Strength in Differences

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Kaulu smiled at the acknowledgement from her husband before her hands replaced his on her stomach. She found her hands there a lot now; with the news of her child the scar that used to ache half the day was not nearly as torturous. She moved back to the rest of the group, to the werewolves and Chaktawe warriors that had been so supportive.

At Aiofe's question, Kaulu took a slow glance around to the others before answering first. "Not to my knowledge." It was possible he had, but she didn't remember. He could have secretly used it in his blackouts, or he could have used it back when he practically destroyed the Sidhe's underground city. She looked again to the others, waiting for their answers.
 
Lafa'la and Aja were shaking their heads, not remembering anything either and Kafta frowned, but remained silent, having nothing to say. All the time she'd spent with Nik, he'd done nothing with lightning. Satisfied that no one had witnessed him using the fifth element, Nik started to turn back to his mother, but Jahidi spoke then, quiet and sure, a thoughtful look on his face.

"In the desert. When the bandits attacked us. You used fire and lightning then, remember?"

Nik's expression cleared, memory stirring and he blinked in surprise to have forgotten, eyes finding his mother again when she spoke, looking keenly interested. "Why did you use it?"

"I..." The Sidhe paused, truly thinking back and finally he looked to his wife and then back at Aiofe. "An archer, he was about to shoot Kaulu. I...couldn't let that happen. I got angry."

"No. Protective. Interesting." The lightning Elemental corrected without hesitation, something calculating in her eyes suddenly, though, she made no moves. "Niklomaus, are you afraid of fire?" The question made the Sidhe stiffen slightly, but he finally nodded, fingers curling into fists. "I've been tortured with it. I think it's a healthy fear." he shot back and Aiofe raised a brow. "And you've never been nearly-drowned? Or suffocated? Perhaps trapped somewhere dark and small?"

By the way Nik had paled, Aiofe had her answer and she went on without emotion. "Logically you should be afraid of water, wind and earth, too, but you aren't. Fire is no different. Respect it, yes, but don't fear it or it will hurt you." It was her only warning before Aiofe backed up and signaled to the fire Elementals that they could begin.
 
The bandits! Oh, how could Kaulu have forgotten about that? She remembered the lightning now, the way it cracked the sky and lit up the desert, the way the white splits swarmed around his arm until she had touched him. Until she had calmed him.

She remembered it clearly now and she looked to Aiofe, listening to her correct Nik when he said it was anger that made him call the lightning. It hadn't been anger - it had been to protect his wife. Kaulu found truth in that and she continued to listen to Aiofe tell her biological son that he shouldn't fear fire or else it would hurt him. She didn't even give him a moment to prepare before she told the Elementals to begin.

Kaulu suspected for it to be the harshest training, but she just hoped it wouldn't be... agh, she didn't know. She hoped her husband would be able to just stay strong.
 
Nik managed to hold his own at first. He avoided most strikes and a few even landed but didn't burn. He was keeping his mind stable, the fear from overwhelming him, but the fire could sense it, his own abilities were effected by it and while the Sidhe stood semi-solid against one and then two opponents, when Aiofe gave the signal for Cinaed and Aithne to join, Nik found himself now facing four fire-wielding blurs.

The first burn across his stomach made him cry out and the Sidhe could FEEL his concentration shatter.

Everything went wrong after that and it wasn't until Aiofe called a halt and Aithne reached out to help him up from the sand that was now getting into the raw patches on his skin - most of the burns rather mild at this point - and Nik flinched away, his eyes dilated with fear, that it was clear this was not going to work.

The female fire Elemental gave a frown to the fear she saw - no, more like terror - but kept her hand where it was, waiting for Nik to take it. When he finally did, she helped pull him up and then looked to Aiofe who was frowning, entirely displeased.

"That was pathetic."

"Aiofe, he-" Aithne started, but the lightning Elemental held up hand, glaring. "There are no excuses. He's the Vessel. If he can't overcome a little fear then he's useless to us and to this war. Try it again!"

Nik looked like he'd been struck.
 
