Page 349 of Elemental Becoming

He looks back at me.

“This is the first real lead we’ve had.”

Later, we walk to one of the quieter training fields, a stretch of green tucked beside a still pond. The water reflects the pale autumn sky, rippling gently in the breeze. The scent of grass and damp earth fills the air, laced with distant smoke from the forges.

Valen carries a blanket for another practice session of Second Breath. I have been practicing daily since that first session and it’s been coming easier to me.

We settle onto the grass. The earth is cool beneath us. Overhead, a rush of wind carries the sound of beating wings as dragons rise from the cliffs, their cries fading into the sky.

Closer, the shouts of soldiers sparring and the snap of bowstrings drift from the main training fields. But here, beside the pond, there is quiet.

Valen closes his eyes, his posture straight and composed.

“Breathe,” he says.

I do.

Air fills my lungs. On the exhale, I turn my focus inward. The dragon bond dims—not gone, only quieter. The pressure of other thoughts, the pull of the world beyond myself, softens until only my mind and my magics remain.

The world slips away, still present, but distant. A tide pulling back from the shore. This practice isn’t just stillness anymore. It’s the channel I’ve carved through the flood.

Before, my magics moved through me unchecked, especially after bonding with Calryx. The power came in floods, roared like wildfire, and I welcomed every bit of it.

My thoughts drift back to the night of the ball, the moment everything changed. One instant there had been silk and laughter beneath chandeliers. The next there had been shadow, steel, and blood.

I fought. We all did. But I reached too deep.

Calryx answered, and her power poured through me until the line between control and destruction vanished. I would have gone too far if Thane hadn’t stopped me.

That was the moment I understood something had to change. This isn’t power I can simply carry. It has to be shaped, guided, and balanced.

Now, I feel the difference. The pull is still there, deep and vast, but it doesn’t own me anymore. I’ve learned how to quiet the storm. I’ve learned how to choose.

Valen’s voice carries through the stillness. “Close your eyes. Feel the ground beneath you. The air around you. The energy beneath your skin.”

I reach for the bond.

It stirs in response, familiar and immediate. A second heartbeat. Calryx’s presence is there, vast and sure.

The magics unspools. A thread of deep sapphire and silver, shimmering like liquid starlight. It burns and cools at once, too large to hold and yet somehow mine. It pulses through me like ariver, moving between calm and current, storm and stillness. It doesn’t demand.

It offers.

And I choose what to take.

The moment lingers, and the channeling slowly changes.

The tide begins to rise.

Power gathers beneath my skin. Fire answers, bright and fast. Wind follows, spiraling around it. Then water, heavy and fluid, drawn into the current. Earth answers last, solid and enduring, holding the edges together.

For a moment, it threatens to overwhelm me. My pulse quickens. The old flicker of panic presses at the edges of my thoughts.

But I don’t run from it.

I hold the breath.

The magics respond.