"I will be your teacher," Lejanida told Ignacio that day.
"Why you?" He asked.
He didn't mean it to sound as harsh as it did, but he wasn't sure what a person like her could teach him.

In his opinion, she was the type of person who spewed around wisdom but knew nothing about the hearts of humans.
He especially didn't think she knew anything about fighting since in his mind fighting was a man's business and the fact that some women could fight was an exception, not a rule.
Looking at her physical appearance he judged that she would be a terrible fighter, that she didn't have the necessary strength to beat anyone, so he wasn't sure why he would have to listen to what she had to say.

Before he could voice his protest, he was lying flat down on the ground.
Disoriented, he started looking around trying to figure out what had happened.
Lejanida stood above him with hands on her hips and a huge smirk on her face.

"Did she... No, no, that's impossible." Ignacio thought to himself.
Unfortunately for him, there was no denying it.
There was no one else around their personal training area, so she had to be the one who swept him off his feet, literally, while he was too busy thinking how inadequate she was.

"As they say in your world, never judge a book by its covers," Lejanida said.
He was stunned that she could tell what he was thinking and started worrying that she might be able to read his mind.
"No, I can't read your mind, but wise people don't need to. Everything I need to know is written on your face." She said.
After saying that she offered him her hand to help him up, and he accepted.

Before everything that had happened, he would've probably refused her help and gotten furious, but he started realizing that she was teaching him a valuable lesson and that wasn't something he should get angry about.

"You are strong. Both your body and mind are powerful but that power is useless if you let the anger control it. Sometimes anger can fuel your powers but you never know when it will turn against you.
I am here to teach you to use your powers in a way that will not be damaging for you or people around you.
It's a wonder you haven't yet hurt anyone because, anger, although a powerful source of energy, is not the most precise one.
It is all about strength and not about precision. To be able to protect yourself and others you need both." She said.

Ignacio could feel his anger slowly flaring up at her words but for the first time in a long while he managed to rein it in and not let it become an all-consuming fire that it usually tended to become.
"That's a good start," Lejanida said sensing the struggle in him.

He knew that what she was saying made sense. Had he not been burning with anger and desire to destroy maybe he wouldn't have been hurt, maybe he would have been able to protect Amber from being hurt.
He couldn't really figure out why he felt responsible for what happened to Amber, but he did, and he wanted to do everything in his power to prevent anything like that from ever happening again although she did seem capable of protecting herself.
The more likely scenario was that they would protect each other and surprisingly enough he didn't seem to mind that, not anymore.

It was difficult for him to believe that HE could change so much in a matter of days, but that was the influence the island seemed to have on all of them.
Even his friend Royce, whom he had known for years, seemed to be an entirely different person, a better person.
Somehow he managed to become stronger and less likely to go down the black hole that was anxiety.
Maybe that was their destiny, to be changed by the magic of the island.
Although Ignacio had never believed in destiny before, being faced with magical beings, with dragons, fairies and so on, he started reexamining his beliefs.

"Are you ready to follow all my instructions no matter what?" Lejanida asked interrupting his musings.
He nodded his head in agreement.
"So far you have used anger to tap into your powers, but a wise man knows that he should have more facets open just in case one of them doesn't work," Lejanida said using a bad human analogy.
Ignacio almost chuckled at her clumsy explanation, but he made himself stay serious.

"See you stopped yourself from laughing? I want you to do the opposite.
I want you to let all the positive emotions in and to make yourself receptive to more of those warmer emotions.
You have used the fire of anger so much that you have forgotten how soothing some other emotions can be.
Try to think of things that make you happy, that put a smile on your face." Lejanida instructed.

Ignacio tried to do what she said but it was more challenging than he thought it would be.
Maybe he had spent too much time stewing in his anger and forgot about all the other emotions to the point that they seemed so far out of reach that he had to do his best to even catch a glimpse of them.

"Alright, now I want you to pick up any of the rocks you see in front of you and guide them carefully through that tree's branches." She said point in the direction of the said tree.

There were so many branches on that tree, crisscrossing each other that Ignacio felt it was a too difficult task to accomplish.
That was why he chose the smallest rock and lifted it with his mind.
Trying to guide it through the bundle of tree branches proved to be such a challenge that he lost his hold on the nobler emotions and anger took over once more.

In a matter of seconds, his eyes changed, the bronze color fully taking over, and he drove the small rock through all the leaves and branches making a huge hole all the way through it until reaching the other side.

"Well, that's one way to do it. You are lucky that my dear husband put a self-healing spell on the tree, otherwise, I would have to hurt you for destroying nature." She said.
"What if that had been your friend you were supposed to maneuver around. You would have hurt them, well judging by the size of that hole, you would have killed them." Lejanida said.

For the first time in a long while, Ignacio felt embarrassed.
He lowered his head in shame berating himself for letting anger rear its ugly head once again.
The hole in the tree started slowly closing itself up and soon enough it was as if nothing had ever happened to it.
"It's okay. Look! It is as good as new. We expected there would be a few bumps on the road, it's quite normal, I assure you." Lejanida said upon seeing Ignacio's downcast expression.

"Again." He said.
There was a new determination lighting his eyes and it was obvious that he really wanted to get it right.

Picking up another rock he tried to do the same and at first, he was doing okay, but the spaces between the branches were tiny and it felt like he was trying to get the rock through the most complicated labyrinth.
One of his hands started shaking, a sign of the oncoming wave of anger but Lejanida had an idea that she thought might work.

She was observing the humans since the moment she showed up on the top of the mountain, and she was pretty sure that she had Ignacio figured out, although he was still figuring himself out.

"Amber," Lejanida said.
The moment her name left Lejanida's lips Ignacio seemed to perk up and his hand slowed down in its shaking and then it stopped shaking completely, it was as steady as ever. That was all the confirmation Lejanida needed.

"Amber. Amber. Amber." Lejanida started repeating like a chant.
Ignacio had no idea why but hearing her name made him feel all those warm and comfortable emotions that he had thought were long-lost.
Finally, all those emotions spread through his whole body, and he could feel his way around the tree branches.

It was still like going through the labyrinth but this time he had a perfectly drawn map of it which made it immensely easier.
He could feel every branch, every leaf and from that, it was easy to navigate the rock around the branches.
After practicing for some time with different sized rocks, they finally decided to call it a day.

Even after Amber turned out to be the joy he needed to access the more positive emotions, he didn't seem to understand what that meant for him, for them.
Lejanida found that surprising since it was obvious what that meant, but he didn't get it.

"Men are sometimes so dense. My dear husband is a good example of that, had I not approached him directly we would have never even been bonded." Lejanida thought.
A smile spread across her face thinking of her dear clueless husband, and she couldn't help but think that Amber would have to deal with the same problems she had to deal with, clueless males.