The smell of mildew and hay filled the small dungeon cell. She had done her best to bathe out of the small washstand she had. Each new possession in her room truly had become her most prized possession. Each of which she would trade for a day in the sunshine. She listed off the items she now had: washstand, hay mattress, box of candles, small wooden stool, and two sets of extra leather clothes. These were the possessions that the gaurds knew about. Inside a small crack in the wall was a rolled up note from her friend Bowie. The note had brought her hope, which inspired her to learn how to control herself and never return to the cell again.

Kara sat up with an epiphany about something Mary had once told her.  Mary told her that fire wizards were not really filled with anger, but with passion instead.  The simple yet profound thought changed her perspective on learning to control her magic, and emotions.  Kara set her mind to being passionate about controlling herself.  She sat in the small room no longer focusing on her breathing or temper, instead focusing every effort to her room.  Knowing it so that she could feel the heat reflecting off every surface, knowing it so that she could remember it wherever she went.  She focused so hard that when she was done with this effort she would remember the way she felt in this dungeon, this cell, the empty box of a room.  She focused her mind to never giving in to anger so that she never had to return to this cell again.

    When she opened her eyes she saw her cell for what it was supposed to be instead of what others saw it to be.  A focal point.  Something to push all her emotions into so that she was so passionate about her feelings of this room she would no longer get angry enough to burn the castle to the ground.  Kara knew now she was no longer a danger to anyone, and all she had to do was prove it to others.  Today her training would truly began.  She calmed herself and placed a candle against the wash stand providing a small amount of heat to the wax so that it melted to the stand.  she stepped back and focused on the wick.  A small spark popped and a tiny flame filled the room with light.  She smiled for the first time in what seemed like a month.  She had been trying to perform this task for the last week, failing time and time again. Now, with new perspective, the flame ignited easily.  She turned from the candle, feeling its heat; no not feeling, seeing its heat in her mind.  She increased the flame until it was a raging fire brushing the ceiling. The door opened and closed, she felt the void of heat that entered.  “It must be Twilix” she thought to herself.

    She let the flame return to its natural flicker and opened her eyes.  “Impressive improvement, you are almost as astonishing as your brother.”

    Kara cooly replied to the water wizard, “It wasn’t of your doing.  It was something that Mary taught me.  It just took me a little of time to understand what she really meant.”

    “I do not care who taught you sweety, only that you make improvements.”  Twilix smiled at Kara hoping not to upset the delicate balance of a fire wizard’s emotions.

    “I would like to go outside now, if you would arrange it please,” she said before Twilix had a chance to truly test her.  The blonde headed water wizard always dressed in blue robes or dresses, tilted her head slightly and then moved faster than Kara thought possible.  A hand struck her face so hard that she saw sparks in her vision. Although it wasn't truly sparks that she had seen.  The water wizard stood straight with hands before her gathering balls of water to her, readying herself for a inferno.  Kara felt her cheek. She had never been hit that hard before, she still felt the hand print in her face.  Tears ran down her cheeks as she did her best to smile back at twilix.  

    “Well now perhaps you should teach Mary that trick.  She hasn’t been able to control herself like that.” Twilix said, truly impressed with Kara, “I wonder how much you can control.  I want you to understand what I do next is for the safety of this castle and the remainder of its guard.”  Kara nodded and braced herself for whatever Twilix was about to do.  Instead of another strike Twilix gently knocked on the door and requested for the guard to open.  The bolt in the lock turned and Twilix stepped out into the hallway.

    Kara nervously tried to smooth her dress but found she was still wearing the tight leather outfit designed to withstand the flames from a fire wielder.  It was a habit she had formed wearing dresses all her life, but those were a thing of the past.  She was now reduced to feeling indecent everywhere she went; never to attend a ball in a beautiful gown again or dance around with a man at springfest in her home town.

