Legend of Ransera

The midday sun crawled across the sky, shrinking the coverage of shade provided by the leaves in the canopies. A pair of dark eyes peered out from beneath the leaf of a plant Norani had come to call Wet Elephant's Ear, partly due to its shape, and partly due to the fact that it was just constantly dripping water. Far more than the humidity of the air called for. It was another facet of these strange jungles, every creature elementally aligned somehow.

Norani was crouched, chakram in hand, her thighs burning from being coiled for so long, her back beginning to ache in protest. Her eyes were watching a stone that was not covered with moss entangled in the roots of a tree. All the stones around it were covered in moss, but not this one. Norani had reached out with her aether and it was, in fact, simply a rock. But the discovery of it set her about to wondering as to why.

She looked around, and found her current hiding spot, and waited. And watched. And waited some more. And eventually her patience was answered as she saw a monkey push itself from within the bark of the tree. It did not come from a hidden hole or burrowed its way out, but rather seemed to leak right out. As though it had been part of the tree. It jumped down on the suspicious rock, and scouted around while fidgeting. Norani nodded, that must be why the rock was mossless, the consistent stepping stone to the monkey's favorite place.

Norani's body coiled, and she called the winds from the monkey's back to her. This had a couple of effects. The first was that the winds came to her aid and she was able to send them spinning around the chakram in her hand. She fed them her aether and asked them to help her blade fly true. The second effect was that the monkey looked over its shoulder in the direction the winds had come from, turning its gaze away from Norani's position. She uncoiled, leaning into the throw and sending her arm hard to its opposite side as she released the blade. It whizzed across the gap of foliage toward the monkey and to Norani's eyes, seemed to be flying true.

Then the monkey hopped off the stone onto the path, and the chakram shunked heavily into the bark of the tree. This noise scared the monkey, sending it dashing off down the game path. Snarling, Norani was already sprinting from her hiding spot and snatched her chakram from its errant location then turned after her quarry. She caught a glimpse of it as it began dashing off southward. Toward the beach. If she didn't stop it before that, she'd lose it in the flooded mangrove that served as a barrier between the beach and the rest of the jungle.

She saw it dash around a tree and she followed after it, beckoning the winds to be at her back, helping her to move just a tad bit faster. She made it around the tree and inwardly groaned seeing her lunch already leaping from bundle of mangrove roots to another. She unleashed her chakram once more but it flew wide right, embedding in a root. Norani didn't slow her run, she knew she was faster on equal ground.

She just had to make the water into equal ground.

She leapt from the soft soil out toward the mangrove's waters. As she did, she lashed out her aether ahead of her and seized the water where her foot would land and she pulled up on it, hard. Her foot hit the water spout and her knee almost buckled with pain, sending her awkwardly stumbling forward. But she bit down her focus, continuing to spread her aether through the water. Another spout of water shot up where her stumbling foot was about to land, a bit too soft this time and her foot submerged to her knee. She increased the pull on the water lifting her upward and vaulting her forward as she leapt outward, extending a leg. Another spout of water shot up and this time it almost felt like solid ground when she landed upon it.

She ran in a straight line like this after the damned monkey, snagging her chakram along the way, making up a lot of the distance. It leapt off the last mangrove root cluster a moment before she followed it into the sands of the beach. It dashed down the tree line and she watched it scale quickly up one of the coconut palms, out of sight of her throwing chakram. Without slowing her own speed, she belted her throwing chakram, pulling her larger dancing chakram from her back, gripping the inner edge of it, and spun hard once, swinging the massive blade into the trunk of the tree with a resounding thud. The tree shook and Norani's arms went numb from the impact. And the monkey shook loose, and fell promptly onto the napping Kaiko's stomach and promptly stole the girl's flute.

The girl immediately gave chase, not realizing Norani was there, who had just yanked her large blade from the damaged tree trunk. Norani yelled after Keiko, calling for her to stop, forgetting that Kaiko didn't speak Ecitharese. And monkey and Kaiko disappeared once more into the jungle. Norani shouldered her larger blade and continued running after the most unexpected pair.

Norani caught up to them in time to see Kaiko fall into the fresh waters of the mangrove. Her eyes grew wide. She knew from their first meeting that Kaiko couldn't breathe fresh water. Not a single thought passed through Norani's mind after that. She tossed her blade down and leapt into a very messy belly flopping style dive after the girl. She called to the water to clear the bubbles and debris from her vision as she looked around the crystalline waters, feeling the unpredictable tides of the mangrove pulling at her.

In a frenzy, Norani looked this way and that, until she finally saw Kaiko, snagged in the gnarly roots of one of the many mangrove trees, the current keeping her locked in place. Norani frog-swam over to the girl and with an aether filled snarl, growled the current away from them. She grabbed Keiko's arm and hefted her upon her shoulders and swam back up to the surface.

