Sea Queen

Chapter Seventeen

The next few days were very awkward between me and Seb. Whenever we saw eachother we would go out of our way to avoid eachother, and always never make eye contact. I spent most of my time either down at the training arena, or in my room with Sapphie.

The king had assigned one of the older Miraphins to teach me self defence and how to fight with a sword. We practised in a large hall that had been pumped with air so that all the water had been expelled; Therefore it was just like fighting on land. I was doing ok at it, although I definitely wasn't the greatest at first.

I was also assigned a room to practise my water abilities. There wasn't anyone in the city at the time who knew anything of the abilities of a vessel, but I was told that an old mer scholar was on his way to teach me. Apparently he had known the last vessel of Acia, and knew a bit about her powers, and so hopefully he could help me.

My water abilities were alien to me. I didn't know what I could or couldn't do with it, and didn't know how to control it. When I got angry, I could feel the water around me move quickly and sometimes form currents, but it was hard to tell. Being underwater, you couldn't always tell what you were doing, and that didn't really help when trying to learn to control it.

The next time I was scheduled to use my powers, I went out of the city, and asked Acia to guide me to somewhere I could practise on land, somewhere like a beach.

I swam for what seemed like days, but then came to the surface, and saw a small abandoned beach in front of me. I smiled, because this was perfect. I swam right up to the beach, and when the water became shallow, my tail changed back into legs.

... And I fell face first into the shallow water. I guess my legs would probably take a while to get used to.

Wobbling a little, I managed to walk to dry land. I took my first breath of air, and my gills itched and sank into my skin, and my lungs seemed to expand rapidly to accommodate for the air, hurting slightly. I guess after spending so long in the water I wasn't used to the sensations of switching forms. I lay down on the sand.

The clothes that I had been wearing while I was visiting the Naiads appeared, a green dress with flowers embroidered on the edge of the skirt. It was Ivy's- I had just borrowed it, and I guess never given it back. I felt a surge of guilt- it was such a pretty dress, and would surely be missed. But I needed clothes to practice in- I couldn't wander around naked.

At that moment, a massive wave crashed and as I was lying down, it practically ran me over. I coughed slightly as my body became a little confused as to whether to breathe with lungs or gills, but when the wave disappeared, it stopped.

I wiped my eyes, clearing the water from them. Then I stopped, noticing my full length green sleeve had changed into a shimmering light blue one that only reached just past my elbows. I frowned, and looked down.

I was wearing a dress made of soft and light layers of slightly translucent very light blue material, and it seemed to shimmer in the sun. It was fitted over the top, and had a thick white ribbon as a waistband, and then just became loose. The skirt ended a few inches above the knee, and had dark blue patterned lace at the very bottom, as it did on the end of the sleeves. Ok then, so my powers seemed to include making clothes. Very pretty clothes at that.

I sighed. Well I guess now would be the time to try and master my abilities.

Ok, so first, I needed to dry off. I'd never influenced air or earth much before, but I wanted to try to while I had the chance. I  closed my eyes, and felt the air brushing against my cheeks, cool and refreshing. I imagined it becoming warm and drying my clothes, evaporating all the water. I opened my eyes and looked down. Nope, still soaked. Ok, try again. And again, and again.

"Aargh." I shouted, annoyed. I looked up, closed my eyes, and told myself to relax. Then I looked down and yelped.

A face stared back at me. It was like a fold in the air, bending to form an angular face, with very sharp cheekbones, and c. Two eyes, a very light green searched my face. They were the only thing that wasn't pure air. The folds that formed the lips began to move.

"Each element is different. You control it in different ways. Water will come to you easier because it's your first element, your home element if you like. The others will take practise because you don't control them in the same way."

As the face talked, the folds in the air became coloured and shaped. His face formed first, and then white hair and pointed ears. Long limbs, slim but not skinny, and four see through wings like a dragonfly. The wings flickered slightly, and he slanted his head as he studied me, every inch of me. It was very unsettling, having every part of you analysed.

Well, I guess this was one of the mysterious Fae. My first impression was that he was rude and blunt.

"Can... Can I help you?" I said, stuttering slightly.

"Nope. I can help you." He said smirking. "You're going about trying to control air in completely the wrong way."

"I don't need your help, thank you." I said, rather coldly. "I'm doing just fine on my own."

"Oh really? So you're just soaking wet because you feel like it?" He smirked and raised an eyebrow. Fighting the urge to make a massive wave absolutely soak him too, I smiled back and walked away.

"I can help you." He said. I stopped and turned around.

"How?"

"Well, I taught the last vessel of Ania. Why not a super charged triple vessel?"

"Firstly, that's impossible. The last vessel lived 2000 years ago. And secondly, why would I trust you, since I've only just met you."

"Well then, get to know me, water girl." He grinned. He was such a jerk!

"I know enough to know that I don't want to get to know you, thanks. And they said that the Fae were mysterious and magical." I muttered, annoyed, and walked furthur up the beach.

He laughed, his mouth stretching far across his cheeks into a grin.

"Oh, we are." He said, still grinning like a cheshire cat. 

And then he faded into air again.

I could have screamed. He was so annoying, but at least he was gone now. I walked down to the sea, and rose a ball of water from the waves. I sculpted it into a flower, blooming from a bud. It came so easily to control water here so maybe I could explore my water based abilities before moving on to earth and air.

The fae became pure air, but the Mer people and the Naiads couldn't do that, as far as I knew. Maybe I could try with water.

I stepped into to edge of the water, feeling it move around my toes, fresh and cool against my bare skin. How did you go about becoming water? I didn't think it was something you could google. I closed my eyes, and wriggled my toes.

Water was cool, collected and refreshing, but it felt like mostly instinct. It was powerful, very powerful, when it wanted to be. I felt the coolness of the water move up my legs and my ankles, and then up to my torso. I looked down, seeing that my body was still there, but a thin layer of water had covered my body, almost up to my neck now, and travelling up further. I sucked in a breath before it went over my mouth and nose.

I didn't think that it was me doing this anymore. The water was acting of it's own accord.

It was such a strange sensation. It felt like I was melting, like every feeling or thought was just disappearing. And then all I knew was that Acia stood in front of me.

Hey readers

I know this is a bit of a filler, so sorry.

I might have to take a break for my GCSEs next week- I actually need to get down and do some proper revision, seeing as I haven't done much yet :L

But I will update when I have a break :)

Thanks,

Soph

Xx