Release

  A different female voice responded to him this time, one that sounded more like bird-song; a high-pitched melodic lilt. It was also strangely familiar.

  “Our powers are very different, but they are complimentary to each other. Ochrani has the unique ability to create a location perfume. That’s what we call it anyway. We have not heard of any other Tandroan with such an ability.

  “She can create a distinct perfume that allows her to locate someone, no matter where they are. As long as she knows the ingredients of their scent, and can work with a sample of their DNA, she can make a perfume oil to pinpoint exactly where they are. It’s quite magnificent!”

  Hearing this revelation - that this female had made a perfume to locate her - was all Tiegal needed to find her strength to rebuild herself again.

  That’s Indramia’s voice! The one who fell over in the pyramid pool. I knew there was something special about her!

  Scanning her surroundings, she realised that the current had dragged her to the bottom of the lagoon, and yet, she somehow also knew that she was safe. She only had to twist herself a little to confirm that her physical being had almost fully reformed. And that her brilliant eyes were now fully functioning again. Their reflection finally revealing that she was still contained and protected within her energy bubble.

  I’m not drowning! I’m safe!

  A new feeling burned inside her now; an animal-like instinct that screamed at her to fight – and to survive. Her every instinct assured her that these fellow Tandroans above the water were part of her somehow, possibly even intertwined with her destiny. She had to find a way to get their attention.

  Looking up to the surface of the water she could just make out Jovil's tall frame. He appeared to be shaking his head as he paced back and forth in front of the two female figures, waving his hands around in an exasperated fashion.

  His voice echoed above her:

  "And you, Indramia? How does your magic work with Ochrani's once she has made this location perfume?"

  "Ah, let me answer that one if you don't mind."

  The one she assumed was Ochrani, spoke again. Her deep voice was filled with excitement.

  "Indramia is always so quick to applaud my gift, and yet hers is just as compelling. You see, Indramia has the gift of sight! If she can connect with the energy of someone, she can see things that have happened in their past… and in their future!"

  As if on cue, Indramia stepped forward and placed her hand on Jovil's shoulder.

  "That's how I know she will return here, on this day. It's not an exact prediction, to the minute, but she will be here, and soon."

  Indramia's voice travelled down through the water to where Tiegal sat in her bubble on the bed of the lagoon, mesmerised by the words she was hearing.

  "But how will she appear? Where should we look?” Jovil said.

  "In the water, of course!" the two females chimed.

  "I saw her reappear in this diamond lagoon! You will know when she is here." Indramia clarified.

  I'm already here! Why can't you see me?

  Unable to restrain herself any longer, Tigeal let out a roaring scream. Then, using both her fists she pounded on the bubble wall that surrounded her.

  "I'm in the damn lagoon!"

  A gush of water filled her mouth as she tried to shout out, realising too late that her screams had burst her bubble and she was now rapidly ascending to the surface of the water.

  "Ooh we might not have to wait too long either. Look at the lagoon Jovil! It's glowing and… there's something moving... that looks like..."

  The rest of Ochrani's delighted announcement was drowned out by the sound of breaking water, as Tiegal exploded out of the lagoon and landed straight into Jovil's arms.

  The four of them sat shoulder to shoulder, in a circle of the cave floor. The cold, stagnant air had drawn them all together to share their body heat. Still, despite being wrapped in Ochrani's silver cloak, Tiegal’s body refused to warm up.

  "You have started to get some colour back in your cheeks again, but you’re still trembling. You need some more clothing. I’m so sorry Tiegal, if I'd known you were going to appear...erm...well..." Jovil stammered.

  "Naked?" Tiegal finished for him. "It's okay Jovil, you can say the word out loud. We can't pretend that didn't just happen. That I just flew at you like that when I was… well, in a state of nature."

  Ochrani and Indramia both let out a peal of giggles, which echoed around the cave in perfect harmony.

