Elementally Bound: Part 10
----- Destined -----
Feeling free for the first time since they'd met, Ember took in a deep breath. Even the salty sea air was agreeable. She glanced to Valandra, then slowly began to walk away, an attempt to leave this crazy adventure behind her. Despite what they'd shared, there was little doubt Valandra would continue her insane ploy. Ember was almost certain she'd failed to convince the woman to work together. So, if the ice queen wanted a fight, she would just have to wait. Ember needed to get away, get out of the ridiculous swimsuit, and find her armor.
Valandra stared at her counterpart, contemplating the outcome of what would happen if she stopped her. And this hesitation angered her. Ember had seen her at her most vulnerable; had almost cracked the ice around her cold exterior wall. And, in her quest, that was a liability.
Since the moment they had met, things hadn't gone according to plan. First, there was Ember's involvement in her past. She had been a lover to Demitra, her own first love. Then, there was the betrayal of the rodent, Kievaa, and the extraction process: something that nearly ended them both. Whether the Asura knew the suit would confine the ice queen and if she even knew the process would not work, Valandra was unsure of the skritt's actual goal. It was dubious and despicable regardless. The results had them bound in the suits and they had been forced to endure a link, a bond, that eventually led them to this moment… to this tent. The events therein were embarrassing, pleasurable, flattering, and disconcerting all at once. Ember was only supposed to be a shell holding the power she needed to capture, and Valandra knew involvement with the woman was counterproductive to her goal… Yet, she found herself wanting to stop her - and for a different reason than she should have: a reason of the heart. She cursed her feelings, then circled back to place blame on the initial reason for the plan's derailment: Demitra.
Demitra had betrayed her after their romance blossomed, pulling Valandra from her destiny. If she hadn't, Valandra's sacrifice would have pleased the god-king, Joko. Her village would have been spared his wrath. Now, Demitra's involvement, again, had interfered. She had somehow gotten involved with this pyromancer-the very same fire wielder Valandra had been drawn to absorb. Had Demitra known this? Had she orchestrated their fate? The questions flooded the ice queen's mind. Since their arrival to the cliffs, Valandra felt as though she had been destined to end up here, and she couldn't help but think the visions and dreams, their destination, their very meeting, was somehow… arranged.
Interrupting her inner turmoil came an outward densely sickening feeling within her stomach. Snapping her attention back to Ember revealed the woman doubled-over, knees in the sand vomiting. Valandra vomited herself, and after the dizziness calmed, she clumsily approached a groaning Ember.
"Yeah," Valandra muttered. "Me too."
Ember wiped her mouth. "Balthazar's ball sack! We're still… stuck together?"
Valandra sighed. "It would appear that way. Whatever this is… It apparently didn't go away with the suits." She made no attempt to help the woman, instead she glanced around the beach, an attempt to avoid the awkwardness. She turned her attention in the direction of the celebration. In the distance, merchants could be heard shouting advertisements for their wares at the bazaar.
Ember stood. "You're going to blame me for this again, now, aren't you?"
"You did blow up the machine," Valandra said tiredly. While tired of the argument, her stance was solid.
Ember continued the fight, "And you made me go into the machine! So how is this my fault! This was all your doing!"
Valandra sighed. "I wonder about that, actually…" She seemed to linger a moment on the thought, then shook her head. "Regardless, let us not go down this path again. We're here, stuck in this place. I suggest we get food to replace what little we had in our stomachs before we heaved."
"I… Fine," Ember conceded, kicking sand over the mess. "But… I get to pick what we eat."
Valandra cocked her head to the side. "As long as it is not spider legs… Fine."
"Oh you haven't even tried them. They're so good!" Ember began their walk, prompting Valandra to follow.
"I am quite certain I would not 'have to try them' to know I do not like them, any more than I would eat an Awakened chicken!"
Ember giggled nervously. While still elated to be free of the suit, she found herself dancing around just how to speak to the woman after events of the tent. "Um… Well, hey, don't knock it till ya try it!" She said in sing-song, not necessarily meaning to. "Or maybe they'll have some kind of barbeque!" she said, salivating.
"Barbeque? Oh! You mean like shawarma? Dolyak shawarma or…"
The next word was Elonian and something that sounded as unappetizing to Ember as Dolyak meat. "I… Guess?" She blinked slowly, pausing to look at the woman. "You know, Demitra did much better at not looking so much like a foreigner."
