“Good morning sunshine”, Sasha said, casually strolling inside Elias's bedroom.

Elias woke up with a big gasp, glowering at her.

“How did you come in?”

“Haven’t you missed me?” Sasha said and dropped down on his bed. “The guards told me where to find you and no one bothered.”

It was almost the truth. Elias put a hand on hers.

“I don’t want the king to find you.”

“Honestly, me neither.” Not yet at least. Not until she was strong enough to keep him at bay. Until she could put him to sleep. For good.

“Does it hurt?”

Sasha winced and shook her head looking down to where Elias brushed her hand.

“Could have been worse, but I kind of came here to make amends. I want to learn to tame the beast” she hesitated, feeling the bile in her throat. “I will help you with the tower.”

It was not worth it. There must be other ways to learn the magic. She was about to raise from the bed, not standing the humiliation. Soft glowing magic coming from Elias held her back. The healing was wrapped all around her, hugging her like a warm quilt.

“I am sorry Sasha. I would have done it again, but I should have told you.”

He looked like a pup. She had counted on the queen dumping magic into her when she struck the deal with the moon queen. So why was she so disappointed in Elias? Sasha felt angry with herself. Another lesson she didn’t want to learn. She shouldn’t feel, there would come no good from opening her heart to him.

“It was not right of me to force so much magic upon you. And I guess I owe you an explanation.” Elias sighed.

She could feel how he wanted to continue, to bled his heart out, but he was at loss with words.

“It's ok”, Sasha said, although it wasn’t. She laughed a bit, it felt hollow.

“Come closer”, Elias said, wrapping his arms around her. “Let me take the edges off. You were never meant to deal with this alone.”

“Oh, you could have fooled me.”

“Come on Sasha. I promised to make you a warrior, not a whiner.”

“Maybe I needed someone to let me be weak”, Sasha said and rosed from the bed. She was no whiner, and she liked her edges. They were cutter standards.

“Sasha”, Elias said, stretching out for her.

Sasha slipped out of his reach.

“The king and queen refused to say anything, but I know something happened at Isaak’s place. Care to tell me?”

“No. Not really. Let us just say hell will be frozen before I acknowledge them as parents.”

Elias sighed. He went to stand beside her at the window.

“It might come a time when you see things differently.”

“I doubt it.”

“He was different when I was younger”, Elias turned around. The soft stroke in his eyes was quickly turning cold. “I guess I should ask Ella who my father is. As it isn’t him.”

Sasha had done more than once. Ella had never told. And there had never been someone visiting. Still, there were these times, when she would ask the lady next door to look after them for a day or two. Sasha had always wondered.

“Could you at least give them a second chance Sasha? For me? You don’t know how much the queen has been longing for more children.”

“That’s why you have stood up with me?” Sasha asked, her inner acid. Of course, she was his sister. That’s why.

“You know me better than that”, Elias said.

Sasha thought of the elements and the tower. Yes, she knew.

“You promised to show me how to curb this magic. It still hurts and tears me inside to pieces.”

“Well”, Elias moved closer, his hands rubbing her arms. “I can feel the turmoil inside of you. Seems like you have found the four elements.” His hands got up to her shoulders and he looked intently at her, the eyes turning more and more yellow. Her skin felt prickly and heat swirled inside of her.

“What do you do?”

“Your elements conflict. When you master them, you are ready for the tower, and by mastering them you will steer the magic inside of you.”

“I can't see why I got the elements. It's the strongest of forces.”

“I might have pushed her into a rash decision of giving you a really strong cocktail. You don’t get the elements, you brew it. The queen would never give them to you intentionally.”

Sasha felt his magic working inside, putting the pain to rest.

“You brew it?” Elias nodded and Sasha sighed. She tried to find the fuel of anger inside, but she couldn’t. “How do I control it?”

“There are only two people I know of with the elemental gift. The queen and I. Let's say you are lucky you don’t have to figure this out on your own.” He looked at her and grinned. “Not that I would ever let you have to figure it out on your own.”

Elias let go of her hands and started to chant. From his hands came a swirl of dust and earth. It attacked her and she had barely time to step aside. Elias laughed.

“Water calms the earth. Try again Sasha, feel the pure force of the ocean. Find the agony of endless force within you. You can do this.”

Elias pushed at her again, dust covering the room, and Sasha did her best to try and counter it. She got the same water jets as she had attacked the king with. Elias laughed them off. They made a hole in his attack, but they were far from enough.

“The four elements are the key to all the rest. Don’t think Sasha. You have to be water.”

Sasha stepped aside again, this time the fire licking the hair on her arms.

“Fuck you.”

She threw fire on fire, the flames licking the room, consuming everything in their surrounding. Elias runs forward, swiftly knocking her towards the floor.

“You stupid women”, he said, laughing at the same time as he let water raining down on his complete room. “Fire can burn fire away, but it takes all the rest living things as well. Not a smart move.”

“Breathing is overestimated”, Sasha said, rolling over and looking at the ceiling. She was soaking wet.

“Let's see if you can control that burning energy inside of you”, Elias said. “Make my room dry again.”

“Your humor alone would make it dry”, Sasha said, but she did as he pleased. The fire obeyed her easily, being close to her spirit.

“Fire is about destruction and passion”, Elias said. “What does water do?”

“Bringing life?” Sasha said. It was the start of everything, without water, nothing.

“Yes, but water is not only life-giving. It holds a force to destroy and break a ship in pieces and taking the life of us. And years of endless works tear down the most solid rock.”

“Water is about contrasts”, Sasha said. “It's difficult, because it is easy, and still not.”

“Its shifts, from life to death, from ice to moist. You have to feel that inside of you, the size of the power, the endurance.” Elias laid beside her on the floor, looking up at the ceiling. He put his hand at hers. “Make it rain.”

Sasha inhaled deeply, closing her eyes, trying to muster the feeling of the endless music from the waves of the ocean inside her. Imagine the endless loop of the water droplets from clouds to rain and the long way back to the ocean.

“I can’t”, she burst out with frustration. “It is too foreign, too much overthinking. I hate it”, Sasha said, and the air in the room was crackling. “I like my water jets much better.”

Elias walked up from the floor, looking out of the window.

“You have to feel the tears welling up inside of you.” He turned around, tears dwelling in his eyes.

“How do you do it?” Sasha asked.

“I think of my father”, Elias said bitterly. He shrugged, letting some droplets of water slowly fall on her. “Pretty pathetic.”

Sasha looked away from him, studying the ceiling. The king only boiled the fire that erupted from Sasha. She couldn’t meet Elias's gaze, not fathom the king being able to create that feeling from someone, still, she knew what she had sawn. There had been longing in Elias's eyes.

It was an irony that the ball inside her, the essence of Elias, would be the one thing that ended the king. And not just the king. It would end whatever it was that Sasha knew she felt inside. As clear as day. She closed her eyes.

The rain was intensifying, going from a mild drizzle to a storm. she felt Elias sitting down, his eyes staring at her, burning a hole in her.

“You made it”, he said.

Sasha opened her eyes, confused.

“What?”

“You summoned the storm”, Elias said, lending her a hand. “I know you had it inside you.”