Her Second Chance✔ (Completed under edit)

23

In the heart of her magic, the core of her being, she came to understand her gift of serenity. It was tied to balance, to what biologists called homeostasis - the constant international environment of the body, to that steady beat of life that existed all around beyond understanding. And she could shift it if she wanted.

She could reach out and make it rain beyond its season, to make it snow or have eternal sunshine. She could still the very air and make people unable to breath. She could make them too serene to bother with caring for themselves. She was dangerous.

With a gasp that was more for that realization, Cari broke free from under the magical pool. Restored and much more. She walked her way out with determination. While she hadn't gotten the answer of whether she was strong enough to challenge a dragon one on one. She knew she could ensnare them into doing her bidding by letting them feel the beauty of the balance they sought. Something she'd done with the female dragon who'd tried to kill them.

Once clear of the pool, she walked on without looking back. Knowing that whatever direction she walked away from the pool would lead her to herself. Like before, when she opened her eyes, Dani was anxiously looking at her. This time though, she gasped in surprise when their gazes held.

"What?" Cari demanded, her heart jumping closer to her mouth.

"Your eyes," her cousin whispered in frightened awe. "They're blue."

"What?" Cari questioned, fear catching her voice in its grip.

Dani nodded. "An electric blue that is out of this world."

"Oh." Cari deflated knowing that somehow she'd brought some of the eeriness of the pool with her. She didn't want to talk about it though, not even with Dani. The sister of her heart. "I touched the depths of my gift." She abbreviated. "I wanted to find a way to ensnare more dragons to us."

Dani perked up at that. "Did you?"

The smile she gave her cousin was hard because of the anger that still simmered beneath all the other emotions and thoughts fighting to be processed. Cari wasn't ready to confront her new self awareness, so she embraced the anger. "Yes." She answered her cousin.

Dani pumped her fist up and down. "Yes!" She exalted. "I'll sing for them into submission before you capture them."

"And then the dragonic civil war will begin. Courtesy of us." Her cousin gave her an evil, delighted smile and she returned it in kind.

***

She'd gathered a sizeable army. It'd been so easy to do with that Cari had felt a little bit silly for her previous fear. All she'd had to do was project the sense of serenity that dwelt inside her. Quite a number of the dragons were eager to embrace it. People who'd never experienced life away from the dragon valley and felt stifled by the restrictions that kept them there.

They came to her call in droves, lured by the sense of freedom her gift offered them. She didn't even need to touch them, they were so ready to embrace the answer to their discontent, the dream.

There were others though who resisted. People content to stay as they were, who didn't like change. As she touched their essence with her gift, she knew she could push past their barriers. She also saw that doing so would break them, addict them to the sense of serenity she'd provide. Something that life couldn't sustain. Even as livid as she was, Cari couldn't bring herself to go that far.

So she stood at the same balcony overlooking the city. The barrier over the castle still held them within its walls, but her gift flowed through it and over the city. She could see its blue radiance as it flowed through the dragon city, felt it as it snared one dragon after another.