Mira had found herself a nice spot to meditate, regain her control from what had just happened. All she had been doing was walking through the school when a couple of Zoey's worshippers stage whispered about how Nyx must have hated her, and that she was going to lose her gifts any day now. Mira couldn't help the spike of anger that roiled through her, mirrored in the flames that had shattered gaslamp shades and cracked the walls. The two girls had run off, shrieking about how she was going to kill them all. Mira had high-tailed it toward the grounds, searching for some place where she could relax and meditate.
Several pine trees had grown in a small copse, their needles perfuming the air. Mira snagged a leaf from the ground by another tree before settling herself down by the pine. She breathed in the crisp scent, then placed her fingers on the center of the dead leaf. A small, smoldering circle sprung to life, the edges bright and hot. She breathed, focusing on keeping the embers from reaching the edges of the leaf. With every breath her heart beat calmed, she could hear more around her, and she felt at peace.
Until Zoey shattered it.
"We need to read about Air now, you guys!"
Mira rolled her eyes, cursing when she noticed her concentration had slipped and the the burned part of the leaf was bigger. So she did her best to breathe, to ignore the inane talk behind her, but then she snapped. The leaf vanished in a burst of flame, a sudden whirlwind scattering pine needles from their trees. She stalked over to the oh so perfect spot Zoey was at, rapturously listening to the single guy she was friends with read. A slight motion of her wrist called up a breeze that blew his words over to her.
"Boudicca was a glorious queen, and when her husband died the Holy Roman Empire decided to annex her queendom for Emperor Nero. The monk they sent, who was ridiculously fat, felt he needed to teach her a lesson and ordered soldiers to flog her and rape her two daughters." His voice was annoyingly perky, and he was just getting ready to continue when she broke in.
"Alright, who wrote this piece of crap?" Mira walked through their little circle, plucking the book out of the boy's hands. She leafed through it, snorting through her nose at almost everything.
"It's the Fledgling Handbook! It's all true!" Zoey stood up, trying to intimidate Mira as she pushed into her personal space.
"The Holy Roman Empire did not refer to the Ancient Romans, it referred to the large empire in Germany that ended with Napoleon. Nero did not instate Christianity as the ancient Roman state religion, in face he had a hobby of persecuting them for perceived threats." Mira rattled off, tapping into the part of her that seemed to latch on to any historical fact.
"No, that's all human bullpoopie!"
"Have you even read a history book?" Mira snarled, then stopped. "Wait, poopie? Are you an infant?"
"Zoey doesn't like to curse, and maybe you-" Her token black friend started talking, leaving an awkward pause as she looked to the blonde next to her.
Her timing was off, but the blonde seemed to figure out what to say. "Should just leave because no one here likes you."
Mira gave a great belly laugh at that, then pushed them flat with a gust of wind. "If you think that bothers me and that I crave your recognition, you really are infants." Still laughing, she left the circle, headed for a nearby fountain. She could hear them bitching about her, but they obviously had never been in the real world if they thought that would hurt her. A sniffle came from behind a nearby building, and Mira turned. Another blonde was sitting there, soaking wet and crying. She walked over, removing the water from the girl's clothes with a graceful motion of her hand and sending it back to the fountain.
The girl started, but stayed there. "Thanks. Mira, right?"
Mira slid down the wall by her. "Yeah, and you're Aphrodite. I heard a couple kids talking at lunch. Who threw you in the fountain?"
"Zoey, she used air to push me in."
"That bitch needs to learn a few lessons."
"Didn't you just push her friends down?"
"Yeah, but I freely admit that I'm a bitch with a temper. Zoey thinks she's God's gift to the world."
Aphrodite laughed at that. "She is pretty full of herself."
Mira gave a chuckle. "Yeah. You want to go get some food? For all the talk here about eating healthy, there sure is a lot of junk food flying around. I mean, there's an entire fridge of nothing but soda."
"Sure, and maybe you could show me some tricks you can do? Like with the water?"
Mira rolled a cushion of air beneath the girl, having it prod her joints into standing. She seemed unsure, but smiled anyway. Mira clasped an arm around her shoulders as they turned back for the dorms. "Aphro, I think this is a beginning of a beautiful friendship."
"Don't call me Aphro."
"Got it."
AN: The exercise Mira does is from Avatar the Last Airbender, which she is a big fan of. It focuses on teaching fire benders how to control themselves since fire is linked to their emotions. And this chapter is pulled from the House of Night comic book, issue 2 of 5. They really do have a monk order Boudicca whipped and say that it was the Holy Roman Empire who wanted her kingdom. I couldn't make that shit up if I tried.