A soft breeze played with the soft green grass, birds were singing in the thicket nearby. Not close enough to hear, but their song was calming. A soft sun was shining upon her face, yet she was not able to feel the warmth of the golden rays. Aless also knew that she wasn't alone, but she was not able to look around. Still, she wasn't worried. Knowing deep in her heart that she wasn't alone. A smile tucked on her face, and she enjoyed this small moment of peace. She rarely finds them, even when she is fast a sleep. A small white bird, with a black on the back of its head, flew towards her. Never in her life seen a snow fairy up close, they were extremely rare and were not among the animals that would act as familiars.

"Princess of Light," the little bird chirped. She reached out her hand so that the small creature could land on it. The small animal gazed up towards her with its small black eyes. It was strange, she felt some kind of connecting with it. A connection she also felt with her familiars, but this was not one of them. Or was it? She didn't know, and then it hit her. The bird just said something to her, or was that just part of the dream. "No, it is not." the bird chirped again. This time she was sure that she heard it correctly, the bird said something to her. "I am indeed one of your familiars. But I will not be with you, for quite some time." He was, what, one of her familiars? Another white animal, which is strange in itself. "I am the familiar that comes with the Light element, an element that can only be unlocked by the Princess of Light. That is you." Aless frowned, she never heard about the Princess of Light. There was no royalty inside their world, there was the council and the rebellion. "The Princess of Light and the Prince of Darkness, do not appear that often. Only when the world needs them, and currently the world needs the both of you." Aless wonders who the Prince of Darkness might be. "He will appear to you in due time, as will I. You have grown strong, Princess. But you need to unlock the other elements, water, and wood. You need to become stronger before you are able to unlock the light." That was her goal all along, to become stronger. She needed to be ready, Eldalf will come to her, he will kill her. And she needed to be ready for that, she needed to be ready to safe her own life. "There are more dangers that await you, after you defeat the rogue rebel. But do not worry, train, learn, live, trust your friends, and you will survive each and every obstacle." The bird chirped. Wait, what does he mean by that? More dangers? What kind of dangers? "Our time together has come to an end, I will be watching you, Princess of Light. I will be not far from your side, I will be there when you unlock the light." The bird spread its wings and flew away.

"Wait, what!" Aless screamed after it. But instead of getting more answers, she woke up. The peaceful field near the forest was gone, so was the song of the birds and the soft golden rays of the sun. She lay in her own bed, still wearing the clothing she wore the day before.

"You are already awake, good, that saves me the trouble of waking you up." Initor's voice reached her. He was standing in the door opening, already dressed, ready for the day. He smiled softly at her. "It worked, Ixis, Raldor and I have unlocked wood while you unlocked metal. But it took a bit too much of your energy." She remembered that, her metal familiar was a white raccoon. While she was thinking about her new familiar, the animal dropped on her bed. She chuckled softly and scratched the raccoon over the head. "How do you feel?" Initor asked. She didn't reply with words, instead she pushed the sheets off her.

"I am going to take a shower," she said. Pushing him out of the door, and closed it in front of him. The water was not hot, nor cold. But it did the job, it took all the dirt of the day before with it down the drain. She gets dressed after drying her hair, Initor was already eating a piece of toast. Aless set down and picked up pieces of her breakfast.

"We should hurry up," Initor said, she nodded.

*******

Aless clapped inside her hands, it was time to drill Initor. They were standing near the pavilion near the large lake. The same place where they were drilled by Ma, and Da. She couldn't wait until it was his turn to teach her everything he knew. But right now it was her turn to teach him.

"Alright, first things first. Making a storm like I did yesterday is child play. Easy and doesn't take long to learn how to do it." She said, while creating a little tornado inside the palm of her hand. "I am going to show you how to do it. But I am also going to teach you how to do this." She pointed her finger towards the nearest tree, a small blast of air shot towards one of the leaves. A hole appeared inside the leaf, before it shot down towards the ground. "My father taught me this, right after I unlocked air. He wanted to teach me so much more, but we both know what happened."  Initor looked shocked towards the leaf, but nodded. "Alright, close your eyes." She stepped beside him and lay her hands on his shoulders. "Feel the air, when you feel it, then reach out towards the clouds."

"I can feel them," he replied, softly. Aless knew that he had some lessons from Mister Tumul, and what she just said were the basic's. Still, it was important to repeat the basic's until someone was able to do it without thinking. She closed her eyes and did the same thing, she could feel Initor's touch inside the air and clouds. She was able to feel the way how he manipulated the wind that was circling around them.

"Again," she said softly, and he did it. They repeated that a few times, until she was able to feel that he did it without her telling him what to do. "Good, now you are able to control massive storms and tornadoes. Lightning is not far from your grasp. Just do this every day and you will get it." He nodded, and smiled.

"This took me a solid three hours," he said. She lowered her head, she was trying to give him a complement. "But I will do as you said. Now teach me the difficult stuff, the thing you did with the leaf." She stood next to him and opened her hand. A small gust of wind formed on her hand, at first it was a small tornado. But then it became a ball. She glanced over towards him, and she was able to see that he did the same thing. Her heart skipped a beat, he was learning so fast. She nodded towards the tree, she had used as a demonstration. And the both of them shot their air towards it. His didn't make a hole in the leaf.