Gasping she broke the surface, finding a bit of foot purchase on a root, pushing Keiko's body unceremoniously onto some smoothed down rocks, then clambered after her. The girl wasn't moving. Was there still too much water on her skin? Pouring her aether once more into her throat, she snarled loudly at the water upon Kaiko's form and watched it all immediately drain off of her until the girl was as dry as had been upon the beach.

Then she open hand slapped Kaiko across her unconscious face and in her Orkhan tongue, commanded the girl to wake up.

Norani exhaled deeply, a great sigh of relief as Kaiko opened her eyes. The girl was not dead. Norani watched as the lass hacked up the water from within, watching as confusion washed over her face. This must have been the first time she’d ever experienced fresh water, and it seemed to be quite the adverse effect.

Eventually she seemed to normalize and her red streaked eyes focused on Norani. Norani smiled softly, just as Mama Kiki had down when she found Norani crying after falling from one of the tall grasses when she was small.

And Norani shook her head.

“Water cannot be evil. Water of the sea gives you life, water of the land gives me life. That is all. It didn’t try to kill you. It just didn’t know you were dying.”

She knew that water, or any of the elements, did not think in the same way she did, and she suspected it didn’t think like any person thought.

“It is my fault the monkey grabbed your flute. I was hunting it and it got away from me. I was not careful.” Then her brow glowered, “But you were not careful either. You mustn’t run off so recklessly. You haven’t learned these waters yet, Kaiko Marina.”

Norani was not one to scold people normally, and was surprised at herself.

“But I am glad you are okay.”

She smiled once more, softening the brow that was furrowed, “Land water does not burn me when I touch it. It is usually cooling, smooth, refreshing. Ocean water is warmer, a bit… course. I do not think either burns many people very often.”

At her question, Norani looked around first, then up to the sky.

“We’re northwest of camp, in the mangroves.”

She pointed to the gnarled trees with their prominent roots, “These mangroves, this water, runs the entire barrier between the beach and the jungles”

From their rock, she pointed in the water, at showing the many colorful and bright fishes there, the water crystal clear, the stones at the bottom smooth and round.

“See? Land water fishes can be colorful too.”

She looked up and down Kaiko, “Are you injured? Does anything hurt? Where’s your weapon?”

Norani watched Kaiko work through her emotions and her curiosity. She was clearly still a child, and Norani wondered where parents might be. In Ecith, children were raised to be strong, caring, compassionate, raised by the whole village, given games to strengthen their bodies, protected but not over sheltered, allowed to be kids and enjoy it before stepping into the responsibilities of adults.

At her question, Norani pointed to the sky from her kneeled position. “The sun rises every morning from over there. Winter, summer, everything in between. We call that ‘East’.” She then pointed in the opposite direction, “The sun lays to rest in the West.” Then she decided to challenge the girl, “If we know always where the sun will rise and where the sun will set, what else can we figure out from that?”

Being offered the stunned fish, Norani smiled and accepted it. “Yes, I will show you the jungle. But first go get your staff. This is a dangerous place and you must be able to protect yourself.” Nodding, “Think about east and west heading back to camp and returning here, and I’ll tell you about north and south.”

Fish in hand, Norani dipped the unconscious, dying fish back into the water. She laid upon her stomach, using both hands to cradle it. She breathed her Animus aether from her lungs into the water and into the fish. And she began mixing their aethers. As she did, she studied it. She ran her fingers over the scales, feeling how rough they were in one direction and smooth in the opposite. She saw how the fins were shorter, designed for faster, sharper turns instead of long distance travel. She noticed the small curved teeth for grabbing prey and not letting go. She continued to meditate and study the creature until its symbol joined the others on her Rune upon her back. Then she wriggled it around in the water, and that was enough to bring it back to consciousness allowing it to swim off.

She stood now, awaiting Kaiko’s return, drawing one of her melee chakrams. Smiling at the young girl, “Strike me with your staff. It’s time to practice before venturing into the unknown.”

Norani's training from being a soldier kicked in as Keiko swung her staff, a beginner and clearly believing it to be a game. As she did, Norani's weight leaned forward on her left leg, pivoting to bring her right leg in a low sweeping kick. It caught Kaiko in the back of the ankle, and would send the girl backwards. But it was in that moment of contact that Norani already was realizing her own mistake.

This was a child. In the same snap second, Norani reached out with her own winds, creating a pillow behind Kaiko, to keep her from falling backwards, and bringing her upright. Norani's face was serious and solemn, frowning. She stepped close to Kaiko, shame radiating from her posturing. To treat a child like an adult as a major taboo in her culture, and Noranḯs high strung and distrusting behavior was leading to her making harsher decisions. She moved Kaiko's staff aside and pulled her into an embrace.

