Calling on Rain
This place was beautiful, an enclosed paradise. But while it looked like a vast verdant field, it was actually smaller than the McNiel farm. Six-hundred and fifty-three paces each way; Teepo had measured that out himself. He'd been here for a long time. Did he really need to stay? He was a dangerous person, bearing the power of destruction. But he'd been stuck here for so long. He could just see what was around.
A couple of the birds followed him to the door. That was fine, they could come. After Teepo opened up the door, one of them flew right out. It vanished immediately. Thinking it was just dark there, he followed after. Would this be indoors or outdoors? He wasn't sure.
In seconds, it didn't matter because it all exploded into an inferno.
Teepo tensed. Where was he? He was blindfolded; he touched the bandana wrapped around his head. Wait, there was a reason he wore this: to keep the illusion from confusing him. He'd left Myria's Eden, but it still had a firm grip on his mind. If he took the blindfold off, everything would be on fire.
It's because your power is that of destruction and nothing can change that. That was what she always told him.
"Hey, Teepo?" Rei asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"I'll be okay," he said. He just needed a moment to reassess where he was. He smelled the cow pasture, the fields nearby, an uncertain humidity. Overhead, the summer sun was partly obscured with clouds. Other workers of the McNiel farm were chatting; they must be further along the fence.
He could do better than that. He needed his dragon's eye. While it didn't always respond, he tried. He could get a firm sense of the area if it did. He could at least keep track of the cows here, that was the first thing he'd been able to see with certainty. But the sight of the dragon eye should be much clearer.
"Need someone to distract you?" Rei asked. He let go and there was a wooden creak; he must be leaning on the fence.
"That could help," Teepo said.
"Well it's as good a time as any since the cows are going to be slow in this midday heat," his friend said. Rei was alive; even after several months of being back together, it seemed like a miracle.
"I can tell where they are," Teepo said. Their hearts showed that they were sticking to the shadows of the cliff to keep cool. "Sometimes this doesn't seem real, like it's too good."
"Well you don't get any more real than being in a field of sweaty cows and dung pies," he said.
It was so mundane against his worry that Teepo laughed. That did make him feel better. "Guess not."
"Are you bored that we decided to come back here instead of finding a life like we dreamed of way back when?" Rei asked.
"No, you guys did it for me," Teepo said, clasping the wooden fence to make sure of where it was before sitting on it. With the nightmarish illusions that still plagued his sight, it made it hard to be in an active lively place like Wyndia. The old farm was about as quiet and peaceful as one could get while still having enough things to do to help him find a new sense of reality. "I like that I'm doing something useful for people finally."
"Yeah, still tough some days," he said. Teepo had heard about what he'd done; Rei had killed more people than Teepo had, but still...
Whenever one of the birds took off, Teepo got nervous. Another pair had crashed into the walls; both had died and he was unable to do anything to help. It was impossible for him to heal anyone, only hurt them. No matter how much he didn't want to hurt anyone anymore, it didn't matter. He was the cause of that fire; he had led to Rei and Ryu's deaths.
"No, I can do something good," he said "Myria, I want to do something good. I think I could make it rain, even something like that..."
He turned Eden into a raging blizzard instead.
There was a prick on his arm. "Ow," Teepo said, gripping that arm.
"Sorry, you got really distracted," Rei said. It must have been a pinch. "I'm a bit limited in how I can distract you out in the open like this."
"You're pushing it saying things like that," Teepo said, trying to seem like he could have fun with it. "Sorry."
"You don't have to be sorry for that," he said. "We'll keep telling you however many times it takes to get it to stick in your mind: we're the ones who decide how to use our powers. Nobody can say they're only evil. You'll figure out what good you can do."
"I'm trying to believe that," he said.
Rei patted his shoulder. "Maybe you should do some weeding for a while. You're real handy at finding lost cows, but you seem to get distracted easiest just watching them."
"Well there isn't a lot to this, especially with other cowhands out here," Teepo said. "Sure you're okay with that?"
"Yeah, I'll take this as an easy break from my other tasks. Focus on the here and now, and if you have to, head out of town for some quiet."
"I hope I don't have to do that," he said, swinging his legs over the fence. "Don't have too much fun over here."
"Oh come on, who do you take me for?" Rei asked before chuckling. "Try thinking up some better jokes, that might keep your mind off things."
Maybe. But weeding the wheat fields was something he could put his full attention to. Teepo had figured out how to locate the weeds with his dragon's eye. And being able to burn the weeds to their roots without harming the actual crops was a useful ability. While it was still destructive, it took a great deal of focus to control the smoldering embers to weed properly. Whenever anyone else simply dug out weeds, there was a good chance they'd break part of the roots and the weed would just grow right back and steal from the wheat.
Teepo could now identify the plants he touched with the dragon's eye. Common grasses tried to creep in from the edges; sometimes the manure had seeds from the cow pasture that didn't need to be here. Today, he found more thistle sprouts. It must be birds, he thought, unintentionally spreading the tough flowers. Thistle was nice in the wild meadows, but not here.
