six

seven I nodded. I wasn’t going to tell the village that he’d tried to kill me twice. If a specific person asked, I’d tell them. If I had to I’d show them the memory of him trying to strangle me, I would. I snuggled into Sam and the fire started to get a little stronger. I sighed and got up. I walked toward the hut. A couple of the elders followed me. They were women and I got a bit curious. I went into my hut and I looked for my brush. I brushed out my hair and grabbed a bunch of bobby pins and put my hair up. They watched me with rapt attention. They’d obviously never seen this done before. It was funny to watch them while I did my hair. I put a dozen swirls and almost flower shapes. I probably used more bobby pins than I normally would but they were so interested that I didn’t want to stop. When I was done they went and looked at my hair. Their eyes were all seriously wide and they were shocked at the shapes I could do with my hair. I left the hut and they were looking at me in shock as they followed me. Then they noticed my tattoos and gasped. They stared for a long time as I talked to Rose. She told me how he had hit her at night if things hadn’t gone right that day. The way she’d wanted to run and never come back to the only home she knew. “If that ever happens to you again come to my house. If I’m home I’ll let you in. If anybody’s home they’ll let you in.” I said and she nodded grateful. She seemed a little more tense around the elders but as I captured her attention more and more with my talk of the world outside the village she loosened. Sam had disappeared and I asked her where he’d gone. “How old are you? Not much older than me, or at least you don’t look much older than me.” I said. “You’re obviously older than me,” She said looking worried. “I’m seventeen, Rose.” I told her. Her eyes got really wide. “I’m twenty two,” She said. I nodded. “I wonder how well you’d get along with my brothers,” I said nonchalantly. “Why?” She asked hesitantly. “Oh, it just seems that they don’t know any of the girls and the guys are probably telling them that girls are lower life forms. They need to be told otherwise and they aren’t up for listening to me or my mom.” I told her. She grinned. “I can show them how much stronger we are.” I could see confidence and fire in her eyes that they’d both respect. “Good,” I said and grabbed her hand. We went over to the guy’s dorm. When they saw me they all bowed their heads respectfully. They knew I was strong. I went over to my brothers and they were talking to their guy friends. “Are you trying to start another fight with Sam?” My oldest brother asked me. Sam came up behind me. He put his hands on my waist. “Hey,” I greeted him. Rose looked worried and I broke away from Sam. “Ivan, Aiden, this is Rose.” I introduced them. “Aren’t you getting married to the dude July has been attacking lately? Like, today?” Aiden asked. Aiden was my second oldest brother. “Well, I was, but he lost his powers.” She said. Their eyes got really wide. “I had to say yes to him because of his status, but now he has none. That means it’s my choice and I never even liked him.” She said and her eyes had a fire in them that made me proud to have freed her. She was a beautiful soul and it shone through her eyes. Aiden’s eyes were obviously entranced. He patted the spot next to him and her eyes got wide. She sat next to him and they started talking again. I grinned at her and she grinned back. I could see she was happy and excited. I was happy for her. Sam grabbed me by the waist and dragged me out of the dormitory and gave me a lecture about not going into the guy’s dormitory. I told him to get over it. He looked scandalized. I laughed at his expression. “Can I go in and talk to my brothers?” I asked him. He rolled his eyes. “You would anyway; why do I bother?” He asked himself. I grinned and grabbed his hand and we went in and sat next to Rose and Trent. Rose grinned. I snuggled into Sam’s arm and he seemed happy with these arrangements. A big bug crawled up next to me and I squeeled invulantarily and jumped into Sam’s lap. Rose gave me a weird look and picked it up. She flicked it over to the entrance. At my horrified response she laughed. I snuggled into Sam and he just shook his head. “You’re both fifty million times bigger than it and you have the power to control all five of the elements and you’re still afraid of bugs?” He said and laughed. I hunkered down and let the warmth of him wash over me. The bobby pins started pulling at my hair so I started taking them out. Sam helped me and they were out in about ten minutes. All the guys except my brothers stared. When they were all out I put them in a pile. I went over to Isaiah’s suitcase in the corner and grabbed his brush. A bunch of the guys looked absolutely appalled. I ignored them and fixed my hair. I made a mirror of water, spirit and air and fixed my hair. It refused to not be curly so I left it. I went over and put Isaiah’s brush back and crawled back into Sam’s lap. “Why are they staring at me?” I asked him. “It’s…unheard of for a woman to go into a man’s suitcase if she’s not married to him.” He said. “He’s my brother though!” I complained. He shrugged. “Whatever.” I said. Rose laughed. Then she coughed and I could see something was wrong. I went over and called the elements to me and told them to heal her in every way she needed healing. I heard her faint gasp at the elements. I moved my hands to her neck and she leaned into them. I saw marks from the beatings still there. “Why didn’t you tell me they were on your neck too?” I asked her. “I didn’t realize they went that high.” She responded. Aiden looked at her neck and gasped. “What happened?” He asked her. “The man I was betrothed to was abusive.” She said cruelly. Their eyes all got wide. I felt myself get pulled into the spirit realm. I saw Sam and he showed me that the man had found the ring on the pillow. We went back into our bodies. “You need to get out of here,” I said to her urgently. “Why?” She asked, looking afraid. “He found the ring,” I said. Her eyes got wide and frightened. I grabbed my brothers’ hands and told her and Sam to put their hands on my waist. They did. “Hold on tight!” I said and spirited all of us to our house. My brothers stared at the too clean house and then they realized that we’d just made a half an hour trip in five seconds. We went inside and they showed her to the kitchen. I called Isaiah through the mental link. He came about five minutes later with Jenny connected to his arm. “What happened?” He asked. Jenny saw Rose. “She won’t marry the guy who tried to kill July.” She said. “And now he’s pissed. Even without his powers he’s dangerous.” She said simply. My older brothers stared. They hadn’t been with me in the morgue. They’d thought the man had been protecting himself. I rolled my eyes. Isaiah made breakfast and we all ate. I explained everything about what had happened between me and my attempted murderer. Sam and Isaiah and Rose and Ivan and Aiden all stared at me in wonder. Jenny had always believed me, she’d never liked him and she knew he’d been a bad character. I was glad that there was somebody who was always on my side. When my view of the happenings of what was the last couple of days was over, I finished my breakfast. Most of them stared at me. I got up and washed my dishes. I grabbed the plates of anybody who was done eating and washed the dishes. “So, I’m guessing you’ll be staying here for a week or two while he cools down, or until the elders throw him out of the village for multiple attempts at murder. Aiden, Ivan, I think