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Chapter 10

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"I'm a wind bender?" I repeated Xavier's words in disbelief. How could that be? I had controlled fire before! I had seen it, felt it... smelt the burning flesh of the fires victims. "But that can't be true! I've controlled fire!"

"I believe you." Xavier replied. "It must mean you have more than one affinity, a rare quality. Very few benders have ever had an affinity for more than one element."

"So I can control wind and fire?" I asked.

"It would seem so. I witnessed the incident yesterday when Kassius asked you to bend , your wind element must have caused it."

"How would it do that?"

"Well have you ever lit a fire and blown gently on the flames to make them burn faster to ensure the fire took?" He asked and I nodded. "Similar situation, your wind affinity made the fire burn faster and quickly lost control."

"So I'm a wind bender..." I said aloud, trying to get the fact to stick in my mind.

"And a powerful one at that. The light that came off the perception stone was blinding, a sign that you have powerful spiritual energy!"

His comment made me feel proud, I guess the fact I was the son of a grandmaster had something to do with my power. But then I realised, I was a member of the Anaris clan, a clan with a proud history of fire benders; what would Kaldor think to find out that his son wasn't a fire bender? I had to learn to control fire, I just had to!

"Don't tell anyone about this!" I ordered, my demand obviously catching Xavier by surprise.

"Why?"

"I am an Anaris! I need to learn to control fire! I can't let anyone else know about this until I can control fire!"

"Okay, I think I understand, even though it doesn't make sense." Xavier admitted. "I will help you learn to master your wind bending and see if we can't get you bending fire as well! Bending fire will be more difficult, since it is not your primary element."

"I understand."

"Well then, lets begin! First I want you to draw on your power just as you did before."

I did as he asked, closing my eyes I focused on drawing out my spiritual energy, and just like before I felt it spread throughout my body and out through my scales; surrounding me like a bubble. I took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly, I kept my eyes shut and focused on what I could sense and feel.

"Are you ready?" Xavier asked. I simply nodded in response, keeping my eyes shut. "Tell me how it feels."

"It feels like... I'm not sure... like it's embracing me."

"Interesting."

"What is?" I asked.

"When I was learning to bend, difficult since I was the only wind bender, I asked many benders questions. Their answers were similar and different at the same time." He explained. "Even benders of the same element would give me different answers to the question you just answered."

"So what does that mean?"

"I'm not sure, perhaps the nature of our power is affected by our own personalities? Why different benders are better at different skills?" He pondered aloud. "In any case it is not important right now. So what I want you to do it reach out and feel the air around you."

"The air around me?"

"Fire benders bend fire by grabbing it with their spiritual energy, you are a wind bender, you control the very air around you. Feel it, don't force it to do anything, just feel how your spiritual energy interacts with it."

I closed my eyes once again and refocused my attention on how my spiritual energy interacted with the air around me. It gently pulsed, pushing and pulling the air as it flowed out of me. The gentle breeze I had felt earlier pushed against the bubble of spiritual energy that surrounded me, but I didn't feel the breeze against my scales. After a couple of moments I realised that the wind was flowing round the bubble. It was amazing! I reached out with my mind and felt the bubble expand, I could feel the action draw more energy from me, it was not straining me so I didn't worry about it, I reached out towards the source of the breeze.

My spiritual energy bumped into something, something solid, I didn't know what it was but I kept reaching forward and let my spiritual energy wrap itself round the object. It was Xavier! My spiritual energy was completely wrapped around him now, I could see... no, I could feel him. Even with my eyes closed it was like I could see him, feel the different sensations of his clothing as if I was touching it with my paw! Only everything was colourless!

"So how is it?" Xavier asked.

"Amazing!"

"Are you feeling tired at all?"

"No I'm fine."

"It would seem you have a lot of natural reserves then, when I first started I could barely keep my spiritual energy flowing for more than a minute before I was totally wiped!" He chuckled. He stood up and I opened my eyes. "Now lets try something a little more challenging!"

