Playing Catch Up

Waking up to the sound of hunting dogs scratching at your door might sound a bit bad, understandably, but not when they're two stupid mutts names Chicken and Hammerhead that you and your younger brother trained yourselves. Having hunting dogs is pretty standard in Cora's Mountains. We were a small village in east Asia. Our Village was 'cursed', though everybody calls it a blessing, which brings my frustration. We're cursed with the abilities to control elements, sorry blessed. If you were thinking I'm salty it's because I am. Most people have their abilities by the time they're 12, many girls get it at closer to 8 or 9, lots of boys get it towards 10. And yet here I am, a freak among freaks at 15 with nothing. My little brother, Aari, is barely 11 and he's bending metal like it's string. Not with his hands, with his mind. My best friend Zylith has been making water float in little shows for me since we were like 6, which is an exaggeration, she got hers on my 9th birthday. I was good at not being sour then. I wasn't upset that she got one of the holy elements on my birthday, I was excited. I was hoping I'd get mine soon too. Oh right, about the holy elements, many of our village, most, manipulate things like wind and sometimes temperature. Which yes, isn't an element. I know. But there are the four elements that we consider holy, I'm sure you've heard of them, air, water, earth, and fire. I personally think moving metal like Aari is much cooler than moving dirt like Zyliths older sister Gia (who I think can lift rocks). But its definitely better than what I've got, which if you haven't grasped, is nada, nothing, zilch, jack sh-

"Talia! Get your butt out here before Chicken beats the door down!" My mom called from outside.

leaving my room, Ignoring and evading Chicken who was probably trying to eat my ankles. "What's on for today?" I asked walking past my brother who was either playing with or fighting off Hammerhead, and up to my mom. "Today group E is going hunting" She notified. 

There are 8 hunting groups A-H. Aari, Zylith, and I plus our friends, Sansa and Michika are in group E. We've got two adult mentors whose names I never cared to learn, they were just mean guys. "Hay Aari, can you get them geared up please?" I gestured to the dogs who now were fighting each other, continuously bumping into things head first, probably why they're so stupid. They wear these little leather vests to protect them, we mostly hunt Sika deer of whom, like most deer, have antlers, pointy. We use bows and arrows, the dogs are more for protection. When the 7 of us go hunting, it's our dogs, Chicken and Hammerhead, along with one of the mentor's dogs, Riot. Out hunting, Zylith used her waterbending to steer the deer in the right direction, scaring them towards us. And Sansa whips the wind to hide the sound of our footsteps, I felt so completely and utterly useless.

Dragging the deer we killed back to the village, I dropped mine in front of Michika's dad's shop, he's our butcher. I sulked back towards my cabin. Before I could drag my pitied self through the door, Hammerhead folded me, raced headfirst into the backs on my knees, I near flipped.

"Ahhahahahaa!" Aari, clutching his stomach, doubled over laughing.

"Shut up. Literally don't speak." My grimace was turning on me, forming a smile, my brother's laugh and the pain in my butt was really funny.

"Talia, come." My father shouted from inside. The smile dropped from my face, he wasn't mean, he just had very, very, little patience. I dusted myself off and walked into the cabin, Aari and Chicken walking in silently behind me.

"How was hunting today." He asked in an even voice, no curiosity.

"We each got one, a full harvest." I reported back to him, my hands fidgeting at my sides.

"How did you contribute?" He wasn't worried about my helpfulness to the village, he was targeting questions at my abilities, he won't directly ask, it frustrates us both too much.

"Made two lethal shots, My deer and Sansa's." I responded to him, participating in the game we both know we're playing.

"Any further developments? Techniques maybe?" He was just being obvious now.

"Sansa found a way to continue with the wind without disrupting our arrows." I'll keep dancing till I drop.

"And you, what did you find?" What is he digging for that I wouldn't already have given up? Hope?

"Grabbing a deer by the neck when we bring them back is a lot less physically tolling than the antlers" He sighed, he dropped first, of course. His patience had worn thin from waiting on my abilities, so had mine.

"Alright, I'm off to town with the Dounsels'"

They were heading into the nearest town, my father and the neighboring family, still a few hundred miles away. To get medicine,

"I'll be back in a few days."

We do most things ourselves, hunting, farming, schooling, and nearly everything else, but for medicine and a few other things, we prefer the more modern route.

He walked out with a few bags, taking his goodbye for my brother with him.

Walking away from the door, hopefully leaving my frustration with it, I walked to the kitchen where my mom was. She was heating the pan solely with her mind, no fire. I didn't succeed in leaving my frustration. Seeing her work so naturally, moving about the kitchen, making the pan sizzle and cool with a mere nod, it was mesmerizing. Yet still antagonizing.

"What was it like, when you first got your abilities? Like, could you tell?" I asked, my frustration subsiding into curiosity, and I hated to admit it for the safety of myself but, hope.

"Hmm." She stopped moving, leaned against the counter, and starred off at the ground, as if deep in thought.

