THREE YEARS LATER

"SLOPPY, SLOPPY, SLOPPY. GET UP, DO IT AGAIN"

Maalot huffed and pushed herself off the ground, not bothering to brush off the dirt off her clothes. She took a deep breath and blew the hair out of her face. She moved and got in position once again in front of the thin panels. Master Xanaii blasted air at the panels which began to spin. Maalot stared at them, each spinning one way and another. With a huff she moved forward, hands in front of her as she entered the spinning panels. She moved through them pushing against the air and her feet dragging over the ground. This is the opposite of how she's supposed to move. Her movements should be graceful, airy, flow with the movement of the panels and move direction when she meets resistance.

But Maalot is pushing through which leads to sloppiness and her smacking against the wooden panels, foot, shoulder, back, causing her to lose balance and get hit a couple more times. She would try to pick through but it would end with her flying out and landing harshly on the ground.

Maalot remained on the ground, annoyance and irritation growing each time Xanaii told her to get up and do it again.

"Sloppy. Again"

She screamed and pushed herself off the ground. "Enough!" She snapped. "We've been out here for hours! Practicing and practicing and it never ends. I've been doing everything you've told me to do–"

"And yet you're still failing!" Xanaii interrupted.

"Because you're not helping me!" Maalot shouted.

"No, it's because you want to fail!" She shouted back. "Maalot, you know how to do this, it was one of the first things you learned, but you've been growing sloppy and you force your way through! That" she pointed at the now still panels "what you've been doing there has been your worst work ever. Sloppy movements, unbalanced footwork, and the way you force your movements. You're not being patient"

"I can't do this anymore" Maalot said.

"Yes you can. You just don't want to do it anymore"

"I can't do it" she repeated more forcefully. She removed the sky blue stone from her necklace and held it in her hand. "I failed on Earth. I wasn't strong enough to stop Thanos. If I was a little bit faster, a little bit stronger we wouldn't be where we are now. Thanos is dead, the stones are gone and half the universe is dead. And this" she held the stone between her fingers "I'm not strong enough to be the guardian of the stone. Give it to Meelo, he can do it"

Xanaii sighed and shook her head. "You are one of the strongest guardians of the Stone of Ventus. I've seen it and you've proved it multiple times. And your brother may excel in multiple fields but he wasn't chosen as the guardian. You were"

Maalot let the words sink in and sighed. She looked down at the stone in her hand, the stone which grants her power to control air. Without it she has no powers. That's why whenever she's training or fighting, she wears the stone in jewelry, either in a headpiece, or necklace or bracelet, she could keep it in her pocket but having it as part of an accessory is easier. She ran her thumb over the smoothness of the stone and placed it back on her bracelet.

One thing she doesn't understand, when she was on Earth and Thanos used the stones on her causing her to slam into some trees, why did her diadem stay behind where she was previously standing?

⋆ ⋅ ☆ ⋅ ⋆

Maalot likes to sit under the stone cloister whenever it's raining. She likes to see the rain fall into the pond causing never-ending ripples in the water. She enjoys the sound of rain, the smell, the grey clouds, she loves how some flowers brighten during the rain. They stand out and yell 'look at me, look at me!' under the gloomy sky. The birds are in their nests or the little houses set around the courtyard. No sound from them until the rain stops.

Three years. It's been three years since they lost to Thanos. Three years since her mother died, her cousin, her aunt, her grandparents. Her home feels bigger since half the staff dusted along with some of her family members. She took in a deep breath and ran her left thumb over the stone in her bracelet. She stared at the pond so deep in thought she didn't notice her brother sit beside her.

"You're gloomy today" Meelo spoke.

"Today's training wasn't the best" she replied.

Meelo poured himself some tea Maalot has on the small table between them. He took a sip of the hot liquid and stared at the wet courtyard.

"Did I ever tell you what happened when we fought Thanos on Earth?" Maalot asked her brother.

"You did" he nodded. "You fought the outriders, the Black Order and Thanos when he went for the last stone"

"The mind stone that Vision had on his head" she spoke.

"I know all this"

"There was something else. When I was fighting Thanos, he used the stones and I was flung to a tree. I was wearing the blue diadem but when I was thrown, the diadem was on the ground where I stood. It wasn't affected by the stones"

"You never said that" Meelo said.

"I'd forgotten about it until today. Well, I thought I'd forgotten. Point is, I never actually thought about it until today"

"Well maybe the diadem slipped off when Thanos threw you"

"No" she immediately shook her head. "The diadem is designed not to slip off. Same with the necklaces and bracelets. I've been thrown many times and never has the diadem, or necklace or bracelet fell off"

Maalot finished off her tea and distracted herself by forming a small tornado in her hand. Why is that memory suddenly front and center, and three years after the fact, no less? Three years of visiting Earth and friending what's left of the Avengers. Three years of visiting the Asgardians and their new home on Earth, called New Asgard.

"Gloria Regali" Meelo whispered.

"What?"

"Gloria Regali. The stone is one of the gifts of glory which were gifted to the universe by the Queen of Nevers and Eternity" he explained.

