The Ashvathar estate settled into an uneasy rhythm over the next two days.
Not peaceful—just stable enough that no one shouted "Duck!" or "Not the broom again!" every hour.
But beneath that calm, Arav felt something shifting.
Not outside.
Inside him.
Like tiny threads of warm aether curled deeper each morning, weaving themselves around his heart, spine, and flame. It wasn't painful. Just… present. A reminder that awakening was only step one.
Today, those threads felt tighter.
He stepped out into the courtyard where Meghala was stretching—loudly, dramatically, and with enough heat radiating off her that two nearby trees leaned away in fear.
Aaryan watched silently.
Sharanya brought fruit slices.
Isha rode a bucket.
Normal.
Meghala spotted Arav and clapped.
"Ah! My favorite little flame hazard."
Arav blinked. "I'm a hazard?"
"Yes," Aaryan answered.
"A mild one," Sharanya corrected.
"A promising one," Meghala declared.
"A loud one," Isha added proudly.
"See?" Meghala beamed. "Consensus."
Arav sighed. "What's today's lesson?"
Meghala smirked. "Nothing flashy."
Aaryan raised a brow. "That would be a first."
"Today," Meghala continued with exaggerated dignity, "we practice stillness."
Arav blinked.
"Stillness?"
"Stillness," she confirmed. "The world shakes around you. The aether shifts when you breathe. And your flame gets excited if someone sneezes too close. You must learn to calm before you learn to conquer."
Sharanya nodded approvingly.
"This will help him handle resonance."
Aaryan added, "And instability."
Isha whispered, "And Meghala's shouting."
Arav grinned.
Meghala rolled her eyes. "Alright, tiny critics. Let's begin."
---
The Lesson of Stillness
Meghala placed Arav in the center of the courtyard, drawing a circle around him with her fingertip.
The aether shimmered faintly where her Stormflame brushed over the stone.
"This circle," she said, "is your world today. Nothing leaves. Nothing enters. Not flame, not fear, not resonance."
Arav frowned.
"What if something wants to enter?"
"Then," Meghala said softly, "you breathe. And the world waits."
Arav inhaled.
Warmth hummed in his chest.
His flame lit—not visibly, just inside him.
He felt the courtyard shift around him.
Meghala's heat.
Aaryan's steady aura.
Sharanya's soft presence.
Isha's bouncing energy.
All familiar.
Calming.
Then something unfamiliar.
A faint crackle—like distant sky tearing in half.
Arav stiffened.
Thunder-child.
Meghala noticed instantly.
"Don't chase it," she said quietly. "Aether is curious. Let it pass."
Arav exhaled slowly.
The crackle softened.
But another sensation followed—something pulling, like invisible threads tugged at his own flame.
Arav clenched his fists.
"It's not going away…"
Meghala stepped closer, voice calm.
"Then don't push. Just breathe."
Arav tried—
and the flame inside him flared.
A tiny ripple burst from his chest, bending light around him for a split-second.
Sharanya gasped.
Aaryan's aura flared in response.
Isha cheered because she thought it was cool.
Meghala didn't move.
"Again," she said. "You lost focus because you tried to control the problem instead of understanding it."
Arav swallowed.
He tried again.
The threads tugged again.
But this time—
he didn't fight.
He didn't fear.
He simply recognized the sensation.
Resonance, not danger.
And just like that—
The tug loosened.
The flame softened.
And Arav stood still, breathing lightly, the aether settling around him like a warm blanket.
Meghala smiled.
"There. That's stillness."
Arav opened one eye.
"I did it?"
"You did," she said. "Your first real step toward mastery."
Aaryan nodded, impressed in his quiet way.
Sharanya clapped softly.
Isha threw a pebble at a bucket and called it victory.
Arav felt… proud.
For once, nothing had broken.
Nothing had cracked.
Nothing had gone out of control.
He stood there, in the soft sunlight, letting that triumph settle into him like a small but powerful seed.
---
POV — Thunder Clan Elder
Far to the west, in a manor wrapped in storm-forged barriers, Elder Vayrun studied a crackling orb of lightning suspended above a basin.
Inside the orb, threads of thunder twisted violently.
Too violently.
He frowned.
"The resonance grew again," he said.
"But not from our boy alone."
Another elder approached cautiously.
"Two pulses?"
Vayrun nodded.
"One flame. One thunder. They rise at the same time."
The second elder's face darkened.
"That hasn't happened since—"
"I know," Vayrun cut in. "Which is why we cannot ignore this any longer."
He touched the orb's surface.
A faint echo pulsed outward—
matching Arav's flame from miles away.
---
Back in the Ashvathar Estate
Arav opened his eyes fully.
"I think I'm getting better," he whispered.
"You are," Meghala said, ruffling his hair.
Then she grinned wickedly.
"Now let's ruin your progress with something chaotic."
Arav froze.
"Why—"
"Because balance!"
Isha cheered.
Sharanya pinched the bridge of her nose.
Aaryan sighed.
Meghala threw a small fireball into the sky.
And Arav, for reasons he did not yet understand, felt the world shift again—
not in fear.
Not in tension.
In anticipation.
Something was coming.
Soon.
And this time, neither flame nor thunder would be quiet about it.