"I definitely felt it," She laughed to herself "My whole body felt really cold all of a sudden, then really tingly." she looked at me "though I guess the experience is different for everybody, My sister Nikkita's hair started whipping, shes an air bender like Sansa. But there's one thing we all have in common, everyone I talked to. It's those tingles. It's a crazy feeling. It's so uncomfortable," She laughed again "but it's so energizing. It feels like the magic is coursing through you." She wore an admiring face now, looking at the wall but thinking of her 10-year-old self.

"What are the odds I just don't have abilities?" I wasn't sure if I meant to say it aloud, but I guess she can help more if she's heard the question.

"Low, Tia" her face had dropped, she thinks so highly of this damn curse, she didn't want me, worrying about not having it!

"Whatever." I don't mean to be rude to my mom, she doesn't deserve it. But it's all I have in me right now.

I walk out the cabin doors, walking towards the woods behind our house. We've got guard dogs for a reason, "Chicken, get your goofy self out here" Where one goes, the other follows, now me and the idiots were walking through the woods, my destination had been the lake, maybe I could push those funky little dummies in. A nice walk had made me feel a little better, plus these dogs knocking each other into trees was quite nice entertainment.

The lake came into view, it was beautiful. Trees lining almost all sides, lily pads, and colorful fish fins pushing past the surface of the water. Nobody fished in this lake, I think the fish were too small, so the colorful Koi and catfish and all sorts of fish I know nothing about swam about in peace. Flourishing without a worry in the world, no worries if their fins will never grow, or they'll never be as fast as the other fish. Or hey, maybe they do worry about that stuff, unless my ability allows me to talk to fish, I guess I'll never know. 

I think Hammerhead climbed a tree because his thud on the ground not only knocked me out of my mind but scared away the fish for a couple of feet out.

Chicken dove, surprisingly, paws first into the water. Hammerhead, unsurprisingly, close after.

I backed away as to not get wet and sat with my back to a tree. The dewy smell, not unpleasant but natural and calming, was amazing for relaxing me. The splashing of the psychos was a huge disruption to the serenity, though the ripples looked really nice. 

They're so carefree. I'm embarrassed to be jealous of two very unintelligent dogs. But they were so happy, they're each other's best friends, not one with more skill than the other. I love Zylith with all my heart, but being around her hurt. She was never not using her abilities. She wasn't showing off, having been over six years since she got her abilities she didn't impress herself anymore, she used them the same way as my mom, naturally, like you do an arm. No thought or concentration, like it's just a part of their whole. 

Does that mean that I was missing something? That I wasn't whole?

Would I ever be whole? Would I always be missing something, lagging behind everyone, unable to keep up?

"Talia! Tia! Tia?" It was Aari calling me.

"We're by the lake." I shouted back to him

Aari bent metal. He didn't do it often, at least not in a useful way, mostly for his nice little art pieces or for booby traps and pranks.

Maybe I won't be lagging behind. But I'll still always be missing something, whether it be for fun or for survival, everybody has magic. Magic. It's an incredible gift to be given, as I've been told, but what if I never get to experience it myself. Why haven't I been given that gift? Did I do something wrong, am I undeserving, or did I just get unlucky?

"Oh Tia, you got them all wet!" Aari wined at me, appearing through the treeline

"Oh yeah, why don't you try to stop those bucking broncos from racing to the water. 'Cause I'd love to watch." I got up wiping my pants. He just smiled and started trying to lure them out.

I ditched him before he could beg me to help him.

I walked straight past my house and through the village. I walked past Gia, Zylith's sister, and her friend Rayha? I think that was her name. They were both practicing their abilities, lifting stones and clumps of dirt. Less practicing, more seeing whose rock would last longer in an airborne battle.

I'd be playing catch up the rest of my life, playing a game I couldn't win.

I couldn't help my pathetic little huff. I was miserable with jealousy. Walking deeper into the village, away from most houses- just shops and stands, it started to rain. Most had packed up and left by now, with the sun setting. Those who hadn't were picking up their pace to beat the rain.

I just sat on a small stool in the pathway, usually Michika's brother would sit here in the morning playing different types of music. I'd hoped my negativity wasn't seeping into the happy little seat. Why should my despair affect him, he didn't do anything, nor did the rest of the village. They all just went on with life. While I was stuck back here. I wasn't going to get my powers, I was never going to catch up. Maybe I'd have more dignity my just leaving, rather than being singled out because I didn't have what my village is built on. Standing from my seat, clothes heavy with rain water, I began walking straight out of the shopping district, out of the village, out of the magic.

I didn't get far before freezing. My body felt buzzy and fuzzy.

eew

I could feel this weird force racking through me. I felt happy, I felt safe, I felt full. This force was amazing. My eyes closed and my head tilted to the sky. I feel so powerful. Like I could run till the sun came up, or like I could fly. It was so liberating.

This is what my mom described, wasn't it?

Opening my eyes I looked around me, no wind whipping, rain freezing. I began to wonder if I'd gotten some weird ability, like the ability to bend wood or something.

I looked at the ground and focused, pointing my hands toward it and picturing, willing, the ground to move, to rise. 

My hands began to feel hot. This must be it. I stopped, turned over my hand, letting my palm face the sky.

And there, dancing in my own hand. Despite all the rain peltering it. Was a beautiful blue flame.