Half-Breed (Taming the Elements Book 1)

by Hickory Mack

  “You’re sure it will work?” Chiori asked, looking for reassurance to calm her nerves.

  “I spent a lot of last night thinking about it, and I think it will. A big element of using magic is having the confidence to follow through. If I’m right, success. Awesomesauce. If I’m wrong, I’ll have a buffer in place, so the backlash will be on me alone and you will not be harmed,” he said.

  “Why would you do that?” Chiori asked, confused. “Won’t you be hurt more if you take it all on yourself?”

  “I don’t want to think of it in such a negative way,” he answered. “I prefer to believe I’m right, because I think I am, and it will work, because I think it will. The first step will be to relax, you’re obviously nervous, and for understandable reasons, but we will have to get past that if this is going to work. Even if it takes all week to regain your trust and every class all we do is focus on you being able to relax. We have all the time in the world to get that first step right, and neither of us will move beyond that until you’re ready.”

  Chiori could feel a tiny bit of tension and worry flow away from hearing those words. He wouldn’t rush her, and he wouldn’t allow her to rush herself, either. She nodded.

  “Okay,” She agreed and the lines between his eyebrows disappeared. He’d been worried about her response. Chiori wondered what would happen if she refused to work with him anymore. She thought of the sylvans that were so unfairly treated, and of Lord Makkai’s reaction to finding out their witch was one of them. He’d allowed Kai in, but not without warnings and death threats first. She reminded herself that her bond with Makkai would protect her from any of Kai’s magics, not that he’d be interested in a scrawny, dull-eyed girl anyway.

  “Whatever you’re thinking about, stop,” his voice took on the soothing quality it had contained the day before. He was a creature that knew how to use his voice. “Quiet your thoughts and instead listen to the noises around you. Listen to the birds.”

  Taken aback, Chiori listened and heard a pair of birds singing back and forth to each other, one close by, the other some ways off. She hadn’t even noticed them before. Chiori kept listening and realized she could just barely hear a creek babbling over some rocks. Her breathing slowed to listen harder, her focus on the world around her. She’d closed her eyes without noticing, taking away one sense to heighten another.

  “Good,” Kai murmured. “Try to envision those sounds in your mind. See the birds singing. See the wind rustling the leaves high in the trees. See the creek on the rocks. Calm, quiet, all the time in the world.”

  Chiori worked to do as he requested. The creek was the easiest to imagine, the reeds on one side, a frog sitting happily in the sun on one of the rocks, the water splashing and bubbling over. The more she thought about it the closer the sound felt as she accidentally blocked out the other sounds.

  She redirected herself to the trees, imagining the different kinds of trees surrounding her and bringing her attention up to their crowns to see their different shaped leaves blowing this way and that. When she started to see the faint green lines of the trees magic she gasped and her eyes snapped open.

  Kai’s eyes captured hers, searching.

  “Tell me,” he said calmly and she described what she saw. Understanding dawned on his face and he smiled. “Not to worry. You’re very good at envisioning the world around you, when you put your mind to it. If you had tapped into your magic, I would have felt it and brought you back. You were simply opening your thoughts enough to sense the magic in other life forces, which is completely different, and not a danger to you. Trees and plants are a lot more straight forward than people and animals.” He paused for a moment.

  “Let’s use you as our example. I can see that you have a lot of power in reserve, sometimes. Other times I can see nothing at all, and it tells me nothing of your future potential, which is why we are working toward figuring that out. A tree has no need or desire to hide that information while more complicated beings such as people have good reason to keep such things to themselves. I promise, you will not be harmed by looking at the tree. Not until you attempt to make contact with it, keep yourself separate and your magic to yourself and you’ll be fine,” he said.

  Chiori chewed her lip, but she nodded her agreement.

  “Do you feel like you can continue, or would you rather take a walk?” he asked, surprising her.

  “Why would we go for a walk?” she asked back.

  “Because if we spend more time together, it will be easier for you to relax while I’m around. It can’t help that you don’t have any of your usual attendants with you. I haven’t seen that one in your presence before, and, the last time you saw me, it didn’t go well. Replace the bad with some good,” he said. Chiori thought about it for a minute.

