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

more than your clumsy attempts to hurt me,” she said. “Make it soft, like a caress.”
    His skin tingled where her shaping touched him but didn’t burn.
    Tan inhaled slowly and tried to create the shaping like Cianna’s. Pulling from within him, he tried taking the shaping and drawing it through his skin and toward his fingers as he sensed her doing. This time, nothing happened.
    He tried again, reaching within himself, but there was no fire there.
    How had he shaped the fire the first time? How had he shaped it when he almost burned Cianna’s arm?
    Not from a shaping that started within him. His shaping had come from outside of him, drawn from the heat of the air all around him. Why should this be different?
    Tan sighed and called out toward fire as if speaking to the draasin. Connected to his fire sensing, he recognized another presence around him, not as strong as Asboel, but still connected to fire. Saa? Would speaking to the lesser elemental even work?
    Gently , he urged.
    With the thought, smoke simmered from his hand and along his arm.
    Cianna nodded. “Good. A good start with control. Now you will need to work on focusing it only where you want it. Fingers. Toes. Stomach.” She smiled at him. “Lips.”
    “Why is my shaping different than yours?” he asked.
    “The shaping was the same. Yours may have been less focused, but the concept is there. I think with more practice, you will learn the necessary control.”
    “It wasn’t the same for me. When you drew out your shaping, it came from inside you, drawn down through you before reaching your hand.”
    Cianna studied him, a strange expression on her face. “You sensed where the shaping came from?”
    “You told me to sense fire.”
    Cianna studied him. “Not many have the patience to sense so closely.”
    He shrugged. “My father taught me earth sensing. He made certain I focused on all details as I did. He said I never knew which would be important.”
    “Maybe. My shaping comes from within. All shapings do. That’s how we draw on the elemental power. I’ve seen you do it before, just pull from within.” She nodded toward the end of the practice yard, as if it was decided. “Now. You’ve shown control close, but you’ll need it at a distance, too. That’s harder.”
    Cianna began a shaping. She still held his hand and her skin pressed against his, dry and comfortable. This time, Tan made certain to focus closely on it. Again, it drew from deep within Cianna, drawn out slowly and pushed toward the saddle on the far end of the practice yard. Even before the shaping struck, Tan knew what it would do.
    Smoke rose from the saddle, as if heated on a stove. No flames rose. The scent of burning leather drifted toward them. Cianna held the shaping a moment before releasing it and turning back to Tan.
    “Try that.”
    Tan took a deep breath and focused on the saddle. He tried drawing the shaping through him as Cianna had done but again, nothing happened. Again, he called out as if speaking to the draasin. This time, he focused on the saddle as he sent the command. Smoke.
    The shaping left him in a soft rush. Smoke rose from the saddle, billowing away. It was much like what Cianna had done. And nothing like it.
    Could it be that he didn’t shape the same way she did? For him to control fire, he had to use the elemental power. Cianna controlled it herself.
    She looked over at him and smiled. “Good. Most can’t maintain control at a distance so quickly. There’s room for improving your control, but it’s a start.”
    Tan thought about telling her he hadn’t done it the same way, that his control was not what she believed, but how could he explain that he shaped differently than her? The results were similar, but he sensed how she created her shaping. What he did was different. Was it like that with each of the elements or only with fire? Maybe working with the draasin changed something for him, or maybe he simply had learned it a different way.