~John Wayne
As soon as the first bird chirped and the skies lightened to gray, I got out of the tent and by the fire. My body shook with the cold as I tended the fire. They banked it the night before, and it didn't take long to uncover a few red-hot coals at the bottom of the ashes. Carefully, I placed the smaller twigs over the coals and blew on them. A small flame flickered into being. With as much care as my shaking hands would allow, I placed larger twigs and branches over the small flame. Sitting back, I waited patiently for it to ignite and offer real warmth, when a gust of wind swept through camp and the little flame sputtered about to die.
"No!" My breath made a white cloud in front of me. I held out my hand as if I could force the flame to stay against the force of the wind. Power fluttered through me, strengthening the small flame. I focused and forced a little trickle of power out of my hand onto the fire, and the gift was there.
"Grow," I whispered. The flame grew steadily until I created a hot roaring fire before me. I sighed in pleasure and pulled a blanket over my back.
"Would you like some coffee?"
I jumped and turned to the voice. "Oh, hello, Elijah. No, thank you. I'm not a big coffee drinker."
"I also have tea," he said, as he set up the metal grating over the fire and placed a metal coffee pot on top.
"Tea would be great," I answered with a smile. "I hope I didn't wake you up?"
"No, the birds did that." He filled a kettle with water and placed it over the fire.
"They sound very cheerful this morning," I said looking up. The morning sun lit the very tops of the trees. Birds fluttered from one tree to another.
"It would seem so, but most of the calls are to keep other birds out of their territory," Elijah answered.
"No way. Well, there goes the one nice thing about this morning."
"Hey, what about me?" Elijah teased, flashing me a charming smile.
I eyed him carefully for a moment. "Well, you are making me tea, so I suppose you count as a good thing."
"Thank you so much for the praise." Looking up, he waved to Rebecca and Storm. "I have to go help with morning prayers. Do you need anything first? We won't be long."
"No, I'm fine. Am I in the way? Or is there something I should do?"
"No, we need to charge the medicine bags." I must have looked confused because he said, "I'll explain when I get back."
I nodded and watched as the three Guardian apprentices walked around the edge of the camp, stopping at specific spots and saying prayers. It felt rude to intrude, so I turned back to the fire, closed my eyes, and began to do the five-count meditation.
I could feel the power I released last night. It warmed and comforted as it flowed through me. I channeled it up and down my spine with each series of breaths, gaining control of my gifts. When I stopped, my powers settled in the pit of my belly, surrounding the pulsing, ashen stone. The rest of my powers pushed to be released. I hoped it wouldn't hurt too much when that happened.
Opening my eyes, I saw Rebecca and Storm getting things together for breakfast. "Can I help?"
"Not right now, but we were wondering if we could check on your blocked power?" Rebecca asked cautiously.
"I guess. What do you want to do?"
"My gift is healing," Rebecca said as she sat next to me. "I want to put my hand over where your gifts are being blocked and see what's there."
I shrugged; it sounded easy enough. "Sure, no problem."
Gently, she placed her hand on my lower belly, and closed her eyes. "You have that good and sealed up, haven't you? I can also see what you released last night. I can tell there's an emotional reason, but other than that, nothing."
"May I try?" Storm asked. "I'm empathic."
I nodded and soon a much larger hand lay on my belly. He gasped, his eyes flying open. "You were so scared. That rock which encases your powers is all fear. What happened?"
"The leader of the Sons of Belial was nearby. We needed to hide. Gavin and Anali told me to make myself small, which I did. That man, he felt so unnatural." I clasped my hands together to keep them from shaking. "I was covered in a slick, sticky, evil feeling. All I knew, I didn't want him to find me, ever."
"I can see why you wouldn't want to release your powers after that," Rebecca said, standing up and going back to making breakfast. "If you still want to help, could you grease a pan?"
"Sure.” I jumped up, grateful to have something to do and for the subject change.
"You said you'd explain," I reminded Elijah when he came back over, as I coated a large cast iron Dutch oven with butter.
"Oh, yes. We are guardians for magical creatures. To make sure they know we're here, we hang medicine bags which call out to all magical creatures in the area."
"Then what?" I asked.
"We talk to them," Elijah answered with a shrug as if it were nothing. "Find out how they are doing, if they need anything, if they have enough space. Things like that."
"Oh, that's pretty cool." I looked at the tree line. "Can I see one?"
"Sure, come on," Elijah said, getting up.
I handed Rebecca the newly greased pan, and followed. A leather bag about the size of my palm hung from an oak tree with small green buds, closed at the top with a carved turquoise bird, and a thin piece of metal held it to the bag. "Is the metal from Akasha?"
"Yes, I believe it came from a bracelet. Generations ago someone melted it down and made wire out of it to make these amulets," Elijah explained.
"What's inside?"
"Pieces of magical creatures and stone."
My face wrinkled in disgust, bits of animals, gross.
