Free Fortress Of Fire (Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg Page B

this time reaching for the earth. The shaping didn’t come and golud didn’t respond. Tan reached for fire again, shaping the wind into a funnel, but his mother released the wind, drawing it away, drawing fire away, before again wrapping him in wind. This time, it nearly suffocated him.
    “Enough,” he managed to say.
    His mother squeezed him again for good measure before releasing the shaping. “You rely on fire when another elemental would serve you better. You can fight wind with wind. You could have used earth against me. Even water would have worked. But always you reach for fire.”
    “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
    She waved a hand as she laughed. “Fire can’t hurt if it can’t burn.” She shook her head and fixed Tan with another hard look. “If I do nothing else, I will break you of the belief that you can only use the single element. Now, let’s try again.”

6
    Wind Elementals
    T an sat on the street alone, exhausted from working with his mother. He knew he should return to the room with Amia and get some rest, but after the repetitive practice with wind shaping, he needed time to get his mind right.
    Firelight danced in a few windows, and a few lanterns were lit along the street. A cool wind blew in from the north, but there wasn’t much bite to it. Cold didn’t bother him as it once did. Was that the connection to Asboel or was that from the fact that he’d learned how to shape? A hint of the moon peaked from behind dense clouds. The haze that hung over the city remained, but less intense than before. At least now, the stink of everything burning no longer overwhelmed him.
    He couldn’t shake the unease he felt at what was happening in Incendin. Even the practice with his mother hadn’t shaken his concern. For the first time, he wasn’t sure he should be the one to go into Incendin. He might be able to speak to the elementals, but when his mother took him from Ethea, he had lost much of that connection. Only fire had responded. What would happen in Incendin when only fire could respond and he met shapers much more capable than him? What advantage did he have?
    He sighed, letting out a breath of air, focusing on his breathing as his mother had instructed. This time, with a whisper, he called to ara. The wind elemental ignored him. That was always the chance he took with his type of shaping, the reason his mother wanted to teach him to master his shaping rather than depend on the elementals for assistance.
    Tan still questioned his connection to the lesser elementals. Saa seemed to respond to him. With a quick shaping, he pulled forth a finger of fire, letting it dance over his hand. Once, this type of control would have been beyond him. This time, he actually saw saa flickering through the flame, adding to it. With an easy request, saa sent the flame swirling higher. Likely this was how he had shaped when working with Cianna so long ago. At the time, he thought maybe Asboel helped, but the distant sense of the draasin wouldn’t have been enough to help guide his control.
    Tan released the connection and then reached for it again, drawing forth fire, letting it flicker on and off. The dancing flame came without a challenge.
    Why fire? Earth should be the easiest of the elementals for him. He’d known he was an earth senser first, long before ever learning that he could speak to the nymid or draasin. Earth should be the element that he shaped most easily. With wind, he never quite knew if it would respond. Ara treated him with a hint of respect, but nothing like what he sensed for his mother. Zephra was practically revered. Other than with Asboel, the only elemental he’d actually spokento easily had been the nymid. After the evening of lessons, wind came easier, but still not easy. Would he ever manage the casual ability with the wind that his mother had?
    Tan glanced up at the house. Amia would be there. He sensed her resting, warm by the hearth. He imagined her with a book spread across