    The door opened again and Twilix entered, once again looking over Kara to make sure she was ok.  Kara started to smooth her dress again and stopped herself, putting her hands behind her back.  A large guard stepped through the door reluctantly looking between the two women.  Twilix nodded towards Kara, “the girl has been utterly defiant, Bastion.  This is the wizard who burned all the nobles, food, carpets, tapestries, and servants in the castle the last couple weeks.  Wizard Parker has ordered her punished so that she learns a lesson.  My delicate hand is not as strong as yours.  As you can see I already tried.”  Twilix pointed to Kara’s face, still red with a hand print where she had been hit.  “One swing should be sufficient, but don’t go easy either.  She is tougher than she looks. See how she stands there defiant of my attempt?”  The guard looked between Kara and Twilix, obviously nervous of what would happen if he angered a fire wizard.  “One shot then get out. I promise I will let no harm come to you,” Twilix and Kara giggled at the last.  Anger had overcome Bastion now, he pulled his steel gauntlet from his hairy hand and tucked it into his belt line.  Rearing back he punched Kara so hard in the face Twilix heard Kara’s jaw crack as she crumpled to the floor.  The burly guard then darted out the door back to whereever he had come.  Twilix waited for Kara to wake up before healing her wounds.  Kara moved around and spit blood out on the floor while using her finger to check her teeth, taking special care around where her jaw had been? shattered.  She stood and walked to the wash stand, dipping herself a ladle of water out of the vase on top.  She carefully poured water into her mouth and rinsed it of the blood.  Kara turned to Twilix knowing that she had passed this test and motioned for Twilix to have the door opened.

    She saw a single tear roll down Twilix’s face as she closed the distance placing her hand on Kara’s maimed face. Kara felt a chill while healing magic ran through her body just as Kilen had done in the past.  Only Twilix’s came on slow and was less brutal. It was more of a caress than a tidal wave of healing.  Kara’s face was whole as if neither strike had been made.

    “Thanks,” Kara said.

    Twilix wiped tears from her face, “I have you broken by a gaurd and slapped you myself and you say thank you.  I do not know what you have done to control yourself but I think that I would be angry if I were you.  I cannot deny your control, so I will take you outside as long as you can manage to control yourself.”  Twilix watched as Kara moved around the room collecting her extra set of leather clothes and a small piece of paper wedged into the wall.  “What are you doing?”

    “You said you would take me outside as long as I could control myself. Well, I plan on never losing control again.  I also plan never to return to this cell again.”  She stood watching Twilix with her arms loaded with the possessions she had been given, determined to never return.

    “I will take you outside, but wether or not your return here is something that is out of my control Kara.  I cannot make that promise.”

    Kara answered right back, “It is something I can control.  Now if you will, I haven't felt fresh air in weeks.”  Twilix knocked on the door and Bastion opened the door a crack.  Twilix whispered to him and both girls stepped out into the hallway.  Kara saw the torches on the wall and gathered in the energy from them.  Twilix watched her curiously as she examined the torches.  Then Kara saw it, in each of the torches she could see the faces of the fire wizards in the cells.  They were watching her through the flames, she stood straighter.  She wanted to inspire them to be passionate enough to get out of their cells.  She felt the heat and flames on the others side of each door.  They were not passionate, they were angry.  Kara lowered her head and rolled her shoulders forward as she asked nervously, “Can we go now?”

    “Are you still in control Kara?” Twilix asked.

    “Yes, but I don’t like their eyes on me.  I want to leave.”  Twilix turned, confused by what Kara had meant by “their eyes.”  Kara passed her as she moved quickly through the hallway to the only door with light showing behind it.  The guard sitting on a stool by the door looked at her when she came into the light and stood quickly going for his sword.  A ring of ice encrusted the hilt of his blade,fusing the blade and sheath to prevent his draw.  

    “Calm down, she is with me.  Please unlock the door,” Twilix said calmly, catching up to Kara.  The chunk of ice holding the guard’s sword in disappeared and he wearily opened the door with his key.  Kara wasted no time bolting through the door.

    The summer sun hit her exposed flesh; she felt as though she had been in the cell for years.  She stretched her arms still laiden with her belongings.  Without sunlight her skin had turned a pale white, which looked odd in contrast with her midnight black hair.  Guards surrounded her and Twilix did nothing to stop it except for shoo them to a distance.  Twilix slowly walked around Kara as she soaked up the sun’s rays.  “Kara,” she said quietly.  Kara opened her eyes to a squint and looked at Twilix.  “You know sometimes when a fire wizard comes into the sunlight for the first time they start to lose control.”  Kara said nothing so Twilix continued, “are you going to be trouble Kara?”  

    The adolescent girl smiled, “No, not at all.  What I will be is starving unless I get something to eat.  What time is it?”

    A guard spoke, “It’s just after morning meal m’lady.”

Twilix waved him away, “It’s best you don’t push yourself too quickly.  We can have some food brought over so you can take it slow.”

