Tesaldia looked at her feet as she walked. How could Shai do this to her? Tesaldia looked up, did he want Sharaes for himself? That had to be it, he wanted a water horse, he was jealous and probably got those people to come and take her away. Tesaldia was so angry. She would just have to get on without him. So she stomped off into the forest.

She didn't get far before she saw something. A horse was darting through the trees. "Sharaes, come here girl."

Sharaes let out a loud whinny and galloped toward Tesaldia. Tesaldia ran up to Sharaes and threw her arms around her neck. Then Tesaldia looked at Sharaes. "Where's Shai girl, where is he?"

"I'm right here."

Shai stood not far from Tesaldia covered in dirt and bruises. "Why did you leave without me?"

"I was going to try and find out who took you, but no one gave me any answers in Balar so I tried to find you myself, but I couldn't, so I decided to go back to Balar to see if there was any news about you but then Sharaes's halter broke and she dragged me for a bit before the halter snapped and she galloped off."

"I don't believe it."

"Tesaldia you have to believe it."

"Why should I, you expect me to believe no one in Balar would help you?"

"Tesaldia, you know how it is there, remember the Inn keeper and the woman, they didn't even want us in town, and they were nice."

Tesaldia thought about this. "I guess, it's true then, isn't it?"

"It sure is, if I wanted to leave you behind I would have left a long time ago and I'd be a lot farther by now."

"I guess."

Tesaldia now felt guilty for accusing Shai. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, "I know I'm acting stupid, it's just I was so miserable."

Now it was Shai's turn to feel guilty "It's okay, I understand," he said hastily.

"What are we going to do now, we can't go back to Balar and we can't go to any other town because Vyrdaes put a bounty on me."

"Yeah, I heard about that, well I guess the only thing for us to do is to go West, out of Thastaer, no one in Flodil will know us."

Tesaldia swallowed, she had never been to Flodil, but she had heard about it.

It was a large town strung out over a great deal of wooded land, and small clusters of villages were hidden amongst the trees. The forest was surrounded by large unforgiving mountains that had claimed many lives.

Tesaldia only nodded, that was the safest place for them right now. Vyrdaes would go to every town looking for her and telling people about the bounty, but if Vyrdaes went to Flodil he would most likely be killed; the people of Flodil hated Vyrdaes almost as much as Tesaldia did.

Tesaldia was about to say something when Sharaes became enveloped in water. Tesaldia gasped, she was changing again! Tesaldia watched as the water died down again, then she nearly fainted.

Sharaes was a bright blue roan, as bright as the ocean. Her face was a dark blue. Sharaes's mane and tail were a crisp white with water droplets on each strand; moving in every direction. The gold and silver streaks on her legs had turned into gold and silver shells. Her hooves were a metallic black. Her eyes were a soft rich brown.

Tesaldia smiled, Sharaes was full grown and she was more beautiful than ever before. "Wow, I can't believe that horse came out of that ugly egg," Shai chuckled.

"She's gorgeous, isn't she."

Shai looked at her. "Are you going to try to ride her?"

Tesaldia looked shocked. "How am I supposed to ride her with that water always flowing over her back?"

"People have done it before, when the elemental controllers were still around."

"Really, they rode water horses?"

Shai nodded. Tesaldia looked at Sharaes. "I can't, I need a bridle."

"No, you don't if a water horse trusts you enough to turn into an adult then they will trust you to guide them with your mind."

"My mind?"

"Yeah, just think of where you want to go, the bond between you two is so strong that she will know what you want."

"How can the bond between us be that strong, we have known each other for a little over a week?"

"You took care of her when she was only an egg, she could sense your presence and she trusted you when you saved her from the dragon when she was a foal and she trusts that you'll never leave because you came looking for her."

Tesaldia smiled, she finally had her dream horse. Then Tesaldia grimaced, she didn't doubt Sharaes would trust her and take her where she wanted to go, but could she stay on her back? Then Tesaldia decided, she would do it.

Tesaldia swung up onto Sharaes back. The water rushed over her legs and seemed to bind her there. Sharaes snorted and pawed. "All right girl, let's see what you can do."

Sharaes lunged forward but Tesaldia didn't have the joy of riding Sharaes for very long because she was soon hitting the hard earth. She stared at the sky. "Are you okay?"

Tesaldia brushed Shai away from her and stood up. She sighed. She couldn't hold onto the horse's mane. "Why can't I stay on?"

"Your powers aren't strong enough yet."

"What do you mean?"

"When your powers become stronger then you will be able to use the water to stay on the horse."

"Great, I'll never become that strong."

"Tesaldia, it's not muscle strength, it's mind strength."

"Oh, come one."

"It's true, try using your powers."

Tesaldia looked at him, then stood up. She held her arm out and tried to get the water on Sharaes to move. She slowly moved her arm closer to her body until a ball of water was in front of her, then she put her hands over the ball and held it there. It stayed for a second before breaking and spilling onto Tesaldia's hand. She groaned. "I'm never going to be able to do this."

"Tesaldia you just have to focus."

"Oh how would you know?"

"Trust me on this."

"Shai, you have no idea so why are you trying to give me advice."

"I'm giving you advice because I know about theses things."

"Again, how would you even begin to know?"

Shai stopped then he went over to a small rose. Then he put his hand over it, whispered a few words then moved his arm, the rose opened and vines stretched out of it and they twisted around a tree. Tesaldia gasped. "Shai, you can control and element."