Nature Rules - 2022 WATTY'S SHORTLIST

It's All Elemental

"Go find your father and sisters and tell them to come here, please," says Mom.

"Are you going to tell us about what happened this morning?" I ask. "Are you going to tell us what being an Aeternian really means?"

"Just go get them."

"Fine."

Picking up a candle, I light it and walk down the corridor to my room. Crinae and Elody are there playing with two dolls. A vendor at the Four-Way had sold them to my mother one day a few years ago. The seller said the dolls were plastic and she had dug them out of an ancient trash pile.

"Good as new," she told my mother as she traded the toys for some socks Mom knit out of baby sweaters.

I'm too old for the dolls but my sisters love them and use bits of old cloth to make clothing for them. Crinae's pretending to feed her dolly an orange. Elody's making hers sing a song about oranges. I'm not familiar with the tune.

"What song are you singing, Elody?" I ask.

"Don't know. Just in my head."

"It's pretty. Mom wants to see us."

"About that stuff this morning?" asked Crinae. "I'm not too sure I want to know anything about it."

"Just come, will yah."

I yell down the hall to Dad who is in his bedroom.

"Mom says she wants to talk to you."

"Coming," he shouts back.

We all pile on the red and green cushions in the main room with Mom and Dad sitting in front of us. We kids often sit like this when Mom and Dad gave us lessons. We learn everything from math to geography to reading and writing from them.

"I was playing," says Elody. "My doll was just about to have a bath."

"She can have one after we're finished," says Mom. "This is important and what we say in this room stays in this room. You can't breathe a word of any of it to anyone – not even friends like Syon and Eden. Got it?"

Dad looks sternly at Crinae and Elody.

"Understand you two? You can't even talk about it to each other unless you are in this room with us."

"Why?" asks Elody. "I like talking to people."

"It's important not to say anything because you or Mommy or your sisters could get hurt," says Dad.

Mom smiles to take the edge off the sharp words.

"But what happened today to Mommy was something that didn't hurt her," she says. "I'm okay and you don't have to worry about me or Naia."

"Yep," I add. "I didn't feel a thing. Until that wave slapped me in the face. That stung. A little."

"What were the blue sparks for then?" asks Crinae. "I thought you were going to catch on fire."

"They're a natural part of being Aeternian," says Mom. She touches Crinae's brown hair. "It's like growing your hair. You can't stop it from happening."

"Unless you're like Mr. Olop," giggles Elody. "He's bald!"

"The herbalist certainly is," says Mom. "Back to serious business, I know I can count on you three not to say anything about what happened today. What I'm about to tell you might be hard for you to understand. It'll seem unreal and weird and strange. Our family is different because we are Aeternians, these are people who have special abilities and we can do things no one else can, like when you saw me today in the field under the blue wave."

"It looked like you were on fire, blue fire," Crinae says.

Mom chuckles. "Those aren't flames, darling. That's water. I create water."

"Me too?" I ask. "I can make water?"

"In another time, that meant go to the bathroom," says Mom.

"If me and you can create water," I ask, "why do I have to get it from the top of the mountain every day?"

"Because we have to appear to be as normal as everyone else," explains Dad. "Aeternians have to act like everyone else."

"Why didn't you tell me about all of this?"

My parents are looking at each other. Mom jiggles her foot. Dad taps the fingers of his left hand on his leg.

"Your Mom and I were protecting you by not telling you," says Dad. "And I command light, not water. Aeternians have abilities over a certain element. You and your mother direct water."

"Each Aeternian has a different power but we don't choose it," says Mom.

"What's my ability?" asks Crinae.

"I want to know, too!" says Elody.

"Not at Aeternian parents have Aeternian children," says Mom. "But if you have skills, they'll reveal themselves when you're ready. Naia's abilities came out naturally when she was scared or angry. These skills are not playthings, they're to be taken seriously."

"You'll need lessons," says Dad to me. "You're still forming your extensions, the nerves connecting to the elemental natural conduits, so it's best not to try anything unless we're with you. Summer is close by and more and more people will be travelling through this area. We need to teach you how to control your powers. You never know who is around and watching. No one can know we're Aeternians. If it gets out, the Motos will take us. Like they did with Shela and Sanda."

"Enough with the scary words," says Mom to Dad. "I don't think we should be showing Naia anything with the way things are."

"There's been enough secrecy in this family," says Dad. "If we have any hope of surviving the kids need to know what they're dealing with. Especially when it comes to their own bodies. They have to control their skills and the only way is to show them how to use them."

I doubt Mom likes that answer but Dad has made up his mind. However, I've heard him tell her over and over again that she's the stubborn one.

"There'll be no instruction tonight," she says. "It's been a long day. Go to bed. There are chores to be done in the morning."

They give us each a kiss good night and we head for our bedroom. Mom and Dad are arguing in low tones that rumble and tumble down the hallway. I can't make out the exact words but I hear Dad telling Mom he has to go. Mom is telling him he can't. Hopefully, they can sort out whatever they're dealing with. They usually do when they talk.

I wash my mouth out with water and spit it in the chamber pot outside my bedroom door. Then I scrub my teeth with a toothbrush that has about one and a half bristles left. This is normal stuff for me but I guess I'm not normal after all. It's kind of exciting. If I only I didn't have to hide being Aeternian.

I get into bed beside Crinae and as I lay down I can't help smiling. I'm cool, really cool. I wish Syon could know about me. Then maybe I wouldn't seem like such a dork.