Valandra rolled her sapphire eyes. "I am not Demitra, as much as your dreams want me to be…"
Ember's face flushed at the accusation, knew it to be spot on. She hadn't even taken the time to consider the dream; the events following were too chaotic and quick. In truth, this was the second dream in which Demitra had turned into Valandra, and while she couldn't take the time to analyze the dream, she was annoyed at the ice queen's presumption and intrusion. The water around Ember began to heat up and bubble. "Look… I can't control… Why don't I see your dreams? It's not fair for you to peek at mine!"
Valandra's voice took an ominous tone. "I.. I used to dream. I haven't dreamt since… Joko…" Her voice trailed off as she glided past the fire mage. "Your dreams… have made me realize just how much I missed it."
"Valandra…" Ember absently reached for the woman, pulled back when she saw herself doing it.
"I think…" the ice queen was still lost in thought, "I think beyond my search for you and your powers… I think we were always destined to meet; like an unseen hand guiding us to this path… to this place."
"Destined us to meet and fight, you mean? Destined me to lose?"
Valandra turned to face the woman. Her cold unblinking eyes piercing Ember's shield of fire. "Perhaps so. But, why do you think you lost? Do you believe a lack of power caused your inability to stop me? I was drawn to the absolute power you wield, yet I overpowered you."
"I… I honestly think I wasn't strong enough," Ember admitted. She'd been playing out the scenario since her defeat.
"You have the power within you. You squander it, and it is not just that you do not know how to tap into it… You're afraid of utilizing it."
Ember shook her head. "I've… I've seen what I'm capable of: I've burned camps of enemies and… and schools. It took all I had to recover and then finally rid myself of the dark passenger, and I… I don't want to lose control again."
"Exactly. You are afraid to lose yourself. I am not. I have seen what I am capable of as well; I've slaughtered entire villages in the name of Joko. And in that cave, I cared not about the establishment, the patrons, the very cave the bar was in. When I fight, I do so with no hesitation, no compunction. I was willing to bring the entire thing down on us both… I almost called forth the lightning to do just that!"
"See? That right there! Your lightning; why do you have lightning too? That pisses me off!"
"Because I took it!" Valandra growled. "Just as I was to take yours!"
Ember blinked. The woman's primal rage in the statement mirrored Ember's own usual speech. Valandra was, from what Ember had gathered, very cold, collected, and calculating; exact on what she said and what she was doing. Even in a situation where they were without clothing, food, or a sense of direction, the woman seemed to keep her cool. The reaction surprised Ember, but it was the first time more of Valandra's plan had been revealed, so the short pyromancer pressed on.
"You took it from someone like me?"
Valandra was already a few steps ahead, returning to their walk. She responded vaguely, in an attempt to focus on navigating the coral formations and regain her senses. "Not someone like you. Not a human. Well, at least he hadn't been human for quite some time, in any case."
"So you… cheated?" Ember was as careful with the accusation as she was with the coral.
"Cheated? No! I took what I needed. I was enacting a plan to call forth thunder bolts onto Joko. Freezing him doesn't work… I tried that when I was younger. A spell-the same that tracked me to you-was used to find the most magical concentration of the one with whom commanded those elements of wind and lightning."
"And you just took it? How did you take it? Who was the guy you took it from?"
Valandra grumbled an Elonian swear, wondering why she had already gone into more detail than she should have. "Didn't matter in the end anyway; Joko is an undying lich. Lightning and cold do not affect him. I thought that incineration…"
"So you hoped frying him would work? I mean, if electrocuting him and freezing him didn't work, what makes you think fire would?"
"Fire leaves nothing but ash if it is hot enough."
Ember tapped her chin for a moment. "Well, yeah, hopefully that would work. If not, we can always toast him into Joko jerky and eat him. Let the bastard come back from that!"
Valandra let out a hardy laugh. It was the first time she had even cracked a smile since their engagement. "Yes… Let's call that a secondary plan, yes? I think I'd rather eat spider legs first, than to devour an enemy!"
The two continued their walk with light banter. Valandra had misgivings about Ember; Ember had misgivings about Valandra. Yet, both women seemed to enjoy the other's company, and on more than one occasion, each let their mind wander back to the tent. Approaching the last island's shore, the cliffs lay just ahead, with a lagoon and a ship between them. There was music and laughter, and a general buzz of excitement as the Festival of the Four Winds was well underway.
Valandra was silent. As they came closer, she felt an unmistakable pull, the same tugging she'd felt that led her to Ember. Yet, the boon upon her was no longer; the spell had run its course. This was something… different… something familiar and majestic. It felt like destiny.
"So what now?" Ember strained to see the sights.
"Now? Now it looks like you get your wish, after all."
Ember blinked. "Food?"
Valandra grinned. "A vacation."
To Be Continued...
