk to Orion about things. Even if they had shared the cabin for two weeks now, they had stayed separate for the most part. Him on the upper floor, and her on the lower.

The door slammed behind her and Orion stood there, he looked like he always did, not even an extra jacket against the snow. He walked out, and Freya placed her hands behind her back, waiting for his instructions.

"Have you done any type of training before?" Orion asked her and walked away, Freya looked around and followed him.

"No." She needed to run to catch up to him, making her heart beat hard. "Never."

"We will start with some simple things." Orion stopped in a larger clearing, Freya did her best to catch her breath as he started to set up some larger logs on one side of the clearing. "Remember that you need to have a strong mind and body to handle the greater type of powers like the one you have." He explained and came back, Freya did her best to look unbothered. His words made her stomach drop, her body had failed her before, but her mind...

"How do I train that?" She asked, hoping that they could start there.

"Your mind?" Orion tilted his head, a smirk sneaked its way to his lips. "It will take time." Time... She had time, she hoped. Orion pointed to a log on the ground, asking her to come there. "We will start with a mix of them both."

"What?"

He lifted his arm, and a black tendril of his darkness moved over the white snow, over to the log, and then it retracted back to his hand, like a brush stroke onto a white canvas. Freya felt how her mouth parted at the site. It was so elegant, simple. Far from the storms she had caused. Different from the destruction that she had left behind her.

"I want you to summon your powers, and in a controlled manner guide them over to the log over there, before calling it back." It sounded easy, but Freya swallowed. Could she even ask her powers to appear on demand? Not once had it happened. And to be so controlled, and small...

"How?"

"That is up to you to find out." He walked towards a tree, leaning on the stem. "Start once you are ready. We have the whole day."

She looked over to the log, fifteen steps away, slowly she lifted her arm, pointing towards it. Mirroring his pose. She tried to imagine the black sand spreading out towards the spot, just like it had for him. But nothing happened. She focused even more. Trying to force out the power. Still nothing. She lowered her hand and changed to the other, as if it would help her. She tried both at the same time.

Come on! She screamed in her head, nothing. "I can't." She said and turned to Orion, who shook his head in response.

"You are giving that log a death glare that can rival Nestas." he laughed, "Try again." She wanted to ask who Nesta was, but turned back to her target.