I landed rather awkwardly and painfully on a rocky turf, sliding along on my chest. When I sat up, I massaged my chest. My sister was standing off to the side, a pained expression on her face as she watched me. She knew what was coming.
When my pain had subsided, I got to my feet, dusted off my jeans that looked at least fifty years old, given everything they had been through in the past few minutes.
“One, who were those guys? Two, why did they want to kill us? Three, why did they say mom’s softened ‘over the millennia’? Four, how can both you and mom control air? Five, . . . . . . . . . . . okay, that’s all I can think of for now. Go ahead and start answering.” I folded my arms. She took a deep breath and let it out in a long, low hiss before she answered.
“One, I have no clue who they are. Two, I don’t know why they wanted to kill us either. Three, I have no clue, what our mom was like a millennia ago, so I don’t know if she’s softened or not. Four-”
“Wait. So mom’s a thousand years old?” She nodded.
“Give or take a few years,” she conceded. “As are we.” I think my jaw dropped. I vaguely recall it touching the ground.
“We are how old?!” I shrieked.
“Technically, about nine hundred and eighty something.” She stopped to see how I would take it. After a few tries, I managed to close my mouth.
“Wh- why did I not know that? One would think, if I was close to nine times the age of the oldest person on earth, then shouldn’t I have at least some knowledge of it?”
“Not necessarily,” she replied. “Apparently there’s some sort of enchantment on us to make us forget our past.” Okay then. I processed that, slowly. My head was starting to hurt. You know, after a few shocks, your brain gets fuzzed and kind of loses processing power.
“Wait? On us?” I queried, noting her use of the plural. She nodded. Again, might I add.
“Yeah, it’s on me too.”
“So how do you know about it?”
“Mom told me when I got my powers.”
“Which was . . . . . . . .?”
“About six hundred years ago.” I nodded, without really knowing what was going on. My processing faculties were shutting down completely now. “And mom and I can both control air because we were born as airbenders.”
“You can bend air?” I asked. Remember, my head was hurting.
“Yup,” she nodded. What was with the nodding?
“What about me?” She shrugged.
“What about you?” she asked. “I don’t think you were born with any special gifts.” My face must have fallen, because she hastily added, “Well, not any that are apparent anyway. You might yet develop it.”
“Encouraging,” I muttered sarcastically, plopping my butt down on a nearby rock. My sister bit her lip.
“Any more questions, Elle?” she asked quietly.
“Nah. My brain’s processed all it can for the day.” There was a pause. Then it stretched into a silence. A long, awkward, taciturn silence.
“What now?” I asked, leaning back on a tree. “We stay here?”
“Of course not. We have to go back to that cliff.”
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sorry for ending the chappie so soon. but my mother's in my head about getting off the computer and going to bed. Hope you like!