A dragon was nice in a cage of paradise, but not out in the world.
Biting his lip, Teepo tried to avoid that thought further. Scan the ground with his dragon eye, kneel down to feel out the weeds, ignite a small spark on his fingertips to scorch the weed away. And of course, make sure it was all gone. After taking out the fourth thistle today, he gently grasped the stalk of wheat by him. It smelled nicely and was holding itself upright. Was it doing well? This was the first year he'd actually worked in the fields growing things.
Dry... thirsty...
Was that the wheat? Gasping, Teepo stayed kneeling by it and touched it with his other hand. He'd heard something, not human. His dragon eye was focused from the weeding as he turned it to the wheat. "What are you saying?" he asked softly. Hopefully no one saw him doing this; he couldn't explain it.
Little rain, reach deep for water. Slow in coming. May get dry. Thirsty.
It wasn't words coming in, but he could put words to those feelings. "I'm not sure what to do for you," Teepo said, letting it go. The river was low, leaving the irrigation ditches dry. Filling those manually was hard work. However, the town depended wholly on the farms. He still wasn't sure if the older farmers would believe him if he suggested filling the ditches because the plants felt dry.
Standing up and tilting his head upward, he tried to get a grasp of the clouds overhead. It was unclear these days how powerful the dragons had been, but all those tales had to come from somewhere. Could he get it to rain? There wasn't much wind.
His awareness grew; Teepo tried to keep calm so as not to lose this. He had to remember this feeling and learn to call on it. In the sky, the clouds carried a lot of moisture. There was a higher wind that drove them over the river and farm. But it didn't seem likely that this batch of clouds would bring rain here.
In his disappointment, he brought his attention back to the ground and noticed something. Ryu had noticed him; he'd come back. Sometimes they got requests to defeat problematic monsters from Wyndia Castle. This time, it had been all the way from the Sailor's Guild. It meant Ryu had to be gone for a week. Although, Teepo never went along on those requests. Ryu could be better trusted with the power of the Brood. Teepo let his dragon eye relax; it wasn't needed for talking with people.
"You're getting better with that," Ryu said, finding him easily even though he was in the middle of the wheat field.
"I see it better here somehow," Teepo said, turning to him. "You seem fine; how did things go?"
As his dragon eye was still aware, Ryu was impossible to miss. The humans seemed like lantern lights, of various strengths and colors depending on their souls. Even Rei was like that, albeit with a differently patterned halo that marked him as non-human. As members of the brood, he and Ryu were like beacons. Their lights swayed others. But Teepo had only a simple single pattern to the outer halo; Ryu had something more complex that changed constantly, an influence of the dragon genes he'd absorbed over his adventures.
"It was an insane sea monster, not hard to put down once I got it trapped at low tide," Ryu said. "I brought back plenty of sea fish."
"Of course you would," Teepo said, interested in what he'd end up cooking tonight.
"What were you looking at?" he asked, checking around the field himself. He was much more practiced with his dragon eye. "The fields seem dry."
He nodded. While the other farmers would be skeptical, Ryu would believe him. "I actually heard this plant while I was weeding around it. They're already feeling thirst. What I was looking into when you came back was these clouds. They could help, but they're not going to rain over the farm."
"Really?" He checked on the clouds himself, his powers shifting around. He was so much more powerful than Teepo was. Yet, he was not seen as a force of destruction. Maybe because he had more powers that were actually helpful, like healing.
If only I could lessen their suffering...
"Why don't you make it rain?" Ryu asked, turning back to him.
Teepo's face felt hot with shame, not able to match him in any way. "I, I can't do that. I've tried, but all I could do was call upon a deadly blizzard."
"But I'm sure you could," he said. Ryu grabbed his hands; his dragon eye was turned inward, trying to find something out. "Come on, spirits, talk to us."
"But I..." he couldn't, he couldn't hear the spirits who had gifted another.
"Stay calm," Ryu said, trying again to guide him. "You want to help the plant you heard, right?"
"Yeah," he admitted quietly. Their auras were overlapping now; it was intimidating and inspiring to be so close to all of his power. It was the kind of thing that Teepo wanted to run away from and stay close to. He wasn't really sure which, as they both were there. Although, power was dangerous in the hands of one...
"Be positive," Ryu said in encouragement, blocking out that thought. "And listen to them. You'll know what you can do when you accept yourself. Until then, I'm sure there's something you can do."
Yes. Call the ice into the clouds to make it rain this evening.
"Into the clouds?" Teepo asked. "Can I cast it that far away? And wouldn't the ice just fall and hurt everything?"
No, the summer heat will melt it by the time it reaches the ground. You can do this.
"Only the edge of these clouds is overhead, so we'll have to go to the river," Ryu said, thinking aloud. "I can help you get the spell further if you want the support. You want to try?"
At least they'd be out of town if something went wrong. "Sure. We'd better tell Rei, he's with the cows today."