maybe you and maybe mom or another woman from the tribe will have to stay here. It will have to switch off on who stays here with her. If he gets his hands on her, he’ll beat her, bad.” I said. She nodded. “Will you stay here with me?” She asked me. “I might be needed to testify as to the murders.” I said. She nodded. “Isaiah and Jenny and Ivan and Aiden will stay here with you for now.” I said and looked at each of them for assent. They all nodded. I yawned, already exhausted. “I’m gonna go take a nap before dealing with him.” I said. “Wait, we should get back and make sure he isn’t terrorizing her friends or something,” Sam said. I sighed and grabbed his hand and spirited us back to the village. “You!” He yelled and charged at me. I put up an earth barrier and he pounded on it with a lot of force. I had the earth engulf his feet up to his thighs so he couldn’t attack me. He used all of his strength but the strength of my element was more than his now feeble strength. I went and checked on Rose’s friends. They all looked frightened and I could see bruises and a couple of knife marks. They were all sobbing and afraid. I called the elements to me and healed them. They stammered in fear and I listened patiently. When they were all healed I could still see panic in their eyes. I went to the elders and told them all what had happened. “We shall send him to a tribe far from here. Put him to sleep and we’ll send him to a tribe that will teach him to control his temper. I nodded. I went out and when he tried to hit me I grabbed his hand. I grabbed the other hand and put an earth cuff on them. He tried to head butt me and I grabbed his head and said, “Sleep, long and hard, wake up fresh and ready to learn.” His body went limp. I sent for the elders and they got him onto a boat and sent him across the lake to an Indian airline. They would understand what to do with him from there. I found Sam and we went back to the house. Rose was crying on Jenny’s shoulder and Aiden was sitting there looking like he wanted to help. When I was noticed Rose tried to jump up and come to me and she fell onto her knees. Isaiah and Ivan were sitting in chairs looking awkward. Neither of them were good with tears. When Rose fell on her knees Aiden picked her up and put her on the couch gently with her head in Jenny’s lap. He sat down and had her legs draped across his lap because the couch wasn’t big enough for him to just sit by her feet. “He’s gone, Rose.” I told her. “Did he hurt my friends?” She asked me. “I healed them five minutes later,” I offered. She sobbed harder. I looked to Jenny. “He’d threatened to hurt her and her friends if she ever left him.” She said. Jenny squirmed. She lifted up Rose’s head and went to the bathroom. Rose curled into Aiden and sobbed. He looked shocked but he put his arms around her and held her. He whispered to her that it was all over now. She’d be fine. Nobody was going to hurt her. Those were things she needed to hear. She stopped crying after an hour or two and she realized her position. She sat up and blushed and looked awkward. Aiden did the same. I held back a smile. Aiden took off his shoe and threw at me. He hit me in the back of the head with it. I hit my head on a wall when it hit me and turned around and glared at him. Rose was giggling and I glared at him all the harder. He started laughing hard. I threw air at him and his hair stood straight up. She laughed even harder. He scooted over and messed up her hair and she giggled until she was clutching her stomach and crying. When she got ahold of herself I grinned at her and she threw her moccasin at me. I dodged out of the way and she threw her other one. I dodged that one too and tripped over Jenny. Sam caught me and kissed me. I turned around and kissed him full on. The room got really quiet. I broke away and Rose was looking into her lap sadly. I looked at Aiden for a long moment and when he finally met my gaze I nodded toward Rose. His eyes got really wide and he looked confused. I nodded toward her again and he scooted closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked up and their faces were about two inches apart. They both blushed and looked down. I giggled and Sam put a hand over my mouth. Rose glared at me. “Get over yourself,” I said and she just stared at me. I looked at her skeptically and I could tell she was going to cave. I stared her down until she snuggled into Aiden. He put his arm around her and I could see he was happy. I grinned and Isaiah, Jenny and Ivan stared at me. I went up to my room and took off my tribal wear. I flopped on my bed and lay there for a long time, meditating. A knock on the door told me either it was Jenny or Rose or Sam. I knew the knocks that each of my family used. I didn’t recognize this one. “Come in,” I said. Rolling over and sitting up. Rose came in and stared at me. “How did you know?” She blurted out. “That you liked him? You blush a lot more around him.” I said. Her eyes got wide and she nodded. I could hear them all talking downstairs. I grabbed my clothes and threw them back on except for my leggings and moccasins. The feel of my bare feet was nice. I sat on the couch across from Aiden and Rose sat in the dead middle of us. I pushed her over and she glared at me. I raised my eyebrows and she scooted close to Aiden. He scooted over ad kissed her smack on the mouth. The room went dead silent. When she didn’t break away I grinned. She wrapped her arms around his neck and they sat there like that for a long time. I led everybody else into the kitchen and we discussed what we were going to do about the house being empty. I heard them talking and I yelled to Aiden, “Are you done assaulting my friends?” I heard a silence and he yelled back, “Nope!” They got quiet again and I laughed. I snuggled into Sam and he put his arm around my shoulders. I heard the front door open and my mom and Josiah coming in. They saw the couple on the couch and came into the kitchen. They stopped dead at the sight of all of us there. “Why is half the village in my house?” My mom asked me. I grinned. She laughed and grabbed some food. I hadn’t seen her this happy in a long time and Josiah looked pretty happy too. I yawned and headed up to my room. Sam followed me. I took off the dress and climbed into bed and he kicked off his shoes. He climbed in next to me and held me as I fell asleep. When I woke up I saw Rose and Aiden waiting for us to wake up. They were snuggled on the end of the bed. I whispered for Sam to wake up and he blinked a few times and sat up. He got out of the bed and stretched. I sat up and then remembered I wasn’t really all that dressed. Aiden was looking in the opposite direction and Rose threw me my dress. I put it on and grabbed my brush and started to brush out my hair. “So, when do you think we’ll be going back to the village?” She asked. “Whenever you want to. Wait, what time is it?” I asked her. “Six in the morning,” She responded. “Well, I have school today, sadly.” I said, hating the thought. “It’s the last day,” Sam said, heading for the shower. “Good point, but still…”I said and hunkered back down into my bed. “Well, I can show Rose around the town.” Aiden said. I got up and grabbed some clothes that I’d left behind and threw her the smaller ones. She looked at them with confusion. “Out.” I said to Aiden. He nodded and left the room and closed the door behind him. “Don’t come in here when you’re done in there,” I yelled at the bathroom door that connected to my room. “Okay!” Sam yelled back at me. I threw on my clothes and when Rose wasn’t sure how to put her feet in the