A Gust of Wind

4 Years Later- Cara

I've never been a heavy sleeper, so when I heard loud pounding coming from down the hall, I was out of my bed in a second. I raced down the hall to Amelia's room and whipped open the door, expecting to see a half dozen royal guards, but instead I see Amelia's small body pinned to the roof. Her white hair was sprawled around her head like a wavy halo, and her flailing limbs made it seem like she was drowning.

"Amelia," I say with a heavy sigh, "what are you doing out of bed?" I drag a chair from the other side of the wall and stand on the tips of my feet to reach Amelia's hanging arm. Pulling her down from the roof only required a bit of my effort, because at four years old Amelia only weighed one pound. The little girl seems to be flying as she is suspended in the air while I reach across her bed to grab a silk tie. Tying Amelia's ankles to the bed is a nightly routine, but pulling her down from the roof seems to be a habitually occurrence too; Amelia always unties herself in the night.

"I wanted to go outside!" Amelia's squeaky voice whines while she sinks back into bed.

"Amelia... you know that you can't do that," I say weakly. I take her weightless white locks and tie them into a tight bun to keep her hair from floating.

"I don't want to float anymore! I want to run with the other kids and do cartwheels!" Amelia's tiny fists slam down on her bed in frustration, and the paper dolls on the desk across the room mimic the motion. A gust of wind rips them to the floor at the same time Amelia's fist hits her blanket.

"Amelia calm down, you have to be calm so you don't make anymore wind." I pull her small frame on to my lap in a protective embrace. She looks up at me with a single tear rolling down her face and says, "Auntie Cara, will you tell me why I can't run and do cartwheels?"

I heave a heavy sigh and begin the same bed time story I've told Amelia a thousand times.

"A long time ago, the four kingdoms had a bad famine, they didn't have any food or water and everyone was scared." I look down to see if Amelia is listening and I see her wide green eyes focused on my face.

"The kingdoms tried everything they could think of, so they sent their best priests and priestesses to meet at a sacred temple to pray. They prayed to the God of fire, the Goddess of water, and the Goddess of wind, but most importantly they prayed to the God of earth. They pleaded for the Gods to help the kingdoms and bring them food.

"Now normally the Gods just watched over the morals, but the God of earth was very flattered that the priests were praying to him the most, so he convinced the other Gods to contribute to a gift for the mortals. The Gods sent down four people, each one equipped with the abilities of one of the four Gods. They sent these profits down to earth to help the kingdoms break their famine. The fire gifted person burned all the infected and dead crops, opening miles of space to farm. The water gifted person created canals to hydrate the crops. The earth gifted person created fertile grounds bursting with different types of crops. And the wind gifted person used wind currents to pollinate the crops. Very soon, the famine was over."

Amelia let out a large yawn and I continued, "But the people were still scared, many of them didn't believe that the Gods had blessed the profits, they were afraid of the magic and its power. So they killed the four gifted people, they didn't want the Gods' magic anymore. But this made the Gods very angry, because they didn't bless the mortals often, so for them to reject their gift was very offensive. Infact, the gods were so angry that they sent a message down to the priests gathered at the sacred temple. They told them that they would send down a gifted child for every 1,000 babies born."

"That's me," Amelia smiled with heavy eyes.

"That's right sweetie, they wanted to bless these people because the gods promised that once all four elements convened at the sacred temple, the gods would rein terror down on the kingdoms. This message made the kingdoms very scared, so they started the identifier program to try and stop gifted babies from growing up."

"And that's why I can't go outside?" Amelia whispered while a gust of wind pushed the blankets up to her chin.

"That's right baby, now go to sleep." I stood up from her bed and watched her white hair escaped her loose bun and floated around her like a current. One day she'll understand how much danger she is in, but for now she'll have to keep her head down.