  “Tiegal! You are just fantastic. I don't think I have ever heard anyone speak so, well, so… honestly! When Indramia told me that she had found another one of our sisters, I knew you would be special, but I wasn't expecting someone this exciting.”

  Ochrani's eye-light reflected brilliant prismatic light around their circle.

  "I agree with Ochrani. You really are splendid Tiegal," Indramia whispered, her eye-light also shimmering with excitement. "I'm so glad you touched me at the Pyramid.”

  Hearing the word ‘sister’ made the hair on Tiegal’s arms stand on end. That, and the fact that she recognised these females; their scents, and their energies.

  Turning her face to Jovil she flashed her eyes at him, ensuring he received a deliberately blinding radiance.

  "I think you need to do some explaining here Jovil. Why do I feel that you didn't tell me everything the last time we were here?" she demanded.

  Jovil shifted to the side, removing his much-needed body heat from her as he did. The smell of regret permeated through him.

  "Well, she is not entirely naked, is she? I mean, amazingly she is still wearing her Derado! It seems our energy controls have the power to both transport and transform us."

  Jovil gripped the collar of his own Derado with both his hands, as if he were willing them to follow his distracting lead.

  "I asked you a question Jovil?"

  Tiegal reached over to give him a nudge on his shoulder, knocking him off-balance so that he rocked from side to side. No one said anything as they all watched him regain his balance and then bang his palms down on the cold cave.

  “I’m not sure I understand it all myself,” he finally muttered.

  Ochrani made a tutting noise:

  “Tiegal deserves some answers Jovil. She's been through a lot don't you think?"

  Jovil looked at them all in turn.

  “You’re right, she does. You all do! And that’s why… I think you should all get into the lagoon. Together! It will help you all understand. Please, just trust me.”

  Before waiting for a response, Jovil stood up, smacked away the cave dust that had caked around the legs of his black trousers, and then raised his arm in the direction of the pool.

  Ochrani stood up first, then Indramia, closely followed by a reluctant Tiegal. All three of them took two steps back away from the edge of the water, and then folded their arms across their chests.

  “Is this some kind of sick joke?”

  Tiegal could hear a jumble of words coming from her two companions, their own minds scrambling with ideas of how all these connections could fit together, but all she could focus on was a furious rage with the male in front of her, the one she had assumed was her protector.

  “First, you separate me from the others on my pre-release day. Scare the life out of me by telling me that I was made in a secret lagoon of death. That I was the only one to survive being born into a pool of diamond water that YOU over-energised with all your thoughts. Then, you declare that this is the reason I am now so different from everyone else on Tandro. And, that I needed to contain my wandering mind during my Release Day, in case my energy went into overdrive.”

  Jovil squeezed his eyes shut as she pounded him with her accusations.

  “Well, no exaggerating there, hey, Mr Lagoon Master? I just transported to some other world, saw the beautiful male I have been dreaming about all this time, finally looked like I was going to reach him and get out of this hideous robot show that is Tandro, only to find th
at he was kissing some other female!”

  Indramia and Ochrani placed their hands on her shoulders. She could feel both their intense body heat and their energies gently urging her to calm her fury, but she shrugged them off, unprepared to submit her emotions to anyone else until she knew exactly what was going on.

  “And then… THEN… I find myself vanishing away again, only to end up back in that lagoon. And NOW! Now, you want me and my SISTERS to get back in there, under your command?”

  With each sentence of rage uttered, Tiegal stamped her foot down and punched her fist out in his direction. Slowly, Jovil turned to face her, his expression unreadable.

  “What do you see when you look into each other’s eyes? Your sisters, as you have already referred to each other,” Jovil finally asked, looking at each of them in turn.

  Indramia responded first, by releasing her hold on Tiegal and then taking two strides towards Jovil.

  “I can see it. There is definitely something different about our eye-lights.” She turned back to face Tiegal. “Look at Ochrani. There’s an image of an angel in her reflection. And you, Tiegal. There is clear heart shape radiating out from your eye-lights.”