"I'm sorry. Already am I being a bad teacher. Let us sit and talk first."

This was something her chieftain had done with her and the other new recruits. Long before doing any martial training. Norani asked the winds to seat them both, and she pulled her feet into her groin, resting her hands upon her knees, floating a foot off the ground, a position the winds would offer Kaiko as well, if so interested.

"Before we begin any real training, we must get to know each other. I have failed in getting to know you properly and if I don't know you, I cannot teach you properly. And if you don't know me, you cannot know why I'm teaching you and why I use the methods I will use."

She smiled softly, "I worry for your safety. You are a friend of mine Kaiko, but I assume you are still a child, and I do not mean that to cause offense. Where I am from, being a child is a special time in one's life and all adults respect that period of growth. Children do not take on the responsibilities of adults until they actually are adults. But I must ask," her eyes grew soft, hoping to not hear the worst, "Where are your parents? Why are they not with you?"

She paused, to give Kaiko time to reply, "If you will allow it, I would like to become a family-around-you. I will teach you what I can, and learn from you what I can. I will help to care for you and teach you to care for yourself." She choked upon these words herself, having severed ties to her own family, "I do not wish for these lands to claim your life, but I do not wish to take your childhood from you. I can teach you to speak to the elements, to learn the ways of land and freshwater, but.." she gulped, "I can also let you continue to be a child, to enjoy everything that means. But if you wish to venture into these lands and waters, you will need to be an adult." She hesitated, "I'm not sure if I can teach you as a child by myself. But I can teach you, as an adult. It will be hard. It will be how I was taught. But it will be done because I care about you, Kaiko, because I want you to be safe, by my hand and by your own."

A soft smile, "What say you?"

Norani saw the pain and anger in Kaiko's eyes, a reflection of her own when asked such things. But she saw Kaiko hide that away, and her heart was beginning to break. Norani had Yeva, who helped her to open up, to share and shed those feelings, even when Norani was trying her hardest to keep them inside, to let them fester, to build her anger.

But Yeva showed her that it was not the way.

She held up a hand to Kaiko, a rarity for the woman to ever interrupt anyone. She pulled Kaiko into a tight embrace once more, "I am sorry you were hurt by them. The family-around-me hurt me as well," she whispered into the lass' ear. She pulled back looking her in the eyes, clasping her about the upper arms. "I will listen when you wish to speak." She sat back down, "Keeping that anger inside... it feels like a poison. And it does not get better on its own." She leaned back comfortably upon her cushion of air, "Speaking the pain lets the poison out. Following the love in your heart helps to heal the scars. I'm... I'm still not healed yet, but I am better than I was, with the help of Yeva." A curt nod, "If you ever wish to have me listen, to speak with you, on this or anything, I will always do so."

But there was a question in there, "What are you that they could not accept? You are a child, surely there's nothing a child can become to be so unforgivable."

She nodded at the mention of Kaiko's uncle, "I'm sorry your uncle has died." A pause, "I have lost a dear friend of mine, one I grew up with as a small child. But she was... taken. And there is a hole in my heart. It hurts, so much." A smile given, "But the love is still there, I am sure of it."

And then Kaiko agreed to join Norani's family. And she smiled brightly, though at Kaiko's comment of being out of her element, a sly look crossed Norani's face, a playful and teasing one, "I do not think you're as out of your element as you believe."

Norani reached out into the air around her with her aether, latching onto all of the water in it, that ambient humidity, plentiful in the jungles. "Water is in everything around you Kaiko. It is hard to find a place where water does not find a home." She condensed the water, bringing it into the visible spectrum, hanging in a fog around them both. She spun it into a ball of water, and let it hover in between them. Kaiko would be able to feel how dry the air was now.

Norani glanced down at the soil beneath them, and she began to snake water out of it, a tendril floating up to join the sphere. She was careful not to take too much from any one spot, so as to not kill the plants there. "All of the elements are present in some fashion around you." A wink and she pushed the ball of water towards Kaiko, dispersing it back into a fog as it reached her. The humidity around the lass returned back to normal as the fog dissipated. The Norani tried something she'd never done before. She held out an empty hand, and focused on the water that was in the ocean when she first met Kaiko. She recalled the feel, the smell, the taste, every aspect she could remember, then summoned a ball of salty ocean water between them.

"I think you'll find this water to be more to your liking."

She sent it over to the girl, "Once you learn to commune with the elements, you'll find that you're never alone. And you'll never be out of your element."

A smile, "But what would you like to learn first? There's many things in which anyone must learn to survive in the wilds. All are important, so it matters not where we start."