13 years later

Nya

Nya slipped out of the blacksmith shop, bucket in hand. She told her brother that she was going to get more water. Not that he had been paying attention. He was engrossed in his smithing. As usual.

'Typical'

The well at the back of their shop was a rusty shade of brown from decades of use. But it worked as well as the day it was built. She was able to work the pump without much trouble. Water splashes onto the wood. But she doesn't stay to watch it fill its vessel.

She crouches a few feet away, eyes locked on the rushing water. It runs gold in the fading sunlight. She reaches out as if to grab it, and sends out a command.

Stop

She waits, holding her breath.

Energy begins to buzz at the base of her palm. Her heart begins to beat faster. Maybe this was it!

But still the water flows, and flows…

Right over the edge of the bucket.

"Dammit!" Nya swore. The warm thrum of her heart turns to cold anxiety. She rushes over to lock the handle into place. "Dammit…"

She grits her teeth. Water soaked into the earth. Though it no longer ran from the spout, it still splashed out of the overflowing rim of the bucket.

She scowled at the jiggling surface of the water. It distorted her expression, mocking her. She could almost hear it:

'Ha ha! This is the stupid face of a stupid girl trying to do something only fairy tale characters can do… stupid!'

She sighed, ever so carefully grabbing the bucket by the handle. Then she began the long walk back to the blacksmith shop.

…it actually wasn't that far, but carrying a full bucket of water constantly in danger of splashing on her, made the journey that much longer.

Why did she even try? Why does she keep trying? What was she even trying to accomplish?

She didn't have a clue how this worked. All she had was the diary her mother had left in the wreckage of her parents' cart. Even if she knew, how likely was it that she had inherited her mother's power? Surely the powers would have manifested by now if she had…

Maybe... Maybe she was going about this all wrong. Maybe she had inherited her father's power. From what she gathered, he could control fire. She had a short temper. Decently impatient - though not to the degree that her brother used to be. Those were traits all the stories linked to being a fire elemental.

Then again, her dad always brushed off those stories as being fake. Uninformed reimaginings of the actual legends. And from what she could remember of her father, he didn't have as much of a temper as those tales portrayed. He was kind. Warm. Always lighthearted. If he had a temper he never showed it around her.

And… her father was always closer to Kai. Not that that was any indication of their elemental connection, if there was one.

But maybe it was. The way she remembered her mother, she was always closer with her. She would sing to her when she had nightmares and dance with her in the light spring rain. She remembered her smile; her heartbeat; the way she looked when they went to the river to play. Happy, free, and beautiful. Like a fairy. Or a spirit.

Nya wanted to reach up. To wipe away the tears pricking in her eyes. But her hands were preoccupied by the bucket. So she blinked them away furiously.

'Stupid tears. Go away!'

She wasn't going to cry because of a stupid memory. Her brother already thought she was fragile. He didn't need any more evidence of that.

She inhaled. Exhaled.

And when she opened her eyes two small droplets of water were floating just in front of her face.

'Are those? No, they couldn't be…'

She focused her gaze on them. She flicked her eyes left, and right. The two droplets followed.

Her heart began to beat furiously. Breaking into a wide grin she called out,

"Kai! Hey check this ou-!"

But with her concentration broken, the two droplets fell into the bucket.

"What? No no no!" Nya exclaimed. Intent on recreating the fleeting moment, Nya shifted her stance, only for her to slip and fall backwards. The bucket followed, somersaulting in the air, splashing water everywhere before crashing into the ground with an anticlimactic thunk.

Nya's mind went blank. Until the situation finally began to sink in.

A hot rage filled every pore of her body. She was cold, wet, her backside no doubt covered in mud. All becuase of that stupid water!

She scrambled to her feet. A growl rose in her throat, escaping through gritted teeth.

"You stupid... liquid! Why won't you do what I say!? Why are you taunting me! Argh! Who am I kidding? I'm no master of water. I know that! I get it. But you don't have to rub it in my face every-"

"Nya, why are you yelling at a bucket?"

Nya stopped, mid shout. All the heat in her body gathered in her face. She turned to see that Kai was standing in the entryway. Even from afar she could see the cocky smirk on his face.

"Hah… What are you talking about? I wasn't doing that. That's completely ridiculous." Nya chuckled. But Kai kept a sly grin.

"Sure you weren't," he scoffed.

Nya huffed, pushing wet strands of hair away from her face. Kai's expression softened. He walked over to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You okay?" He asked. Kai's eyes glinted in the setting sun.

Nya's stomach tied in knots. He had that look on his face. His eyes narrowed at the ends, disguising an anxious frown.

It was his "big brother" face. And it was ten times as infuriating as his smirk.

"…Yeah. I'm fine. I just… slipped." Nya replied, turning away from her brother's patronizing gaze.

Kai huffed. He walked past Nya and over to the water pump.

"Hey, I can-" Nya started.

