Saint Joseph School

Ithaca Island never failed to calm my nerves. The peaceful splashing of waves against rock and the light ring of birdsong mingled in the clean air and cleared my muscles of tension and my mind of chaos, allowing me to relax among whatever torrents were running through my life. The conversations with Nova, the pain of finding Alex so drastically changed; sitting there, I began to let it all drift away.

When it began to rain, I felt a chill of anger and concern that I was loosing control of my powers after I had established such strong focus over them. The feeling only lasted a minute, though; the raindrops began to form together and fuse into a watery, humanoid shape. Two bright yellow lights shone on its face to represent eyes. It was slightly shorter than I was, and I recognized it as the more slender of the two that usually visited me. "Good evening, Kierin."

"Hey. It's been awhile."

The creature nodded robotically. "By your perspective, it has. There has been no need to send you messages for several months."

I nodded, then sighed. "So let's get it over with. What do you have to tell me?"

The creature stepped closer to me. Its voice was like whispers on the wind. "I'm not here on orders. I'm here by request."

What? That made no sense to me. Before, it had been nothing but business, just appearing to give me a message, then leaving without a care. I hadn't even thought they had feelings; they seemed to act only in the Sky's interest. "What… why did you want to come here?"

"To talk with you." Ignoring my stare, it sat stiffly next to me, resting in what looked like an extremely uncomfortable, straight-backed position. "It is an amazing honor, you know; to be chosen by the Sky and carry its power. I've often desired to simply speak with the Chosen One, but the Sky never deemed it necessary."

I shifted uncomfortably on the grass. "Well uh, I'm not much of a special person… I just feel like it was random luck." I laughed softly. "You're a lot more mysterious than me."

"Is that so?"

I nodded.

"Ask about me, then. That way I will be less mysterious."

I shook my head at this sudden change. Supposing I should start with the obvious, I asked, "Well, what's your name?"

"It is Merisina. It is a fairly common name among my kind. My father named both myself and my brother. For him he chose the name of Taruyor."

"Merisina? Not bad… it sounds feminine." I looked over at it questioning with my eyes.

"Yes. I am female. …It hadn't occurred to me, that it was probably difficult for you to discern."

I nodded. "I hadn't even thought about it. You two just came in and gave me the orders I usually hated… Was the other one your brother?" Thinking about it, I remembered the other always looked slightly more muscular, and had a slightly deeper voice. More male.

"Yes, that was Taruyor. He is very dedicated to his duty, and doesn't see the need to speak with you directly beyond sending the Sky's messages."

"Oh… okay." It felt so surreal, having it… her… speak to me so personally. This creature suddenly had a name, even had family, and I had never suspected it to be any more than an instrument of my superior.

Before I could ask another question, she spoke again. "I cannot stay here for much longer." She stood up without using her arms, simply planting her feet on the ground and straightening impossibly.

I watched her curiously. "You have a lot to learn before you mimic human actions, you know."

The head turned to me. "I need only the basics to function here for short periods of time. If it was necessary to behave exactly like a human, I would not be made of gathered rain."

"…Good point."

"Indeed. Farewell, Kierin. I will return and talk to you soon." She hesitated. "That is, if you would permit it."

"…Y-yeah, sure. It was nice to… meet you, Merisina. See you later." Not knowing what else to do, I waved hesitantly.

The water creature raised one hand in a single jerky motion, then collapsed into a puddle, which slowly sank into the ground. I lay back on the grass, one of the most surreal moments of my life having come to a close.

I sighed as my feet touched down on the soft grass. One thing after another, lately. It was unbelievably strange, sharing a room with this person who was and yet suddenly wasn't the girl she had become close friends with. Alex was gone now, and though this new Alex wasn't a bad person by any means, I couldn't help feeling that she was just a silent mockery of what had once occupied that body. I sat slowly and stared out into the water. At least the ocean never changed… Ithaca wouldn't change.

The rain began to fall beside me after several minutes, forming quickly into Merisina in a sitting position. "Hello, Kierin." She paused. "Is now a bad time?"

It kind of was, but it seemed odd for her to know that. "What makes you think so?"

