Just A Little Push

[»Míríel«]

Peace had seemed to settle on the Cervantess household around the same time as a fresh coat of snow was drifting down. The little snowflakes were lazy now, before they had been rushing down like a waterfall over the mountain. The kids had been cooped up inside and now, finally, they were able to go outside and play. Although it had calmed down, there was an undercurrent of tension that everyone was aware of, but no one talked about, it was the elephant in the room per-say.

Tryss romped around in the snow, enjoying the sensation that the coldness on her warm scales brought. Although it chilled her, and was uncomfortable, something about it gave her pleasure. Although her element hated water, Tryss loved it. Whether this came from her blood being mixed with ice, or just constantly being surrounded by the solid version, she didn't know. Still she was going to enjoy what the newly fallen snow could offer. It was much better being out here than being stuck inside looking at the outside behind a glass wall.

There was a glimmer of hope that today would be a good training day. She had been begging Bijan and her parents to train her or to do something that would allow her to hone her skills and present a challenge, but due to the weather nothing had really be a possibility. Maybe, just maybe, today there would be a lesson. If not she would get Adelahn to play with her with their little "trick" or dodging game.

Just the thought of exercise made everything about her tingle and glow. She lowered herself on the ground, shifting forms quickly, and began trying to catch the snowflakes about her before they hit the ground. It was harder than she had though, they floated around unpredictably, like little white butterflies. Just the slightest shift in the wind and they would twirl into the other direction. This little game she made up took all of her attention and she lost sight of the world around her. Tryss wasn't even aware of of silly she looked, leaping around at what seemed like nothing from afar. She had a silly grin on her white scaled mouth and a giggle would pass her lips occasionally. It was an interesting sight.

[saerwen]

Fresh snow littered the ground, coloring all of creation white. Sometimes it seemed that was the only color that one could find in the mountains, but it was a very good color in Adelahn's opinion. She had been inside the house for far too long. She liked to sip hot tea and sit by the fire sometimes, and she liked to read a good book every now and then, or more importantly have her father read her a book, but most of the time, she just wanted to run outside and frolic in the snow. Her wings had been crammed inside her human form for far too long and they needed to be stretched and aired out a bit.

Also, Adelahn found that she didn't really like being in the house with her grandfather and her parents. She had approached Bijan once or twice, but most of the time she just stayed away. He seemed a very rough, unpleasant sort of fellow, and Adelahn didn't want to make him angry. Above all things, Adelahn hated it when people were angry, and she dreaded being the cause of it. Sometimes, she was afraid that if she made someone angry, they would never forgive her. Since her parents were so even kilter, every time they got upset it struck the girls very hard. It would take something very extraordinary to make either Miriel or Damion angry, but once it was done, there was no turning back. For this reason, Adelahn stayed quiet most of the time and let Tryss do all of the adventuresome talking.

So finally, on this beautiful day, Adelahn was able to free herself from the unwelcome restraint of the house and trample about outside. She hoped that today would be a wonderful day the filled her with all the excitement that she had been longing for in the past few days. As she stepped outside, she saw her sister bumbling around in the snow, haphazardly jumping around her and there. She looked rather silly, as though she were chasing after or playing tag with some imaginary friend. Her sister smiled before switching from her little black and white checkered dress and bright red scarf to her true form of radiant white feathers that looked like diamonds in the sunlight. She flitted and stretched her wings out luxuriantly before hopping over to her sister. Since birds really couldn't travel very well on their feet, wings were their main source of travel, and Adelahn had thus learned to fly fairly quickly. It was either that or get left behind in the dust by her sister who could run fairly well on all fours. But sometimes, Adelahn just got lazy, so she scooted her way over to her sister one little leap at a time.

Right as Tryss made another leap for a snowflake, Adelahn shot a small snowball right where her hand reached. She grinned at her sister, "Gotcha!" She then scooted back a little, "Wanna 'practice'?" she challenged.

[»Míríel«]

Tryss turned to her sister when she saw her feathered sister hopping toward her. A bright smile came o her face as she opened her teeth in a toothy grin, which if one wasn't used to it, could be quite frightening coming from a dragon. "I thought you would never ask!" A giggle came from her lips as she bounced back. "Wait a moment" There was to much snow on the ground for her to be able to move around. Although moving the snow could be seen as cheating, Tryss just figured it was a warm up anyways. More than likely in the heat of the game she would end up in the snow anyways.

Scrapping around with her feet she dug a little flat area where the harder snow was, instead of the powdery top layer. It couldn't have been done any faster. There was so much pent up excitement in her little scaled form that was it was quivering. Finally, she could do something that would let out everything that she had been penning up in her body. All the stress of the 'new arrival' and the anxiety of her parents, along with just the energy that a child possessed was uncontainable.

Whipping around to her sister once more she lowered herself slightly on her feet, bending her knees just enough to be agile but be stable. IT was a technique er father had hinted at and that she had figured out herself. Her smile now turned to a smirk as she nodded. "ready".