"Okay!" I grinned and jumped up onto my foot-paws.

"I'm going to teach you how to throw your punches."

"Throw my punches?" I repeated in a confused tone.

"Let me show you what I mean." He said and turned to face one of the braziers of fire.

I watched him closely and felt a surge of energy from him, this energy was focused and controlled; it was his spiritual energy. It seeped out through his scales, he didn't let it flow outwards like I had, he kept it close to his body, forming a perfect outline of him, it was invisible to the naked eye but I could tell it was there!

There was ripple of movement along the layer of spiritual energy that surrounded him as he pulled back his right arm, his energy flowed into his arm and all the way down to his fist, he threw a punch in the direction of the urn and projected the energy outwards in a tight ball of energy. It flew through the air and through the flames coming from the urn. The flames flickered wildly, and for a brief moment I saw a perfect sphere appear in the flames when the energy passed through them.

"Want to give it a try?" I nodded eagerly and stepped forward, positioning myself in a similar stance that he had used. "Just focus your spiritual energy into your fist and project it forward."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, once again drawing on my power from deep inside of me, the sensation of how it filled my body before it began to envelope me was quickly becoming familiar and comfortable. I drew back my fist and willed my spiritual energy into it, it was more difficult than I thought, the bubble of energy that surrounded me flowed into my right arm. I felt a strain that I hadn't felt before, I couldn't focus all the energy into my fist. Every time I tried to the energy would escape, like water from a cracked mug.

How had Xavier focused nearly all of his energy into his arm and fist? His energy had barely seeped through his scales let alone begun to leak. It felt as though I had too much spiritual energy!

My eyes opened and I let my spiritual energy dissipate, slowly retreat back within my body. That was it! It wasn't that my mug was leaking, it was over flowing! I was trying to focus all of my spiritual energy into my fist when I just needed so much of it!

I closed my eyes again and once again drew on my energy, Once I felt the comforting embrace of the bubble around me I began to focus on moving only half of my energy into my arm. It was tricky trying to prevent all of my energy from going into my arm like before. I drew back my arm and took a deep breath before thrusting my fist towards the fire and pushing the energy outwards like Xavier had.

The energy shot forth like a wave, expanding outwards from my fist and causing a large gust within the cave, but it simply washed over the flames making them waver. I had only caused a gust of wind, not a ball of it. I tried to remember what Xavier's spiritual energy felt like. It had been compact, focused.

"It's okay, try again Malakye." Xavier said in a reassuring tone.

"Tighter... more compact!" I muttered aloud.

"What was that?" I turned to face him.

"I need to make it tighter and more compact like yours." He gave me a funny look.

"Like mine?"

"Yeah, your spiritual energy was a lot more focused and compact when you fired it." I answered.

"Are you telling me that you could sense my spiritual energy?"

"Yeah..." I replied unsure. His tone seemed to give me a sense of disbelief, that what I was saying didn't make any sense. "Why? Should I not have?"

"No... well not exactly." He said before running his finger along the underside of his muzzle, as if contemplating something. "Most dragons can't sense the spiritual energy of others, some take years just to be able to 'feel' their own flowing through their body. The only dragons ever recorded to have the ability to sense the spiritual energy of others were grand-masters."

"So... it's a good thing?"

"YES! Very good, amazing in fact!" He smiled. "Being able to sense the spiritual energy of others allows you to predict what other benders are doing, giving you an incredible advantage. I can't feel my own spiritual energy once I fire it, and since wind bending attacks are nearly invisible to the naked eye it's hard to tell if my attacks have worked until they hit!"

I wasn't really sure how to respond to Xavier, he seemed genuinely impressed by my ability, the first time I had knowingly sensed spiritual energy was when I had lost control in Rengilar. Various images of the burnt corpses of the wolves that had fallen prey to me that night flashed in my mind. It had been horrific, the slaughter that the wolves had caused, the slaughter that I had caused. I even went on to attack my friends! I would learn to control my abilities, I would not let my power control me!

