The house was quiet after the celebration Anecus sits on the roof legs dangling, he soaks in the wind against his face 'finally some quiet.'
He wanted to be alone but something stirs in his chest unfamiliar.
"Why does it matter so much?" he lowers his head into his arms "I didn't even like it."
The door below creaks with soft steps. "You're brooding. That's your father's trick."
"I'm just thinking."
"Want company while you think?"
He hesitates, then nods. Jane climbs up to sit beside him. She doesn't press.
"Is it wrong to not know what I'm feeling?"
Jane runs a hand through his hair "Not even a little."
"It felt weird. Uncomfortable. Then I saw Naia's eyes…I felt awful."
"Do you think you hurt her?"
Shrinking at the thought of hurting Naia "I don't know, maybe."
Jane knows her son, 'he's always thinking, always feeling. Shoulding more than he says.' "Sweetheart let me ask you something."
He waits for her to speak.
"When you're around Naia, how does it feel?"
"...safe, like I don't have to explain anything and if I fall she'll be there to catch me."
"And Cassia?"
"Like I can handle anything. Like she wont let me hide and will always be there."
"Good. then here's a lesson in the heart." she taps his chest. "The people who matter don't always speak the loudest but your heart will always tell you who you ache for, even if your head doesn't listen."
"…But what if I get it wrong?"
"Then you'll learn, that's part of it. It's part of being human my love."
Weeks later.
Anecus and Cassia have begun assisting the community's irrigation efforts alongside a few experienced Elemental Conduits.
Cassia's water blob spirit floats beside her like a lazy wobbling marble of sky reflecting liquid. Anecus walks behind her, palms gently glowing, water flowing beneath his feet like silk. 'Those control exercises dad has been making me do really work.'
Rull, a lead farme, was inspecting the canals. "Boy's got an eye for the slope already. Most kids his age barely conjure a puddle."
A woman picking weeds "it's not just his pillar, Look at 'em, he exudes politeness."
Cassia grinning noticing their glances "show off."
Smiling as he works "I'm just trying to not make a mess of things."
Cassia's fire sprite flickers in and out of visibility from her shoulder, annoyed at all the water around. Her water blob gleefully dances across puddles and reflective surfaces.
Later that afternoon, the pair rested beneath a willow tree. The sun filters through the branches, dappling their skin in gold and green. Cassia twirling grass between her fingers.
"They like you."
"The farmers?"
"Everyone smiles differently when you're around."
Anecus looking at the sky "is it me they are smiling at or just some attribute of mine…"
It started slowly Anecus didn't rise like a hero or declare himself with thunder. He helped. He was kind. He was present and where he walked, things were just...better.
Cassia too, Her fire sprite warmed small hearths for families in need. Her water blob filtered tainted wells. Children of the Goldenfields didn't just play anymore they watched, imitated.
After one evening after the irrigation tasks are done the trio walks the dirt path home. Fireflies blink between tall grass while Anecus leads, animatedly describing a moment with a farmer.
Cassia walks close at his side, teasing him. Naia lingers behind, quiet.
Anecus laughs at something Cassia says and nudges her shoulder. She beams, flicking a drop of water from her spirit at his face. He retaliates with a swirling ring of mist. They break into a chase, running ahead.
Naia watches them go. 'The silver haired siblings, always in step, always understood.' With Naia not having awakened yet, Red didn't allow her to join in on their training.
And with them both being able to manipulate water they were always a pair in the fields. 'Jealousy is childish…But lately… he's slipping through her fingers'
Anecus "Naia! Wanna stay for dinner?"
Naia "Yes!"
The trio sits at the kitchen table, bowls of stew half finished. Anecus leans against the table, eyes tired from the day. Cassia sits beside him, retelling a funny interaction they had with a goat.
"And then the goat tried to bite the water blob! I've never seen it run that fast. Even Anecus couldn't catch it!"
Naia chuckles softly.
Jane over by the hearth "You three were out long today. Red was asking where you'd run off to."
"Helping the east plot! Cassia and I smoothed out the slope perfectly."
Naia "I helped too."
Anecus turns, guilt softening his features. "I know, I just…sorry. We wouldn't have finished in time without your help."
Like hundreds of times before Naia was spending the night but was having trouble sleeping.