  “Let’s try again,” she said, closing her eyes and listening. The birds had moved on so she went back to listening to the creek. Kai had eased her mind a bit about the tree, but she was still weary. Chiori listened and envisioned. The frog was gone, but there was a turtle poking its head out of the water. The reeds swayed in the slight breeze. A large boulder was in the middle of the stream and in her mind Chiori hopped across the rocks to reach it. Perched on her boulder she watched the forest around her.

  “Where are you, Lady Chiori?” his soothing voice came and she described it for him. The moss on her boulder, the shades of green and brown she saw in the reeds, the sparkle of the Sun on the water, the shadows cast by nearby trees. A blue dragonfly fluttered by and landed on one of the reeds, its tiny body iridescent in the light. She looked over at the bank and he was there, looking around at her world. He wiped his mouth with one hand and crouched next to the water, looking at her.

  “I’m not going to lie, I have no explanation for why you are so good at this. I had an instinct to follow where you lead and here we are. This is very detailed, Lady Chiori, I’m impressed,” Kai praised. “Are you secure enough to enter lotus position on the boulder, or would you like to come over here?”

  Chiori shifted into lotus, her legs crossed beneath her in answer. He did the same on the bank of the creek. They sat like that for a minute, taking in the sounds and scents of the creek.

  “Now I want you to look for the lines in your hands as they lay relaxed on your knees. You are looking, nothing more. Not unlike the tree there will be a crown that branches out into your fingers,” Kai said softly. Chiori studied her fingertips, focused on them, but she saw nothing. “Place your hands on the stone below you. Feel its coolness, the softness of the moss. Feel the energy within the tiny plants.”

  It took a while, and at first she felt foolish, but then she felt it, the tiniest tingling in the outer reach of her mind.

  “I feel it,” she whispered, trying not to break her concentration.

  “Let that feeling come into your fingers. Feel the warmth, feel the vibration of life within you,” Kai’s voice sounded so gentle. Chiori felt it. “Now open your eyes and see it. If you lose the feeling, go back and find it again before a second attempt.”

  Chiori opened her eyes slowly, concentrating so very hard on what she was feeling. Trying as hard as she was, nothing happened. She lost the feeling, closed her eyes and searched until she found it again. Chiori lightly ran her fingers over the moss, feeling the tingling spread up her fingers further and suddenly she could see it with her eyes closed.

  Her eyes popped open in excitement and she looked at her hand. She could see the faintest glow from her fingertips to the second knuckle.

  “I did it!” she said in her excitement, losing it as soon as she spoke. Kai chuckled and broke contact with her mind. Chiori opened her eyes in the real world and shivered. Clouds had rolled in during their time together and the Sun was lower in the sky. The wind had turned chilly.

  “You did it,” Kai smiled at her.

  “But I messed up,” Chiori grumbled.

  “Next time you’ll do better,” Kai stood and stretched, looking at the sky. “That took a while, but we st
ill have time. Let’s go take that walk.”

  Chiori gave him a doubtful look but stood anyway. She looked to Hina, who smiled and joined them, politely staying a few paces behind.

  “I’ve spent a lot of time out here today,” Chiori commented and Kai gave her a surprised look.

  “I suspect that will increase as time goes on, the healthier and stronger you become, the more time you will be allowed to spend outside. Why do you make it sound like being outdoors is not what you’re accustomed to?” Kai asked. “You’re an Earthy, outside is where you belong, with your feet bare and in contact with the ground.”

  “Because it isn’t normal, to me,” Chiori answered. “In Tallow we only went outside to travel from one place to another. Those who lingered outdoors were hunters or considered freakishly adventurous. Anyone seen as outside of normal was a potential threat, possibly a demon in disguise. I already had trouble fitting in, so I stayed indoors like everybody else.”

