Free Thunder Struck by Viola Grace

Chapter One
     
     
    “Do it, Ked.”
    Kedna looked at her younger sister and then out at the empty moonscape. “I am not supposed to without Mom or Dad watching.”
    Her parents were working in the garden with their older sister and brother. Ked was watching Lira and trying to keep her out of trouble. Lira seemed fixated on getting Ked into trouble.
    “Do it or I will go and play with the airlock again.” Lira pouted and wiggled her fingers.
    “Fine but not here.” Kedna got to her feet and hauled her sister a few rooms away from their family where she could see the ice caps.
    “Sit.”
    Lira thudded to the ground and watched with delight.
    Ked focused on the mountains and thought about the ice turning into mist. It happened in a flash and the cloud that she created drifted toward the research dome.
    Lira pressed herself against the clear pane of the dome. “Make it a star.”
    With effort, Ked shaped the cloud into a star; sweat was running down her temples and her back.
    “Fish. Make it look like a fish.”
    Ked swayed as she changed the shape again. Her monitor bracelet began to flash.
    Lira clapped. “Wonderful. Make it a star again.”
    Bright dots filled Ked’s vision. She moved the mist into shape and fell to her knees. Her bio-monitor was putting out a high-pitched shriek, and she could hear Lira screaming for Dad.
    She felt her body shaking and her heels thudding on the floor.
    Her father came running and lifted her, his healing working its way through her body.
    “Ked. We told you to stop using your talent here.”
    Lira shifted from side to side next to Ked.
    Their father looked at her and sighed. “You threatened her again?”
    Lira scowled and nodded. “Just a little.”
    Kedna looked up at her father as he finished stabilising her. He was frowning earnestly.
    “Kedna, working with your elements on a world with no true atmosphere is too much for you. Where did you get the water?”
    She pointed to the mountainside. “I just took a little ice. I managed three shapes.”
    “Well done, but we are here for three more days. Don’t do it again. Lira, if you ask her, I will heat your butt until you can’t sit for a week. Are we understood?”
    Lira pouted but nodded. “Yes, Dad.”
    Kedna got to her feet with her father’s help. She scowled. “I think Lira’s talent is convincing me to do things.”
    Her father looked at her with an amused smile. “Then, your challenge for today is to not let it happen again. We are at a delicate point with seed collection. I need to know that you are under control.”
    “Yes, Dad. I won’t do it again.”
    He sighed and ruffled her hair. “Of course you will. Go take readings from the air scrubbers. Show Lira how to do it.”
    Kedna looked at her little sister and nodded. “Yes, Dad.”
    He headed off to the greenhouse, and she looked at Lira. “Come with me.”
    “I want you to do it again.” Lira crossed her arms.
    Kedna acknowledged that she was feeling a definite push. She sighed, grabbed Lira’s hand and hauled her off to check the air scrubbers. Now that she knew she was being pushed, she could deal with it. She simply removed some of the oxygen from Lira’s lungs and she took a little nap. It wasn’t an elegant solution, but it was as good as she could manage.
    She would accept the punishment for using a talent on a member of a family later. Out of all her siblings, she was the only elemental. In fact, she was the only elemental in seven generations of talents. Her mother was a horticultural talent, her father was a healer and her two eldest siblings took after their parents.
    Kedna made the notes on the scrubber levels and wondered what she was going to do when she went off to school next week. No one on Lekinor could help train her and she desperately needed training.
    Lira being a pusher shouldn’t have been a surprise. Given the different nature of Kedna’s talent, she had no natural resistance. The rest of the Kencort family would be fine