The next couple of days everything fell into a comforting habit. In the mornings, they had delicious breakfast prepared by Aksel, then they went to the warehouse to load and unload ships. In the afternoons, they retreated back to Aksel's house to scour the books and try solutions. It almost always ended bad for Desa. Whether it was something exploding in her face or a nasty potion concoction forced down her throat, the result was always the same, she was still not free.

In the evenings, Aksel instructed Desa through the basics of bending, teaching her how to embrace the flow of the power rather than stand against it. Apparently that's what she was doing, as Aksel constantly reminded her.

A frustrated groan left her mouth as she tried to feel the stifled air around her and move the tiniest bit of it to create movement. Aksel had moved them inside the house after he was content that Desa had learned how air naturally moved in free space. Now they needed some place closed for her to start small and not be overwhelmed by the movement.

"You can't start swimming in the deepest part of the ocean, we don't want you to drown." Aksel had said. Which at the time had seemed like such a temptation. Desa took a deep breath and focused on the still air around her, she was sitting at the wooden floor boards where Aksel had removed the coffee table to the side so there was room for her to sit down on the ground and meditate. Meditation was a key part of focusing on her surroundings and it was driving her nuts.

She peeked one eye open to steal a glance at the armchair Aksel was sitting in. He was leaned back and reading one of the spell books he had found at the far corners of the bazaar yesterday. It was called 'Healing Through Water' which was very self explanatory.

"Close your eyes Desa." Aksel said without tearing his eyes from the book he was holding. Desa quickly closed her eye and rolled her eyes beneath the closed lids. She could swear he had a third eye somewhere.

"I've been trying non stop for three days. I can't bend." They had discussed the possibility that the enchantment might be limiting her air bending too, except to force her to breathe again when she was choking as she woke up from a nightmare, which was like a reflex, the magic saving her from herself. So it was a very high likelihood that no matter how hard she tried, she was never going to bend.

She heard Aksel closing his book so she opened her eyes and turned her head towards him. The navy coloured shirt he wore brought out the hidden streaks of dark blue in his hair. "When you removed that ring, it gave a leeway which resulted in you being able to squirm around the orders unless they were closer than three steps." Desa nodded, they already knew this, why was he repeating it? "It might not have only given your body but also your movements when it comes to air bending some leeway too. No matter how little, we'll try to use it." Aksel said as he leaned back again, propping his ankle over his other knee and continued swiping the pages of his book.

Desa rubbed her eyes and softly sighed. He appreciated how hard he was trying to help her and pushing her when all she wanted to do was roll over and call it quits, but fae was it taking a toll on her body. The best part about this routine they got going on was that by the end of the day, she was so tired that she blacked out to a nearly bearable fitful sleep.

Closing her eyes again, she scrunched her eyebrows in concentration as she breathed in and out, feeling the flow of air coming in to her body and then out. It was easy to visualise them now, all around her, floating like dust particles. The hard part was to get them to move. She concentrated on just one pocket of air, standing still, in front of her lips. She imagined them blowing away from her body like an invisible force was pushing them. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple as she pushed on those dust mites but it felt like they weighed a thousand kilos.

Exhaling her breath in a whoosh, she lost her concentration as the imaginary pocket of air dispersed all around her, bouncing in chaos. Desa leaned back against the couch and rested her head back on the cushions rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hands. Why was it so hard? Aksel made it look like a child's game. He just moved around his fingers in tiny swirly movements and water was like putty in his hands.

She was definitely not a natural at bending and it was painfully obvious. Desa got up and took the longer route behind the couch into the kitchen so she didn't get close to Aksel. It was always hard to remember to keep her distance in such close quarters but she wasn't used to human interaction so no close calls had happened. She always checked from the doorway whenever she was leaving a room to see where Aksel was so they didn't bump into each other.

"Where are you going?" Aksel asked from the living room.

"All of this sitting quietly and trying to move invisible particles is making me hungry. You want anything?" Desa yelled back. She grabbed an orange for herself, and a green apple for Aksel before he replied.

She strolled back into the living room, going around the back of the couch when Aksel replied. "Yeah an apple-" before he could finish his sentence, Desa chucked the green apple in his direction. Aksel raised his hand just in time to catch the apple, looking quizzically at the fruit in his hand. "How did you know what I was going to say?"

Desa chuckled as she plopped down on the armchair across from his. "You're becoming very predictable Ax. If I were you, I'd change up my game." She said and winked.

Aksel's face broke out in a smile, as his eyes glinted at the fact that she used his nickname. He shook his head gently and watched as Desa started pealing back the orange in her hand. "I'll make sure my food choices won't be so bland in the future." He said still smiling.