The watery shoulders hunched momentarily in what might have passed for a shrug. "I have a powerful connection with the crystal inside of you. It is connected securely to every facet of your existence: body, mind, and soul. I cannot read your thoughts, but I can feel emotions in you, when they are strong enough… as they almost always are. You seem to be brooding."

"…Oh." I frowned. "That seems a little unfair. I can't keep those things to myself?"

The glow in Merisina's yellow eyes softened. "I cannot take anything specific from your mind, nor can I control your body. You already know the Sky has a connection with your thoughts. I share only a small part of that. …It is not meant to harm you or spy on you; it is simply the way things are."

I raised an eyebrow. "Just turned out that way? What do you mean?"

For a moment Merisina sat perfectly still, watching me, before speaking up again. "I am a creature of magic. I was connected with the Sky Stone – that is the crystal's name – at the moment of my birth. The purpose of this connection is to have the ability to locate you and speak to you, as we do now. Without my connection with the crystal, I would not be able to find you, or materialize in this world. My empathy of you is only a side effect of my bond with the Sky Stone."

As she talked, my heart began to speed and I stared at her, feeling my eyes growing wider. All the questions I had… she had all the answers. And she was willing to tell me. "Can… can I ask you anything about this power?"

Merisina nodded with one abrupt jerk of her head. "It is past time. The Sky has been satisfied with your accomplishments and believes it is time for you to receive whatever knowledge it can give. That is one of the reasons it allowed me to speak with you."

I stared at her, thinking of all the implications, of everything I could ask her. Secrets to unlock the highest potential of my power, the history of other Chosen and their struggles…

Merisina looked at me and I thought I could almost see her smiling. "So, what would you like to ask me?"

"So, if you consistently practice using the two points on your forehead here in conjunction with these two finger channels, you could eventually develop a thin windstream powerful enough to pierce some types of armor. Crutaaga was the first one to discover that, though it was Geidin who really mastered it. Either way, it's one of the more advanced manipulations and…"

One of the odd things about talking to Merisina was that she never had to take a breath, and wasn't accustomed enough to human speech patterns to pause in her explanations. When she launched into an explanation, I had to pay close attention to keep up with her, because it usually came out as a constant stream of words. That's why I raised my eyebrows in surprise when she trailed off.

"What's wrong?"

Her watery index finger shifted from pointing at my hand to the cup of red slush I held in my other hand. "What is that?"

I took a sip, smiling. "Smoothie. Nova showed me a great shop back on the main island." I pointed with a thumb over at Talos.

"Ah, yes. It is a drink? But it looks partially frozen, and colored. What is in it?"

"Just crushed ice and fruit juice, essentially. Delicious, though."

"You humans will consume odd things for the sake of taste."

I grinned and held it out to her. "Want a sip?"

Merisina looked at it blankly with her glowing yellow lights. "I do not know if I can even inhale." She made some odd movements with her head and neck, eventually making a whistling sound as air rushed inward where her mouth would be. "Alright. I will try."

She took the cup from my hand and put the straw hesitantly against her lower face. I folded my arms, watching with amusement as a patch of red semi-liquid traveled through the straw and into her "mouth," still visible inside her head. It floated downward slowly through her neck, coming to rest in the middle of her torso.

She looked down at herself and spoke, her voice coming across somewhat dismayed. "I didn't taste anything, and now I feel heavier."

I laughed so hard I had to lie back on the grass. She watched me with quiet disapproval.

"Good evening, Kierin." Merisina settled down beside me in a very human-like sitting position.

I kept my eyes on the ocean as I replied. "Hey, Mer. How's it going?"

"It goes well." Her voice felt soothing to my mind, bringing the calm I'd felt in storms before.

A few minutes passed as we sat in silence. The wind was strong today, and I let it blow uncomfortably cold over my face. The magic being's watery skin vibrated slightly and little sparks of lightning flickered out from its eyes in the direction of the breeze. Eventually she turned towards me, leaning forward slightly to force herself into my vision.

"You are very introspective tonight."

I nodded. "That happens."

"Yes. Are you well?"

Finally I looked over to her, feeling a small smile on my face. "Things are looking up, kind of. I'm good."

She nodded once. "Your friend Alex is back to her normal self, is she not?"

"She is."

"And the winged one?"

