*
"Remember, everyone, steady breaths. In and out, that's it. Now, pull gently at the heat in the air and hold onto it..."
"Yes!" Sekou squealed, cradling a flame in one of his palms. Looking over, his sister grunted, dipped one hand into Aminata's pot of water and splashed some of it over Sekou's fire.
"Hey!"
"Hawa." I gave her a stern look.
"It's not fair. I've been trying for three days, and nothing's happened yet." The poor girl looked close to tears as she kicked at a stray rock.
"Some people just take longer than others to get the hang of it. But what you did wasn't nice. Apologize, please."
"I'm sorry, Sekou."
"And remember that looking after both the mind and the body is important. You won't be able to control your casting if you aren't looking after yourself."
"At least it doesn't hurt to move the water as much," Aminata said, struggling to keep her sphere of water floating through the air. It fell back down with a splash.
"Hawa, look at me." Lifting her light brown eyes towards mine, she allowed me to take her tan hands into my own. "Close your eyes. Feel the magic flowing through your body."
"I don't feel it."
"It's there. You just need to give it the chance to reveal itself."
In silence we both sat, waiting. Then, sure enough, Hawa's fingers grew hot against my own. In surprise, she drew them back, just as a spattering of sparks glowed around her hands. It wasn't much, but it was something.
"You did it." I smiled warmly.
"I- I did." She grinned to herself. Her eyes slid open, and she fixed me with a serious look that left me unnerved. "You know, Mother used to tell us our casting was nonsense, that me and Sekou were just making it up."
"Did you believe her?"
"I'd started to," Hawa admitted, letting her head hang.
"Thank goodness you had a change of heart. It would've been awful if you'd lost your abilities."
"Lost them?"
"Perhaps 'lost' is the wrong word. But they would've become deeply buried. You wouldn't be able to reach them if that'd been the case. That, or... worse." I gritted my teeth.
"What could be worse than losing my powers?"
"They can resurface of their own accord. But the results of this are almost always catastrophic." I knew by this point that the others had stopped what they were doing, and they were certainly eavesdropping. Raising my voice, I continued, "I'm sorry if this scares you. But it must be said."
Nene, who tended to sit at one corner of our tile, preferred to be alone and practice in silence. There were only five of us now since Oumar had left.
"Nene-"
The distant sound of the school bell interrupted me, and all of the supervisors stepped forward to escort the children back inside.
"Bye, Bobo!" Sekou called, skipping as he fell into line with the others. Nene nodded at me as she went by, and I made sure to grin in return.
"I'll take you back to the reception." The friendly Nama, one of the supervisors, waited as I gathered my things and returned them into my shoulder bag.
"Has Oumar said anything to you or anyone else yet?" I asked, shifting the weight of my shoulder bag from one hand to another.
"No, I'm afraid," she said, the skin around her eyes creasing. "I don't think he'll come around."
"Why don't you let me talk to him tomorrow? Perhaps I could stay until the children's lunch break?" I suggested, grasping around for any possible opportunity. I knew just how important my casting sessions with the children were. And, despite what I'd said at the beginning, I wanted to be sure of Oumar's choice before letting him go altogether; giving up on the boy too soon might've proved to be a crushing mistake in the long run.
"You're welcome to, but I'll warn you now. That kid is a tough nut to crack."
"Don't worry. I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Thursday. Wednesday's are my day off. Fridays, too."
"I'll see you soon, then."
"Bye." Nama waved, ambling away.
It wasn't long before I fell into a heap against my hotel bed. When I woke up four hours later, I vowed to never use my fire casting over such an extended period ever again.
"Bo? You here?" Karlton knocked on the door to my room and came in. "Hey, don't you think it's a little dangerous to be leaving your door unlocked like this?"
I hardly had enough energy to respond in anything but meaningless mumbling.
"Worn out, are we?"
"Mmrgh..."
"Alright, alright, I'll get lost. See you in a couple of hours."
In said hours, Karlton had invited me out to the same cliff Jacob and I had stopped at before arriving in Gomi. He wore a loose-fitting blue shirt along with baggy knee-length shorts.
"Here we are." Karlton passed me a blanket before disappearing to the back of the car he'd hired. By the time he returned, the blanket had been spread over grass, with me on top, almost half asleep.
Karlton lowered himself on to his stomach, next to me. "Your eye's looking better."
"Thanks to you. Your advice was useful."
"I had my fair share of fights as a kid. Picked a few things up."
"I take it you're no longer angry at me for helping those children?" I yawned and burrowed my head further into my arms.
"I wasn't actually mad," he breathed.
"Then what were you?"
"Alright, so I might have been a little mad. But I'm not now."
"Good."
Karlton stayed silent and came close. "You hungry? I've brought us some food. It's in the basket if you want any."
"I'm fine. You know, this is nice, just being here. "
A wistful look fell over his face. "It is."
"I used to do this often with my husband."
I caught the stiffening of Karlton's shoulders. "You're married?"
"Was."
Plucking at small blades of grass, he clicked his tongue and looked down. "Sorry."
"What for?"
"Your husband?"
Smiling, I waved off his apology. "Don't worry yourself about it. He was nice, but I saw no point in it- the marriage, I mean. I've never understood the concept. It would've been cheaper to forgo the wedding and remain acquaintances, in my opinion. Waste of time, weddings and the like."
"Are you making some kinda statement? You don't believe in love. Is that it?" Karlton chuckled hesitantly.
"Of course I do. Don't you?" I turned my face towards him, raising my eyebrows. He exhaled, shifting even closer.
"It's hard to find."
"You're not wrong."
"Bo. When Jacob gets back, and you guys leave...I'm just wondering- do you want to meet up every once in a while, do something like this again?" He raised his eyes to mine, their pretty blue glowing like ice in the moonlight.
"I..." My response seemed lodged in my throat, but I built my resolve and tried to force the words out. Karlton leaned towards me, lips parting as they inched dangerously close.
"Well?"
I brought a hand to his shoulder, pushing him back gently. "I wish I could. Friends are difficult to come by."
Karlton seemed lost in a world of his own, as if his actions had been slowed by an invisible force, and his shoulders slumped.
"Shame."
"It is unfortunate. But I have duties to attend to back home. In fact, I'm not really supposed to be here. Well...I'm not here for the right reasons, anyhow."
"A bit old to be going through a rebel phase, aren't you?" he said, falling back into his usual easy manner.
"I suppose."
"Things rough back home?" He peered at the stars.
"You could say so."
"I know the feeling." My stomach felt as if it'd been drenched by cold water and I dug my fingers into the skin of my forearms.
"It'll get better." He snorted, rolling his eyes. "I'm serious," I said, bumping my shoulder against his softly. "Think about those books you want to write; you're whole future's ahead of you. It's up to you to make what you want of it."
"I don't think I can. Not by myself. I'm only twenty-nine, but I've reached the dead end, pretty much."
"I'm sure there's someone you can look to. And if you can't find them now, maybe you haven't been looking hard enough."
"You're a beacon of optimism."
I laughed. "So I've been told."
*
Discussion: Are you surprised that Gale was married? And what do you make of her heart-to-heart with Karlton?
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