"You do-h th-at." Desa said as her mouth was half full with a big piece of orange she had just stuffed in it. Her garbled response made Aksel laugh and Desa stopped chewing for a second so she could hear the soft melodic sound better. It was over as soon as it had started but the memory of it was still ringing in her ears. His deep laugh always managed to send tingles down her body, curling her toes.

"What?" Aksel asked as he bit into his green apple. Desa forcefully swallowed the big piece of fruit that was lodged into her throat before being able to rasp out a, "Nothing." In reply.

Aksel didn't question her as he turned his attention back to the book in his lap. He was halfway through with the book. "Anything useful in it?" Desa asked as she continued peeling the rest of the orange.

"Not for your case. But I might actually try some of these myself. If I can implement some of them to my bending, they might work together." He said absentmindedly as his finger went over the lines of the book.

She was glad he was finding a use out of every book at least. Desa cleaned the remnant peels from her shirt and placed them on the coffee table before she begrudgingly took her place on the floor again.

Don't try bending with a defeated mindset.

Aksel's voice rang out in the back of her mind and she had to open her eyes to check that he hadn't actually said the words aloud. No, he was still very much immersed in his book. Desa shook her head. She must be losing her mind. Aksel was instructing her even in her imagination.

Closing her eyes, she concentrated again, this time trying not to go into it with a defeated mindset. Taking a deep breath before feeling around her body to make herself aware of how the air filled the room, moved around just the tiniest bits with no windows or doors open to create a flow. She tried to push against that invisible force all around her to make the air surrounding her body move away. Desa pushed, straining herself as she felt the air not moving away from her but rather moving in on her.

The suffocating particles pressed down on her, making her feel cramped and claustrophobic, she tried breathing in but it was as if the oxygen refused to go into her body. She opened her eyes to look for Aksel. He was still reading his book. A choking sound left her open mouth and Aksel's gaze snapped up to her.

He was kneeling beside her in an instant. Desa's body tried to rise up from the ground to barrel into Aksel, to knock him down but Aksel was ready. He crossed one muscular thigh over her lap, standing above her locking her thighs and knees in place while he grabbed her wrists in his right hand and pressing her shoulders back to the couch with his left hand.

"Desa let go." He said with urgency as Desa's vision started getting blurry and her head rolled back on the cushions of the couch. Aksel's face was directly above hers looking into her face as his left hand gripped her shoulder. "Let the air leave your body." He said, his voice concerned as his grey eyes looked frantically over the planes of her face.

He took his left hand away from her shoulder to swipe her hair away from her face and with the space to move, her torso thrashed to inflict any kinda of damage it could on Aksel's body. His hips pushed against her body, securing her against the lower part of the couch. Her whole body felt hot from every part they touched but it was hard to focus on those deliciously rousing emotions as her head started swimming lightly from the lack of air. Her eyes fluttered, her vision going blurry as Aksel's concerned face went in and out of focus above her.

They just had to wait for the enchantment to kick in. It would eventually kick in and force air down her lungs. But as the dry gasps ravaged her body, it seemed that it was taking its sweet time going into effect.

A single teardrop rolled from the corner of her right eye at the strain her organs went through without oxygen. Aksel lowered his forehead against hers as he swiped away the tear from the corner of her eye. He was whispering calming words to her but it was hard hearing them with the deafening ringing in her ears and her consciousness going in and out.

"I got you... it's going to be okay..." he kept stroking her hair and mumbling assurances. His grey eyes were the only constant, the only grounding point as her body thrashed both from choking and his closeness. Just as her vision was about to go black, her eyes opened as a strong gust of wind circled the room and forced itself down her lungs, making her breathe.

Desa's senses came back to her in a rush as her chest heaved in great succession. Still Aksel continued caging her body and gently running his fingers through her hair. He lifted his forehead from hers and looked down between her red eyes, making sure she was okay.

"Are you alright?" He gently asked as his fingers kept toying with a dark long curl like he didn't realise he was doing it.

Desa couldn't respond with her throat feeling raw instead she slowly lifted her head from the cushions and nodded. The room still spun a little from the lack of oxygen but the colours were slowly seeping back in. She felt how Aksel's hips pressed her breasts back to the couch and his strong hand grabbing her wrists. A slow blush crept up into her cheeks from the closeness and she involuntarily squirmed. Aksel's concerned gaze changed as they got hooded and darker, like he knew exactly what she was feeling and that her movements were not because of the enchantment.

