[Chapter 10]

“Here again, Noel?” Madame Elvie asks as I walk into the ward.

I kept my head down and nodded. It was pity that Ashe’s family members were far away, and couldn’t make time to come down here. Madame Elvie had been perfectly shocked and horrified to learn of the explosion, and had demanded to see her granddaughter immediately.

It had been five days. Five days, and Ashe hadn’t woken up. Not even a stir.

“You’re here too, Elvie.” I replied. Madame Elvie never wanted us to call her Mrs. Alveron, so we came to know her as Madame Elvie. However, she did force us to just call her Elvie.

“Well, she’s my granddaughter, isn’t she?” Madame Elvie replied, talking her walking stick from the bedside.

“If you want to be alone with Ashe, I can come back another time.” I supplied quickly. I didn’t want to be interrupting Madame Elvie in her moment with her granddaughter, no matter how unconscious Ashe was.

“It’s quite alright, Noel. It’s time I left. Will you take a walk with me?” She asked as she stood up feebly, her weight leaning on her walking stick as she came to her weak legs.

I thought of the things I had neglected these few days. I hadn’t attended classes since that day. I had tons of homework to do. I had more than a few trainings to make up for. I had lost connection with my element for almost too long.

Then I thought of Ashe, unconscious on the bed.

“I have time on my hands, Elvie. Let’s go.” I offered her an arm for support, meaning to be polite despite the fact that Elvie had always insisted that we not look at her as an old lady, but a powerful Council Head.

Strange enough, Madame Elvie took my arm this time, not bothering to protest about her age and her fitness. In mutual silence, we walked out of the ward, into the corridor that led to the infirmary. Medical staffs that walked by greeted the Council Head as we passed by, but Madame Elvie only smiled in reply.

Her smile was gentle and kind. But only up close, only being right beside her; I could see the tired and lethargy written in her eyes, her smile. It must be so hard for her. Madame Elvie had been alone in the Faen world for so long, and Ashe had finally come along to relieve her of her duties in the future. But so many things had happened to Ashe, and Madame Elvie still had to be at the helm; at least until Ashe was skilled and ready.

“I don’t like that look you have, Noel. It seemed like you’re trying to pity me.” Madame Elvie said, bringing me back to reality.

“I’m sorry. Perhaps I shouldn’t have done that, then.” I apologized sheepishly. I should have known that Madame Elvie would see the expression on my face. For some reason, Madame Elvie was very good at reading people’s expressions.

“Perhaps you shouldn’t.” She agreed as she turned her eyes away from my face. We were making slow, leisure progress along the corridor, passing by student after student, staff after staff. But none of them stopped or slowed to talk to either of us. It was only the two of us.

“You have been skipping classes these few days. Your burns making it hard to attend lessons?” Madame Elvie picked up the conversation again, but she wasn’t looking at me. If she did, she would have seen me looking down sadly on my arms.

They were bandaged right up to my shoulders; since I had been so caught up in trying to save and heal Ashe that none of the attention went to my third-degree burns. The skin was peeling slowly, and it truthfully hurt a lot. But I knew how to deal with that pain. It helped that I was a water-user, and I knew how to quicken the pace of healing of my arms.

“It’s… nothing. I just don’t feel up to lessons right at the moment.” I lied quickly, but Madame Elvie was no Council Head for nothing.

“Don’t feel up to lessons? We don’t feel up to many things, Noel, but it doesn’t deter us from doing our jobs.” I understood that she was trying to tell me not to skip school, but I couldn’t help it.

“I… just can’t concentrate in class. I’ll catch up.” I excused myself.

“Catch up?” Madame Elvie asked, not giving me the lecture I had expected.

“Yes, I did skip lessons for five days, didn’t I?” I confirmed, confused that she sounded so surprised.

“You still need to catch up, Noel? There’s nothing for you to catch up on. You have learnt every single thing needed to be taught for a water-user like yourself.”

“But I-” I tried to protest that there were still stuff that I hadn’t picked up yet. I wasn’t ready to move on.

“What I’m trying to say is you shouldn’t even be attending classes. I’ve stood up for you on the Council many times. You shouldn’t be made to go through the torturous tryouts. I wanted you to be a junior staff, helping the Training Masters out while you try to search for your Faen through every batch of new students. But they wouldn’t have it. Rax wouldn’t have the fact that you are the age of most second-year student.”

“I… Um…” I wasn’t sure how to react. I was proud that Madame Elvie thought so highly of me –enough to have me try to be a junior staff –but at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I would be up to the job, even if it was offered to me.

“Everyone saw the extent of your powers that day, Noel. The Council fought me, but they can’t fight evidence. You’re being recruited as a junior staff.”

“What? I am?” I asked, surprised. No one had told me anything about it at all.

“You were always away and you don’t seem so happy these few days, so your father kept it a secret from you. Your brother’s been close to telling you himself, but you know how you father can get with secrets.” Madame Ashe seemed to understand my wave of thinking, as she answered my silent question.

“But… I’m not up to it. Not now.”

Madame Elvie stopped, and I stopped too. She turned, looking at me straight in the eyes. She didn’t have Ashe’s sparkling blue eyes, but Madame Elvie’s eyes held their own strange depth.

“No water user of your age, and not even most of our staff, could have held such a strong hold over the water that day. The pipes of the sprinkler system were specially customized to withstand extremely high pressure and high heat. But you, Noel, burst them by just summoning water to your will. No amount of water could have created such a perfect wall in the fire to escape. It was your will; your power and your extreme control over water. You are perfect for the job, Noel. Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Panic brings out power in people.” I tried to reason, but I knew that my argument was weak.

