Stars Of Memory

Chapter 42

In the air courtyard, he hands her a ball. She looks down at it, confused.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"You aren't doing anything with it yet. I want you to try to summon a ball of wind like I had you do yesterday."

Jīvitaya grins, holding out her hand, palm up. Almost instantaneously, a wind begins to swirl just above it, coalescing into an orb. She grins wider, seeing that the orb of wind is tighter and more stable than any of her previous attempts.

Azan smiles. "Well done. How long can you hold it?"

She keeps the ball steady, the winds swirling swiftly around themselves. As time passes, they try more and more persistently to leave, but Jīvitaya begs them to stay. They assent for a while, wanting to help her, but they continue to get more and more desperate to leave as time ticks by. After a while, she begins to struggle, and Azan nods.

"Stop." She exhales shakily, and the winds burst out of the orb and escape. "That was good. Now we're going to use the ball I gave you. When I say go, I want you to toss it in the air and try to use the wind to catch it and toss it up again." Jīvitaya nods. "Now, go!"

Jīvitaya tosses the ball up. The first time, while the wind does try to do as she requests, it fails to catch the ball. It's far more inclined to help her now that she isn't forcing it into a ball. She tries again, and this time a wisp catches the ball before it hits the ground. Once the first catch is successful, her winds fall into a rhythm, tossing the ball back and forth with each other.

"Very good. Now I want you to catch the things I throw towards you with the winds and then hold them where they are as you catch the others. Are you ready?"

Jīvitaya nods and the first thing is tossed at her, using Azan's winds, not his hands. She scrambles to catch it with her one own winds, just barely doing so before it hits the floor. She catches the next object higher up, bringing it down to waist level. Azan continues to send objects hurtling toward her until she is surrounded by a web of objects. He continues to give her tasks until the sun is low enough in the sky for dusk to be an hour away.

"You are free to go now. I'll see you in the spirit courtyard tomorrow morning, on time."

Jīvitaya nods and darts out of the courtyard, heading towards the forest. She finds Iyokú quickly, but Iyokú frowns when she sees her.

"I thought you weren't coming, Jīvitaya."

Jīvitaya grimaces. "I'm sorry, I've been in lessons until now."

Iyokú smiles. "What did you learn?"

Jīvitaya picks up a twig and tosses it into the air, while a flame flickers to life in her other hand. As the twig falls, the flame turns into a ribbon that circles the twig once before the twig is caught by the wind and tosses up again. More winds come and pick up more twigs and pebbles that are tossed up into the air. As they rain back down, they all halt a foot above the ground and the ribbon of flame twists itself around each of them. Iyokú claps.

"Bravo! You're moving much faster than I did!"

Jīvitaya frowns. "I get the feeling that you generally start learning as little kids. Maybe it's that my brain is more developed and so I can do more at once and learn faster?"

"Maybe, but your mind is also more elastic when you're younger."

Jīvitaya thinks for a moment, before pulling Iyokú away to heal. They go through four spots that need healing before the sun begins to set and Jīvitaya returns to the palace. She eats quickly and rushes to her room, eagerly waiting for Kysanden to open the communication link. Her tablet beeps and she lunges for it. She taps on the icon and the link opens. Kysanden's face fills the screen and she grins.

"Hello again!"

"What have you been up to?"

She beams and wind swirls around her as a ribbon of flame appears in front of her, highlighting her face and setting her eyes sparkling.

His eyes widen. "Well, that one's new. What are you learning next, Jīa?"

Her face falls slightly as she answers. "Spirit."

His face clears with understanding. "Jīvitaya, they aren't going to react to your power on La'Vi'Ai the way they did on Gaia. It isn't seen as wrong where you are, it is seen as very, very right. So don't be frightened of it, learn how to do good things with it."

Jīvitaya nods and they talk for a while longer before they end the communication and Jīvitaya goes to bed. Laira comes some time while she is falling asleep and curls up at the foot of her bed in panther form.
———————————————————————————————
Do you think she'll be able to conquer the demons at last? Tell me your thoughts! Happy reading, and tell me if you have any questions!

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.