  “Sounds miserable. How then, did you come to be here?” he continued pressing her. Chiori noticed that they were getting closer to the stream and her curiosity kicked in. He was taking her to see the place she’d imagined. She wondered how close she would be. Then she reigned her thoughts in and gave him the short and sweet version of her story, sparing him the gory details. In the end Kai was shaking his head in disbelief.

  “The fuss over you makes a bit more sense now,” he said and Chiori glanced at him, her cheeks warming. “Ah, here we are.”

  Chiori took in the stream and her mouth dropped open. The boulder was there, and the reeds. Not everything was perfect, the exact shape of the stream’s bank was a bit off, but the color of the moss was exactly the same. Impulsively she hopped the rocks and scrambled up onto the boulder, so she could run her fingers over it.

  “You cheated,” Kai laughed, “you’ve been here before. You’ve got a remarkable memory.”

  “I haven’t, though,” Chiori said, her smile falling at his words. The laughter died on his lips and Kai pushed the hair out of his eyes.

  “Alright,” Kai looked thoughtful. “I think I have another explanation. You may have a power not so common to Earthy type witches. I’ve only met one other who can do what you did, so I’ll read up on it before I make any comments. If I’m right, the talent can be extremely useful when cultivated. Come on back across, if Mai doesn’t get a handle on this it’s going to rain soon. We should be back to the house by then.”

  Chiori hopped the rocks back, hesitating a moment before taking his offered hand to climb back onto the banks. He pulled her up and let her go abruptly once she was secure. She gave him a strange look but skipped ahead to where Hina waited patiently for them, her tail wagging gently.

  “Did you hear what he said Hina? It’s going to rain,” Chiori said to the dog demon, who cocked her head at her in playful confusion.

  “I already knew. Can’t you feel it?” Hina asked, blinking innocently. Chiori stopped in her tracks, checking to see if she could feel the rain coming.

  “Not yet she can’t,” Kai said, chuckling again. “That takes more practice.”

  Chiori relaxed in the bath with Yuuki and Saya, she could feel the heat pulling the soreness out of her muscles. Airi had come to check in on her after dinner but had refused to take the discomfort in her muscles away, stating her body’s response of becoming stronger would be lost if she took the lactic acid away. She did give her a tea to help speed the process along, though, and a sweet cake. Then like Winry, she recommended the baths and lots of stretching.

  Chiori kept secretively glancing at Saya. She’d been coy getting into the bath with the older girl who was practically perfect physically. Tall and curvy she looked soft but moved as though she were very strong. Chiori froze when Saya caught her staring, but Saya just smiled knowingly.

  “What is it, Lady Chiori?” she asked, moving a bit closer. Chiori scowled at the water but looked up with a grimace.

  “I was wondering how all the demons I’ve met are so beautiful. I mean, you can’t all be this beautiful, can you?” Chiori said, and Yuuki laughed.

  “You’ve met Fen, haven’t you? Then there’s Milly, she has a kind face, a good face, but no one would ever call her beautiful,” Yuuki said.

  “We take what form comes most naturally to us. I was taken from my people when I was a baby. All I remember of them is they had brown skin and big brown eyes and bigger smiles,” Saya said. “Some of us can change our faces easily, some of us cannot. In my youth it was easier, but I found this body pleasing and have worn it for many decades now. I am not likely to change it. Many times, demons from the same family will range in every color the human palate has to offer, it’s all down to preference, I guess. “

  “Some, like Fen, cannot so easily hide their nature. I know a faun that hardly looks human at all except for her facial features, which are still dominated by her deer nose. I find her lovely,” Yuuki added. “Perhaps it doesn’t matter as much to us, since we have spent our lives among such rich diversity.”

  Saya and Yuuki entertained her with tales of some of the demons they’d met in their travels, describing some with unforgettable beauty, and others that were downright frightening to look at. They laughed a while when Saya described a time in her childhood when she’d gotten stuck in her wolf form for weeks, too wrapped up in living with a wild wolf pack to remember how to turn back.

  “What are you going to do with all your free time tomorrow, Lady Chiori?” Yuuki asked after a lull in the conversation. Chiori pulled a face.