"Again," she said. He did it again and again, he did it so many times that she wasn't able to count them all. But in the end he was able to shoot a hole in the leaf. "That was the easiest target, wood or even a can will be harder. But we have enough time to practice with those, tomorrow or the day after that." He nodded in agreement.

"It is time for lunch anyway, so let's go back to the cabin to eat." he replied.

****** 

Aless felt recharged after lunch, she was ready to get to her part of the training. In other words, she was ready to learn everything Initor knew about fire. They were back by the pavilion, rain was hanging in the air. She was able to smell it, and she knew that Initor now that he knew what to look for was able to do that as well.

"Good, now you are not able to burn down the whole forest." he said with a large grin upon his face. She didn't see it as a joke, but maybe that was because she wasn't born as a fire elemental. "Alright, I know you have studied the fire element a lot. But as far as I know, that was all inside books. Now it is time to put that knowledge into practice." From out of nowhere, flames started to circle around him. At first, the comfortable yellow, then orange and after a blink of an eye, blue. She knew, from books, that the color changes had something to do with the heat of the flames. The flames disappeared, but there was no sign of the flames ever being there at all. No black grass, of burning smell. "Fire, is one of the elements that is alive. Just like wood. Fire breaths, procreates, produces waste, and dies. We as elementals need to understand that before we are able to control it." She nodded in agreement, again, that was in one of her books. "Alright, now that you know that, it is time for you to create a flame." She flattened out her hand, like she had done to create a mini tornado. Only this time a small, yellow flame appeared on it. She looked at when it turned into yellow and then blue. The flame grew slowly, while she controlled her own breathing. It didn't feel like the other elements, the small flame inside of her hand felt like a living animal. Warm, cozy, and with a small heartbeat. "Alright, let it grow. Let it live." She nodded, and the flame in her hand grew with every breath that she took. It jumped from her hand, and surrounded both Initor and herself. It didn't touch the grass, it simply circled around them. The blue flames should have burned them alive, even from a distance. But the warmth was not unpleasant, it felt protective. "By the elements," Initor whispered. "You are a natural." The flames died down, again there were no signs of the flames ever being there. No blackened grass, not smell or the warmth. Which was something she missed right away. Aless started to shiver, and wrapped her arms around her. She was almost tempted to bring back the flames. Initor probably saw this and wrapped his arms around her. His warmth, his smell, it was nice.

"Do I need to do it again?" She asked, and he nodded. So she did it again, this time she directly started with the surrounding barrier. She changed the temperature of the flames, without thinking too much about it. The barrier broke apart and now small balls of flames were taking its place. All of them in different colors.

"By the elements," he whispered again. "I can learn a thing or two from you." She smiled as the flames died down, and the fall's cold took a hold on her once again. Only this time it didn't come as a surprise. "Come, let us sit down." He guided her towards the pavilion, and they both sat down. Which was a good thing, because she started to get a bit dizzy. "How do you feel?"

"Better, now that I sit down." She said, not seeing a point in lying. Or beating around the bush. He nodded, and sighed.

"Controlling fire cost a lot of energy, but you will learn how to control it better in time." He explained, and he smiled. "But I am not lying when I say that you did it wonderfully well." A smile tugged on her lips, it was nice to hear him say that. She started to lean into his warmth, and rested her head upon his shoulder. They didn't say anything, they just watched the rain fall upon the lake.

*******

"Where in the name of the Elements are they?" Ixis said loudly, as Raldor and she made their way through the forest. She of course knew where Aless and Initor were, they were at the pavilion, teaching each other stuff about their elements. But it was well past dinner time, and they were still not back at the cabin.

"Ixis, calm down. They probably lost track of time," Raldor said calmly. How could she calm down? They were not training their elements because they felt like it. They were training because a dangerous person was about to be released. Raldor and she stepped out of the thicket, and there they were. Sitting on the stone bench, Ixis sighed. She walked over towards them, ready to give them a lecture. But Raldor was a bit quicker, he placed his hand before his mouth and chuckled softly. He motioned towards her that they were sleeping. Ixis couldn't believe it, but when she saw them from the same point of view, she was able to see that it was true. Aless's head was resting upon Initor's shoulder, and his head was resting upon her head. They were so cute together, and she knew that there was something going on between the two of them. She knew Initor just over a year, and this was the first time he has being this protective. "I am going to wake him up," Raldor said softly. She wanted to stop him, but then again they couldn't stay here. Raldor placed his hand on Initor's shoulder, and his eyes flew open. "I am sorry, man." Raldor whispered. He nodded towards Aless, at first Initor looked confused. But then his gaze softened.

"How long?" Initor asked, and Raldor motioned towards him that he didn't know.

"It has being passed dinner time," Ixis said. "We better wake her up too, it is not good if she missed two dinners in a row." Initor nodded and slowly shook Aless. Who woke up, and smiled softly when she saw him. Those two were just too sweet.

"It is dinner time," he whispered, and the four of them slowly returned towards the cabin.