Free Changed By Fire (Book 3) by D.K. Holmberg

he wasn’t even sure he shaped spirit. When he shaped, there was no control, nothing like what he’d seen from Cianna.
    She laughed. “Without knowing the right shaping? You’re lucky it was only a small explosion. A shaping on something like that could just as easily kill.” She nodded when he gaped at her. “From what I can tell, that place takes a particular shaping. It’s sort of like finding the right key for a lock. Without the key, the door won’t open. Only, in this case, without knowing the right key, the door might kill you. Or the key.” She frowned. “I’m not sure which is which in this analogy.”
    Tan studied his hands. How could he have been so foolish to think he could perform a shaping where Roine couldn’t?
    He needed to know more about shaping before he really did something dangerous.
    “You said you’d teach?” he asked without looking up.
    “You could be a strong fire shaper,” Cianna said. “And you’re stubborn.”
    He tensed.
    Cianna smiled. “Those are a good combination. Don’t worry, if you’re too stupid—or stubborn—you won’t survive the lessons.”
----
    T an stood in a walled area with nothing but a dirt ground. Cianna had led him here, claiming she had the perfect place for him to practice. By the time they reached the yard, the sun had drifted toward the horizon. The hazy fog swirling around left him only able to see a few paces in front of him but once inside the practice yard, the smoke dissipated, almost as if anticipating what they would do.
    One end of the yard was cluttered with refuse. A bale of hay. A small metal post, already twisted and rusting. An old saddle, the leather cracked and faded. A few other items, none of which looked as if they belonged here.
    Cianna pointed at the saddle. A shaping built, steady and powerful. When it eased, the saddle began smoking. Cianna held the shaping for a moment before releasing it and turning to him.
    “Your turn. Smoke, not fire.”
    “Don’t you want me to learn fire?”
    She nodded. “Shaping fire is both easy and hard. Starting a fire is the easy part. Fire wants to exist. Controlling a fire is not as easy. That’s where real skill comes into play.”
    “I don’t have any skill,” he said.
    Cianna snorted. “None,” she agreed. “But you have strength or you wouldn’t have been able to melt through stone like you did in the archives. Now we just need to teach you the control.”
    “And making smoke will teach that?”
    Cianna held her hand out to Tan and waited for him to take it. He did so reluctantly, watching her carefully. Since his awakening in the small room, she had been acting differently toward him.
    “You can sense?” she asked.
    He nodded.
    “Good. Not sure how to teach you otherwise.” She pointed toward the end of the yard. “Pay attention. Sense what I do. There will be several examples.”
    Cianna breathed out. Steam hissed from her nose in a soft shaping. Pressure and heat built in her hand, slow but rising steadily.
    Tan sensed for the shaping. It was there, a faint sensation tickling the back of his mind. He closed his eyes, trying to recreate the shaping Cianna made. Pressure built in his ears, but sharp—too quickly for smoke.
    Cianna cursed.
    Tan snapped his eyes open.
    Flames worked up her arm and she quickly extinguished them with a shaping. Tan worried he hurt her but saw her skin was unharmed. The shimmery jacket she wore hadn’t even taken on any damage.
    “Control,” she said. Again, she formed a shaping.
    This time, Tan felt it beginning. The shaping formed slowly, as if drawn out of Cianna, pulled from inside her. It worked through her skin until reaching her fingers. There, heat and pressure built as she held his hand.
    “Try again,” she demanded. “But be more careful. I can control most fire, but you’ve almost got too much strength.”
    Tan’s heart fluttered as he nodded. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
    Cianna barked out a short laugh. “It will take