  With one swift move, Ochrani took a giant leap forward, landing with both her feet next to Indramia.

  “Yes! I can see it too. And Indramia’s eye-light reflects the image of a star! It’s obvious when you look for it!”

  Jovil nodded. From the way he slumped his shoulders forward it appeared he was both exhausted and relieved.

  “That’s right. I think that these are your markers. It’s like your hidden magic. It’s what makes you all so unique, and so gifted.”

  Ochrani beamed both a huge grin and a blinding flash of eye-light. It was almost too much to absorb, and yet, as Tigeal allowed her own eyes to focus on Ochrani’s reflections she realised that she was right: there really was the clear shape of an angel pulsating out from her optics.

  Just like the strange female who approached me when I was feeding Namnum! The one with the eyes that radiated a golden horse-tail!

  Tiegal opened her mouth to share this until-now-forgotten information, but Ochrani got in there before her.

  “I get it now! Wow! After all these years of wondering why we had what we thought were mistakes, that we had defections, or even birthmarks in our eye-light, it turns out they are our symbols of power! So that’s why Indramia reflects a star, because she has the gift of sight! And my angel must represent my ability to locate and guide,” she declared, clapping her hands out in front of her.

  Indramia put her hands on her hips and puffed out a satisfied sounding sigh:

  “And, also, why Tiegal’s reflection contains a heart! It explains why she has such a powerful energy. Because she is an abundance of love! That must be how she has connected to this male from another place and time! It is all starting to make sense now.”

  Tiegal watched them all in stunned silence. Jovil nodded at Ochrani, relaxing his shoulders in the manner of a long-suffering teacher, relieved to finally get through to his reluctant students. Indramia’s skin glistened an apricot hue as she swung her silver cloak from side to side, revealing the smooth curves of her cleavage visible just above the tightly-fitted dark, green, bodice she wore. Ochrani, swayed back and forth, as though tuned into some meditative music only she could hear. Her rich smooth, chestnut-toned skin contrasting beautifully with her white-bodiced suit.

  Tiegal had never felt more confused and alone.

  “Argh! What is going on? Why are you all saying these things? I just told you that I saw my dream male from that other world kissing someone else! I’d hardly call that a beautiful destiny journey that my powerful love energy sent me on! And Jovil still hasn’t explained how we could be sisters if I was the only one to survive this lagoon! Oh, and let’s not forget that we are all using this old-world term “sisters” as though this is normal for us all. None of this makes any sense! What are you trying to do to me?” Tiegal dropped to the floor like a dead-weight, not caring that she banged her hip and scraped her toes in the process. Exhaustion finally winning, she buried her face into her bunched-up knees, not sure if she could hold off her need for sleep for much longer, never mind get back into the water again.

  “I don’t belong anywhere. I’m lost.”

  As these desperate words escaped her mouth, a confusing mix of emotions flooded through her; a deep shame over demonstrating her weakness to them all; and, worse, so much worse, an engulfing sense of loss for something that she couldn’t quite place.

  “Tiegal, that couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, you have only just been found.”

  The sound of Jovil’s soothing voice near her ear made her shiver. His warm hands gathered around her arms and under her knees. Before she could protest, she felt her body lifted from the cold ground.

  “Please, just trust me Tiegal. That’s all you need to do. Trust me. I won’t let you all down again,” he assured her.

  Before she could think of an appropriate response, the sound of splashing water and her sisters’ laughter filled the cave.

  “Come and join us in the water Tiegal. We have so much to share with you. So much to tell you. Jovil’s right. You can trust him.” Ochrani and Indramia spoke together in that remarkable harmony they shared.

  Their excitement was so contagious that Tiegal’s fingers tingled with a yearning to touch them. And as she reached her hands out in their direction, it was as though her body needed to seal a connection with them, that she instinctively sensed they used to share.