  “Practice and read, Yuuki San. I have Moscow and Sen again on Thursday, and I want to show that I’ve done something they asked me to. I don’t think there’s anything I can do to practice for Kai, but I have reading to do for Ichio, and there’s another book I’ve been wanting to get back to,” Chiori answered. Yuuki gave a sad smile.

  “They’re going to burn your curiosity out too quickly at this rate. You need to have time to relax and enjoy life, too,” Yuuki said.

  “She’s right. We’ll make sure to schedule in time for something fun tomorrow,” Saya agreed.

  That night Chiori’s futon was placed at the edge of the hallway, right along the gardens. The tatami mats had been extended into the hallway to make sleeping there more comfortable. There were two additional futons instead of the usual one. Yuuki lay right next to her and Saya’s pillow was even with Chiori’s. However when Saya returned she was in her wolf form, and Chiori stood with her mouth agape for a long minute.

  Even in wolf form her legs were long, longer than any normal wolf. Her coloring was fox red, except for her throat, and the inside of her ears, which were cream colored. Her muzzle and legs below the knee were midnight black, as well as a patch of longer fur between her shoulder blades.

  “Wow,” Chiori whispered. Saya sneezed in reply and stretched, her rump in the air, head on the ground. She took up so much space as a wolf, her eyes were higher than Chiori’s when she came close. Saya’s tongue lolled out in a wolfy grin and she curled up on her futon, her fluffy tail covering her nose.

  Chiori spent the night hiding her nightmares from the second set of ears, which wasn’t as easy when those ears were the size of dinner plates. She gave up well before dawn and took her blanket out into the gardens with her. The grass was wet with dew, but Mai had kept the storm at bay so there were no puddles. Chiori watched the stars and spent another night waiting for the Sun.

  Chapter 29

  Chiori started her day with a cold shower to help wake herself from a sleepless stupor. She ate her breakfast with all five of her girls and a prodigious appetite. Milly had sent big tofu omelets with sweet peppers, mushrooms and onions. Grilled asparagus on a side plate, a bowl of Miso soup with scallions, seitan and nori and as much ginger spiced tea as they could drink.

  Yuuki and Mai sat with Nakia to Chiori’s right, Saya and Hina to her left, and as usual the opposite end of the table was left empty. Yuuki had already told Nakia that she hadn’t slept again, the trait
or. She didn’t want it getting back to Lord Makkai and if any of the girls would make that happen, it would be her. Chiori resolved herself to speak with Nakia before her sleep deprivation was made into anything bigger than it needed to be. She waited until there was a moment of quiet among the girls before speaking up.

  “It’s my free day, so if any of you girls want a day to yourself go for it. I’m going to Moscow’s classroom to pick up some supplies and then into the gardens to work on sketching lines for a while, if anyone feels the need to be there for such rousing entertainment, I’ll accept the company. I’ve got reading to do afterward and at some point today I would be grateful to be given a visit with Milly,” Chiori said. It felt peculiar to hold all of their attention at once.

  “I’ll arrange to have Milly brought to you,” Nakia said at once.

  “I’d rather it be informal, I’d like to speak with her openly and not worry about titles or custom or any of that,” Chiori said.

  “I will let her know it is to be a casual meeting,” Nakia added. “The sitting room, rather than the receiving room?”

  “That seems more appropriate. Whatever time is best for her works for me, I don’t want to be a pest,” Chiori said.

  Mai raised her hand and Chiori nodded at her.

  “Will there be alicanto involved in line drawing?” she asked.

  “Absolutely,” Chiori said, smiling.

  “I volunteer to attend Lady Chiori in the gardens,” Mai said before anyone else had the chance. Hina actually pouted in response and Yuuki gave an amused smile.

  “Shouldn’t it be someone with some actual art skills?” Nakia teased and Mai stuck her tongue out.

  “She’s better than I am,” Yuuki said in support.

  “Ha,” Mai grinned.

  “It is a good idea to have someone out there with you though, Lady Chiori. In case you need something, or you get lonely. We’re here for you, whatever the need,” Nakia said.