scorts I showed her how. I was getting used to showing the villagers how to dress normally. I was comfortable showing her the holes in the shorts. Once she had them on she looked seriously awkward. I gave her a tank top and she put that on and she looked like she wanted way more of her skin covered. I gave her a shirt and she put it on. She looked more comfortable but still wishing the skirt covered more of her legs. I was already dressed so I led her out to Aiden. He laughed at how awkward she looked and she glared at him. He kissed her and she forgot about being mad at him. I grinned at them and Rose blushed and looked away. She was walking like she was afraid to step on something. I wanted to tell her to stomp more but I figured she wasn’t going to be comfortable stomping around. It was pretty funny to see her trying to pull down the skirt and then it would show too much higher and she’d pull it up and she just looked like she’d kill for a pair of jeans. I called her back into my room and took off the jeans. She put them on and she looked much more comfortable. She came out and Aiden looked like he was done laughing and he burst out again. “What?” She demanded. “You look so awkward in July’s clothes.” He said. She laughed. Ivan came upstairs and looked at her and rolled his eyes. “Are you bringing her to school with you when she’s five years older than you?” He said sarcastically. “That would be funny yes, but I can pass as older than you so shut up.” I said to him. “You cannot pass as older than me…” He said as I thought of the time without Sam and took my hair down. “That’s just scary.” He said and Rose and Aiden looked at me. Aiden’s jaw dropped as he saw me age a thousand years through my eyes and looked like an ancient trapped in a young body. Rose came up and hugged me. Sam came out and he kissed me and my eyes became young and full of life again. “You could totally get into a bar,” Aiden said with a grin. I laughed. “The thing is, I wouldn’t.” I said. Sam led me downstairs and made me some food. I grinned at him and we sat there grinning like idiots until my mom came into the room. “What are you two doing?” She asked, looking like she was still mostly asleep. “Plotting to kill the first person who asks us what we’re doing.” I said and she woke up. She was already in a fighting stance before she realized I was joking. Josiah came in looking as ruffled as she did. He glared at me and I laughed. “You should respect your mother more,” He reprimanded me. “Then she shouldn’t be around me when she isn’t awake.” I said. His eyes were ancient all of a sudden. The sadness was so there that I felt my sorrow match his and exceed his as well. My mom looked at us and got all depressed. “Before the emo fest starts can I find out what I’m doing today?” Ivan asked me. “Make sure the lovebirds don’t go crazy,” My mom said. “There’re four pairs of ‘em. Be more specific.” He said. My mom blushed and said that he should watch Aiden. Aiden came in and asked why he was being watched. “Because I don’t have anything else for Ivan to do.” I said to him. “Send him back to the village!” Aiden said. “That works too,” I said and Ivan grinned. He got some food and drove back to the village. Aiden got food for Rose and gave her a plate. She laughed at the slightly burnt meat. He ducked his head as he blushed. She ate her food with a smile and I laughed at her faked chagrinned expressions. Sam put his arm around me and I kissed him. “If you’re going to share a mouth at the table, I’m only feeding one mouth,” My mom said grabbing my plate. I was already done eating so I didn’t mind. She rolled her eyes and Josiah kissed her when she turned around. I fell out of my chair. My mom snorted and rolled her eyes at me. I tried to get up and I hit my head on the table. My head was spinning so I jerked on Sam’s pants a couple of times to ask for help. He scooted out and picked me up. I rubbed my head and crawled into his lap. Josiah was trying not to laugh and was really close to failing. I tried to get up and I tripped over Sam’s foot. Josiah doubled up laughing. I reached up to Sam because my head was spinning too hard. He picked me up and carried me out to the couch. I called the elements and told them to heal me. They did and my head stopped spinning. I curled up in Sam’s lap. My mom came in to see if I was okay and just rolled her eyes. Jenny and Isaiah came down the stairs and saw us. Jenny grinned and I tried to get up and vertigo hit me. I flopped back down on his lap and he laughed. I let him hold for a while. When it was time to go to school we all walked. Sam and I ran and I beat him at running. I taunted him and he tickled me to the ground. Then I was wet. I looked up and Rya was above me and grinning. “I win,” She said and I soaked her. We had a war and we were both so drenched by the time the others caught up to us you could see how much our shirts were clinging and how many meals I’d been skipping. “I should probably stop almost dying, don’t you think?” I asked Sam who hadn’t been spared by our water war. “Yeah, that would probably be good,” He said. We walked in side by side and drenched. Rya and I were arm in arm and the girls that hated us saw us and they didn’t have anything to say. Everybody was staring at my tattoos. I didn’t care. I was purely me and they couldn’t say a word about it. I was proud. Sam and Qwen just stood by, just as wet as us without having anything to do with it. Isaiah and Jenny were behind them, thankful to be dry. I called air to me and told it to dry me. Rya did the same and I told air to dry Sam too. He came up and kissed my cheek. I wrapped my arms around him and walked backwards. I lost myself in his eyes and Rya had to steer me away from running into stuff. Then she ran me into a pole by accident. “Ow!” I complained at her. “Oops.” She said, not looking sorry at all. They called the students to the track field. They had a mile run race and I won that easily. I was way out in front of all the other kids with Sam right behind me. I stepped it up and he fell behind. I finished quickly and they gave me a little medal looking shocked. I flopped down and let myself absorb the fresh scent of grass and I heard all of the rest of the people who were in moderate shape puff up to the finish line and heard Sam flop down next to me a minute before they did. He was gasping for air and I was already at a normal heart beat. I rolled over and sat on his stomach. He sat there calming down his rapid heart and I snuggled into him when he was calm. I never used to be much of a runner but now I had stamina. There were a bunch of other things. They had a three legged race and Sam and I won. Then it was Rya and Qwen and then Isaiah and Jenny. Jenny fell over laughing at the finish line. Isaiah ended up coming down with her and they lay next to each other. I pinned Sam and he gave up quickly. The popular girls all clumped up and just watched us. They separated us by gender for the next activity and Rya and Jenny and I all teamed up. It was Dodge ball and the guys had better aim but we were better at dodging. I sped one ball up with air and it hit Qwen square in the stomach. He bent over trying to breath and Rya got Isaiah. Jenny got Sam at the same time Rya hit Isaiah. We cheered and they all ran at us. They each picked us at the same time and we all complained at the same time. It was funny. Sam spun me around and then he put me down. I fell on my butt as soon as he let me go. I lay in the grass and let the world stop spinning. He lay next to me and we had this perfect moment. It was beautiful. Qwen tripped over us