The Elemental Sisters: Spirit

Once we were back in our room, I quickly showered and changed into clean clothes, luckily someone had brought my sisters and I fresh clothes, as the ones we were in were in dire need of a wash. I put on the silk light blue dress and brushed

my hair, braiding it to keep it out of my face.

Ari had showered as well and was sitting on the couch in the small living room, pouting.

"What's up with you?" I asked, sitting next to her as she moved so I could braid her hair as well.

"It's so unfair, how can you have yet more abilities?" she scolded.

I shrugged, "It was an ability I already had just never mastered. I mean, I still haven't I have had no control over it."

"Join the club." She grumbled, playing with the sleeve of her blood red dress.

Gia walked into the room while towel drying her hair. "Maybe it is a defence mechanism and when you feel threatened, your subconscious takes over putting you in your spirit form. The goblins surrounded us the first time it happened, and the second time was when we confronted Colonel Delano so it would make sense." She supplied.

"It would make sense." I replied as I finished braiding Ari's hair, tying it, and throwing it over her shoulder.

"Ari, you will probably grow and develop your abilities as you better learn to control them." Gia pointed out. "Fire is unpredictable to begin with, like dad said, it takes a lot more to master than the other elements."

"Yeah, just name me the family's loose cannon." She sneered as Huricana and Sunama walked into the room joining us.

Once everyone was cleaned up and dressed, we tidied the room and waited to be called for dinner.

"It would make sense for our abilities to change and grow now. With everything going on, it could force our abilities to manifest knowing the threat looming over us." Sunama shared.

"I don't think it works like that." Ari argued.

"It was only a suggestion." Sunama defended.

"She has a point Ari, we thought we had more time, and our survival instincts could accelerate things." Gia defended her.

"Or maybe you are just reading too much into things." She responded with a glare.

There was a knock at the door, forcing the conversation to be dropped.

I walked over and opened the door and the little green creature from camp stood there and sang happily, "Dinner is done, we have roast beef and buns, if you want to eat, better get to your feet, before they eat it all and you starve and fall." He bowed and skipped away.

"Ari, seriously, why do you always stare at him?" Gia laughed, watching Ari's reaction to him.

"He's unnerving and I think a wee bit insane." Ari replied, emphasizing the wee in her sentence. As we all laughed at her joke.

"We should probably go. Not sure why he ran away, he was supposed to show us to the dining hall." I shared.

We headed back towards the throne room, hoping to find someone to lead us to the dining hall.

"Hey Frey." Ari yelled as he turned the corner.

He spun around and looking at Ari he smiled, "what's up buttercup?"

Ari frowned, "That was awful. What a terrible nickname." She pouted. "Awe, I'm just teasing."

"We don't know our way to the dining hall." Gia put in. "Can you show us?"

"Can do. I was just heading there myself." He smiled.

He and Ari bickered as we followed Frey to the dining hall. I couldn't understand how they couldn't seem to get along, but were also drawn to each other. Opposites attract, I guess.

Frey opened a large white door for us, and at seeing the setup inside, my jaw dropped. "Roast beef and buns, my ass. There is a bloody feast." I remarked without thinking.

Frey laughed, "The King has a lot of guests of late and he likes to show off." He whispered. "The sprites like to mess with people, mostly because they prefer to rhyme, they consider it their thing."

Tables were set up strategically throughout the hall, and a head table lined the far wall. Dishes filled the tables, plates of vegetables, meats, and fruits of every kind were on serving plates, as well as large pitchers of mead and whiskey. Frey led us to a table, and we sat down as the hall continued to fill and people talking amongst themselves echoed around the room.

King Halamar entered the hall, and the room was instantly quiet, and people rushed to sit in their seats. Queen Elasha and Prince Tyr followed behind him along with another guy I hadn't met, probably Tyr's sibling I deduced. Tyr glanced at me quickly before sitting down at the same table as his father.

Ezryn and Mohan sat down with us, and Ward joined us shortly after.

"How is Bram doing?" I asked him.

"He will be okay just needs to spend a few days in the infirmary."

"I'm glad he's going to be okay." Gia shared.

"Me too, he's all I have left of my family." Ward shared as his face darkened from an unpleasant memory.

After the king's food was served, servants served the rest of the royal family and moved to serve everyone else.