[saerwen]

Adelahn waited patiently for her sister to get situated. Tryss generally ended in a pile of water and snow since Adelahn could sometimes become a bit too competitive. She would start showering snow down along with her snow balls, so Tryss had to deal with a down pour of flakes along with targeted balls of snow and ice. Adelahn looked around her and traced out a small flight pattern. She generally tried to give Tryss a moving target problem. She would shoot from one place and then fly quickly to a new position and shoot from there. It made things a little less predictable and a bit more challenging. Their father and mother had both encouraged them to try testing themselves as far as they could go.

When Tryss gave her the okay, Adelahn jumped up a little in the air and flapped her wings a bit before getting her balance enough to shoot off one little snow ball. It was a starter, so it wasn't very fast or big. After the first shot, she went to Tryss' left and plopped on the ground before letting a few more attacks fly, and then jumping back up into the air and switching positions again. It took a lot of concentration, but Adelahn thought it was grand fun.

Bijan endured the miniature blizzard in the mountains with great tolerance. Normally, he would have enjoyed flying such a situation, but Damion had asked him not to since it would incur the children to want to go outside as well, and for the little fire dragon, that would have been nearly fatal since she was not quite experienced enough to keep herself warm in such situations. In the meantime, he had observed his son's family life and his family. Damion couldn't be happier, from what it seemed. He loved his wife, and his children were the most important thing to him. But Bijan wasn't concerned with his son's happiness. He was concerned with his son's health and responsibility to the clan, and the general disrespect that was shown in his choice of a marriage partner. Bijan harbored enough grudges against his son to fuel a forest fire, but he would only show them at the right time.

Now that he knew how his son's life worked here and saw the family interactions, he realized the weak points and determined to undermine them all. It had to start with the children, and then move to Miriel. Since those were the things holding Damion where he was, they had to go.

The children, once the storm was over, decided to venture outside and play, so he would go with them and begin his destructive work right away. When he looked out the door at the two girls, he saw them engaging in a mock battle from target practice. Tryss' fire was easily defending her from her sister's shots, but Adelahn was not going easy anymore. She was shooting quite fast. It was impressive on both sides since both were so young.

Bijan walked outside, into the snow, his shoes crunching in the snow under his feet. He always had liked that sound of crunching snow beneath his feet. Like the sound of ants when you stepped on them, it felt powerful. The girls were so deeply entrenched in their game he would have to think of a way to get in. Just as he was contemplating saying something, Adelahn overshot Tryss slightly, and the ice ball landed at Bijan's feet. He picked it up at looked at the girl who had realized what she had done. Bijan had to struggle to fight his distaste at her weak phoenix form. What a mess Damion had made...

"You both are very good at this," he commented, "but aren't you only allowing yourselves to specialize in one area? Adelahn gets training for attack quick movement tactics, and Tryss gets training for defense and deflection, but don't you need a firm grounding of both? Have you tried doing it the other way?"

[»Míríel«]

The first snowball was easy, as normal. They always allowed each other to warm up before the fury of attacks began. Tryss deflected it easily and before it could go near her it turned into a puddle on the ground. Gathering her wings around her Tryss used them to keep her stable and to be ready to move if one of the snowballs caught her off guard. Slowly the attacks from her sister were growing more intense and challenging. Not only did she constantly have to dodge her sister's now moving attacks, she had be be careful of her feet. The puddles created from the melted ice and snow were starting to freeze, and could be potential hazards if she didn't keep track of them.

A smirk cam to her face as she easily rolled, dodged, or melted the attacks, but now as Adelahn was warming up Tryss's face grew more stoic. Her blue eyes flamed with delight and focus. This is what she lived for, fighting. What could beat the thrill of the danger, the adrenaline rushing through her veins, the unpredictability, and the challenge? Each day that she practiced she could feel herself growing more and more skillful. Not to mention it was nice to finally stretch her legs after being confined in the house for a while. Tryss was so involved in the moment that she didn't even notice her grandfather's approach. She had dodged the snowball that landed at his feet only to almost run into him herself. Letting out a little screech she stumbled back and looked up at him.

Her white scales glistened in the sun's light and her blue eyes were glossy from the fever of "battle". She muttered an apology and shook any snow from her wings. "Thank you." Her tone was reserved, but it didn't hide the pride that rose from the compliment. "Oh we can't do that quite yet. It's to dangerous for me to fire things directly at Adelahn until we are older and she can protect herself from fire better." Tryss didn't mean to make it sound like her sister was the weaker and that she was the stronger in the relationship she was just repeating the argument her other had given her on this subject. She looked thoughtful for a moment and tilted her head in thought. "Though now that I think about it I have only tried defense." It never occurred to her that her precise attacks on the snowballs hurling at her, while being a deflective maneuver could have counted for missiles or enemies coming towards her. Her ability to hit something so precisely and cleanly was increasing her attack abilities. Looking up at her sister than her grandfather she asked, "Do you think it would be OK if we tried it? We are older than last time." She was so blinded by her excitement for trying something new, and still high on the rush of adrenaline that she wasn't thinking as clearly as normal.

[saerwen]

Adelahn didn’t like the suggestion by her grandfather. Mother and Father had told them specifically not to fire at eat other in the reverse order. She was too easily burnt and if she became truly angry, she could freeze Tryss over. Their elements were too much the opposite of each other for them to be too careless with their powers. At least, that is what her parents said.