and him and Rya sprawled half across us and half next to us. I laughed at Rya’s disoriented facial expression. “Which way is up?” She asked nobody in particular. I took her hand and pointed up. It oriented her a little bit more. When the day was over I called Aiden on his cell phone. “We’re leaving the school,” I said. “Can you come to the uptown park? These guys are kind of following us around and there’re seven big guys and two of us.” He said. “We’ll be there in five seconds.” I said and told Isaiah to grab Jenny and spirit her to the uptown park. I grabbed Sam and Rya and Qwen, since they didn’t know which park it was. We got there in time to see Aiden and Rose running past us. “Aiden!” I yelled to him and he got into our group with Rose in tow. The guys came out and they had knives. “Boys, put those down,” I said nonchalantly. They didn’t hear the threat in my voice. “Oh yeah, which of you said that?” One guy asked. I stepped out of the group. He threw the knife and I caught it in front of my face. I knew how to throw knives. “Put them down,” I said with spirit leaking into my voice and they looked to the biggest guy to see what he was doing. He stood his ground. He charged me and I heated up my skin. He yelped and held his burnt hand. I smiled and disarmed him in one swift movement. I ran at the rest of them and had all the knives in less than minute. They were all scared out of their minds. “Come on, you two. We need to get back anyway.” I said. They stared at me in shock. “Where’s your car?” I asked Aiden as we were walking. I now had seven nice pocket knives that I hadn’t had before. He pointed out his car and we all loaded into it. A lot of us were sitting on each other, but we didn’t really mind. “That was…incredible.” Rose said. “I’ve been doing some incredible things lately.” I said. She nodded. When we got back Aiden apologized for doing that to her. She told him it wasn’t their fault that those guys had followed them. She went to the girls dormitory but he grabbed her hand before she was inside. She led him inside and introduced him to her friends. Their eyes got really wide. I came in and told Aiden to throw me my brush. He grabbed my bag and threw it to me. I caught it and he turned back around. I grabbed my brush and combed out my hair. I felt like I was getting obsessive with keeping my hair brushed. I went back to the hut and put away my bag. Isaiah came in and hugged me. I went and found Aiden and Rose sitting with the rest of her friends and they were grilling him. “Have you ever made fun of anybody for something that you had?” One girl asked. He shook his head and I yelled, “Nu-uh! You used to make fun of me all the time when I said something I didn’t get and you’d get seriously mad at Ivan when he said something you didn’t get!” I said. They all looked at me. I sat down next to rose and grinned at Aiden. “I win.” I said and he rolled his eyes. They continued to grill him and I started pinning Rose’s hair up with the bobby pins that were still in my pocket. She sat still and looked like she was seriously curious. When I had her hair up I made a mirror of the elements and she looked at her hair for a long time. Aiden had been trying to keep up with the questions, looked over and saw her. He was speechless. She looked like a model with her hair up like this. His lips flapped like a fish for about five minutes. I started laughing after a minute of his expression. Rose looked so proud. “You’re so beautiful,” Aiden finally said. She grinned and pinned him. He didn’t fight against her but his eyes were so loving it felt like private moment. I felt myself being picked up and didn’t protest. I was getting used to being picked up. The girl’s eyes got wide. “What does it mean if a guy picks you up and carries you out of your dormitory?” I asked him. “It normally means he wants you in bed with him.” Sam said. I blushed. “The curse is lifted today,” He said. When we got to the hut I got ready for bed and crawled into bed with him. The next morning we were woken up way too early by Rose coming in with Aiden by her side. “We just got caught sleeping in the same mat in the guys’ dorm…” She said and I pointed to the other room. She went in and lay down and waved Aiden over. We all were curled up together. I snuggled deeper into Sam and was utterly content. We all woke up to Rya flopping on the mat with Sam and I. I was mildly annoyed with her that she was waking me up and she didn’t seem to mind. I sighed and got up. I went and showered and got dressed and when I was done it was about time for breakfast to end. It was sad that we were the last ones to breakfast. The whole village just stared at us. I ate and waited for Sam to get up and we went to clean our dishes. Afterward we all walked over to the guy’s dorm to grab some stuff. Rose went to grab her brush and she followed us in after a minute. Then she realized what she’d done. She’d done the exact same thing as I had. I grinned at her and she blushed and stood next to Aiden. He looked up at her and nodded. She blushed and sat down next to him. He picked her up and put her in his lap and held her. She looked tense for a moment and then she snuggled into him. I grinned at her and she hid her blushing face in his chest. I was already in Sam’s lap so I snuggled into him. He was definitely happy where he was. Ivan came in with a girl and they were in a heated discussion about whether cows could be ridden without hurting them. Aiden let out a wolf whistle at Ivan and Ivan looked like he was going to kill Aiden. Rose got out of his lap in time to avoid getting the rebound of the smack that Aiden got across the back of his head. Aiden was laughing too hard to care. Ivan sat down and the girl did too. She looked about Ivan’s age, and Ivan was twenty five. I grinned at him. “Keep your thoughts to yourself.” He said directly to me. “Okay, I’ll keep my thoughts to myself.” I said and told earth to scoot them close together. When his hand touched her hand that she was leaning on she tore her hand away and flopped her head on his lap and sat straight up and glared directly at me. “I didn’t do that,” I said too innocently. Ivan snorted. “You really should stop messing with your brothers; one of these days they might smack you.” Sam said. “I’m okay with that though so it’s not an issue.” I said and Sam laughed. I snuggled into him and the girl asked me, “Are you two ever separated?” “Yes,” I said. Her eyes got really wide. “When?” She asked sarcastically. “When we get mad at each other,” I said and she rolled her eyes. Ivan put a hand on her shoulder to tell her to lay off. She rolled her eyes again. “So, is anybody going to introduce me or am I sitting in the dark?” I asked. Ivan introduced her as a person to keep away form to keep me from knowing her name. I went to the spirit realm and looked into his mind. I came back to the real world and said to her, “Lily, it’s nice to meet you.” Everybody stared at me. “I have my ways.” I responded everybody’s questioning face. Lily hadn’t been fazed at all. “And you, are the legendary, won’t die July.” She said sarcastically. I grinned at her and she rolled her eyes. “Is that some kind of twitch or something, or are you purposely doing that to annoy me?” I asked her rudely. Ivan came up and smacked me hard. I smacked him harder back. They all stared at me wide eyed and he smacked me again. I smacked him right back, getting seriously annoyed. He slapped me and I slapped him so hard he staggered back. Lily came up and slapped me just as hard. While my head was still spinning she started calling me out in terms she could