"Meelo, what does that have to do with the infinity stones?"

"It all goes back to the creators. Who created humans?"

"The Celestials" she answered.

"Who created the Celestials?"

"The First Firmament. He was the first universe to ever exist and he created the Celestials out of loneliness" she explained.

"Yes but the Celestials weren't the first inhabitants in the universe. Nemesis was the first inhabitant. It was the only living thing that existed within any and all realities, but it put an end to itself due to its loneliness. From its ashes, the infinity stones were formed along with most of reality"

"And the Cosmic Beings and Celestials created the rest. I still don't understand what you're trying to say" Maalot told her brother.

"Eternity is a descendant of the First Firmament"

"So?"

Meelo groaned and rolled his eyes. "The creators, don't you see? They both created things which in turn opened dimensions and realms and so much more. Cosmic Beings came and created and destroyed and the countless wars. First Firmament and Nemesis are why we exist. The infinity stones control an essential aspect in existence but so do the Cosmic Beings. They represent parts of the universe. So when the Queen of Nevers and Eternity– two Cosmic Beings, one of them being a descendant of First Firmament, created Gloria Regali and gave them to the universe as a gift. They essentially created something equally as strong– or stronger, as the infinity stones."

Maalot blinked and furrowed her eyebrows. She let her brother's words sink in but she's not sure what to do with the information, much less now that it's been three years. The universe has suffered an immense loss but a story of how the universe came to be supposed to make everything better? Her thumb brushed over the smooth stone and she looked down at it, sky blue, a perfect circle, one can't even tell it was cut to smaller pieces for the Masters and their apprentices. But her stone is bigger than the Masters and apprentices, she is after all the guardian of the Stone of Ventus.

"How do you know all this?" She turned to Meelo.

He took another sip of tea. "After half the universe gets snapped out of existence you get curious about the story of the stones"

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"I only recently made the connection"

"Recently made the connection? Are you speculating or did you read the facts in a book?" Maalot shrieked.

"Uh, can I take the next question?"

She screeched and waved her hand at Meelo, a strong wind hit him face on, causing him to push back in his seat, and his arms moving spilling tea on his clothes. "Well if I knew you would get like this I wouldn't have told you" Meelo set the cup down and looked down at the wet patches on his clothes. "Another gust so you can dry this out, please"

Maalot glared at him and he laughed. "What was the reason for you sharing your speculation?"

"When you mentioned the diadem stayed in place after Thanos used the stones to throw you, it made me think about that. Sybbyl was also there, did you ask if the same thing happened to her? Because the Bow of Whispers is also one of the gifts"

"And even if it did happen, what does it matter now? It happened, it's done. Half of living beings are dead and the stones are destroyed and Thanos is dead. And making connections between two entirely different stories isn't going to help!" She threw a small pillow at him. He caught it and set it on his lap.

"I'm not telling you this to upset you, I just...I don't know. I know the connections may be a reach and I know it's been three years but, I guess it gives me some sort of comfort. I mean the fact that our family has the Stone of Ventus and you are its guardian. There were five gifts and we have one– you have one right there" he motioned at the blue stone on Maalot's bracelet. "And do you think it's a coincidence that you're friends with Sybbyl who also has one of the gifts? And Queen Thezi and Queen Sari?"

She thought about it, the gifts of glory to the universe from Queen of Nevers and Eternity. It's a love story of some sort, and ends with them sending gifts to the universe. Stone of Ventus has been in her family since the dawn of time. Is it really a coincidence that she's friends with those who have the other gifts? But it isn't until now that she thought about it. She never paid attention to it until Meelo pointed it out. Huh, so maybe there is something to his speculating?

"It was four gifts" Maalot spoke more calmly.

"It was five"

She smirked. "Four. The last one doesn't exist. It was added for the amusement of children."

"Eh, if it was for the amusement of children, how come some of the books I read include the fifth gift?"

"Because they're fools. Only fools believe in it" she dismissed.

"Well then call me boo boo the fool because I believe in it" Meelo shrugged.

Maalot laughed. "Boo boo the fool? Where did you get that from?"

"I've been studying Earth culture. Wanda has been teaching us"

"Us?"

"Me, Nebula, Mantis, Drax and Groot" he answered. "I don't think Natasha and Sam approve because when we came to the topic of memes they had this look of disappointment"

"Oh yeah? Tell me what annoys them the most so next time I see them I know what to say" Maalot folded a leg under her.

"Ooh, there are many things" Meelo went on about the things that annoy Sam and Natasha and Maalot laughed.

Under the cloister on a rainy evening, Maalot sat with her younger brother talking about Earth and its culture. It's been three years since it happened, many planets are still struggling and in need of assistance, and many people are doing their best to just get through the day. But right now all Maalot can think about is Meelo's stupid speculating but more importantly spending time with her brother because she has seen that anything can happen at the snap of your fingers.

Author's note
Ahoy-hoy! It's been a while but I'm back. Don't know why, but WandaVision inspires me to write for Gloria Regali and Raconteur.