“I don’t think that is a—“ she was cut off by Tryss telling her grandfather the reason they couldn’t fight. What Tryss said was true, but it lit a bit of pride in Adelahn. She was strong enough to deflect Tryss. Her sister and she were equally matched. She didn’t say anything, but inwardly, she resented Tryss’ speech. As her sister rambled on she landed on the ground and brooded.

Bijan noticed the change in the girl as she shuffled her feet in the snowy ground. He prevented a knowing look from coming to his face and instead, showed one of extreme seriousness to both girls, “I think your parents are right. It is dangerous. But what is life without a few risks? You never learn anything without making mistakes, which I am sure you both did when you first started this form of training. If you are so averse to it, why don’t you just start off easy with one shot at a time, and then you can let things speed up slowly, as you learn how to control your powers a bit more.” Then, to add an extra push, he said with resolution, “And I will be here, to watch. So if anything looks like it will go awry, I will help you.”

Adelahn folded her wings back and narrowed her bird’s eyes at him, “I still don’t think we should do it without asking father. He might be angry if we did it without asking him.”

“But what would your father be able to do as a referee that I wouldn’t? Just think of it as a snowball fight. Or dodge ball if you prefer. Don’t tell me you are scared of your sister beating you?” He cast an approving glance at Tryss.

Adelahn felt her blood freeze at his words. Something in the back of her head told her that he was tricking her, but she couldn’t take the put down. There was no way she was scared of Tryss and her fire. And if Adelahn hated anything in the world, it was being identified as a wimp. She wouldn’t have it.

Giving a rather miffed huff, she pushed her beak up in the air, “Fine. Give me your best shot.” She got into a ready position, perfectly set to spring into the air when her sister should choose to attack.

Bijan chuckled at her answer. At least she had the pride of a dragon, if not the physical form. That was one trait he could admire in his frosted granddaughter.

[»Míríel«]

"Oh come on Adelahn! It'll be fun!" Tryss cried out at her sister when she said they should as their father if they could switch roles. Tryss had been itching to try something new, and this would be a great new challenge for her. She couldn't keep her feet still he was so excited. It was obvious that she was relieved when Bijan argued that he could be just as good of a referee as their father. A large smile came to her face as she nodded and shifted her feet.

The only thing that caused her smile to falter was the last part of his sentence. Even though she wanted to defend her sister, something within her rose and she felt her pride fluff up. Whatever she was going to say in her sister's dfense died on her lips under her grandfather's approving look. He liked her? Her grandfather actually was looking at her with pride. Perhaps he wasn't so bad. She felt her guard drop a bit. Perhaps her dream of having a loving grandfather could be true. The reality of the fight with her father earlier was faded to the back of her mind as the dreams of the future became brighter.

Looking at her sister Tryss flexed her wings and smirked at her sister. "If you say so. You better watch out though. It's going to get hot out here." She couldn't let her grandfather down, not when she was on his good side now. Leaping to the side she shot off a small puff of fire at her sister. The jump, combined with her nerves and excitement, caused the fireball to be a little poorly aimed, and slow. It would have made Adelahn move, but wouldn't have been hard to dodge.

She waited to see what Bijan would say about her first attempt. Surely since he knew it was her first he wouldn't be to harsh She knew she had messed up, but she was still so proud of herself at making it go in the right direction she couldn't help it.

[saerwen]

Adelahn didn’t really like this one bit. The part of her that always tried to be the family goody-two-shoes kept nagging at her and saying that if she got caught doing this, there would be no amount of words to describe the trouble she would be in. But the other half of her being was consumed with the desire to prove her power and out-do her sister. She had never really been given the opportunity to think of her sister that way, and she didn’t know why her parents seemed to negate their competition so much. Competition seemed like a perfectly good way to this more competitive side to gain power and experience.

As she waited, Adelahn looked at her grandfather, who had crossed his arms over his broad chest and stepped back to watch. Something in the back of her head told her he didn’t really plan of refereeing this fight at all, but she didn’t need his help. She and her sister knew each other better than anyone, and they knew what they could take. She trusted Tryss five times more than she trusted Bijan, especially after his cast off remarks that put Tryss in his favored position. Of course he liked her, she was a dragon.

Adelahn’s thoughts got darker and darker. She felt her powers seeping from the corners of her mind to the world around them, and the temperature began to fall slowly, one tiny degree after another.

When Tryss shot off her first fire ball, Adelahn unleashed a small amount of her rage on the little puff of flame with an ice ball about two times the size of the attack. However, they were an equal match for each other. This one test shot showed Adelahn that her sister’s fire would easily leave her tired because she had to expend more effort to cover each attack. This however, only drove her to make things more aggressive. She would not be beaten.

Bijan watched the two girls give their first parry. Tryss was too excited to focus so her shot was lopsided, but he wasn’t going to reprove her. He had seen the effect his one sided behavior had on his icy grandchild. She was angry. Bijan knew that his actions would tick off one of them, and that was the desired effect. When one was angry, the fight was no longer for play, but for keeps. When you had those two desires, play and keep, mixed in opposition, only one thing could happen. The person playing for play would get hurt. As Adelahn expended her energy on the fight, she seemed to be getting more and more roweled up. While Tryss might not have noticed the minute weather changes, Bijan noticed it. This was the part where he had to start playing the children carefully, because both Damion and Miriel had proven very attuned to the barometric pressure of the mountains. They knew when it changed, and they often knew where that change came from. If the fight didn’t explode soon, Damion or Miriel would waltz outside and find something going awry.