use in the village. “You naïve little brat! I hope somebody puts you in your place painfully and humiliates you while doing it!” She yelled at me. I stood back up after tripping on Ivan’s foot. I got in her face and she backed right down. “You wanna see naïve? Look in a mirror. I don’t abide by rules but that doesn’t make me naïve. It makes me rebellious.” I said to her. “I have more knowledge and pain than most of you. Don’t ever push your luck with me. I’m not afraid to show you pain like you’ve never known before.” I said and felt the ancient sadness seeping into my voice and she saw my eyes. Her eyes got wide at the sadness that was so apparent. I thought of those days apart from him, the days I was dying, the days I was breaking. I thought of the pain. I could feel my face twisting with sadness and pain so deep that she fell to her knees. “I’ll never be naïve again.” I said to her. She nodded. It was starting to get late and I crawled back into Sam’s lap. Something jabbed me in the leg and I grabbed the pocket knives from my pocket. I stared at them for a moment not remembering where I’d gotten them and then it hit me. I nodded and put them in Aiden’s bag. Their eyes got wide when I went into his bag. “You’re not supposed to go into my bag,” he said timidly. “Do you actually care or is it because of village rules?” I asked him. He didn’t respond which was response enough. “Then get over it.” I said to him. He shrugged and buried his face in Rose’s hair. I got back into Sam’s lap and he held me. I examined my ring. I loved it, and I would always wear it. I loved him more than anything. I snuggled into him. He held me tightly. I closed my eyes and in about five seconds I was asleep. I woke up maybe a half an hour later to Isaiah prodding my side. I made the spot he was poking seriously hot and the next time he jabbed my side he pulled away quickly blowing on his finger. “What the…” He complained. “I’m sleeping, do you mind?” I asked him lifting my head drowsily. Lily was staring at me skeptically. Sam kissed my forehead a couple of times and when he went in for a third time I turned my head towards his mouth and caught him by surprise. It was like wildfire. It was so completely different from the fertility curse that it took me utterly by surprise. I kissed him with a fierce passion that had him breathless when I stopped to breath. “I think it worked,” I heard Lily say and then I smelled the herbs. I stopped and climbed out of his lap. I checked my body for any fertility thing using the spirit realm as my view point. I came back to my body which was getting ready to sway and then I had a manic burst of energy. I ran out of the room and in the darkness outside I started to flip and cartwheel and do anything to get the energy to go away. It wouldn’t; I started running and I got to the trees. I climbed higher and higher. It was miraculous. I hadn’t felt this much energy rush through me since I died. And then all of my energy left me all at once. I couldn’t even grip the branch I was on. I fell and I fell. I wasn’t diving this time, just flat out falling. I asked spirit to take me to my hut before I hit the ground and it did. I crawled into my bed and slept. I woke up alone and it almost had me worried but I didn’t feel like being worried today. I showered and threw on some clothes. I went and found Sam’s dad and asked him to teach me about the spirit realm. I studied about it until lunch when the hunger dragged back into my body. I went and got food and studied with him some more. When I came back I was seeing auras. “Okay, auras are giving me a headache.” I said to myself. I thanked him and tried to remember how I normally got rid of them. I walked through the village and ended up closing my eyes so I wouldn’t have this headache to deal with. I went and found Rya with my eyes closed and using our link. “The auras won’t go away!” I said to her. “Tell spirit to minimize them,” she said like she’d told me a million times. I did and then I could see again. I looked and saw Lily and Ivan staring at me. “Aren’t you having issues without Sam around?” Lily asked me, seeming alarmed. I thought about it and shook my head. Her eyes got really wide. “I don’t do well being connected at the hip with him.” I said and looked around. I had no idea where I was. I stuck my head out the door and didn’t recognize anything. “Where am I?” I asked Rya. “You got here and you don’t know how you got here?” She asked me. “I used the link and closed my eyes.” I said. Her eyes got really wide. “And you didn’t run into things how?” She asked me. “I used my connection to the earth to tell me where things were.” I said. I felt a strange twang in my mind that made me long for Sam to be with me. I could feel my consciousness seek for him against my will. I looked out the door again and wondered where I was. I’d thought I’d known this village better than my own house. I went into the spirit realm and saw that I wasn’t even in my own village. I came back to my body and looked at Rya. “Where am I?” I asked her. “You’re in our neighboring village. This is where Qwen grew up. I walked over to her and offered my hand. She clasped it and I showed her all the memories I had of all the neighboring villages. She pointed out the one we were in. I nodded and My feet started moving towards the exit of the room I was in against my will. I stopped and had to struggle not to move. “What is this?” I demanded of Lily. “How did it just now take effect?” She asked Rya. “What have you been doing all day?” Rya asked me. “Studying the spirit realm.” I answered. “She hasn’t been in her body all day. That makes sense.” She said. Lily nodded. “What did you do to me?” I demanded of them. They just grinned. I grabbed Lily and her eyes got wide. “I’ll show you pain if you don’t tell me now,” I threatened her. “I can take it,” She said confidently. I showed her my worst memory of breaking. She crumpled. She was still conscious. “Tell me,” I said. She was gasping for breath. She looked at me, terrified. “What is that?” She begged me. “Your soul breaking.” I answered her. She nodded and got her breath back. “That’s the worst form of torture that I’ve ever had to endure.” She said to Rya. “I had to experience half of it with her.” Rya said. “Now,” I told Lily. “It makes you want to be with the person the herbs are basically mixed with. It makes your body desperate to be with that person.” She said. My legs led me toward the door. “Whose bright idea was this?” I asked her. “Ivan and I’s idea. The rest of them consented to it as a great prank.” She said. I grabbed her hand and let my legs carry me. She kept up with me. When I go to Sam I tapped his shoulder. When he turned around I slapped him hard. He was talking to men of this village and they were furious at me. They all came at me at once. I ignored them. “You consented to this!” I screeched at him. He cringed away from me. My body wanted to fling my arms around him and kiss him. My mind wanted to strangle him. The opposite emotions had tears welling in my eyes. I turned and ran. The men ran after me. I circled easily and went back to him when I started wondering what they were chasing me for. When I ended up back in front of Sam my mind tuned in to my surroundings. I shook my head and then I saw the pissed guys chasing me catching up. I hid behind Sam. They surrounded me. They started closing in on me and then Sam wasn’t with me anymore. He had been thrown aside. Punches started being thrown my way from all sides and I couldn’t keep up. I got mad. I didn’t let myself burn them but all of a sudden my tattoos burned