Before The Storm

Act One Scene Three

Two spirits spiraled downward into the one open clearing on their island. They had been tending to the various parts of the island that could not survive independantly. The spirits were brother and sister of the elements. Ari, master of fire and earth, and Elle, mistress of water and air. Together they mastered and completed each other, though they were seperate beings. Ari had the mastery of the more violent elements, the only one who could calm him being Elle, who controled the more relaxing elements, though they too held an anger.

It was raining heavily, and the two had been fortifying the weaker plants against the downpour in their own ways. Ari had been strengthening the plants themselves while Elle made a break in the clouds, weakening the rain around the plants as they struggled to grow.

"I very much dislike the rain," Ari said with a slight disgust in his tone.

"I am sure you do," Elle replied with a slight humor. "You do not seem to open up to the waters, brother." She drifted too him, taking his hands.

"I am thankful for it, my world could not live without it, though I do not care for it."

Elle glided to the larger threes of the isle, a pine, an oak, and a maple. Three trees that should not be growing together on a tropic isle, but with the care of Ari and Elle and been charmed into sprouting. "Are not these beautiful, brother?" she asked, laying her hand on the trunk of the pine.

Ari joined her, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Yes, we did well."

Suddenly, Elle stiffened. Her back went rigid and she spun around to face the east. "There is a boat coming to our shores," she said quietly, her eyes wide.

Ari turned as well, this had never happened before. Not once had any sailor come to their isle. Not once had a manmade object ever washed up. The siblings had heard of mankind, and seen them during their leisurly travels, though they had never interacted with them. The two spirits had found them weak, and slightly amusing, their short lives nothing compared to the power and immortality the spirits possessed.

"Are you quite sure?" Ari asked hesitantly. He was the stronger of the two, bearing the more violent elements, though it was Elle who coul sense the tides around them and the movement of the winds.

"Yes, I am. There is a boat with the weight of a human and small human, they are coming to this island."

The two of them shared a final moment of confusion before sprinting off, turning into nothing for the few seconds it took them to cross the island.

They were separated, Elle the faster of the two- if only by a fraction. She was curious, much more curious than Ari, and she wanted a couple seconds to examine them herself, knowing that Ari couldn't locate them exactly on his own. She arrived first, and she assumed an invisible form out of caution.

She watched the boat, a medium size, bump against the shore. There were two people on it, a young boy and a woman. Elle took a step towards them as they stepped out of the boat onto what they probably assumed to be their new home. Elle abandoned walking and drifted towards them, trying to guess their ages. Both had the look of people who had been on the boat for a very, very long time. They were thin and weak, and sickly. The woman looked to be in her thirties, maybe thirty-four. The boy, fourteen or fifteen. He clung to his mother with fear in his eyes, very different from how she had seen other boys his age act. Though while the fear was deep in them, he betrayed curiousity.

"Don't be afraid caliban," the woman said softly, petting his head, "we survived on a boat drifting for fifteen years, ever since you were an inant. If my magic helped us then it can help us settle here for good."

"Islands are always frightening, mother," the boy said stiffly, trying to regatter his courage.

His mother bent down to his level to consol him as Ari materialized beside Elle, invisible to all but her.

"You sent me around the entire island, why? I lost you," he hissed in her ear.

"I was curious," she replied quickly, changing the subject immediately. "Look, they're frightened." She drifted closer, much to Ari's confusion.

The woman was extremely beautiful, even in her state of neglect. She was thin, abnormally thin, but from her physique it was obvious that she would have been thin, were she healthy. Her long dark hair was shining, though it was unkept, and still seemed to be styled. Her eyes were a striking blue, the most vibrant part of her appearence, as she was garbed in a torn black gown.

Though Elle hardly noticed her. She only saw the boy she had called Caliban, he had the making of a very attractive man. He was fifteen, she decided, with black hair and bright blue eyes, like a reminicence of his mother. He a muscular build, though he was also weak and thin.

"Elle!" Ari snapped, pulling her out of her trance. "They know magic, get away from them."

"Their magic is nothing compared to ours, they're frightened and alone, we need to help him- them. Them."

"What? Him?"

Elle drifted off to the two humans, making herself visible to them. She hovered in front of the two of them, just visible enough for Calban to notice her.

"Mother- Mother!" he cried, clinging to her once again. She stood, stunned, then let out a short shreik, stumbling away from Elle.

"No, no wait," Elle hovered in place, reaching out to them. "You need my help to live here, i am a spirit who tends this isle. I can help you."

The humans stopped their movement and a spark of something ignited in the eyes of the woman. "Are you?" she asked quietly. Fifteen years on a boat had given her a lot of time to think and made her vengeful. This spirit could help her.

"Yes, myself and my brother."

Ari sighed and resigned himself to the fact that now he had been mentioned and he had to show himself. He materialized in front of the humans making the boy tense up again. The woman smiled.

"I am Sycorax," she said, taking a confident step towards them, leaving her child to hug himself. "This is my son, Caliban. You say you two can help us?"