Now that they were getting older she didn't sleep next to Anecus as much anymore. Cassia stirs in her sleep beside Anecus.
"I used to have that spot…" Naia pressed her forehead to her knees and sighed "Don't leave me behind."
The next morning Red leads training. Cassia and Anecus spar back and forth, water flowing in precise arcs. Their synergy is effortless. Naia stands at a distance watching as she was only allowed to do light sparring with Anecus for short periods of time.
Jane notices from the house, "You're quieter than usual today."
Naia doesn't look at her. "…It's nothing."
Jane didn't pester, letting Naia come to her.
"What if I'm not enough?" Naia continues "He's getting stronger, brighter. Every day he's more than he was and I'm still just…me." She swallows, clutching her elbow.
"Cassia's always beside him. She's clever and confident and… blood. I try to keep up…but some days he doesn't even notice when I don't speak."
Jane reaches out a hand "come here."
Naia hesitates, then sits beside her. Jane takes one of Naia's hands, small and clenched, and smooths it out. "I know that feeling well. I once stood next to someone so bright, I thought I'd disappear."
"Red?"
"No, Anecus."
Naia's breath hitches.
"I knew the moment I first held him. He was always going to burn hotter than the rest of us. But stars like that…they don't just shine they drift."
She taps her chest.
"So they need two things. Something to keep them grounded and something to catch them when they fall." Naia looks up at her
"Cassia holds his feet to the earth and will be the first to call him out. You…catch him when he falls." Pulling her into a hug, "you're not behind his light you're the reason it hasn't gone out."
Naia felt an ease wash over her, 'there's room for me.'
'I should probably say something to Cassie.' lately they had been compative for Anceus's attention and she didn't want her relationship with Cassia to suffer.
Early next morning the trio meet outside the house before heading to their duties. Anecus breaks off first to the irrigation teams. Before heading to the bakery Naia grabs Cassia's arm.
"Umm Cassie…can we talk." Naia couldn't hear the trembling in her voice.
Cassia had a feeling something was coming for sometime. "Of course."
Naia stalling trying to find her words "you've been improving lately…training a lot more with him too."
Cassia "I'm his sister…besides I could say the same about you. Always close to him when he's working, even skipping days at the bakery."
They both stopped, feeling an argument forming. Cassia sighs and quietly says "I'm not trying to compete."
Naia "Neither am I." Their eyes lock neither says what they want to. Maybe they are competing, and maybe neither of them knows how to stop.
Cassia "I should get going."
Naia "Yeah… me too." feeling like she accomplished nothing the day at the bakery seemed never ending. 'I must tell her, if I don't I might lose them both.'
The wheat fields behind their home glow gold in the fading light. Cassia is sitting on the rooftop swinging her legs, eyes distant. Naia walks up behind her, no longer wearing the slight tension from earlier, but something softer.
"Are you mad at me?"
Cassia "no, just thinking."
Naia "Me too. That's why I came." she says as Cassia watches the horizon.
"I want to say something. And I don't want it to be weird."
Cassia half laughs "You always say that when it's something weird."
Naia smiles "fair" there was a breeze that swept through the tall grass. When it died down.
"I like Anecus."
Cassia tilts her head "...Well, yeah. So do I we are twins…Everyone does."
"No. Not like that."
Cassia turns to meet her eyes. Naia doesn't flinch.
"I mean like like."
Cassia startled a little at first "Oh…" she went still and then "That actually makes more sense than I expected."
Naia "you're not upset?"
Cassia shrugs "I don't think so...I mean someone has to take on the role right? Anecus is almost courting age and I don't trust any of the other girls… bunch of sirens."
It was tradition that when a boy enters the ages nine through twelve he is marked as open for courting by mother and their daughters. In their culture the women have power and responsibility over marriage and courting efforts.
Cassia, wanting to explain her behavior continued "Maybe it's because… I was scared you'd take him away from me...but you just want him in a different way."
Naia slowly nods, "I'd never want to take him from you."
Cassia "I know that now. Thank you."
They sit there for a moment longer. Cassia leans her head gently on Naia's shoulder no more sparks or tension.
Cassia smirks "He's still clueless, though?"
Grinning Naia "Completely."
There are different kinds of love and in that golden moment the two girls who once felt like rivals realized they were never competing. They were circling the same star in different orbits.