Turning to Adelahn after the fire and ice had blistered away, he gave her a sharp look, “That was good, but a bit lacking. Try for something a bit more extravagant next time, like this.” He held out his hand and created a barrier of ice in front of him about an inch thick. “All you have to do is force the ice to construct as you desire it to.” With a flick of his hand, the wall fell down in a heap of water that would have drowned one of Tryss’ little sparks in an instant. “It is yours to command, so don’t back away from it. Try again.”

The chiding remark and the show of power were just one more added goad to Adelahn’s rage. She found a firm dislike growing inside of her that blamed Tryss for making her look bad, at her grandfather for correcting her, and herself for being so inexperienced. All of these combined with the new idea of what her powers could do made Adelahn even more fired for the fight. She looked at Tryss with a challenge in her eyes begging, “Give me what you’ve got.”

[»Míríel«]

Tryss was amazed by the size of ice that Adelahn had to use to block her shot. It was strange making Adelahn figure out how much power she needed to use to properly deflect something. Many times Tryss had miscalculated and been pelted by ice chunks not completely melted. Ideas started to come to her mind as strategies formed. She could use this inexperience of her sister to her advantage. Granted, she wouldn't do anything to much to hurt her sister.

She couldn't help but smirk again as Bijan chided Adelahn. There was something dark growing within her. It felt so good. She wanted to be on top, she wanted to be the best.Miriel and Damion had treated them as equals, and until now Tryss had never seen Adelahn as her competition. The only rivalry she had was with other families, like Jaedon and Neron's kids. Usually this would be the time when Tryss would encourage her sister by telling her and reminding her how silly she had looked herself when she just started. Instead she said nothing.

The look Adelahn gave her only increased her desire to show off what she had. Tryss returned the look with one of her own that said, "You can't handle what I have got. You're not ready yet. You are weaker than me." After alll BIjan had chided Adelahn, not her. Sending a larger ball of fire immediatly she leaped off to one side and sent of a grouping of smaller balls of fire before leaping up in the air and sending a last one hurling down at her sister. Although Tryss had done a much harder combination of attacks, she wasn't giving it her all. Sometime within her was holding back. She was still protecting her sister, even though it was unconscious.

[saerwen]

Adelahn saw that Tryss had taken her challenge as a new barrage came ranging in towards her. When she saw her sister’s returned stare of challenge, her rage felw off the end. The weather changed drastically around the little group. Snow and rain began to fall in unison, the rain quickly turning to hail. It whirled around Adelahn and continued to circle her in rhythm with the beating of her wings.

She dodged the first few attacks by flying out of the way, and then, using as much concentration as she had, she tried to create the ice wall like Bijan had. It worked to a minimal degree, being quite thin. The first of the attacks to hit it made holes in the ice, but Adelahn patched them up quickly and waited for the last one to come. As it did, she released the water from its frozen state, something her father had been working on teaching her, and watch was the fire ball was consumed with the water and turned to steam. She smirked in satisfaction, but it wasn’t a sporting kind of smirk. It was a come and get me kind. Before she let anything settle into the ground, she narrowed her eyes at Tryss and threw a heavy barrage of her own at her sister, not waiting for the okay from her sister. It was an attack of pure anger. The snow and hail began to pelt in Tryss’ direction with a fury.

Bijan watched as Adelahn worked with her ice to defend herself. Tryss wasn’t holding back anymore, which he found quite satisfactory. She was so consumed with fighting passion she was too blind to see the danger of her attacks, and Adelahn was enraptured with her anger. Bijan was severely surprised by Adelahn. Her powers were very good. Granted, he knew that was just because she had become emotionally unstable and it was simply her inner reflexes controlling her power now, not her mind. But even with that taken into account, she was pulling out tricks that Damion used to exploit in his training sessions. It seemed that Adelahn, however pitiful her true form was, had inherited Damion’s powers to the fullest extent.

As he stood by and watched, he knew that he didn’t have to intervene. The girls weren’t thinking twice about him standing there as a referee. They were focused on each other. However, he did have to control Adelahns storm. Her rage would leak out to Damion and Miriel in pressure changes. Holding out a hand, a white light began to shine from his hand, springing a barrier made of water that surrounded the girls and encapsulated Adelahn’s swirling storm. The two girls were in a playing rink of their own now, and their field was now doubt about to be blown up. As angry as Adelahn was, Bijan fully expected Tryss to be the one to deal the telling blow. Fire was always damaging to young ice users, and all it would take would be one missed shot on Adelahn’s part. She was blinded by rage an inexperienced with her powers, which meant that when her rage died, her body would be drained of power and any regenerative life that she had inside that little phoenix’s body would be eaten away with her sheer lack of strength. She would be sleeping for the rest of the day if not longer at the end of everything, and the seeds of hatred which had already been planted in the girls for each other would grow into seeds of hatred for their parents who would no doubt crack down on their actions.