Elijah laughed. "Not like that, bits of fur, feathers, and whiskers."
I blushed. "Oh, sorry."
"That's okay. I didn't explain it well the first time." Elijah flashed me another bright smile. I bet he was used to girls swooning near him. He was very handsome, but I wasn't interested in any guy. If my cheeks flushed, it was due to the cold.
Turning, I started to go back to camp, but instead I slipped and fell right onto Elijah. He caught me, hissing in pain.
"I am so sorry! Are you okay?" I asked, pushing against his chest to right myself, causing him to grimace.
"I'm okay," he answered after taking a few breaths to calm himself. "My dad and I were helping out some friends a few days ago."
"You're bleeding," I said. He wore his jacket open over a tee-shirt which was become discolored with blood in two places. I reached out to help him.
"What are you doing?" Elijah grabbed my hands.
"You're bleeding! Do you want Rebecca to heal you?"
"Sapphire, if it will make you feel better I'll put ointment on them, and clean bandages, but they can't be healed."
"Why not?" See, even yummy men aren't worth the trouble. They never make any sense. I would be mad if this was some macho thing.
"That's not how it's done," Elijah answered with a shrug.
"Can I at least help with the ointment?" I wanted to make sure the wounds weren't too bad. I felt awful for hurting him.
"You just want to get my shirt off." Elijah waggled his eyebrows at me.
Please, I lived next to Carlos for almost a year - flirting didn't affect me. I raised an eyebrow at him. He'd cave within a minute. I could do Melanie's "mom" look perfectly.
Elijah huffed. "Fine, you'll probably nag me until you're happy. Come on."
I followed him to his tent. His mom came out of the woods. She seemed very peaceful and calm.
"Good morning, you two."
"Good morning, Mary. Elijah needs a Band-aid."
Mary stopped and blinked, looking at her son in question. They stared at each other for a moment, then she began to grin. They obviously had an entire conversation looking at each other.
"I'll get a wet rag, and the first aid box. Take your shirt off, so I can wash the blood out," Mary said.
Elijah sighed, and handed me his jacket. "What happened?" I asked softl
y when I saw the scars. There were two sets, one much older than the fresh wounds on either side of his chest.
"I told you it's nothing. I was helping out." Elijah shrugged and looked away.
Mary cleaned off the blood, applied a thick ointment and covered the wounds with gauze pads. "There, all better. Why don't you go and help with breakfast?”
Elijah nodded and walked off.
"Was it one of the magical creatures?" I asked. I couldn't tell what made the scars. I’d never seen anything like them before. "Is it something I need to be careful of?"
"No, Sapphire, you're fine. Elijah was helping out some people." Mary patted my shoulder. "Thank you for making sure my son is safe and taken care of. I promise he's fine. Go and have something to drink while they finish making breakfast."
"Okay," I said, unconvinced. Those scars and wounds meant something.
The smell of fresh coffee and biscuits woke up everyone else. They sat around the fire with steaming mugs in their hands. Rebecca began cracking eggs while Elijah moved the kettle from the fire.
"Good morning, Sapphire," Kayin said and sat down next to me with a steaming mug of tea wrapped in his hands.
"Morning. Did you sleep well?"
"Yes, it was so quiet and peaceful." Kayin smiled happily.
"I'm glad. Good morning, Taliesin," I said.
He merely grunted and focused on the mug of coffee clutched in his hands.
"Gavin's the same way," Anali said, sitting next to me. "Don't bother them until after they have drunk a cup of coffee."
I grinned at Gavin, who looked as if he were still asleep, as he drank his first cup of coffee.
"Can I help with breakfast?" Anali asked
"No, thank you," Rebecca said as she laid out the last of the condiments. "It's all ready."
"Well, tomorrow you must let me make breakfast," Anali said with a smile. "It smells wonderful."
Those of us not needing caffeine to function got up and piled our plates with eggs and biscuits with homemade jam. I only took two of the large fluffy biscuits. Since I can easily eat my weight in homemade biscuits, it was a challenge not to take more.
"These are wonderful," I said. "What kind of jam is it?" I held up the biscuit I covered with pinkish-red jam. It tasted tart and sweet and so good.
"Oh that's rhubarb jam, one of Carol's specialties," Grandfather George answered.
"I've never tasted it before; I love it."
"I think I got some of that," Anali said looking over her biscuits. Taking a bite she smiled. "Oh, very good."
"Thank you," Grandmother Carol said with a smile. "It's something my grandmother taught me how to do. It's not very hard; the key is good rhubarb."
I ate slowly. I wanted to get seconds of biscuits, polite manners made me wait long enough until everyone got firsts.
Carol's weathered hand reached down and placed two biscuits smothered in rhubarb jam on my plate. "Don't worry, we can always make more."
"Thank you!" Grandmother Carol was my new favorite person.
Grandmother Carol smiled and did the same thing for Kayin, although his favorite jam was her bright pink prickly pear fruit jelly.