  Seeing their identical, encouraging smiles beaming back at her from where they were floating in the lagoon, she jerked her body out of Jovil’s arms and let herself fall into the water, crashing into it with an ungraceful splash.

  Fuelled by a desperate urge to find this elusive truth they promised to share with her, she swam over to them, entwining her fingers with theirs as soon as she reached them, so that they formed a circle in the centre of the lagoon pool.

  The water reacted to their connection immediately, treating them all to a glorious display of fluorescent colours. Tiegal’s eyes widened, her light enhancing the colourful glow from under the water.

  “The diamonds! They are glowing again…as though they are reacting to something? They did this the last time I was here, with Jovil.”

  As she said this, Ochrani broke their circle and gave a playful leap in the air before crashing down under the water, and then quickly resurfacing with both her hands full of luminescent diamonds.

  “I feel so…so powerful; so strong! It’s like magic! Here, try touching them,” Ochrani enthused, holding out her hands to both Indramia and Tiegal. But then, Jovil called out to them from the water’s edge. His voice was a trembling echo in the vast cavernous space:

  “You will feel powerful! The diamonds are remembering how you grew out of their energy in this lagoon Tiegal. And…as Ochrani and Indramia did too!”

  Tiegal shook her head at him and then smacked her hands down onto the surface of the water.

  “But…you said I was the only one who survived?”

  She watched as Jovil shook his head, bunched his hands into his pockets and then let his shoulders slump. His whole posture displayed his shame.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the whole truth Tiegal. I was just trying to protect you. All of you,” he finally answered.

  Tiegal shivered at the sound of his confession.

  9. The Reveal

  From where she crouched, behind one of the larger boulders at the other side of the cave lagoon, she was perfectly placed to hear and see everything, whilst still remaining hidden from their view. Everything about the scene before her offended her senses: the blinding glow of the diamonds; the acrid smell of Jovil’s shame as he delivered his confession; the taste of their names, her “sisters” - Ochrani, Indramia, and Tiegal - that had blended together into one disgusting ball of solid vomit at the back of her throat.

  Careful not to make
any noise, she reached into her cloak pocket in search of a sprig of mint. If ever there was a time to ensure she maintain control of her senses, it was now.

  Who do they think they are? They look ridiculous holding each other’s hands and praising their unique powers! They have no concept of what power is! So what if one of them can make location perfumes, or, if the other one can supposedly see into the future. None of that is a match against what I can do.

  This was more dangerous than she had feared. The females in the lagoon appeared to be getting more powerful. She could tell by the way their skin shimmered and their eye-lights beamed an extraordinary intensity that their energies were manifesting the more they stayed in such close proximity to each other.

  But it was the heart-eyed one that worried her the most. Although her deeper thoughts were more difficult to detect this time, it was obvious that she was the one who posed the greatest threat to her ambitions. She could transport herself to another world! She couldn’t deny that this made her a worthy opponent as the most powerful Tandroan that existed.

  But then, she knew only too well, that there was a thin line between power and weakness. She only had to think about Atla to realise that simple truth.

  The sound of a hand smacking the surface of the lagoon made the hairs on her arms stand at attention in anticipation. Tiegal was getting impatient.

  “Why, Jovil? I just don’t understand why you told me only half-a-truth? How is denying me the right to meet my sisters, who were also created in this lagoon, protecting me, or them? You knew how lonely I felt. I trusted you!”

  Parador clasped her hand over her lips, suppressing the urge to laugh out loud. What foolish words! Could Tiegal not see the obvious answer to this ridiculous question: the lagoon master kept us all hidden from each other, because he knew he had seriously messed up his experiment! That he had created four supremely powerful Tandroans whose powers would get even stronger if they were ever to meet.

  Oh Jovil, you can’t even see your own powers. Why do you think you were able to have such influence over the water in the first place? You started this powerful fire that burns inside us all, with YOUR power! This elemental power you must possess! How can you not see this?