From inside the house, Damion, as he sat at the kitchen table, read his newspaper happily. Things were happening in the world, and Damion liked to stay up to date with it. He always had. Old habits died very hard sometimes, and Damion found that reading the newspaper was just such a habit. But Miriel didn’t mind and the girls thought it was hysterical for some odd reason, so perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing. And when he was done with the, he let the girls do whatever they wanted to with it.

As he sat at the table, drinking his cup of tea, blowing a slight chill on the steamy liquid with each little sip, something around him began to change. He didn’t really know what it was at first, just the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Then it became a bit more annoying. Cutting his eyes to the side from his paper he looked out the window. His ears popped very minutely. Nothing terrible, just enough to tell him the temperature outside had changed. He furrowed his brow. It was odd for the weather to change so quickly unless it was one of the girls.

He put the paper down after folding it haphazardly into a heap of ink and pressed trees on the table and left his china tea cup behind. He called to Miriel as he looked out the kitchen window, “Sweet heart, was the weather supposed to change today? I thought the snow was gone for now.” Then another thought struck him, “And have you seen Bijan this morning?”

[»Míríel«]

Tryss was flabbergasted when her little barrage didn't go quite as planned. Her sister had deflected every one of them. A little sense of pride started to warm her heart after she got over the inital shock. It died before she even noticed it, for a torrent of hail and snow came her way without warning. Adehlahn had broken one of the rules, blatantly. She had attacked without warning, without say. Usually they reviewed the failures or successes at the end of each attack. This time was not the case.

It didn't take much for anger to flare up in her fiery soul. She bared her teeth as it took all her concentration to deflect, dodge the attacks. A couple hit home and the stings of their strikes only increased her anger at her sister. How could she?" It was time to let go of restraint. IT was time to act.

Tryss was used to bursts of anger, they were frequent in her element, and so she knew how to harness the strength she got from them and still somewhat stay in control. This attack from her sister had cased her to walk on the edge. She wanted to get back at Adelahn for making her look bad. She wanted to prove to her grandfather that she could fight just as well, if not better than her sister. The blaze grew within her heart and her blue eyes flashed with anger.

Letting out volley of fire balls she danced around her sister as she tried to not only defend herself but attack. The air was getting colder and Tryss could only respond by making herself hotter, and her flames more powerful. With each hit she took, the more she lost control and when one piece of ice, bigger than she had ever experianced hit her in the face she lost all control. The blow sent her sliding off the the side and when she picked herself up it was obvious that rage now consumed her as well. Claws dug into the ground, her teeth were bared, her wings outstretched. Just before another piece of ice came her way she leaped off the ground. IT was obvious that Adelahn was able to block her fire balls. IT was time to try soemething different. Hurtling towards the center of the storm it was all Tryss could do to stay on target. The center of the storm was where Adelahn was, Tryss knew it. It was time to end this, and be on top. Tapping into her anger she let the hottest fire she could conjure come from her mouth, not in the form of one ball, but a steady and vicious stream of fury. She was so mad that the flames were not red but an almost white tipped with red. Adelahn wanted what she had, and Tryss was giving it to her. If she managed to break through Adelahn's defenses, hit her with the fire to weaken her enough so she could pin her down, Tryss knew she wouldn't hesitate to keep attacking with claws and teeth. She thirsted for one thing, victory and she didn't care in what form it came in.

Miriel had been smiling at her husband as he hid behind his paper. It was nice to see something normal after all the excitement and disorder that had been reigning the past couple days. Taking a sip of her coffee she enjoyed the soothing, nutty taste it brought to her tastebuds. There was something so invigorating about the smell and taste of coffee. When he paused and asked her she thought for a moment, setting down her mug. "I don't think so. It was supposed to warm up today." She was about to ask why when she realized a change in the air now too. IT had gotten colder, but then it changed suddenly. The change was very slight, but it was disturbing. Weather did not change back and forth like that unless something or someone was tampering with it. Her eyes widened when he asked the second question. "Just to go outside." She hating having to say those words. She hadn't realized at the time but he had gone out soon after the girls had. Miriel stood up suddenly, causing her coffee to jerk and slosh in the cup. Something in her mother instincts were going off. Something wasn't right.

[saerwen]

Bijan watch the girls and felt the changes taking place quite satisfactorily. He maintained his shield around the girls for a moment longer, until he saw Tryss start her dash for Adelahn when that happened, he withdrew his hand and the swirling elements exploded on the waking world with a new vengance. Even he was smashed in the face with Adelahns rushing winds and Tryss' fire. A smirk of satisfaction lit his features as he took one last look at the girls and then walked away, manipulating the snow to cover his tracks as he went. It wasn't long before he was out of sight. He didn't want to be around when Damion came out and found this mess.

Damion listened to his wife, becoming more and more worried with each word she said. Bijna went outside. The girls were playing outside. He looked back out the window right as a new force spread over the world. Someone had just let out a huge amount of cold air, and snow flakes were starting to hit the window before melting to water droplets. "Adelahn, she's angry." That was all he could say before turning and sprinting for the door. If his daughter got angry enough, she could seriously hurt Tryss. And if Tryss tried to defend herself afterwards, Adelahn could get hurt as well.

Adelahn watched in satisfaction as her blows struck her sister with all of her might. She had always known that her ice was stronger, and the satisfaction of seeing her blows count made her throw them only ten times harder. However, her inner strength was waning without her knowledge. Her natural reflexes were protective powers that were meant to save her from danger for a certain amount of time until help came, and she was wasting them on attacks. They were meant to be purely defensive.

