Book #2

The Sunshine Weaver

She first discovered her powers when she was walking home from school. The star-blessed leaves of autumn shone above her and twinkled as they fell. She smiled and held her hand out to feel the sunlight on her fingers. The rest of the walk home was lovely and warm.

When she got home, she sat down and noticed that her hands were glowing, just barely a soft amber. She pulled, and they produced a thin, glowing line. She experimented with the string, pulling and looping and knotting. She piled the thread into a puddle and it turned liquid - so warm and airy and light that it may as well have been liquid sunshine. She took the pool in her hands and it glew brighter. It felt like holding the first bits of fire in the world. She tossed it up and the pieces scattered, floating about like clouds. She scooped the nebulae back into a thin trail and looped it around her wrist, where it melted back into her hands.

It wasn't too long after that her mother walked in. The girl was still sitting on her bed, pulling warm threads into the golden strings of a harp. Her mother sat down next to her and she looked up.

"Ma-"

"I know, baby. I'm proud of you."

"What?"

"Your aunt had a similar power. She got it from our grandmother. I think she was the first; she could change the air."

"Change... The air?"

"It started out like you... You know, pulling little strings, making little changes... except she was already thirty or forty. I got to watch her powers develop. She could make breezes or gusts, even little twisters if she wanted. She could probably make full storms now, but she doesn't use her powers anymore. She feels responsible for what happened to your aunt."

"The one who had powers?"

"Yeah."

"What kind did she have?"

"Water, I think. I never saw, but she was always at peace when we went swimming. She loved to play in the water, and she took her time in the bathroom. I think she didn't want anyone to know that she had powers, though. I only found out from our mom."

"And you don't have anything?"

"No, I didn't get it. Neither did my brothers. I think it likes to skip around. I might find something when I get older, I might not."

They sat there in silence for a while.

"... Thanks, mom."

"Anytime, hon. Now I may not have any fancy powers, but I did take up learning the harp when I was your age." She plucked a string. "This I can help you with."

They smiled.