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26: My True Teacher

Tension sizzles in the room as I sit across from Berea, spectating her as she cooks an animal stew for supper. It was some small forest creature she had hanging outside her house, baking under the sun for who knows how long. No wonder our last meal tasted and smelled rotten.

"Why do you live all alone out here?" I drag my fingertip along the splintery wood of her table, no doubt made ragged by all of the scattered junk laying atop it.

"Let's just say I had some disagreements with my daughter's mate." She glances up at me from the other side of the room, eyes hazy.

I've only heard Master Synn speak of mates. "Are you a Draconian?"

"I am." She stirs the mixture and fills us each a bowl. They're the same as we used before.

"Where is your daughter?" I lean over my food with a disgusted expression etched on my face. A long pause from across the table captures my attention and I look back up at Berea.

"If you must know..." She stares down at her food. "He killed her."

Goosebumps rise up my arms.

"Let's not discuss it any further." She bends her head and slurps her stew, avoiding eye contact. 

I wish she'd tell me more. When we last ate, I spilled my entire life story, yet I know almost nothing about her. She's a curious woman living alone in a beautiful house in the middle of a forest with incredible control over even intense magick.

I take a slurp of my meal and gag.

"Do you think I will be found here?" I decide to avoid eating as long as I can, even though my stomach rumbles. It wouldn't surprise me if Synn's family - or Synn himself - were looking for me. "I'm concerned that those people I mentioned earlier will come after me."

"You're well hidden here. However, you possess such a large quantity of magick that whoever is searching for you may be able to find you off their senses alone, if they are attuned to them.

Vylek and Hyrda might not be as attuned, but I'm sure Synn's father is. I should be prepared for them to find me. I should be ready to fight against them.

I force a few bites of my stew down my throat and gag again. "How do you fight someone else who can wield magick? Could you teach me how?"

She finishes her meal and rises from the table, taking her dish to the wash area. Uncertainty flickers in her gaze.  Berea keeps her distance from the table. "Once you have more control, maybe." 

I snarl and a jolt of lightning shoots off of my shoulder toward her. 

She waves her hand and stops it but a scowl crosses her face. "I've never seen someone so controlled by their magick. For your sake, I hope it's possible for you to learn how to let go."

Berea makes me so frustrated. She should be teaching me how to fight so I can defend myself ,not levitating me in the air and giving me riddles to try to figure out. Her logic doesn't even make sense. Letting go of control isn't having control.

She'd absolutely mad, probably from living on her own for so long. I was silly to listen to some crazy old woman living alone in the woods. That should have been a big red flag from the beginning, but I must've been so distraught I was open to listening to anyone.

I toss my bowl into the washbasin and storm outside. 

My emotions blossom in my chest like the plumes of ash rising from the mountaintops around the Draconian den. They've felt so much stronger since the magick engulfed me and it only seems to be worsening. Every day, I feel more annoyance. More anger. More frustration. More fury.

I'm irritated at Berea's endless riddles and snippy attitude. I'm furious at Vylek and the others for coming after me. I'm enraged that I have power but it doesn't listen to me. I'm distraught that I have all of this raw might, but Berea won't teach me how to use it.

The magick wraps around my arms, slithering around me and piercing into my chest, gripping at my heart until I feel nothing but bottomless rage and...thirst. Thirst for even more power. Thirst for control. Thirst for revenge. Thirst to unleash all of my pent up feelings onto everything around me.

If only I knew how to use it... 

And maybe Berea CAN'T use it. I've never actually seen her practice any kind of magick or have any kind of power; all she can do is deflect it. Perhaps she can't do anything else and there's no way she can help me - no way she can teach me.

Or maybe she's afraid, threatened by all of the power I could have if I learned to properly use my power. Maybe she worries I would control her and hang her up above a tree stump if I knew how to overtake her. Wouldn't it be funny, seeing the pupil become the master?

Master. Even more anger twitches through my veins, pooling strength in my fingertips.

Wouldn't it be funny if I became Synn's Master? Or Vylek's Master? Or Master over all of the stupid Draconians who flaunt around their power as if they're on top of everyone else.

I curl up on the ground outside Berea's cottage, settling into the grass. It's coarse and scratchy against my skin, poking uncomfortably against the sleeves of my borrowed cloak.

Berea wants to control my emotions, control my power. She's manipulative. And the look she gave me when we ate together wasn't the type of look I expected. It was fear smoldering in her eyes. She's scared of me, isn't she?

A grin twitches the corners of my lips. 

I bet I'm more powerful than I realize. Perhaps Vylek and the others are afraid of me, too. And, you know what, they should be. I have so much power moving through my body that it's bursting out of me. I just need to learn how to use it. 

And if Berea can't teach me to control my power before Vylek and the others chase me down, I'll have to take teaching myself into my own hands.