When Tryss switched to going on the offensive, Adelahn went back to her defenses. She again, created another wall of ice, this time a bit thicker. Each attack was stopped beautifully, and Adelahn felt this giddy sensation of accomplishment fill her. She had actually done it. She had created the perfect defense against her sister. That meant she could beat Tryss. She could out last her! However, she wasn't prepared for Tryss' final attack. Her wall stopped it just long enough to let her slide just to the side of the attack, but she could still feel the flames scalding her feathers. Her snow and hail began to swirl closer around her as her defensive nature fought to keep her safe from the rage of the fire, but her strength was almost out. She had spent too much of it on her wall. Tears stung her eyes as she felt the fire that had already burnt her start to eat its way further into her body. Fire burned everything in sight, and Adelahn no longer had the ability to fight it from spreading further into her body. The fire's stream ended suddenly, and Adelahn's little form landed haphazardly on the ground. She flailed for a moment to get her footing back a bit, but even when she got it back, it still felt like she was going to fall over. She was too weak. Her storm faded, and all of her energy was consumed in trying to heal her burns.

Damion reached the door just in time to see Tryss get pelted back by one of Adelahn's attacks. It was a very powerful strike. As he looked at Adelahn, he could see she was angry. Her phoenix eyes were glowing blue, almost white now. Everything Adelahn normally would have paid attention to was lost. That last attack had been the climax of it though. Her powers would wear down soon. He was now running to the two girls. To his dismay, Tryss was now up again and she was mad as well. She was tearing through Adelahn's storm for a direct attack. He watched as she opened her mouth and shot out a long stream of fire at Adelahn. Stopping dead in his tracks, he watched, simply stunned for a moment. How had this happened?

"Tyss, STOP!" he shouted over the roar of the warring elements. "Stop, Tryss, you're going to hurt her." His daughter didn't seem to listen. Clenching his teeth, he raised a hand and sent a blast of ice that completely swallowed Tryss' fire. She was good, but not good enough to over-power him yet. The blast wouldn't hurt her, just choke her fire back for a moment. He lowered his hand and resumed his run towards the girls, specifically towards Adelahn who had already fallen over. He was too focused on making sure she was alright to notice what Tryss did next. He was counting on Miriel to come behind him and take care of their other daughter.

[»Míríel«]

Miriel came running out behind Damion. Dread welled within her soul as she felt warmth flashing through the cold, then cold biting into the warmth. All hope that it was a strange weather phenomenon was gone. What happened? Why were their girls fighting. She wanted to blame it all of Bijan, but as they got nearer to the fight she didn't see him.

The anger within Tryss now welled into beautiful, vindictive, rage. All sense of right and wrong was lost. She had to have victory, she must. She almost hadn't gotten through the wall of ice her sister had prepared for her. If she hadn't been so angry, she would have had to crash through it with her body weight. If she had been more in control of her senses she would have felt disappointment in missing her sister with the blast of fire, but now, she merely turned on her sister to find where she had gone, still firing a blast of flames. A smirk crawled to her face as the hail and snow dropped around her sister. Just as she was going to let her flame cook her sister it suddenly was stopped by some unseeing force. Something cold hit her mouth, the intensity of it sealed part of it shut.

All of Damion's cries of stopping fell of deaf ears. Although his "Attack" had made her pause in shock, it did nothing to stop her. When Tryss realized that Damion was going to tarnish her victory Tryss only got more frantic. Leaping toward her sister she reached out with her claws, ready to finish her attack.

Miriel was astonished at the girls. Their fight had been vicious, and brutal. Tryss was so lost in her emotions that she had forgotten about reality. She was blinded to all sense of love, of devotion, or of correct behavior. Seeing her daughter consumed by the fiery emotion sent chills down Miriel's heart. She had hoped her daughter would never experience those emotions, but now she saw that she had been to naive. The way Damion rushed to Adelahn's side told Miriel that the situation was anything but good. Just as she was about to look at Adelahn she notices Tryss preparing for a leap. "Surely she wouldn't-" Miriel didn't have time to finish her thought. Lunging forward she caught Tryss in mid-air and gripped her tightly. IT was harder to restrain her than she had thought.

Tryss did not like being constrained, no matter who it was, they would pay. Lashing out with claws, she felt some of her thrashing hit the mark. Even in the struggle she didn't lose sight of her main target. Someone was blocking Adelahn, they would have to go. A stream of fire came from her mouth now, melting the ice that closed it. Although she felt as powerful as she ever had been, Tryss did not realize how tired she was now. The fight had taken a tole, not to mention her sister's attacks had left bruises and cuts in her still soft dragon scales. The fire aimed at Damion's back was very weak. Before she could see if it hit or if it was to weak to even make it that far, she felt a strong hand close around her mouth. Tryss was to tired to escape it this time, all she could do was struggle.