    Kara let out a sigh, “Please, I’m fine.  I hate it when adults treat me as if I’m two years old. I thought that you would understand that seeing as how we are about the same age.”  She squinted at the guard that had spoken, “Where is the kitchen in this place?”  He looked at Twilix unsure if to answer or not. Twilix shook her head no.  Kara looked between the two then cleared her throat which got the guard’s attention again.  Then Kara’s hair became engulfed in flame for a couple seconds.  The guard pointed to the to large tents a little ways down the wall.  “Shall we?” she said to Twilix.  The guard shrugged and whispered something to the guard next to him.

    Twilix grunted, “Well a useless lot you are.  How am I supposed to protect you all if you wont help me?”  She turned back to Kara and held out a hand to the kitchens tents.  The young girl started to bound her way to the mess tents as Twilix turned to the same guard.  “You fetch Wizard Parker, he will undoubtedly want to see this, and you better not waste a second getting him there.” He almost fell down tripping over his own feet trying to run.

    There weren’t many soldiers left in the castle, but the few who were there stopped to stare at the fire wizard running around the training grounds.  Kara paid little attention to them. She was happier than she had been in a long time.  The food was scarce but there were eggs, ham, and some bread.  The bread smelled a little over cooked but she supposed that was her fault anyways.  The smell of the food made her mouth water.  Everyone backed off the food line and let the small girl through as she grabbed as much as she wanted.  She sat down at a table to start eating. The tent was silently watching and waiting for an inferno to erupt.  When it didn't, they continued to watch the young, dirty girl eat her breakfast.  As she ate she heard Twilix talking to a passing soldier, “Find a few water bearers and have them meet me at the wizard training grounds.”  When Kara looked up Twilix was pointing the soldier’s attention in her direction.  She smiled and bit off a piece of bread.

    When Twilix sat down she took a moment to just watch Kara eat.  When she finally spoke she seemed to be confused.  “I cannot understand you or your brother.  You both seem to have a knack for doing the impossible.  After you finish your meal I would like to test the control you have over your anger.”

    “I would rather not get beaten anymore today. It has been a while since I have seen anything civilized.  Can we just see the castle or the town?  I’ve never seen a castle before,” she said excitedly.

    “I cannot let you go where you could harm people until we test your control, and maybe not even then.  Kara you must understand that I do not make the decision of whether or not you return to your cell.  I can only test you and show results to the ones that do.  We must test your resolve and then perhaps we can see some of the castle grounds if not the castle.”

    “Is someone going to hit me again?”,Kara asked.

    “No, not if you perform well enough.  Well, it is my intention to not let that happen again,”Twilix corrected herself.

    The pale girl took the last bite of her slightly burnt bread and went to brush the crumbs from her dress, but remembered she didn't wear one.  “Let’s get to this testing while it’s still daylight.  I don’t like the drunken crowd that comes out at night; they scare me.”

    Twilix laughed at the innocence of the barely adolescent girl, “Well they will be scared of you from now on.”  She gestured to Kara’s outfit and the girls giggled.  Twilix was refreshed to see the girl laugh.  A laugh from an angry person came forced, but Kara was truly laughing.  Twilix turned and lead the way to the wizard training grounds.  On the way Kara noticed some smooth cookers in which a statue stood in the middle.  The statue was none like she had ever seen before and resembled the brother that had given up his life to ensure her safety.  Kara walked towards the statue and noticed all the cookers’ openings faced inward towards the statue.  “It’s him,”Twilix told her.

    “Him who?” she replied, staring at the details on the statue, so smooth and perfect.

    “Your brother. It looks exactly like him, don’t you think?”  Kara nodded in agreement.  “He made this in defiance of an order I gave him.  In some areas your brother seemed too eager to comply, but in small instances he defied all logic and authority.  I am concerned for him Kara.”

    Kara let a tear roll down her face, cleaning a line in the dirt on her face, “Why?”

    “I am afraid that the king will stop at nothing to destroy him.  Your brother has threatened the King’s hold on the Water Realm.  You are part of that problem, but the other part is your brother holds that two element blade.  One mark from you on that blade and he would be in the running to take control of the Water Realm.  Now you see why they won't let the two of you be together.  One moment would be all it takes to make him a King.  Kara, I’m sorry but you must face the truth that you may never see your brother as long as you remain here under King Atmos’ control.”

    Kara set her jaw and stood straighter, “Tell me what I need to do to get out of here.”