through my clothes. “Not again!” I yelled. I walked through them and they stared at me in shock. “You owe me a new outfit!” I yelled at Sam. He laughed. The men charged me again and in my panic I lost control of my body and it launched at him. I kissed him fiercely and then I remembered that this wasn’t my will. I broke away from him and cursed. They were all staring at me in confusion. Lily was over in the corner of the central crowd laughing her butt of with Rya. I stomped the earth and it shot them both twenty feet in the air with a lot of screaming. I soaked them and used the air and fire to floof their hair ridiculously and bound them into the ground and fell over laughing. Rya freed them and tried to fix her hair. I was leaning on Sam’s legs and laughing. Tears pooled in my eyes and overflowed as they saw each other. Lily looked horrified and Rya was laughing. I was the only one who found it as funny as I did though. When I finally stopped laughing they were all glaring at me. I got up and a horrible side ache greeted me. I ran into the forest and threw up most of my meals from the day. I asked the earth to clean it up and got water to wash out my mouth. After that I started running. I didn’t know where I was running to but I ran. I ended up in the city next to the one I lived in. I didn’t know this city at all. Or at least the area of it. I saw a big gang of guys heading toward me so I ran back into the brush that I’d just burst out from. I ran silently and fleetingly. They ran into the brush with clumsy and loud steps. I climbed into a tree high enough that they couldn’t even tell I was there anymore. I flew through the tops of the trees until I got back to the village Sam was in. I dove off the highest tree and just let myself fly through the air. The ground came at me too fast and I landed roughly and not in my usual show off-ish way. I scabbed up pretty bad and dislocated my shoulder. “Ow!” I yelled over and over as I my feet carried me to Sam without a command. I called the elements to me and I found Sam with the rest of the village. I began healing myself as soon as water had cleaned all the dirt off of me. My feet carried me to him and he was speaking to the elders of this tribe. I knelt next to his feet as I began healing myself. I noticed people staring when Sam asked me what I was doing. I looked up at him and swore. “This is such a pain!” I said and tried to walk away but my feet wouldn’t carry me. I glared at them and then tried to walk on my hands and the searing pain in my shoulder reminded me that I couldn’t do that right now. I tried to heal it and it healed wrong. It hurt more. “Sam, can you help me?” I asked him absently. “With what?” He asked me sounding annoyed. I noticed my surroundings and blushed. “Never mind. I’ll go find Rya.” I said. She was one of the people he was presenting to. “Oh whatever. Where are the doctors around here?” I asked him. “What do you need a…” He trailed off. “What did you do?” He asked me frightened by the look of my shoulder. “The ground came up too fast,” I said conversationally deciding the right angle to dislocate it again. I grabbed and used the strength of the earth to snap it again. The crack was sickening and my feet couldn’t hold me and the shocked gasp hurt. The tears came unbidden but he held me gently anyway. “Hold it in place, will you?” I asked him and he did. “Elements, heal me.” I commanded of them. They did and I wiped the tears away. “I’m going home if you want me.” I said to him. He nodded. “Spirit take me home,” I told it. I was in my house and I collapsed on my bed. I slept and I woke up running head on into Sam. I swore on the top of my lungs. “How long does this last?” I demanded from him, spirit making my voice a small thunder. He cringed away from me. “Till sunrise!” He said terrified of me. I found a tree and I went into the spirit realm. In this realm I slept. In the morning I woke up in my body again. “Ha!” I yelled to the forest. I used my connection to Sam to find him and found him eating with a bunch of guys our age. When I tapped him on the shoulder he turned reluctantly. “Oh, knock it off. I haven’t strangled you yet so it’s probably not going to happen.” I said with a grin. “Did you sleep in a tree last night?” He asked me loosening at my joking voice. “Yeah, why?” I asked him. “You look like it.” He said. I laughed. “By any chance did you bring me a spare change of clothes?” I asked him trying to flatten my hair. “Yeah, in the hut I stayed in,” He said and turned around. “Any directions?” I asked him. “You’ll figure it out eventually.” He said. I grabbed his head with both of my hands and searched his memory of the last two days. “Thank you!” I said and headed toward the hut. “That was cheap!” He yelled at me. I flipped him off over my shoulder. I heard him snort and turn back to his friends. I grabbed my bag and in it were the scantiest outfits I owned. I went back to him with the bag slung over my shoulder. “You’re kidding right?” I asked him skeptically. He snorted his food. I smacked in the back of the head. I found Rya and grabbed her head and found out where her hut was. I grabbed her outfit from yesterday and asked water to clean it. After the outfit was clean I put it on. I left my bag of clothes in her hut and found Sam again. “I win,” I said and scooted in next to him. “Rya wore that yesterday!” One of the guys asked me. “And I cleaned it before I put it on so shut up.” I said. “Where are the showers?” I asked Sam. He pointed to the showers. They weren’t very private. “Or I’ll go swim in the lake,” I said and decided against it. “Or go home. That’s even better.” I said. “You’re not supposed to leave.” Sam said. “Since when did I listen to rules?” I asked him. “Since now,” a gravely voice said from behind me. I turned. “Let’s see you make me; nobody on this planet ever has before.” I said sounding a bit proud. He smacked me hard across the face. I stood up and I could feel the elements swirling around me. Spirit was visible in its’ glowing purple glory. His eyes got wide. I took a deep breath and focused on my heart beat. I made myself calm down. “Never, ever hit me. I hit harder.” I said. He laughed. I took off running and my feet were caught in the earth. I told spirit to carry me home. It did and the guy looked seriously pissed. I got home and showered and brushed out my hair made myself some food. I ate and then I meditated for a while. I saw my wolf painting and then I decided to paint a little bit. I made a gorgeous painting of the village from the spirit world. The detail was magnificent. I had each person with their own aura and the different colors tied it together well. I was definitely proud. When it dried I had lunch and then I grabbed it and spirited myself back to Sam. He was at the lunch table. “Hey,” I greeted him. “You pissed off the elders again. How many villages are you going to piss off?” He asked me. “A few,” I answered. The guys looked up and when they saw me their jaws all dropped. “What? Did I get a bunch of paint on my face?” I asked Sam. He looked up at me. “They’re seeing how much you look like Rya.” He said. “I can act like her too,” I said with a grin. “Really, because she does happen to listen to rules a bit better than you do,” the same voice from before said. “Um…I think I’m gonna run…” I said. He jumped and caught me. Pain shot through me, but it was miniscule compared to what I’d felt before. Sadness swept through me. I didn’t mind it. Then the thoughts of my worst days flooded me. I screamed. I felt my soul being torn apart at the seams all over again. I screamed and writhed