SERENA

PART I: Chapter 10 - Earth

"Did you do that?" Serena asks Nolyn despite his shocked expression.

"No, I just got here." He kneels beside the sprout that grew to inspect it. It doesn't have the exact shape it should have and the beans don't look right either, but it certainly grew.

"Did I do it?" She asks confused and as shocked as Nolyn.

They both look around but there's no one else near the sprouts and the rest of the people on the Earth Training Ground are working on their own plants and not paying attention to them.

"I think so." Nolyn answers. "Because I don't think anyone else did." He looks around once more. "Can you do it again?"

"I doubt it. I couldn't control the fire properly for a while, so I doubt I'll be able to make another sprout grow."

"Just try it. You're older now."

"Okay."

She places her hand on top of another sprout and focuses on trying to make it grow, but nothing happens. She takes a deep breath and tries again. This time she can feel the sprout growing under her hand, so she lifts it to look at the sprout.

It didn't grow quite right again, but Serena doesn't really know what it's supposed to look like, so she didn't know how to do it.

Nolyn, who is still kneeling beside the first sprout Serena grew, touches the second sprout and it grows into the shape it's supposed to be.

"Hmmm, so that's what it's supposed to look like." Serena says.

"Yeah. Not too bad though." Nolyn smiles.

"Nolyn." Her voice is tense.

"What?"

"What if I'm like those prisoners who were executed?"

"You control two elements, not four."

"I'm sure they started to control one at a time too!" She exclaims but her voice is barely more than a whisper. "I don't want to be executed!"

"You're not going to be executed, calm down."

"How do you know? What do you even know about people who can control more than one element?"

"Not a lot..." Nolyn admits.

"I know what we can do!"

"What?" Nolyn's tone isn't nearly as excited as Serena's. He just doesn't want to get in trouble.

"We can go to the library. I'm sure they must have some books about this. The good library, I mean."

"I can't go there. It's only for high classes."

"You're with me, of course you can go. Besides, you're older than me so I'm sure you're better and faster at reading."

Nolyn laughs. "What about the guards who are looking for you?"

"We'll find them and tell them that I'm a very responsible Princess that wants to learn more about Elementia."

Nolyn shakes his head. "Your plans will get me killed one day. You know that, right?"

"Don't be a downer. Let's go."

Serena gets up and starts walking away and Nolyn follows her.

The two kids find the guards who were still after Serena and she tells them that she doesn't know how they got stuck in the vines but took the opportunity to escape. And she also tells them that she wanted to go to the library but got lost. Serena's not sure whether they believed her story or not, but the truth is they take her to the library.

The four of them enter the library, but the guards let the kids wonder inside by themselves, as long as they stay in their sight. And no one tried to stop Nolyn from entering, since he's with the Princess.

The kids walk around trying to find the section of books they're looking for.

"Multi-Elementials." Nolyn reads the title of a section of books.

"That must be it." Serena says and joins him.

Nolyn looks at the books and picks up one with a spine that contains the four colors of the four elements. He looks at the index and opens the second chapter. He reads quietly to himself while Serena waits.

"So, what does it say?" She asks impatient.

"So, basically people can either control one, two, three or four elements. If you control one to three everything's fine, but if you control all four you're considered an Omni-Elemential and that's against the law." Nolyn explains.

"Okay, that I knew. But does it say if it's possible to predict how many elements someone will control?"

"Not really. It's just explaining how things work for Multi-Elementials."

"And how does it work?"

"Well, the first element you start to control is called the 'Core Element' and it's the only one you can create out of nothing. Like, you can create fire, but not a plant for example. You can only grow a plant if there's already something there. You can control it but you can't create it."

"So I can only create fire anyway..."

"Yeah. That's why the color of your hair didn't and won't change. It will always be blue because you will always only be able to create fire."

"I see. What else?"

"It also says here that, depending on how powerful the person is, if they can control air and earth it might also be against the law."

"What? Why?"

"Because with air you can control fire and water. You can't create it, but you can control it."

"Right, that's true. I've seen my dad spreading fire and also moving Rakon's water."

"Yeah. And by controlling all of those and also earth, it would be like controlling the four elements."

"But that means I'm good, right? I'm not against the law."

"No, you're not against the law."

Serena smiles and decides that she will tell her parents about her new power. Maybe they will finally realize she's more powerful that they thought.

They leave the library and Nolyn leaves Serena with the guards and goes home. Serena is taken to the palace and heads to Rakon's room, where her parents are.

She enters the room and sees her parents, her brother and Kira playing with water. Queen Nami, Rakon and Kira control the water and, as she discussed in the library, her father also has some control over it using the air.

"Hi baby. Did you have fun at the Fire Training Ground?" Queen Nami asks Serena.

"Actually, I went to the Earth Training Ground and then to the library." She answers. "And, before you reprimand me, I have something to tell you."

"Serena, we've talked about you going there." The Queen sounds upset.

"I told you I had something to say before you reprimanded me."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Maybe I'll just show you."

Serena walks to a plant that's on the window sill and places her hand on it. It slowly starts growing and her parents watch in shock.

"I can control the earth!" She exclaims excited and smiles.