Miriel felt her hands burned as she tried to hold Tryss back. Her daughter, due to the rage, whole body had gotten hot. Miriel was a bit surprised with the intensity Tryss fought back to. The pain coming from her arms told her that Tryss wasn't going to give up easily. To her horror she saw flames spew out at Damion. A spark of anger came within Miriel. It was time to stop being gentle. Pinning Tryss down in one arm she reached around and clamped the girl's mouth shut with all her strength. "Tryss! You will stop this now! Do you understand me?" The struggles of her daughter weakened. Only when she heard a whimper of defeat did she loosen her grip on her daughter.

"Did I get her?" Tryss's voice had a rasp to it, showing how tired she was. A smirk came to her face. The bloodlust in her eyes faded and she went limp in Miriel's hands.

Miriel looked down in horror at the creature in her hands. This wasn't her daughter. It couldn't be. What she held now was a monster. She almost couldn't look up to see the answer to Tryss's query but for Adelahn she had to. Looking at Damion with a completely lost, angry, surprised, confused, and dreading look she waited for him to tell her the condition of Adelahn. She couldn't express how much she wanted to rush to their sweet daughter's side and bring her close, but she couldn't. If Adelahn was badly hurt, any warmth could push her over the edge.

[saerwen]

Damion gently picked up Adelahn. She was out. The second he touched her, he felt a zap of cold energy connect with his hand. Her healing powers were trying to get rid of the burn, but she didn't have enough energy. If she continued to try and heal herself, all the energy would be used up, and she could die. Damion felt panic threaten his mind, but her shoved it aside, and he quickly went to work trying to patch his daughter up. He couldn't grab snow from anywhere around the girl because Tryss had already melted it all. Instead, he made his own. holding his hand just above the wound, he formed little pile of snow and ice after little pile. The burnt flesh slowly started to steam and then return to ice.

Adelahn stirred slightly, opening her eyes just barely, she asked, in her delirium, "Daddy? Where did Bijan go? He was supposed--" She cut off before anything else could be said. But that was all Damion needed to know. His ice became colder on the little girls wing as anger filtered through his soul like water running down the side of the mountain.

He shushed her quietly as she fell back to sleep. He was about to pick her up when he remembered it would disturb her healing powers. Silently he promised himself that one day he would find a way around that. As he thought, he heard the sound of struggle behind him and then, the blast of more fire. It wasn't Miriel's. It was too weak to be Miriel. Once again, his anger lashed out, but only at Tryss' fire. Without even turning his back he raised a fist and the fire was split into two streams before being completely chocked out, turning to nothing but a bit of steam and snow flakes.

He wasn't in a hurry to move Adelahn, seeing as how it was coldest outside in the mountain air, and the cold was what she needed most, so he got up and whirled around to face Tryss. If she had ever seen him angry, she had never seen him this angry before. Miriel might remember this appearance from the time he was face to face with Eventide. In the back of his mind, he reminded himslef where the problem had started, but as a parent, he also couldn't help feeling that he had failed to teach his daughters how to resist that kind of temptation. Most of all, Damion could hardly believe Tryss was so eaten by war-like desire that she would even attack him and her mother. He hadn't thought that kind of nature was possible in his sweet girls, but he had been too naive. Ice and fire were the most volatile elements in the world, how could they not lead to anger, hatred, betrayal, and a lack of feeling?

Damion's sensitive ears caught her rasping words, and he narrowed his eyes at her, "Oh yes, Tryss, you got her alright. I hope you're satisfied with yourself." His words were not very loving at the moment. He was struggling to keep himself from yelling at her, from freezing them all to death due to angry outbursts, and from focusing so much on his daughter's wrong. He knew the more he focused on it, the worse his wrath would be. Part of him was tempted to walk away and let Miriel deal with it because he was just that angry.

"Tryss," he started very quietly, obviously fighting his instincts to scream, "I don't know how many times your mother and I told you it was forbidden for you two to fire at each other. The only reason we let you play that way to begin with was so you would gain experience in fighting so that if the time ever came where you needed to defend yourself, you could do it. But I think it is obvious you can't handle even that. Your fighting skills are excellent, don't get me wrong," the compliment was paid in a very dark tone, "but you obviously don't think when you fight. You lost yourself in anger and bloodlust. If you can't discipline your mind to fight the enemy within your own heart, then you will never be able to fight at all.

"You think it's merely fun and games to fight, and winning is all you count worthy of your time, but what you forget is that every time you win, someone else gets hurt or dies. You might see that as weakness in them, but if that is your opinion, then you don't have a warrior's soul. And those without a warrior's soul kill for pleasure. That is something I will not allow in my house as long as I live." He shook his head. Even Jaedon when she was an assassin understood the meaning of taking a life. How is it she managed to grasp that concept without any training, and yet my girls who have heard this preached to them from the time they were born still don't understand?

With the anger still evident in his eyes, as he turned around and walked back to Adelahn. Taking off his shirt, he wrapped his daughter in it before picking her up and walking towards the house. He would lay her on the swing on the back porch. The cold air could still reach her there. As he left, he spoke one last time, "You have no idea how disappointed I am, Tryss." Whatever came next from their daughter, Miriel would have to take care of it. He couldn't hold his anger in much longer. He would throw his power into keeping Adelahn cold as he fumed.

----------

Bijan watched from the cover of some nearby trees as Damion masterfully shoveled heaps of ice on his own anger. Bijan, knowing his son, could almost see the steam from the battle within coming off his son's shoulders. It was true that Damion's soul was all ice, but his anger sometimes felt like it belonged to that of a fire elemental.