with such a force that he let go of me. I cowered into Sam and sobbed. “I’m breaking again, make it go away,” I said over and over again and cowered away from the man. Every eye in the village was on me. Sam picked me up and took me to the hut he had stayed in and held me. The memories kept coming back, and I felt each one. I made a sound proof bubble around me and each time I screamed for mercy. I was reliving every moment of that last day, when he’d finally given in. I screamed and sobbed and I grabbed a knife. I was about to stab myself when Sam saw me and grabbed it from me. He carried me out of the hut after three hours. I made the soundproof barrier around me alone. He carried me to the man. “Stop hurting her or I swear…” He threatened. “She needs to learn to follow rules.” The man said, dismissing my writhing form. I saw a knife and launched myself at it. Sam tackled me to the ground and I got out from under him easily. I grabbed the knife and he grabbed it away from me. “Stop it!” He screamed at the man. He was starting to look worried. “This isn’t normal, worst memories of a normal lifetime. This is reliving the day her soul began shattering!” He screamed. The man’s eyes got wide. He touched me and he screamed. The pain went away abruptly. I gasped. The whole village stared at me. I sobbed into Sam. The man looked at me, shocked I’d suffered such pain. Many of the people who were looking at me wondered at how much pain I’d been in. I could feel my eyes and form going into an ancient sadness that frightened them more than they’d thought it could. “How did she live through that much pain?” The man asked. My mind cleared in ways that shouldn’t have been possible. “I knew my people needed me. I tried to burn myself alive multiple times and I would always sob a little harder when I remembered that I couldn’t burn.” I said. He looked at me curiously. “I don’t burn.” I said. The ground I was standing on abruptly burst into flames. I stood unwavering feeling the heat though it didn’t bother me at all. The fire stopped. “I don’t burn.” I said again. I held on to Sam. He held me tight in his arms. The last of the pain vanished. I looked up at him and I could feel the love burn through my eyes. He kissed me, in front of the whole village. I kissed him and sat back down. We sat and ate but I could feel the ancient sadness constantly creeping into my eyes. I eventually stood up and ran to the hut and cried myself to sleep. The bed felt oddly lonely. I slept for about five minutes and woke up thirsting for companionship. //I need you,// I thought to Sam. I could feel him getting up without the permission of anyone and he came directly to me. I pulled him down with me and he held me. I needed this with a fierce passion. Three of the elders from this tribe came in and saw me sobbing into his shoulder and they grabbed him and tried to take him away from me. I was clamped onto him and they couldn’t get me off of him. They called a bigger guy in to try and peel me off. After struggling for a moment I showed him my pain and he fell to his knees gasping. They stared at me. They got three big guys in to separate us and I had them all on the ground writhing in the memory of my pain. They couldn’t deal with it. I could now. They gave up and I used the earth to move the guys out of my hut. “Come home with me?” I asked him. “Let’s just stay here,” he said and kissed me. I fell asleep in his arms, feeling safe and warm and whole. I woke up to Lily coming in to get us. I was sitting in my bra and underwear and Sam didn’t have a shirt on and he had on traditional village guy pants. She stared at us in shock and I snuggled deeper into him and had earth take her out of my hut. It was my sanctuary at the moment and I didn’t want to be disturbed. She came back in and dragged me out of the bed by my feet. She dragged me off the mat and I curled up and slept there. She prodded me with her foot after five minutes and I rolled over. She dragged me out of the hut and I complained at her. “You’re in your underwear in front most of the males of the tribe. I looked down at my sports bra and boy shorts and shrugged. I curled up and slept. She gasped scandalized that I was fine with this. Sam came out and doubled up laughing. She kicked me in the side and I elbowed her leg. She hopped around clutching her shin. I curled up and slept where I was. Then freezing cold water was on me. I called fire to dry me. She kicked me harder this time. I glared at her and went into the spirit realm and slept. When my tattoos started glowing she went and got an elder. She had gotten Rya and Rya doubled up laughing when she saw me. She started to unclip my bra and I went back into my body and punched her hard in the face and crawled back into my hut. “Can we //please// go home?” I asked Sam who was looking for some normal clothes. “Actually, I need clothes and so do you.” He said. I grabbed his hand and spirited us home before they came in to get us. We were in our hut and I curled up with him and got comfortable. A few hours later I showered and brushed my hair and put on my favourite traditional clothing and moccasins and made myself look so much like Rya that Sam gasped when he saw me. I put on her walk and no makeup besides cover-up for the tattoos. We ran back to neighboring village and Sam was proud to lead this time. I rolled my eyes at him and when we got back it was about dinner time and we had clothes to last us two weeks. We got our hut situated and I grabbed the painting I had dropped and put it over the mat. He admired it for a while and I brushed out my hair and made myself look more like Rya. I felt weird without makeup, besides cover-up for the tattoos, but I looked like an ancient Indian. When we left our hut and the village saw me I had their attention. I went and found Rya and she did a double take. “Copy cat.” She said and I laughed. I linked arms with her and walked around the village. She laughed at the shocked looks we got. “You do realize that you can make the tattoos disappear by will if you want to, right?” She asked me. I gaped at her. “I’ll show you after dinner.” She said. I grabbed Sam and she grabbed Qwen. When we got to the dinner table there were a lot of people staring at us. “Rya, will you help us with…?” One guy asked and when both of us responded he just grabbed both of us and had us decide between whether a man should be kicked out of the village for disobeying the elders and proposing to a woman less than two years after his first wife had died. I said no, Rya said maybe. The elders came up and asked why I was here. They knew Rya. “He couldn’t decide who was me so he brought both of us.” She said. They glared at me. “You shouldn’t even be in this village anymore. Or your fiancé. If you can’t abide by our rules then you should leave.” One man said. “Okay,” I said and started walking away. “You can’t leave our presence without our permission!” Another man yelled at me grabbing my arm. My anger burned bright and furious. My tattoos were uncovered and my skin got hot. He dropped me and stared at his newly burned hand. “You can’t do that!” A woman yelled at me. “But I did and you can’t do anything about it because I’m already leaving your village.” I said rubbing it in their faces. “I’m getting what I want either way.” I said. They just stood there gawking at me. “You have no power.” I whispered as I walked away. A monster made of fire attacked me. It tried to slash at my skin and when it didn’t get any effect it turned to ice. I went into the spirit realm and found the man who was controlling it. I came back to my body