I laughed softly, feeling the familiar tumble of confused emotions. "That's going as good as it can, I guess."

She nodded again, watching me with those mysterious eyes. Every time she locked me with her gaze I felt the full force of the magic I possessed. I had never been more grateful for my power than when talking to her.

Soon she spoke up again, a quiet voice unhindered by the sound of the wind. "Would you like to share your problem, then?"

I slowly closed my eyes. "I… don't feel… right." So hard to put into words. "It feels like too much has shifted around me… that it's only going to get worse."

She cocked her head to one side, exaggerating the gesture slightly, as she tended to do. "And yet, you have said everything is going well?"

I nodded as she spoke my thoughts aloud. "I know it doesn't make any sense. I think I'm just afraid that someone else will change. There's been too much. I'm not sure how much more I can deal with… just as I get to like someone, they shift and change, and I have to learn to like them all over again."

Merisina straightened slightly. "Well I have been the same for many of your human years and I will not change." Her eyes sparked a little in an expression I recognized as pride.

I smiled to her. "That would be nice. I've enjoyed talking with you."

She smiled to me. "I am glad. You are my favorite human."

Emotions twisted painfully in my chest. I looked back to the ocean, willing it to give me answers, to make everything right. Sometimes it did bring me to finding out what I need... but I knew this time that there would be no help from the endless waters.

It was a while before she spoke again: "I bear a small message tonight."

"From the Sky? What's up?"

Merisina's voice was slow and careful. "Your proficiency with the dark energy is growing and an unprecedented rate. It is almost disturbing that you can become so powerful in such a short time."

I grinned to her. "What about that 'Night Cloud' guy? You said he had the strongest negative powers out of all of them, right?"

Her voice was not lightened by the smile. "Night Cloud only achieved his mastery of the darkness after a lifetime of training. You still aren't close to his level, but if you keep improving at this rate, you could reach his level of skill far earlier than he did."

I felt my muscles tense. The stories I'd heard about some of the Chosen's powers were almost too spectacular to believe. The idea that I could even get close was amazing.

"However."

Ah. There it is.

"This is unusual enough to be worrisome. Kierin, if you can, be careful. There are some things about the dark energy that we don’t know, and when anything related to it is unusual, the Sky worries. I have convinced it that efforts to persuade you to stop using it are useless and cruel, but as messenger and as a friend, I beg you to be careful."

The steadiness of her voice and gaze were disturbing. I felt the words ingrained into my mind. "…I'll be careful, Merisina."

She nodded once. "Please do, my friend."

I sighed, getting to my feet. "I think I should get some sleep."

Her voice lightened. "That is probably a good idea. You always seem happier after sleeping."

"Night, Merisina."

"Good night, Kierin. I will see you again soon." The light of her eyes dimmed and went out; the water melted to the ground, her whisper of farewell carried away with the wind.

I slowed to a stop, feeling my body reform out of the wispy dark energy at the grassy top of Ithaca Island. The cool night air was familiar and refreshing, though it still didn't feel the same as it used to. I took a deep breath. My eyes stung under the bandage.

The memories came back, like they always did. I could almost still sense residual energy from practicing with my storm powers, gone for more than a month now. My senses sharpened with the emotional spike, I could see every individual blade of grass in dark outline, swaying softly in the wind.

It didn't feel like it had been so long, now, since I had sat here, feeling that everything was finally going well, practicing with my powers, and talking with a friend. As I stood silently, lost in the memories, I felt a point of coldness on my neck. Facing skyward, another drop of rain touched my forehead, and I felt a terrible raging hope surge through my heart. The thought of speaking to her again, after believing that she was gone… My fingers clenched, but I knew my face showed no expression.

The water began falling thicker… everywhere. Thunder rumbled amiably in the distance. I lowered my head.

Before I had received my powers, I had liked to think that the whisper of wind and rain sounded like a voice. Now that I had heard the true voice of the storm, I knew I would never feel the whispers again.

It was only mocking me now.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Things never stay the same."

"Bad stuff does. The good never seems to."

"Seems like that sometimes, huh? Once something good changes, it's gone forever."

"But we make new friends. Right?"

"…Yeah. That doesn't mean we miss the old ones any less."

"Yeah."