As he listened to Damion speak to Tryss, he felt a small amount of disgust rise inside him. Warrior's soul? Bijan scoffed. The warrior's soul raged inside that girl as she tore through the ice and snow. In his mind, it was the ability to kill that showed whether you had that inside you or not. Honor was always required in a fight, but if your opponent was weak, and you crushed them, then they deserved to feel the weight of their punishment. Damion's view of self-constraint had always bothered Bijan. He didn't know where his son got his views, but it wasn't from him.

As Damion left he quietly sneaked out of the forest cover and walked slowly over to Miriel, coming across as a sort of oblivious bystander. He didn't want Tryss seeing him and calling him out, so he waited until it seemed like the little girl was a bit more out of it.

He asked her as she approached, "What happened here?" He observed the scorch marks and piles of random snow around them. "I saw them playing their game as I left, but I didn't think it would turn into a full scale battle."

[»Míríel«]

Miriel stood there silently holding her daughter as Damion was struggling to control his anger. She had seen this before, it seemed like so long ago. Miriel had hoped she would never see it again, much less directed at her daughter. She understood what Damion was feeling, she was feeling around the same thing herself. Miriel didn't claim to understand what it felt like to be the ice element and to have fire burn through your defenses with it's fury, all she knew is what it felt like to have your life's fire almost quenched by water. To feel all the warmth, all the emotion start to fade with each drop. Cold would seep in until there was no scrap of the fire that blazed inside was left. She felt like she could relate to him, but at the same time, it frightened her to see Damion lose his cool. He was always her rock, and when she shook, she felt her world tilt out of balance. As soon as he left she looked down at her daughter. "I don't think you need to hear anything from me after that. You were very foolish, Tryss, very foolish. Now that you have felt what that fire feels like, identify it next time and steer away." Miriel let out a sigh and she stroked the girl's scales gently. "Are you ok?"

Tryss didn't even look at her father as he spoke. His words hit her like daggers in the heart. Her emotions were way out of balanced and she was extremely sensitive in her deprived state. Damion's whole monologue cut her to the core. "I think it is obvious you can't handle even that", "but you obviously don't think when you fight. You lost yourself in anger and bloodlust" these words circled in her head. Around and Around they went, each time cutting deeper, hitting harder. If it wasn't bad enough Damion wrapped it up with the worst phrase she had ever heard in her short life, "You have no idea how disappointed I am, Tryss.". A tear welled in her eyes as her soul mourned.

Instead of letting the grieving state take place Tryss stopped herself. The devil inside her was talking. "Don't listen to him. He blamed it all on you. He didn't lecture Adelahn, he just carried her away while he turned his back on you. Just because you were defending yourself he is going to take away something that means the most to you, your game. Now you will never be able to practice. He doesn't even think you can be a warrior. You are nothing but a disappointment to him. You lust for the fight is a disgrace to the family. You, are a disgrace. "One tear fell from her eye. Silently she swore it was going to be the last. No longer would she show that outer side of what was going on within. In that one tear died her innocence, her naivety, and her childlike love. In it's place bitterness and resentment were being planted.

Only one thing kept the seeds from immediately taking root, that was the touch and kind words from her mother. The latter advice fell on deaf ears though. Now that she know knew what it felt like to taste the anger and bloodlust, she already was wishing for that rush again. To feel power surge through the body, the glory of winning, she was hooked. Tryss hid the tear and closed her eyes. "I'm fine." She stated grumpily. She would never tell her mother how her whole body felt like it was loaded down with lead, and how every movement she made ached. Miriel would just heal her, and that was the last thing Tryss wanted. She wanted to sulk in her pain and let every bruise remind her of her pact she made that day.

Miriel frowned but nodded. "You sure?" She looked at the wounds that littered her daughter's body, the missing and chipped scales, little patches of blood seeping out. She wasn't fooled by her daughter's act, but she knew better then to do something that Tryss didn't ask for, especially in this delicate situation.

"Just tired." Tryss knew she had to give her mother some sort of information about her status to pacify her.

Miriel nodded. "I bet. You've had a big day." She warmed her body up a bit to make it more comfortable and relaxing for her daughter. The effect was immediate. Tryss snuggled closer and fell asleep in her mother's arms in no time. Miriel looked down and frowned. "Oh my daughter, I wish I could have saved you from this fate. I have failed you. I should have taught you better." She let out a long sigh just as she heard Bijan behind her. Jumping slightly she turned. Miriel had been unaware of his approach due to her thoughts. "Our daughters just had a little accident in their game. Nothing to bad." The words sounded hollow even to her. IT was obvious from the state of Tryss in her arms, and the chaotic surroundings that it was anything but a a little "accident". I'm surprised Damion and I didn't sense it before.[/b]" Then something dawned on her. Turning towards him she narrowed her eyes. " Are you saying that you didn't know anything of this?" Her voice darkened. "Be careful what you say." Miriel did not have the words of Adelahn or Tryss to confirm Bijan's involvement in this. As far as she knew the girls had just gotten to involved in their game. Although her suspicions were leaning high in Bijan's favor, she wanted to hear his defense before judging.