and the thing was aiming to kill me. I could tell it was. I launched myself at the ground at the beasts’ feet and sent the earth to knock the man into the air and caught him with earth in a cocoon and brought him to my eye level. “I can kill you right now. Remember that next time you try to attack me. I will win.” I said and released him. The power and authority in my voice had everybodies attention. Then three protectors attacked me at once and I made an orb of elemental protection and went into the spirit realm. I went and put each one to sleep and their spirit would not wake till I told it to. I came back to my body and caught each body with a cushion of air so they didn’t get hurt when they fell, deeply asleep. “Is anybody else going to try and attack me?” I asked them, turning to them and seeing their frightened eyes. “What did you do to them?” One woman asked me. “I put them to sleep. They’ll wake up when I tell them to.” I said. Their eyes got wide. “Do not make me an enemy to your tribe. I can break this village down stone by stone or I can be the salvation of the tribe if you ever need me. Do not attack me repeatedly because I will kill if that’s what it takes to make you leave me alone.” I said to them. They each nodded and I could see the deep respect in their eyes. I told the protectors to wake up. They did and I walked back to my hut. One woman followed me. “You may stay.” She said. I nodded and grabbed Sam so we could go to dinner. There was a lot of staring but more talking. Sam knew what I’d done because I’d shown him my memory. “You definitely have their respect.” He said. A pebble was launched at my head and I looked to where it had come from. It looked like Lily had launched it. I went to the spirit realm to look closer at her spirit. She was a protector. And she had had a green aura to her head. I came back and asked Sam about green auras. “That means she’s a healer as well.” He said. “I bet I’m a better healer than her.” I said. “What the elements can’t heal she can heal.” He said. I stared at him and then at her. I touched his hand and he nodded seeing that I wanted to move. He got up and moved next to Ivan. I sat next to Sam’s other side. “I’m surprised you haven’t been kicked out of the village for disobeying rules yet.” Lily said glaring at me. “They kicked me out and I told them that was what I wanted anyway and when they attacked me, I kicked the dude who attacked me’s ass and then they had a bunch of other protectors attack and I put them to sleep. I told them my conditions and what they could and couldn’t do either way to me. They decided that they could deal with me so they said I could stay.” I said. She rolled her eyes. “I heard you’re a healer,” I said to her conversationally, “and a protector.” I said to her. “And who told you that?” She asked me eyeing Sam. “A little birdie in the spirit realm whispered into my ear that the wind was singing it.” I said. “Well some of us use our powers for something useful.” She said. “I’ve healed with my powers before.” I said defensively. “Really? How many times?” She asked. “I lost count; I never thought it was something I had to keep track of.” I said. “Not often from what I’ve heard,” She said. “And who told you that?” I asked her. Her head twitched in the direction Ivan was sitting in against her will. “He doesn’t even know me, my powers or anything about how I use them.” I said getting mad. “He hasn’t even asked me about being a shaman.” I said feeling completely ignored. “What, you’re trying out to be a shaman?” She asked. “Women can’t be shaman. It’s just not right.” She said. “But why isn’t it right? Is it because no woman had been a shaman? Because no woman had ever thought to test the rules and see if she could hold some power in the village?” I asked her. “I…” She said, not knowing what to say about that. “I’m a shaman. My village has excepted this.” I said evenly. Her eyes got wide. “Show me then,” she said and offered her hand. I grabbed her hand and brought her to the spirit realm. She gasped. She saw my tattoos and the knot tied between Sam and me. I brought her back. She stared at me. “You really can do it,” she said. I nodded. “I’m up for changing bogus rules and that was something I knew I could do so I proved it.” I said confidently. “You tied the knot with him,” She said and I nodded. “I thought this was common knowledge here too,” I said indifferently. She shook her head. I snuggled into Sam. He put his arm around me. Eyes were staring at me all across the table. Sam and I finished our meal and I waited for him to get up. They watched us more carefully. “You follow all the rules about being his betrothed,” Lily pointed out. “Not all of them, but most of them yeah. He’s annoying when he thinks you’re purposely insulting him and I eventually gave up with it. It’s not that big a deal to me so I don’t mind.” I said and crawled into his lap. He stroked my hair and held me gently. When he touched the shoulder I’d fallen on when I’d dived out of the tree I grimaced. “Didn’t you heal this right?” He asked, rubbing it gently. “I think so, I’m not an expert on bone placement so…” I said thinking back through all of my lives and not seeing a healer that could help. I sighed and rubbed my shoulder. “I can just dislocate it till it heals right, I guess,” I said and grabbed it at an angle that would dislocate it. Lily grabbed me by the good arm and dragged me to the infirmary. “Take off the dress,” she commanded me. I did as she said. Sam walked in and Lily told him wait outside. She checked all the joints and grabbed my shoulder at an awkward angle and dislocated it again. I could feel the tears pooling in my eyes and tried my best not to let them overflow. She held my shoulder in place and told me to heal it. I did and it felt way better. I stared at the ground as I thanked her and I could hear the smile in her voice as she told me to tell her if it gave me anymore trouble. I walked out of the infirmary to trip on a root and land on the shoulder that had just been fixed and I heard a loud snap. I gasped and walked back in trying hard not to cry. She stood there looking at me like //how?// “Don’t ask me how.” I said and she looked at it again. “A clean break. I don’t know how you managed that.” She said and fixed me up. As she was fixing me Ivan walked in. I had nothing but a bra on so I blushed furiously. I tried to cover myself with an arm and Lily snorted. “So you’ll sleep in the middle of the village in nothing but your underwear and be fine but when your brother walks in and see’s you in your bra you blush and try to cover yourself?” She asked me skeptically. “This isn’t one of the bras that I want everybody in the world to see. A sports bra I don’t care if a guy sees me in.” I said. She rolled her eyes and fixed me up. I put my dress back on and as I walked out another root tripped me but this time I had earth engulf me and take me to my hut. I came up and put on my silk pajama top and some short shorts and went looking for Sam. He was in the guy’s dormitory and I just walked right in. A lot of eyes got really wide. I sat next to Sam and he glared at me. “I’m not sitting in there alone and waiting for you. I’m not up for being alone today.” I said. I begged him with my eyes and he gave up and pulled me into his lap. I snuggled into him completely content. After about ten minutes of me sitting there I was yawning. I got up and grabbed his hand and didn’t give him a choice. I walked out with him trying hard not to trip. I lay down on the bed and he glared at me. I grabbed his hand and pulled him down and he gave in quickly.