Without another word I turned towards the urn and focused my spiritual energy into my fist, I focused on the center of my balled fist, pouring the energy into a single spot. My eyes were open but it was almost like there was a blinding light radiating from my fist, but there wasn't, I had focused nearly two thirds of my energy into that tiny point. The energy rolled and folded over itself, spinning rapidly. I roared in effort as I threw a punch in the direction of the urn, projecting all of my anger and frustration towards the urn along with my spiritual energy.

There was a noticeable shift in the air as the energy left my fist, the ball of rotating energy hurtling towards it's target, becoming larger as I no longer could exert my will over it. By the time it had covered the distance to the urn it had expanded to a considerable size! It washed over the urn, quickly extinguishing the flames and causing the heavy metal urn to topple, spilling hot coals over the stone floor.

"Wow..."

Was all that Xavier could say. My breathing was heavy, the strain of throwing that much energy had felt like throwing a considerable sized boulder. I looked down at my fist and clenched it tight. With this power I could protect everyone!

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After training with Xavier all morning I was a little tired, apparently he was impressed with my energy levels. He claimed that I had the spiritual energy of a master level bender. He had explained to me many of the different applications for the use of spiritual energy, there were too many to remember, but it was surprising how many of them didn't have anything to do with bending at all!

It was still early and my lessons with Aceh were still a few hours off, so I think it's time I take Cody's advice. It was time to have a little fun. But what was there to do in Zangar? I didn't really know anyone and was only just learning my way around the place.

I rounded a corner and stepped into one of the ventilation tunnels, a stiff breeze washed over me as I began to cross it. The ventilation tunnels were designed to allow fresh air to circulate around Zangar, an essential piece of design since the tunnels ran deep into the mountains. Basically so long as you found one of these tunnels you could always find your way back to the central chamber near the market place. A handy tip, one of many that Xavier had explained to me today.

A sound stopped me in my tracks, it was faint but familiar, I held my breath hoping to hear it again. There is was again, coming from a tunnel to my right, the call of a Fooshnar. I held my torch up towards the entrance of the tunnel and decided to explore this area. The tunnel was just like most of the others in this area, dark, damp and untravelled. The call of the fooshnar reached my ears once again and I quickened my pace. It wasn't a cry of distress but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

After a couple of minutes of following the tunnel I rounded a corner and could see, what was unmistakably, day light! I felt myself smile at the prospect of being outside, but was all too aware of how cold it was out side, but it was worth it.

The air grew colder the closer I got the exit, I had to squint as the light hurt my eyes, I hadn't seen daylight in three days, the brisk air enveloped me and I sighed in relief. Slowly my eyes adjusted and I was surprised by what I was seeing. It was a farm! Numerous animals, most of which I had never seen or heard of were corralled in their own enclosures over by a large wooden building. The building had seen better days but was obviously in constant use. I could see numerous dragons going about their tasks.

Beyond the wooden building there were fields of crops, an impressive yield, if you were to compare it to the measly crops I used to grow to feed myself. I spotted our three fooshnar in an enclosure next to the building, numerous urns burned hotly around the edges of the enclosures, obviously a source of heat to stop the animals from freezing.

I walked towards the fooshnar, leaning on the stone walls of their enclosure and watched them eat out of a trough. It was nice, just being here in the open, the fires from the urns doing a nice job of keeping me warm enough. I looked up at the sky, a beautiful clear blue sky, the sun sitting high in the sky. It was almost depressing to think that I would have to go back to living within the mountain, I definitely needed to make time for this, my own sanity depended on it.

"Can I help you?" A dragon asked me, wearing warm looking fur clothes. He wasn't a warrior, he didn't carry himself as a fighter, but he certainly had the physic of one if his bulging arms were anything to go by.

"No... sorry... is it okay if I'm here?" I suddenly realised that I was probably trespassing on some ones property.