His left hand left the strand of hair he was toying with and slowly moved across her jaw until he reached her chin. His thumb circled the smooth dip of her chin and Desa held her breath in anticipation, his feather touch doing crazy things to her body.

Aksel slowly pressed down on her chin so her lips parted and a sigh left her lips. His dark gaze was fixed on her parted lips. He was looking at her like she was the only thing he could see, the intensity of his attention making the hairs on her neck rise, every touch more sensitive.

His thumb moved from her chin to her lower lip. The pad of his finger grazing the flushed skin sensuously. He was taking his time getting to know her lips intimately, like he had all the time in the world, he traced the outline of her lips, circling back to the middle of her lower lip.

Desa could feel her own eyes flutter in a drunken haze as she watched Aksel's face in a trance. His eyes were trailing the path his finger took with reverence. Her gaze dipped to Aksel's lips and she desperately wanted to feel his on hers, wanted to know if she could feel the taste of the green apple he just had, wondered if his kiss tasted like he smelled. Like freedom of the open air across the sea and the sun kissed wood of a ship, accompanied by something that was just special to Aksel's manly scent. It made her want to arch into his touch and beg him to kiss her.

Aksel's eyes looked up to her red eyes and then to her lips again, like he could see those emotions rolling through her in her gaze. A grin formed on his handsome face in a promise. His thumb grazed the inside of her lip, where it was wet, and barely touched her teeth. Before she could question what she was doing, she gently bit down on his thumb. A fire blazed in his eyes as he made eye contact with her. Her hips rose out of their own accord straining against his strong thighs which were holding her prisoner.

Aksel's right hand gripped her wrists harder in response and Desa felt the pressure of a long hardness where his hips pressed into her breasts. A delicious shudder rolled over her body at the evidence of his arousal. She could feel her heartbeat down between her legs, and she couldn't remember the last time she was this aroused.

Aksel removed his thumb gently from between her teeth and combed his hand into her nape and between her long black hair. He slowly dipped his head close to her ear, his hot breath tickling her. His lips whispered against the shell of her ear as he said, "You can breathe now Desa."

She inhaled a big breath not realising she had been holding her breath. Her chest rose and fell as she reminded herself to keep breathing as Aksel leaned back and a breathtaking smile was on his lips.

Before she could re-orient herself, Aksel released her hands, quickly rising up and putting distance between them. As three steps were between them again, Desa felt her body sag against the couch in relief. Her body felt cold where Aksel was a second ago, missing his heat.

She evaded her eyes from him, her cheeks aflame. How quickly he made her forget her panic and distress and replaced it with arousal and tension, she couldn't wrap her head around it. She swiped her hair back with both of her hands as she bent and gathered her legs, placing her elbows on her knees.

Aksel moved back into his armchair but didn't pick up his book, now discarded on the floor next to his foot. Her right thumb was nervously circling the ugly tiny stump of her missing pinky as she looked at the wooden drawer sitting across from her next to the wall.

It was a mixture of different shades of brown with swirly golden handles. Her eyes were trailing a path of a tiny crack on the second drawer when Aksel's voice broke her reverie.

"You know I'm here if you want to talk about it." He said.

Desa was still looking at that tiny crack with an unfocused gaze, slowly tracing the outer rim of her pinky stump. "About what?" She said, absentmindedly.

"The reason for your panic attacks." His deep voice said. Desa's eyes snapped to Aksel's as her thumb stilled over the lost digit. He was looking at her with an unwavering gaze with his elbows on his knees and leaning forward.

When she didn't say anything in reply, Aksel continued, "Something is triggering these attacks." He said and waited a beat like he was giving her time to digest that information. "Nightmares and using your bending seem to be triggers. Your air bending makes the panic much more severe since you have the ability to deprive yourself from oxygen. The magic is preventing it from causing any damage right now, but if we are to eventually get rid of it, we need to work on it so you can control it when you are free."

Not if, when she was free. Aksel's unwavering faith that they were going to free her was comforting even though she was still very much skeptical about the whole thing. She looked at her hands and traced over some of the more visible scars turning over Aksel's words. She knew she was prone to panic attacks but had always managed to hide them, waking up sweating alone or crouching low on a roof top until her ragged breaths returned normal. It was both scary and relieving having someone see and be there when she felt like she was dying.

Using her power was the last thing she wanted to do. She was scared of hurting anyone again. She raised her eyes to look at Aksel's grey ones, who looked back at her like the calm sea. Patient and waiting for her to make her decision. And maybe she was just scared that after all the good he had shown her, learning this would finally make him want to kill her.

Another chapter! Yey!

Thanks for reading lovelies
❤️