The Elementals

Chapter 20: A Special Day

      Tarah woke up to see a vase of roses sitting on her dresser. There was a note in front of the vase that said Happy Valentines Day -Wayne. Tarah smiled and smelled the roses. The roses told her that it hurt when they were cut but were glad to be chosen for her and the water made them feel better. That made Tarah happy. She changed out of her night clothes and headed to the Headquarter. Everyone there seemed very happy and excited. Everyone was ready to began training again. Tarah saw Wayne sitting by Randolph and went over to join him.
"Good morning," she said kissing Wayne on the cheek, "Thank you for the roses."
"Your welcome," he said kissing her back. "Are you excited about being able to train again?" Wayne asked her.
"Very much. So much that I forgot that today is Valentines day, so I didn't get you anything. I am sorry," said Tarah.
"It's okay, you are more than enough," Wayne said grabbing her hand, "What about you, Randolph, are you excited?" Randolph didn't answer him, he was to busy staring at Kimberly who was talking to Rachelle.
"Randolph," Wayne said tapping his shoulder.
"Huh, what did you say," Randolph said turning to him. Wayne smiled and said,
 "Never mind, you can go back to staring at Kimberly." Randolph began to blush. "Why don't you tell her how you feel, we both know you like her," Wayne said.
"You don't understand. I like her but I am afraid that I will be too aggressive with her and I don't want her to see me as another Adam. I also don't want our relationship to be like what her and Adam's was. I may be a physical person but not that physical," Randolph said with a sigh.
"But Kimberly doesn't want that physical relationship either and knowing that in the back of your head you don't want to do those things will help keep you from doing that," said Tarah.
"You're right but I am not sure I can talk to her again after I slightly rejected her," said Randolph.
"You can do it, I have faith in you," said Wayne patting him on the back. Randolph smiled at him and said,
"You guys must really want us to get together."
"Of course we do, you guys seem perfect for each other," said Wayne.
"But not as perfect as you too," Randolph replied back. Wayne and Tarah blushed.
"But you could be though," Tarah replied back.

After they all finished eating, everyone slit up to train. Wayne and Tarah went to go train together. They shared a training area together since the water and woods were so close to each other. 
"So I think the first thing you need to train in is your strength. The stronger you are, the stronger the Earth itself will be," said Wayne.
"I agree," she replied back.
"Calvin and Leann's parents agreed to help you with that, so you will get to train with them a little bit," said Wayne.
"Great, I can't wait," Tarah said excitedly.
"Good," said a voice behind her. It was Calvin and Leann's parents. Wayne kissed her and said,
"See you later." Tarah turned back to them and said,
"Let's get started."
"First we will start with introductions. I am Tim and this is my wife, Ella," said Calvin and Leann's father. 
"Nice you meet you. I am Tarah," Tarah said shaking their hands.
"I am going to go help some of the others train, but you too have fun," Ella said with a wink.
"Now our ways of training you might not like. Today we are going to work on stamina and endurance. You will be running until we tell you to stop and every time you walk we will break off a small branch from a tree. Now when we can clearly see you are giving your everything we will stop we don't want to hurt the trees but it gives you something to push yourself for," said Tim. Tarah didn't really like the way it sounded but understood what they were getting at, so she was determined to not walk until she had nothing left in her.
"You will run laps around the Headquarter. Four laps will make a mile and your goal is to run three miles. A total of 12 laps," said Tim as they walked toward the Headquarter. Tarah nodded her head and readied herself. She had never really ran much but she was going to give it her all. Tim took out his stop watch and asked,
"Are you ready?" Tarah nodded her head yes.
"Go!" Tim said starting the stop watch. Tarah took off. She knew not to start off too fast, so she paced herself. As she ran, she studied the Headquarter. It was a two story building. The main floor was just an oversized living room with a kitchen, tables to eat on and bathrooms with showers. The second floor was a look-out. It was made all out of glass but was tented to where you couldn't see in but could see out. The Headquarter sat right in the middle of all the other houses and was on a hill that was slightly elevated above the other houses. The building was completely made out of brick except the doors, they were made out of metal. There was a awning covering the door to the main entrance.
"Three laps left," came Tim's voice. Tarah was so focused on the Headquarter that she didn't realize how much pain she was in. Hearing Tim's voice and breaking her focus the pain set in quick. Her run quickly went to a light jog and the laps began to feel a lot longer. Her breath was heavy and fast.
"I can't do it," she yelled to Tim slowing her pace.
"Don't you dare walk. Remember what is at steak here and you only have two laps left," Tim shouted back. Tarah wanted to walk so bad but couldn't stand to here the pain that would come from the tree that got it's branch broke off. Though her legs felt like noodles, she picked up her pace.
"Good Tarah. Finish strong," Tim shouted to her. Tarah finished her two laps then collapsed onto the ground. Tim came over and patted her on the back saying,
"Well done. I am very impressed. You are stronger than you know. Now walk a few laps to cool down and your training today will be done." Tarah slowly got to her feet an began walking while Tim went to go get her water.
"Well done," came a familiar voice. It was Wayne.
"Thank you," Tarah said with a bow. Wayne grabbed her hand and began walking with her. After walking a few laps and getting a drink of water, Tarah and Wayne walked back to their training area to train together. Tarah felt a lot better after getting a drink of water and was ready to train with Wayne. Their main training was strengthening each other with their powers.
"So what do you want to work on?" Wayne asked Tarah.
"I think I will work on controlling rocks," she replied back, "How about you?"
"Controlling water better," he said. Tarah looked for rocks but couldn't find any.
"I am going to see if I can find any rocks and bring them back here," she said starting to leave.
"Wait I want to show you something I worked on while you were running," Wayne said. 
"Okay," Tarah said curiously walking over to the dock he was standing on. Wayne turned to the lake and held his hands out to the water. The water slowly rose out of the lake and formed a heart that said I love you. Tarah gasped slightly then shot a root out of her hand that consumed the water but the heart and words stayed there, but fell into the lake making a big splash that soaked her and Wayne. They both started laughing. Feeling flirtatious, Tarah pushed Wayne into the lake. She started laughing even harder. Wayne got out of the water and back on the dock. There was a smirk on his face. Tarah didn't like that smirk. Wayne playfully ran at her. Tarah squealed as he grabbed her and pulled her into the lake. They surfaced from the water and smiled at each other with a laugh. Wayne swam over to her but she playfully splashed him with water. Wayne went under the water. The water was clear so Tarah could see him swimming around her. She went under the water and started to swim away from him but Wayne was quick in the water and caught up to her. Wayne gently wrapped his arms around her and they swam back to the surface. After they surfaced, Wayne said to her still holding her,
"What do you say, if we survive and overthrow the Government, we get married. After all it has been two years since we started dating." Tarah looked up at him, smiled, and said,
"I would like that." Wayne kissed her forehead then they swam over to where the floating, I love you heart was and hopped up on the "I" and took a nap with Tarah.