Thankfully, Rei was still by the fence. After some general welcome back greetings, Ryu explained what they were going to do. "You want to come along?"
"Seems interesting," Rei said. "But if you're going to be making it rain, you sure you want a wet feline around?"
"Well it's not certain to work," Teepo said.
"Maybe you should bring an umbrella," Ryu said, more confident in him. "I wanted to go into town and give some of my fish away, so there should be time for that."
"You are going to keep some of the fish for us, right?" Rei said, in a joking mood now. "All right, I'll take some back for our dinner and be back in a flash."
Everyone in town helped each other because their livelihoods were so interconnected. In exchange for fresh fish that Ryu regularly caught, the townsfolk often gave them vegetables and herbs from their home gardens. They ended up with some tomatoes, bell peppers, and a bundle of rosemary sprigs today. The two of them discussed drying the rosemary to flavor winter meals while waiting on Rei to come back.
On the way over, Teepo mentally tried to encourage himself. Myria... it was difficult to hold onto, but she was wrong. She'd told him so many times: she wanted to protect the world, so she'd keep Teepo safe and separate, because if he got out of that room his powers of destruction would go out of control and he'd end up destroying the world. Any time he had tried to leave, for any reason, he'd seen everything burning. Even Eden when he returned. It'd be an inferno from which he had no escape until Myria came to save him.
But it was all a lie. Eden was a lie; it was an illusion of pastoral paradise, only six hundred and fifty-three paces across. When he left, the illusion ingrained into his mind made him see fire everywhere. Once he saw the fire, it invaded his other senses until he was in a total panic and wondered why it didn't destroy him too. He had to rely on every sense other than vision since he'd left Eden for good; the dragon eye was most important, but also the one he was clumsiest with.
Out by the river, Ryu looked up into the clouds. "I don't know if either of us could cast that high on our own, but we might be able to cast further if we combine our efforts. Try to combo your Blizzard with my Cure; hold off as we try to aim higher."
"You'll have to start," Teepo said. Blizzard itself was a combination spell, being both ice and wind magic. It'd be easier for Ryu to lead with the simpler spell.
"You need your dragon eye active again," he replied.
Remember that feeling of being more open to nature and hearing the wheat... his dragon eye did open easier this time. Ryu then sent a spark of his holy magic into the air; it slowly ascended like a seed fluff being carried by the wind. Ice was easier for Teepo to manipulate than wind; he encased a spark of wind within another of ice, the method that always worked for him. Then he also sent it upward, trying to catch up with the Cure spell.
Just as Teepo's spell nearly reached Ryu's, the Cure jumped upward abruptly. He kept doing that as if teasing him to go further. Teepo grasped Ryu's hand, trying to get his casting to be steadier. But that had the effect of pushing their spells even higher up, faster than before. They managed to touch the clouds, but Ryu thought they should go further. He took Teepo's other hand and channeled his power into keeping the magic steady at this distance.
It was intimidating; Ryu had so much more power than he did. But that power could be turned to benign purposes. The Blizzard finally caught up with the Cure, but they should be even higher, at the top of the clouds. Now that their spells were so far up, Teepo could sense the fine mist of moisture. There was a lot of potential rain in here, but it wasn't heavy enough to fall. The heat at this level kept the droplets tiny. Ah, that was it.
At the top of the clouds, Teepo triggered both spells. The wind stirred up the insides of the clouds. The cutting ice joined the fine mist and made it heavier. While Cure normally wouldn't do much with Blizzard, Ryu managed to get his magic to disperse among the growing rain. Not only would this satisfy the earth's thirst, but it could boost the health of the plants as well. Extended periods of dryness led to drought, which led to failed crops. But here they were able to use the normally destructive Blizzard to potentially make this harvest a bountiful one.
"This shouldn't turn stormy, but we'll just have to see how it goes," Ryu said as specks of rain began to fall over them.
"That really worked," Teepo said, smiling up at the sky. The early rain felt good.
"Heh, we should go back into town and tell everybody that Teepo made it rain," Rei suggested mischievously.
"It wasn't just me," Teepo said, feeling embarrassed. He didn't like that kind of attention anymore, not since he'd caused these two a tragic amount of trouble by bragging.
"But you could learn to do this by yourself easier than me," Ryu said, gripping his hands. Then he laughed, turned Teepo around, and stole his blindfold. "Hey, look!"
"Wait, no!" Teepo said in alarm. It happened so suddenly that his eyes came open before he could think to keep them shut.
But there wasn't any fire. This was a view he remembered: a small village surrounded by crop fields and cow pastures, the grass a vibrant green and full of wildflowers. Off in the distance, the sky was an evening blue. Closer in, the air was dimming with rain, the trees rustling with the shifting wind. And between the two, there was a bright rainbow arching over the mountain at the end of the road.
"I'm not about to let you miss seeing that," Ryu said cheerfully.
"Thanks," Teepo said, nearly overcome with a feeling of being free.