As Mother Earth would say through words made from the clanking of stones under the feet of riders and the song of rushing waters on a stormy day, all men are the same.

They demand. They take. They use their physical strength as a weapon and sometimes just the aura they've made for themselves.

"I am daughter of the Earth, no man leads me by his command." I lift my head, creating a crown not by the kingdom I had run from but the mother I had created by.

The rider lifts his chin to the sun, smoke of grey from the firestorm I had create hangs low on the air still. He holds a hand to his chin, scanning the sky in disbelief.

He speaks in a accent that yet again catches me off guard, high pitched like the wind rather than hard like the ground.

"You? You are responsible for this?"

"Yes, couldn't you see on a beast with wings? My kingdom killed my mother of flesh so I killed the King's son of blood."

Breathless, he wipes beads of sweat from his dark cheeks. He's young, his face lacking wrinkles of any kind and eyes bright in the sun like clean jewels. "You killed the King's son? Impossible. A daughter of the goddesses would never turn against their kingdom."

"I did. Mother Earth wanted it. I carry out her wishes."

"You are a liar."

"And you must be blind. I took down an army."

"The smoke was heavy."

"And my aunt spoke to me through this sacred walls. They lit up and told me the story of my history, she welcomed me not as a rival but as her kin."

We stare, keeping our eyes on each other as if prepared for the other to strike with combat. A smug grin lifts on my lips, sweeter than the sweetest honey. It feels wrong in the face of my grief and crimes but I allow it once.

"Sky doesn't get along with her greedy sister. I doubt, even if you were the child of the Earth she would speak with you."

"She did."

"And you claim to kill the royal line. Your future husband."

"He was hunting me and he saw my face. I didn't mean to kill him but Earth saw that it was fit for the clawed cobra to strike."

I hold my hands out letting black sparks jump from my palm like a gentle reaction. The boy jumps in a sudden, shocked by the color only a child of the Goddesses could create.

They become wild in a matter of moments, causing the bird to jump back, spitting angled flares at the sky. Brutus lowers his head, placing his ears flat as a warning to the firebeast.

I hear his roar lower, shaking my bones through my skin like the after shock of an earthquake. The sky boy stays back, one hand on his belt where a silver blade glitters and his other extended to call his powers.

"Edel is dead and I have no intention of allowing anyone to call me a liar for a life I knew I took."

He shakes his head, blue alight in the strains of his scalp, "The King of the Earth will kill you. No King will let you live after such an act."

"Not even a rival King? One who knows that I hold a source of power that could destroy his arch-enemy with my knowledge."

Silence ensues. "I don't know. The goddesses don't bless me as they do for the King and his family."

"Then I should speak with the King and his family. I should converse with my sister and lend her my mastery in power. Maybe they'll see my loyalty where a patroller can't."