"Nope. I got it," Kai finished as he reoriented the bucket under the spout.

Silence passed between the two of them. Their conversation was replaced by the creaking of the well, and soon more running water.

"What were you doing out here for so long anyway?" Kai asked once the bucket was full.

Nya raised an eyebrow.

"I wasn't gone that long was I?" She asked.

"No," Kai replied. "but it shouldn't take ten minutes to fill a bucket of water."

"It was full. I had to be careful."

"Why weren't you paying attention?"

"It was an accident, Kai." Nya snapped. "Don't act like you've never messed anything up."

Kai glared, his eyes glowed just a bit brighter than before. His lips were pressed tight. He looked like he was about to snap, but he didn't. He looked back at the bucket and said,

"Just… go inside. Change your clothes. I don't want you catching a cold."

Nya scowled, then turned violently on her heel.

'Why couldn't he have yelled at me?' she wondered. 'Why does he have to be so infuriating!? I'm not a child. I can take care of myself goddamnit!'

She stormed into their house. Flying though the hall. She almost didn't notice the white figure standing in the doorway of the shop.

Nya stopped in her tracks.

She doubled back to peek through the strands of clay beads separating the shop from the rest of the house.

Indeed, there was a man standing at the threshold of Four Weapons, studying the wares. From where she was standing, Nya could see the outline of his conical hat and the off white of his robes. With the sun setting behind him and the wind blowing through his beard, he almost looked like a ghost.

Nya blinked just to make sure.

When she opened her eyes, the man was still there. And at that moment he looked away from the wares and into the doorframe.

That was Nya's cue to stop staring like a deer in the headlights and run upstairs like Kai had told her to. Not because Kai had told her to, of course. She just didn't want to spend time explaining to a stranger why she was standing in the middle of her home, dripping wet, and staring at him.

She entered the top level of their house. It was only one room separated by a screen. Her space on the right, Kai's on the left.

With a huff she marched over to the shelf on her side. She bent down, picked up her spare set of clothes and hastily changed into them. In the process, she nearly knocked over the screen. Which wasn't an uncommon occurrence, but with the recent events… she didn't have time to deal with this.

She growled, throwing herself onto her Futon.

One of them could have taken their parents' room downstairs. But that would mean moving their parents' stuff. Which would mean touching their parents' stuff. Which would mean remembering. And grieving. Uncomfortable emotions that neither she nor her brother were ready for.

Besides, no one ever found the bodies. Maybe they were still alive.

No. That's ridiculous. It's been five years. If they were alive… they would have come back by now. Right?

Right?

Somehow Nya's hand found the leather bound book that she had placed carelessly next to her pillow. She thumbed through the pages, barely skimming the words. Maybe if she glared hard enough something would jump out at her. A sign from her mother telling her that she is an elemental and that Kai is just a jerk.

But she saw nothing. Nothing but her mother's handwriting.

Perhaps that's it.

That's all this is.

A desperate attempt to try and find her parents again, at least in spirit. Kai did it with his blacksmithing. Perhaps… It was the same with her. But instead of doing something productive, she's trying to convince herself that fairy tales exist.

She clutches the book to her chest. Tears make their way into her eyes again. This time, she lets them fall, although they burn her skin.

She couldn't quit. Not yet. She glares at the ceiling.

Even if she wasn't an elemental master of water, she would still find a way to honor her parents legacy. No matter what.

Interlude

A gang of Skeletons rise from the earth at the edge of Ignatia. The sunset makes their armor glow as if it were made from molten steel.

"Oh! A village! How lovely!" A skeleton cheers. It begins stumbling towards the village when another skeleton stretches out its hand and trips it.

"You dolt!" It shouts, pulling itself the rest of the way out of the ground. Wait for Master Samukai's orders!"

"Silence! Both of you!"

The two skeletons look behind them. A tall, broad skeleton with a horned helmet rises. The two, much smaller skeletons squawk in surprise. They move to stand to attention almost immediately.

"Y-Yes Master Samukai!"

A red light in the larger skeleton's eye socket narrows, as if glaring at his two underlings.

"We are not here to make a scene." He says in a low, gravely voice. "All we are here for are the elementals, and the map. Once we have those, we leave. Understood."

"Oh, but can't we burn a house or two on the way out?"

Samukai roars, raising his hand. All at once the skeleton's bones fell apart into a pile. The second skeleton shrieks as he jumps away from the pile.

"Oooowww~!" The disassembled skeleton whines.

"This is not a game." Samukai snaps. "There are rumors that Sensei Wu is in the area looking for the little sprogletts. If he catches wind of us, we're as good as dead."

The skeletons catch the others eye sockets.

"But… um sir…" The skeleton still standing asks. "aren't we already dead?"

"You know what I mean!" Samukai roars, throwing all four of his hands in the air. "Stay out of sight. Find those kids. And find. that. map."