"It's okay pops, I know him." I looked behind the dragon to the new voice that I recognised, it was Laguna. "His name is Malakye." He seemed to answer an unasked question as if predicting his fathers question.

"Malakye..." He repeated while staring at me. "Ah! Lord Anaris's boy?" I nodded my head in response. "Guess I shoulda realised..." He went quiet, we both knew he was talking about how different I looked from everyone else, at least he was kind enough to not say it out loud. "I've heard all about you from my boy here, says your a fighting prodigy or something!"

"Pops!" Laguna groaned, obviously embarrassed.

"Not really sir."

"Sir? I ain't no sir! Name's Cidzarloern." He said with a smile and extended his paw.

I took his offer and shook it, but I stared him in the face without the faintest idea of how to pronounce his name, even though he had just said it. He chuckled and swatted me on the shoulder with a reassuring pat.

"Don't worry about it kid, no one calls me by that, it's old tongue, my mother was a proud member of the Temple of Bal'Tar* before she settled down here with my father. It's a stupid name really, so everyone just calls me Cid."

"Nice to meet you... Cid." I half smiled.

"Right I got chores to do so if you don't mind." He nodded his head at me before turning round and walking back into the large wooden building he had emerged from.

"So what do you think of my pops?" Laguna asked.

"Friendly..." I shrugged, I honestly didn't know what to make of him.

"Yeah I know... but just be glad you didn't ask him about his name! He says it's a stupid name but he's actually very proud of it."

"Why what about his name?"

"Oh it translates into something like... 'greatest gift' or something. It has several translations."

"Well that's kinda nice... isn't it?"

"It is until you listen to him preach about it for the thousandth time!" Laguna chuckled. "Come on, I'm finished my chores, so if you want we can go hang out?"

"Sure... I still don't really know my way round the place."

"Great! Then come on! Got lots to show you!" He smiled and grabbed my paw and began dragging me across the farm.

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After a brief tour of the farm, which Laguna's family had apparently ran for over ten generations, he lead me to another tunnel different to the one that had lead me to the farm. In a matter of minutes we were in familiar territory, I recognised a gathering of four tunnel entrances which I had passed a few times already, four braziers burned proudly between the openings. The one to my right lead to the arena where Kassius held his classes, which mean the one to the left lead to the market place.

"So where does that lead to?" I asked, pointing down the fourth tunnel.

"Oh... that's an old mining area, hasn't been used in years since it dried up. There are lots of nooks and crannies down that way, but pretty much a dead end." He explained. "It's where folks go to have a little... 'privacy'" He raised his paws up and made a hand sign I wasn't familiar with when saying the word privacy. He rolled his eyes, apparently it was obvious I didn't understand. "Oh come on! It's where they go to have sex and stuff!"

"Oh!" I blushed slightly. "Have you ever...?" I pointed at the tunnel.

"Maybe once or twice." He smirked. "Why? You want to go in there with me?" He asked in a tone which I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

To tell you the truth I was a little nervous about how to answer that, I know that Laguna seemed to like me but I wasn't sure if he liked me in that way. I know that dragons in general were much more accepting of homosexuality, but did I really want to sleep with him? After nearly a minute I still hadn't answered him, he leaned in so close I could feel his breath on my muzzle.

"Don't worry about it! I'm just messing with you!" He laughed as he pulled away and turned so his back was to me. "Come on, lets go grab some lunch!" He said and began walking towards the marketplace.

As we made our way towards the marketplace I realised I didn't have my money pouch with me, I had left it back in my room. That could get awkward, I had to say something now, I couldn't expect Laguna to pay for my meal.

"Laguna!" I blushed at how awkward I felt. "I've left my money at home..."

"Don't worry, I'll spot you this time." He said with a reassuring smile. "But you owe me one!"

"Yeah... thanks." I sighed a breath of relief. "I'll pay the next time or something."

"Or something..." I heard him giggle. I wondered what he was referring to, but since he was already agreeing to pay for my meal I figured it was probably best not to push. I owed him one, that was all there was to it.