Page 93 of Elemental Becoming

“Anywhere.”

She banks hard, slicing through the sky, and I let myself breathe—truly breathe—for what feels like the first time in days. Up here, there are no titles. No expectations. No tangled webs of power and loyalty pulling me in different directions. Down below, the courts play their endless games, alliances shiftinglike sand beneath my feet. As the Spiritborn, I’m tied to them whether I like it or not.

But here—here, I am weightless.

The wind rushes around me, tugging strands loose from my braid, wrapping around me like an embrace.

I’ve always been of the Earth Clan, raised to stand firm, to endure like stone beneath the weight of the world. But in this moment, with the sky stretched infinitely before me, the air has never felt more right.

Is it possible to belong to more than one place? To feel right in more than one home?

I wield all four elements. The Fire Clan claims me, the Earth Clan raised me. But the wind knows me too. The way it carries me now, the way it moves with me rather than against me—maybe I belong to the sky just as much as the ground.

And water.

The thought creeps in unbidden, unexpected. Where does the Water Clan fit?

Wind moves as it pleases, boundless and untamed.

Water has depth, shifting between calm and chaos. It can be gentle, lapping against the shore, or relentless, carving stone into nothing over time.

Have I ever truly felt it? Not just wielded it, butfeltit—like I do the earth beneath my feet, the fire in my veins, the wind in my lungs?

I don’t know.

Calryx hums in approval, her presence an unremitting force beneath me, as if she already understands what I haven’t yet found words for.

I realize I am not just one thing. Maybe I never was.

The thought lingers, but another creeps in alongside it. Something that has been pressing at the edges of my mind for weeks.

The wards.

The eggs.

The balance of this realm is shifting, and whether I am Fire, Earth, Air, or Water, I can feel it in my bones. The bond with Calryx has changed me, made me more attuned to the forces at play.

If the dragons are tied to the wards . . . and the eggs have remained dormant for three decades . . .

What does that mean?

I hesitate before speaking, choosing my words carefully. This isn’t just some court secret, something whispered between nobles behind closed doors.

This is dragon knowledge, ancient and sacred. And Calryx—no matter how much she cares for me—is still bound to it.

I lean forward slightly, tightening my grip.

“The wards . . . the eggs . . . ”I try to piece together the thoughts tangled in my mind.“I know they’re connected. I can feel it, even if I don’t understand how. But no one speaks of it. Not openly.”

A pause.

“And if the eggs have remained dormant for three decades, if the wards are weakening . . . ”

I swallow.

“Something is wrong, isn’t it?”

Wind roars around us, but Calryx does not answer. Her silence stretches, pressing against my mind like a weight.