They moved to put a sizeable piece of steak on my plate, and I stopped them, "Sorry we don't eat meat." They nodded and instead served my sisters and me salads and fruits.

"Why don't you eat meat?" Frey asked, looking at my sisters and me.

Gia shrugged, "How would you feel if someone ate your flesh?"

"That's a gross way to think about it." Mohan frowned, pushing his plate away as Ari laughed.

"Sorry she could have worded that better." Huricana chuckled.

"Didn't you eat the meal yesterday?" Mohan pointed out.

"Yes, but we didn't have the meatballs. What are you, the meat police?" Gia teased.

"Sorry." He mumbled.

"I don't think he meant it like that." Ari scolded her as she stuck out her tongue stubbornly.

I took a sip of mead as my vision started to fade, "oh no, not now." I muttered as I forced myself to focus as prisms covered my vision before everything quickly went black.

"What's going on with your eyes?" Ezryn asked.

I clutched my head, which was already aching from the incoming vision.

"She is getting a vision." Sunama shared before they lost me to it.

...

"Thought you could get away, didn't you?" Colonel Delano sneered.

"Where are my sisters?" I screamed at him.

"You'll find out soon enough, you stupid pixie. Soon the Goblins will rule this realm."

He smiled at me menacingly, as I declared. "You won't get away with this. I will kill you; I swear."

"Hmph, you can try, little bird." King Churd chuckled as his eyes turned from light brown to black. I felt like I was on fire, I could feel my skin melting. What the hell was he, no Goblin had this ability. I screamed from the pain. "Akasha... Akasha... snap out of it." I could hear Sunama yell as the vision faded. I could feel water dump on top of me.

"Sunama?" I whispered as I turned my head toward her voice, still unable to see anything.

"What's happening to her?" I heard Tyr ask in a panicked tone.

"My vision is gone. It should be back in a while. I just need to wait it out."

"Your vision is gone?" He asked in disbelief.

I sighed and replied, "Like I said before, our gifts have a price. To receive a vision of the future, I lose my vision for a short time after, although each time it is longer." My head ached. I reached my hand up and messaged my temples. "Sunama, why did you drop water on me?" I scolded her as I wondered why I had a second vision so soon after the first one. Usually they were more spaced out. Sometimes going months without receiving another.

"You had smoke rising from your body like you were on fire. How else was I supposed to cool you off?" she asked heatedly.

"Smoking," that's new. I frowned.

"Everyone is looking at us." Huricana pointed out.

"I don't think that was just a vision." I heard Ela tell me.

"Why?" I asked her through mind link.

"Because what happens in your visions doesn't come to the present, I think the Goblin King may be manipulating your connection to his thread."

"I don't even know how it got connected to begin with." I snapped.

"You are probably connected through the prophecy, and he is using it to counterattack." Karm added.

"That's just lovely, isn't it?" I grumbled irritably.

"Come on, let's go talk somewhere else." Tyr suggested as I stood up shakily and moved to walk, hitting my knee on a chair.

"Damn it." I cursed under my breath as I waited for the stinging to stop.

"Here, let me help you." Tyr offered as his hand closed on mine. I could hear the shuffling of feet behind me as I followed Tyr from the dining hall. The pain in my head and the return of my vision had still not started. I heard a door open and a few seconds later close behind us as we headed down the hallway.

"Damn, she really is blind, isn't she?" Frey asked someone behind me.

"Well, duh, why would she fake it?" Ari bit back.

I clutched my forehead as it felt like someone was squeezing it in on itself. I heard another door open and again close. There is a couch here you can sit on. I reached to find the seat but ended up touching Tyr's leg.

"S... sorry." I could feel my face heating up as I tried again to find the couch this time. I found it and managed to sit down, bringing my knees to my chest as I rested my head on them.

"We need ice." Gia ordered, "and a cloth."

"Got it." I heard Ezryn say as the door opened and closed.

"Is your vision returning at all?" Huricana asked.

"Not yet." I mumbled shakily,

"What did you see?" Mohan asked curiously.

I heard a slap and Mohan say "ow, what was that for?"

"For being an ass." Ari scolded him. "Let her recover first. The headaches are crippling as it is. She will tell us when she is able."

"It's fine. The vision as a whole is not important. There was only one thing it wanted me to see."

"What's that?" Tyr asked as he sat next to me and began rubbing my back.

"King Churd is not a full Goblin. He has elemental abilities." I replied.