As Tally is learning about air elemental magic, I'm listening while I scan the forest—never know when someone might attack. Everything is relatively quiet except for Estel's lesson and the occasional squirrel.

Estel's voice brings me fully back to the clearing.

"I know you heard me talking to Tally, and one thing you need to work on is controlling your emotions. If someone gets under your skin and makes you mad, you shouldn't just blast them with spheres of earth, sending a wave of earth at them or choking someone with a vine. Unless defending yourself from someone intent on killing you, you really shouldn't use your power to kill another living being. Yes, I know if we go into some sort of battle with the Stormer Rebellion, their plan is to kill anyone they come across, but this is the exception to the rule."

I narrow my eyes at her. "How do ya know I will have trouble with people getting a rise out of me?"

"Okay, if someone learns your background, are you going to let it stand for them to taunt you about both your birth and adoptive parents dying or you living years of your life on the street?"

I can't believe she's called me out on this, and my fist balls up—I'm ready to strike.

"Mi loba, look at your fist. Were you ready to strike me for simply mentioning them?"

I think for a moment and start realizing she's right. I'm too embarrassed to say anything at the moment, but I can see she understands this, and she just hurries on to the next topic.

"You might benefit from talking to someone or keeping a journal about your feelings. You need a way to get your feelings and emotions out and hopefully deal with any you haven't had the opportunity to deal with yet. You have plenty of potential and heart, so I know you can do this." She smiles at me, making me feel better.

"Like with Tally, you need to learn the basics, but you will be able to do such things as accelerate the growth of plants, create a rock shield, make a small earthquake, and even make a shelter out of earth. First the basics. Center yourself. Try to clear your mind." She pauses until I look at her. "As best as you can at the moment, mi loba. It will take practice, but you will get there. Try and calm your emotions. Focus on that pile of dirt next to the clearing."

A pile that looks darker than the surrounding ground, not that there is much not covered by green or brown of some type.

"Imagine anything you want about that dirt. The feel, the smell, the color, anything that will help you connect with it. Once you feel energy building within you, imagine anything you want the dirt to do. Now try."

Her smile encourages me to continue.

I try to clear my head. I think about the individual grains of earth, the color of it in this part of the country, the texture of it. I concentrate on those things until I feel an unusual energy pulse through my body. Once this builds, I imagine what it would feel like when I scooped it up, picking up a small pile to throw it.

Soon pieces of dirt start coming off the ground, not too high but still off the ground. I try to imagine the pieces flying through the air, but then I see his face and someone is yelling to duck on my right.

"Umm ... well ... sorry."

"Something happened while imagining something or someone, didn't it?"

I duck my head. "Ya."

"That last image caused you to lose control of your emotions. We need to figure out a way to help you with this. Now, moving that little bit of dirt doesn't seem like a lot, but this is the beginning of you learning about what your abilities entail. Once you get the hang of some of the basics, you may be able to do the same thing with living plant material."

I don't know what to say, so I just stand there staring at the pile of dirt, while she moves on to the next person.

Hearing Estel talk again, I look up to see who she's talking to.

"I want you to practice what I showed Tally, " she starts with Hunter.

Hunter's face turns sour, and I wonder what his problem is.

"And I want you to practice what I showed with Mick." She continues with Jonah. "You two will actually have more time to practice and perfect your abilities, so it will seem like I am giving those two more attention. But remember they also have to learn the witch skills also. So they won't have as much time as you later on."

"Now, you two are next." She points at Tanner and Dom. "Dom, we will have to work on your basic skills closer to the cabin, where I have the ability to start an actual fire. However, for you Tanner, we happen to be near a stream."

She pauses a moment and when I look over, she is staring at the water.

"What you can do with your element, Tanner, is rather cool, in my opinion. You can create water bullets by manipulating a water droplet and, then with a forceful blow, you can send it at your attacker. You can change the phase of water, like from a liquid to a gas or from liquid to something solid, like ice. You can draw water from the air to create rainfall, and then you create water bullets out of those raindrops and change the velocity. I've heard those can hurt quite a bit if the water Elementalist choses it to be."

She stops talking, and when I look over, she has a smile on her face.

"There is so much you can do with just water. You can create a shield with it, but you can make this shield reflective. The reflective properties can direct the attack of an opponent back at them. You can even draw water out of plants and animals, if needed."

"Even humans?" Tanner asks, and Estel's eyes narrow at him.

"Now that güero, is a bad thought. But, yes, you can manipulate the water within a person, once your techniques become advanced enough. I suppose you could do about anything with the water within a person, just don't use it on me. Please," she says with a cheesy smile.

I roll my eyes at her playfulness. You wouldn't guess she's a fortysomething-year-old woman.

She claps her hands. "Now, I had Tally close her eyes to concentrate, but you will do what Mick did and keep your eyes open. Center yourself. Look at the water, imagine its flow—where it came from and where it is going. Imagine what it feels like when you get in, and it hits your skin—the resistance against a solid object and its ability to shift and go around said object. See where it has pooled just beyond that rock."

I look up at the same time he does, some of the water previously flowing over rocks backs up behind a rock nearby.

"Imagine trying to bring a single droplet of water out of that pool. Slowly though, and keep your concentration on that single drop of water."

I stand there waiting for something to happen, but nothing seems to be working. Tanner looks up at the sky that peeks through, closes his eyes, and pinches his nose.

"What frustrates you?" Estel asks.

He sighs. "I can't move any water."

"Not just any water, a single droplet. Think about seeing a drop coming out of the sink faucet you just turned off, only that one drop. Imagine putting your hand in the water and letting most of it come out but a little until single droplets are falling down. Concentrate on only one of those droplets."

Once she stops, Tanner's brows pinch together and he stares at the water. It takes some time, but eventually something is breaking the surface. A tiny amount of water is coming out of the pool. All of a sudden it drops, but I look over and Tanner has the biggest smile on his face. The excitement must have broken his concentration.

"Next time, you know you can do it, and you won't be so excited. Then you can work on bringing it further out and moving it around. Unfortunately like your cousins, you will probably have to put in extra work trying these techniques during part of the time you have to relax." She looks around at Tanner, Tally and I. "But might I suggest that the three of you consider meditation part of your relaxation time. Come outside and sit near something having to do with your element. After you have relaxed your mind and body, work on manipulating your specific elements." Estel says to us before dismissing us to head for the cabin.

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[A/N]:

Spanish nicknames.

Güero/a - 

This one refers to a person who is very light-skinned or light-haired.

Spelling and pronunciation note: In Spanish, the two dots as seen above the ü are called diéresis. They are seldom used in the language. In this case, they indicate that güero is pronounced like "wer-o."

Lobo/a

Literally means wolf, and usually refers to a person who is sly. (In this case, Estel isn't referring to Mick as sly.  She sees characteristics in Mick that remind her of a wolf. She adds "mi" because she sees Mick as a daughter.) 

https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/spanish-nicknames/