Submerged in Water

I knew Rune was here when I heard the sound of flapping. I looked above me and saw him and all his glory landing beside me on the rock. He looked more like a God than a teenage boy to me, but I realized the reason why he looked so holy to me was because he was carrying a weapon with him.

A spear.

"We are so going to have some fun today."

"What is that?" I wondered, pointing at the spear.

"It's your weapon."

"What!?"

I stood up off the rock. I was in a different swim suit today. It was still a one-piece but it was Aubrey's old black one-piece that revealed the navel area. When I turned towards him, he looked down at my stomach, my legs and the crease between my breasts. He didn't even try to hide it.

"Enjoying the view?"

His head snapped up to my face. "Sorry." He was blushing. "Here." He handed me the spear.

As soon as I grabbed it, my arms locked and fell from the weight of it. "Whoa," escaped from my lips.

"It has water in the shaft of it. I was doing more research... it's really hard to find information on the Kamille since a lot of it was burned or hidden after the genocide." He shrugged. "Anyway, tranditionally, Kamille battle with a spear."

"A spear?"

"Well, I should say that women battle with a spear. Specifically Kamille women."

"Oh."

"It's filled with water so that it's easier to control, or at least, that's the concept anyway. I don't know how to train you on it, obviously and I doubt you'll be able to find anyone who will train you but I thought it would be better than no weapon at all."

"Thanks." I smiled up at him. "I feel like a badass holding this except it weighs a ton."

"Yeah, it's about fifteen pounds give or take a few." He shrugged. "You know what Kamille women who went into battle were called? Virgins of the Spear." He shook his head, like he couldn't believe it. "That's because women couldn't be married and go into battle, it was against the law or highly frowned upon."

"You make the Kamille sound like some fanatic cult." I noted.

"Well they were secluded from everyone else for thousands of years. They all lived deep in the ocean. Think of Atlantis, but a lot larger."

"Wow." I raised my eyebrows at the sight of this. "Is this mine?"

"Well, I don't know where you can hide it, but I found it in my uncle's old shed, I doubt he'll even know it's gone. Nobody would think it was anything more than a hunting spear."

"I don't think I can hide this in my room... maybe we can hide it out here, to use it when we practice. I don't really want to be hauling this thing back and forth."

"It becomes lighter in the water, or so I've heard." He explained.

"Hmm..." I decided to try that.

With the spear still in hand, I dove into the river. Underwater, I noticed the spear become lighter but it was still hard to move around because of the force of the water. When I focused on the water around me and began manipulating it, the force that was keeping the spear from moving fast lightened and it wasn't as heavy. In fact, it actually helped. Since it had water in it, I could use it to move around quickly because I could move the water in the spear. When I was holding the spear, I moved along with it.

I came out of the water and turned to find Rune. He was watching me with a grin on his face.

"This is great!" I yelled up at him, holding the spear slightly out the water. "I love it! Thank you, Rune!"

I headed for the edge of the river faster than usual while swimming and it made me feel powerful. Like I was in control. Control was something I needed right now.

I walked out of the water, spear still in hand until I was about knee deep in. Rune, with his large wings, flew over and landed in front of me. It was a strange sight to have someone with wings be my friend. It was just strange in general. If someone told me this stuff existed two weeks ago, I would've told them to get off the drugs.

"Listen." Rune came forward and even put his feet in the water. "The reason I brought you this weapon is because I want you to be able to protect yourself. You know who is looking for you and I don't want anything bad happening."

"Trust me, Rune, when I say I'm on the same page as you are. I know being who I am is going to come with it's... challenges. You told me that before you let me know who I was."

"That's why I think it's a good idea you practice and become better, not just with defensive manuevers but offensive ones too."

"Meaning?"

"You need to learn how to freeze the water."

I sighed, I knew this was coming. I started coming out of the water but Rune walked forward to stop me. "I don't know how to train you though, so let's try to experiment."

"Okay."

I dropped the spear on the ground and we stood with our feet in the water for about an hour as I tried to freeze the water.

If anything, I warmed it.

"This isn't working." I whined.

"You know, when I was trying to learn how to manipulate the air, I found that some of my abilities got strong when I was... emotionally heightened."

"Emotionally what?"

"I became more powerful when I was pissed off." He put it simply. "Maybe it's like the same for you. If you get angry or something, maybe you'll be able to do it."

"Isn't that a little cliché?"

"Cliché or not. If it works, it works." He shrugged. "Try to think about something that makes you angry and then try it again."

"I don't even know where to begin."

"Just... let it come out." He tried to guide me.

"Okay." I breathed.

I took a deep breath and tried to think of something that made me angry. The first thought that came to mind was Queen Inna, but when I thought about it more, I wasn't really angry with her, just more afraid and confused.

I focused on another thought. I let myself sink deeper into the water like I had the first time I manipulated it. I let myself lean down and put my hands in the water to grasp a better feel of it. When my thoughts settled, I realized my anxiety and anger seemed to come from within. My internal demons.

I thought about my life, my medical condition which I had assumed up to this point had been a burden rather than a gift and how people had treated me until now. It was like being awakened from a long slumber. Even though I was awake, I was still angry. No wonder I got so ticked off when Scott tried to fit me back into the little sister role. I didn't deserve to be thrown back into my cage.

"Emele!" Rune broke me from my thoughts.

I opened my eyes to find that the water was boiling around me. Everything I touched was turning into vapor and the water in the river was like pot on a stove. I yanked my hands out of the water and stared down at them. When I looked at Rune to see his reaction, he looked surprised but not scared.

"Sorry." I whispered.

"No, it's okay." He seemed excited now. "This is good, the opposite of boiling is freezing right?"

I nodded. "That's true."

"Well we're almost there. What were you thinking about?"

"I don't know..." I stood up and wiped my hands off on my bathing suit that was now dry. "I guess I was just thinking about my life in general. I've had to deal with a lot of things and thinking about it made me angry."

"Hmmm..." He pursed his lips. "Maybe your anger causes things to boil around you, but what's the opposite of anger?"

"Joy?" I suggested.

"No, I think that's a bit too extreme."

He started pacing back and forth over the gravel causing it to crunch under his boots. I watched the motion until I noticed his wings come back into his body. He wasn't wearing a shirt and was bare-chested. He still had his bow and quiver slung over his shoulder though. I wondered how he got the bow over the wing but decided it was probably a stupid question to ask.

"When someone is angry, what do you do?" He asked me suddenly. "If Aubrey or Layla was angry, what would you try to do?"

"Well, I'd probably try to calm them down, to begin with."

"That's it." He stopped his pacing and turned to me.

I stepped towards him. "What's it?"

"Can't you see? The opposite of anger isn't joy. It's peace."