08 First Lesson

"U-um they-" another slap.

"Louder." She snaps. Does she think one can cure shyness by slapping them? It's not my fault that I'm quiet. And having an evil gargoyle-esque woman yelling at you doesn't help either.

"Stones hold elemental powers of the word, which means that they are connected to the world. And um…" she must've slapped the words right out of me because I don't know what else to say. Aunt Sauntie walks back closer to me again and looks me in the eyes.

"Yes, what you said is true, Oanns, like shamans, draw their power from the world. BUT the stones themselves also hold power. Each and every stone, artificial or natural, holds these powers." she taps the stone in my head, "You, we are different though. You were born of the people's wishes, of their need. You serve the people. The people wished for balance, thus you are here to grant their wishes and bring balance to the world. Understand?" she says.

I was born to grant wishes? Is that why I've never been allowed to praise the gods like everybody else? My mind wanders and I begin to space out until another slap on the arm from Aunt Sauntie, brings me back.

"We will start by mastering your stones abilities, then move onto elemental ones once you've gotten more... comfortable." with that said, I'm positioned in the middle of her large, empty room. "Hands at your sides, in fists." she says, "Now remember this well, Oannah, when your hands are closed, your abilities are not in use, when your hands are open, your abilities ARE in use. Using our hands as measurement is a simple way to tell how much power one is using, and an easy way to keep oneself in check."

Aunt Sauntie holds out her hand in front of her, then suddenly a book appears out of this air. Where did she get the book from? She hands me the book.

"What am I to do with this?" I ask.

"Make it go away." she says.

"But how? I don't know how to-"

"Be quiet and listen! Close your eyes, connect with your stone, feel its powers which reside in you flow throughout your body. Seize hold of that feeling, that power and encapsulate the book. Make the book go somewhere else. Somewhere you know or have been."

Close my eyes- I try to focus on the stone in my forehead. It still is sore, will that ever go away? But, there's something else, beyond the pain. A warmth, a light! Take hold of it, she said? I reach out inside myself, I feel a warm glow emanating from the stone. 'Make the book go away' the book, I feel the book-

"Ahh!" suddenly the weight of the book is gone, so too is the warm, light feeling. "It's gone!" I can't believe it, I don't see the book in my hands, it really is gone! All I get from Aunt Sauntie is a "hmmf".

"Where did you send it?" she asks.

"I - I don't know. You said make it go away so, I made it go away, what does it matter where it went?"

In an instant Aunt Sauntie disappeared from my vision and reappears next to me, only to give me a firm slap on my arm. "You can't just make things 'disappear'. All you did was MOVE the book somewhere else, now where do you think you put it?"

"I don't know!" I say in frustration. Her tone is also getting more and more annoyed after every wrong answer I give her. I close my eyes and think, what was i thinking before?

I was just focusing on the power, the light, like the open sky. The sky!

"I think, maybe, I sent it into the sky." and just on que, an object falls onto the skylight.

What timing.

Aunt Suntie's irritated expression seems to fade a bit, only after yet another slap. "Now get the book back." She says. Aunt Saunting walks away and sits in the corner.

Holding out my hands I once again try to feel for that power. It comes more easily this time, but How am I supposed to retrieve the book. I can reach it, or touch it. It's outside! I try to remember what it felt like the first time, when I sent the book away. Then, for an instance, even though my hands were empty, and the book was still lying outside on the ceiling, I could feel it, the book! I've found it! The book, how, I don't know, but I don't let the chance evade me. I open my eyes, and the book appears in my hands.

A smile brims on my face, the first since I've arrived at the palace. "I did it!"

"Yes, now do it again." she says. "A hundred more times, why not?" A hundred! Is she trying to kill me?