Fated Volition (#Wattys2015)

Chapter Five

Seek and Find

They had been walking for nearly an hour before Ryhan broke the silence. It had been a very awkward morning. When they had awoke, Gavin handed her a few pieces of dried meat that he had found in a crate that had washed up to shore sometime during the night. Starving and grateful to silence her stomach, she ate the waterlogged meat without complaint.

Something had changed during the night; there was an obvious shift in the connection that she shared with him. He had closed himself off to her again and she could no longer sense his emotions.

"You promised to tell me things this morning." She said.

It was all she could really muster. She would be angry with herself if she had said what she was really thinking. That she did not understand why he was shutting her out or how he could turn his emotions on and off so indifferently.

"I did?" He asked innocently.

"Yes!" She replied impatiently.

He shook his head and mumbled, "No. I do not think that I did. What was it you wanted to know?"

"What? You can't be serious." She said irritated.

Ignoring her, he kept up his brisk pace. A familiar pain crept into her eyes. Stopping abruptly, Gavin turned around quickly and reached out for her.

"Ryhan, I was only testing you, I need you to calm down. Breathe." He said calmly while looking into her eyes.

"I... don't think I can." She gasped as pain shot down her spine.

"Try. Just try." He pleaded.

Closing her eyes, Ryhan focused hard on her breathing, trying to ignore the heat radiating from within her. After several long and deep breaths, she opened her eyes and felt a little more composed.

"Good job, you did exactly what I asked. It will not take long for you to learn more control over your power. The real trick is going to be getting you to control your anger." He said amused.

"You said last night that my power is linked to my emotion, but really it's just linked to my anger?" She asked.

"Not exactly. Any emotion if felt strongly enough could ignite a spark in you. Fear, passion, even love. But your anger is what is wild and messy; your power will be unreliable until you can learn to control your temper." He explained.

"So you made me angry on purpose, you couldn't have just explained that to me? Do you know what it feels like when that happens to me, how painful it is?" She asked annoyed and if she was being honest, a little hurt.

There was more to her than her anger. She would be the first to admit that she had a short fuse, but ever since she learned of her power, it seemed to be getting shorter by the minute.

"I needed you to see how well you could control it yourself. So that if I am not near, you will not endanger yourself or others." He clarified.

He may have been right, but it did not make her feel any better. She thought of the people on the ship, unsure if any of them survived, and guilt washed over her. She never wanted something like that to happen again.

"I still don't understand where the power comes from. It feels alien to me. Like something that takes over me when it happens, not something that comes from within me." She said, trying her best to make him understand. "It's forceful and dark, and I don't know if I even want to use this power."

"It will feel more natural the more you use it. Power feels differently when you choose to use it instead of letting it consume you." Gavin explained sympathetically.