“You were all over in your head to save Ashe, Noel. There was no panic. Just a will to live and a determination to walk out with Ashe alive in your arms.”

I looked around for prying ears, and when I saw there was none, I came up with my next argument.

“It could be because I am a constellation Faen. Power beyond my understanding.”

Madame Elvie nodded

“Exactly. We don’t know for sure if it is because of the spiritual side of you, or because you are the jump in your family, but it is a fact that you are as powerful most experienced water-user.”

I chewed my bottom lip. Madame Elvie made very rational points –the reason why she was still so valued, so looked up to within the school despite his age.

“But… that day… it wasn’t only me. I wasn’t sure at that time, but… the days made me think. It couldn’t have been me. I was running out of breath, out of touch and connection with my power and element. There was no way I could come with so much power to burst the pipes. It wasn’t just me.” I confessed quietly, trying not to look into Madame Elvie’s eyes.

“What are you saying, Noel? How could it be not only? You were the only one conscious enough to draw on your power.”

“It… was Ashe. I took part of her power. That was how I came to have enough power to burst the pipes.” I looked away, feeling like a kid admitting the crime he did. Would Madame Elvie change her mind about me? I had to be honest, at the very least. Not everything was about me. It was about Ashe too.

Madame Elvie was silent for a long moment, and I reluctantly forced my eyes back to her face, hoping to find understanding, dreading the anger I knew would be written in her eyes.

Instead, there was none. I found no anger, only wonder and… joy. It was as if I was her son, and I had told her that I was a successful business man with a beautiful family. None of that was true, but the look in her eyes; it might as well had happened just there and then.

“Are… you sure?” She whispered, as if this was the surprise of her long life.

I nodded, not trusting my voice. I hadn’t told anyone about my suspicion at all. There wasn’t an exact way to confirm it, but the best guess was to ask for help. Maybe some reference would do me good.

“T-The way my power was just sucked by her, to heal her even without me touching my element… I suspected something like that. I just… wouldn’t believe it. And I didn’t tell anyone –and made Dru not tell anyone –but when the explosion happened, there was a pulling inside me. I wanted to go into the fire. I knew, even before I got a look at the situation, that Ashe was in trouble. When I was in there, choking and blinded by the smoke, all I did was follow that pulling. It led me straight to Ashe.” I explained further, supplying more evidence to back my theory up. The evidence had been so glaring at me… I just hadn’t had the time and peace of mind to put the piece in their rightful place.

Madame Elvie, though still looking excited like a girl on her first date, had a light of slight suspicion in her eyes. I drew in a deep breath, preparing myself for the worst. It was now or never. I had never told anyone this before. Not even to my brother –whom I loved and who loved me back despite him being a non-Faen.

“It had been there since you first told me to heal Ashe. I never said anything about it, but when I tried to heal her… my power only joined with her. Something felt different about her. But I wasn’t sure if she felt the same, so I didn’t say anything about it. Every time my power touched hers… it slips from my grips. It goes straight to her.”

It had initially been a frustration for me, before I came with the theory of Ashe being so special to me.

Madame Elvie was silent for so long that I wasn’t sure if she had heard me right. What could she be possibly thinking about right now?

“Elvie?” I asked, sounding a little worried.

“This… this is great! So many years; you’ve gone without a Faen! You can finally progress on with Ashe!” She exclaimed, the tears almost brimming in her eyes, ringing alarm bells within me. Oh no, did she feel strongly about this?

“You were so sad after so many tryouts, I almost couldn’t take it! I watched you from when you first decided to a Guardian, remember? Your first tryouts; you came to me with that black face. I almost stopped Jane from forcing you through more tryouts like that! Now you can forget about all those disappointments! You’ve finally found your Faen!” Madame Elvie took my hand in her free one, the wrinkles in her hand brushing against my youthful ones.

“I…” I was at a loss for words.

Madame Elvie had always treated the younger members of the family to Council Members like they were her own children. She was always there for all of us, standing up for us against the Council for our own good. When I had first realized that I held the ability to control spirits, that I was a constellation Faen, Madame Elvie had been the first to smile and congratulate me, to guide me into keeping that power aside. When my brother and I were at a loss of how to deal with each other –knowing full well that I was the one who had taken Jacob’s gift of wielding an element to his will –Madame Elvie had been there to sort things out for us. When I first decided to be a Guardian, she had been there too, guiding me and checking in on me every step through, right up to my first tryouts.

“Thank you, Noel. Thank you. It must be God’s wish for you to find my granddaughter. Please… I know I have watched you grow, but please take care of Ashe for me in future. I watched you progress from an all-unknowing boy from fourteen years of age to what you are now. Please, help me watch Ashe as she does the same.”

The tears came too. Nineteen year old as I was, the immense gratitude and love I had for someone so unrelated to me in blood crashed down into me, and a single tear rolled down the side of my cheek.

Though she was still crying herself, she chuckled softly, reaching up to wipe off my tear like my mother would do. Like what my real grandmother would do –if my real grandmother was alive.

“Silly boy. You’re all grown up with your Faen now. You shouldn’t be crying.” She scolded, but she was crying.

I sniffled, sucking up more tears and nodded tearfully.

“Thank you. Thank you so much, Elvie. Thank you.”