It has been days since Tempest and Helios first met. While not much time had passed since Helios learned of his mother’s death, he’s proven Tempest’s thoughts on foals and their resilience. They were slowly learning about each other and finding their rhythm together. Having already raised three foals by now, Tempest didn’t have to worry about what to do and how to do it when it came to Helios. It was all just down to the bonding of two souls not biologically related. Unlike with Cordelia, who was not only Tempest’s first foal, but also not biologically her’s. It was a struggle at first that had Tempest seeking out her mother.
Aside from dealing with heightened emotions and new relationships, Tempest had to also focus on food sources and figure out if the pond was a reliable long term source of water or not. Starting out, Tempest mostly went through her own food rations to see how much she had left. Grains, along with dried fruits, vegetables and mushrooms, made up most of her food rations. Dried hay was harder to carry on long journeys and wasn’t something she could take with her. She contemplated setting aside some grains for planting near the water. This is where learning how reliable the water source was important. Although she was an atoms noul and could make it rain.
Once Helios seemed to shake off the worse of his depression from his mother’s death, he shared with Tempest the stash his mother had built up. It was hidden in one of the raised rocky “walls” of the oasis. So there was a sort of cave here. His mother had been slowly building up dried grasses and grains, that seemed to be all that was out here. The cave held quite a bit of food but rationing would need to be put in effect til Tempest could figure out where it was coming from. Helios wasn’t old enough to tell Tempest if this place was a main homesite although it appeared to be so. She also decided to explore deeper into the cave when she could.
“What do you think about learning to grow some of this right here?” Tempest inquired of Helios.
His head tilted and he looked up at the dark doe. “Like the grass?”
Tempest nodded, “The grains are the seeds of these grasses. When they grow up, the seeds are on the top of the stalk, the grass turns yellow and the seeds are ready. So in order to have seeds, the grass must die first. But if we want to eat the grass, we eat it while it’s green. Or we cut it down and let the sun dry it while green. That’s hay.”
“So were do we plant the seeds?” Helios looked around. The ground was still rather dry here although it wasn’t as hard as the ground beyond the oasis. “It doesn’t rain here and we don’t have anything to water the seeds with.”
Tempest smirked and wiggled her eyebrows at him suddenly. He made a face at her, she really was a weirdo. “What?”
“I can make it rain,” Tempest said smugly.
Helios didn’t looked amused or convinced, “You, you can make it rain? How?”
Tilting her head Tempest eyed him a moment. She didn’t see any adept markings on his mother’s body. So she was either not gifted or an apprentice. “Didn’t your mom teach you about magic?”
He thought for a moment. His mother did do somethings that seemed odd but to him were normal. She never really mentioned magic or anything. “I saw her use her horn to see in the cave. She also would make it feel cooler when I got too hot.”
Her ears swung forward and she smiled. “Your mother was a solar user! That was magic. I’m an atmos user. My magic is mostly for above us, like rain, wind and clouds. Would you like to see?”
Helios eyes widened and he suddenly gazed up at the bright and cloudless sky. This doe could make it rain even with the sky like this?! His big eyes returned to Tempest and he nodded, his twitched in anticipation. He watched as Tempest back away from him, she winked and then looked away. Grabbing hold of her wild magic, Tempest summoned it forth, the markings on her back tingled and began to glow. Helios stared in open mouth wonder as the blue swirls lit up. Tempest’s gaze moved skyward and clouds rolled into view, turning dark and full. Fat drops started to fall, splashing to the ground slowly and then speeding up as the cloud opened up. Helios open mouth turned upwards into glee as he splashed through developing puddles.
Tempest watched for a moment and then joined in the fun. While there was a small pool to swim in, splashing through puddles was a foalhood favorite. Together, they found themselves letting their cares and worries fade as they laughed and splashed. Helios was amazed by the magic Tempest showed him. He wondered if there was other things she could do, if he would one day be able to do magic too.
“Hey Tempest, will I get to use magic one day too?”
“Of course.”
“How do I get magic?”
“You go to a special tree. We call it Grandfather and it will send you on a vision quest to test you. Then it’ll bestow magic on you.”
“A magic tree? I wanna see it someday!” he said landing in a large puddle.
“When you’re old enough, I’ll take you to the tree.”
“When is that?”
“When you are an adult. There’s other magic abilities too. Not just what your mom or I can do. Some heal, others make plants grow or make things decay, some can find water and bring it to the surface or even vanish. There’s all sorts of new magic that appears too.”
The wonder of learning about magic for the first time is surely something to enjoy. Tempest liked telling her kiddos about magic. Bipin and Cordelia had already gone to see Grandfather and been blessed. Bipin was a fungal user and Cordelia was an aqua user. Two gifts mentioned to little Helios. Mahpiya hadn’t gone to see Grandfather before Tempest left on her journey. She wondered what her daughter would end up with once she went. She wondered what other changes would happen before she returned to Homewood.
WC: 1,073
Ability Used: Rain