Okay, okay... this wasn't going too bad. Nik was holding himself up enough to make some progress, but that was crushed as soon as the last of the four stepped in. The fire hit him what looked to be on his stomach from Kaulu's angle, and then it just kept on hitting until Aiofe finally stopped the fire Elementals. The Chaktawe was getting nervous, as it was always inevitable during his training, but she still kept a strong mind for her husband.

Even Aithne could see there was something actually wrong with the Sidhe. But Aiofe was ignorant due to her own expectations for Nik and ordered for them to keep going.

"It's not a little fear, it's - " Kaulu growled, though she bit back her next words only to take a step forward when her husband seemed to be struck again. She didn't know if this was the best approach for him anymore since it was fire. They had to find another way if they wanted to train him, otherwise it might take days for him to make even some progress.

"Nik?" she called out, not wanting to interfere but certainly prepared to.
 
At Kaulu's voice, Nik appeared clearly relieved, as if she'd drawn him back from the brink of something dark within his mind. He shuddered, breathing shaky, but when he opened his mouth to speak, Aiofe beat him to it, her tone snapped. "Again."

To his utter shame, Nik froze and his mind went blank. He knew that tone, had known it for seven hundred years, had known commands like that and he started to react even before his mind could catch up with him, tell him that he was no longer under the command of another. By then it was too late, though, the lesson starting once more and that was exactly what Aiofe had counted on.

She'd known where her son was the entire time, how he was being treated - even if not in detail - and now she was using it against Nik. He'd not been with the Chaktawe so long that he wouldn't respond to former 'training'. And Aiofe was nothing if not ruthless in her goals. She was doing this for the good of her people, but she didn't care if she hurt Nik in doing it.

Only that he did what she needed him to.

And the Sidhe was. Or was trying to.

It was clear now that it wasn't just the fire that was scaring him, but the way the four Elements simply kept coming at him, overwhelming and bringing instant pain when he couldn't avoid a blow or fight it off. Aithne was the only one who seemed to throw her landing's, making glancing touches, the mildest burns she could manage....but it seemed to start causing more damage than good as the flames on her hands grew hotter, the centers turning blue until she withdrew completely and gave a cry herself, the flames disappearing, leaving her fingers blistered.

Punishment for trying to be peaceful.

Aiofe merely gave the fire Elemental a glance, hard, and Aithne sighed, but steeled herself and jumped back into the fighting, doing as she was supposed to this time until the Sidhe was once again in the sand......but this time Aiofe gave no indication that she was going to stop the training again.
 
Kaulu praised herself for calling out to him. It worked to bring him back and she made a mental note to try that in the future as well. However, Nik still wasn't prepared for the battle that awaited him. He froze and Kaulu had seen it coming way before the fire came for him. She gave a displeased cluck of her tongue, but it wasn't towards Nik. It was towards Aiofe and her damned impatience.

The only comfort Kaulu got was from Aithne, but even that didn't last long as she was punished for trying to help the Sidhe. As he fell to the sand once again, the princess was counting on Aiofe stopping again, but she wasn't and Kaulu had no idea what to do. She battled internally before deciding to just wait a little longer, to see if Nik could pull himself out of it or not. To see if Aiofe would really go so far as to kick a man when he was down and obviously couldn't get back up.
 
Aiofe was wiling to go that far and further, and if not for Aura, Nik would have found himself with a nasty burn across his neck as Fintan, completely professional, started to lash out with his flames, 'finishing' the fight just as he might in a real battle. But the wind was suddenly hurling the four Elementals away, sending them sprawling, blowing so hard that sand whipped up in a frenzy and the flames were extinguished. It whirled around the Sidhe protectively then and if wind could snarl, it did, whistling and howling with anger.

"Dammit, Aura! How's he supposed to learn?!" Aiofe cursed, furious.

And Nik stayed where he was, shaking horribly, tears leaking past his lids as he struggled to breathe, the pain nearly unbearable and the fear far from being washed out of his system.

He'd failed.

In so many ways he'd failed. With the training itself. His own fear. The memories. Obeying Aiofe like he was with the Sidhe again.

The wind was protecting him from further retaliation at the moment, putting a halt to the training for now, but Aura could not help the battle that raged through Nik's mind as he slowly sat up, pale and staring blankly at the sand, trying to fight back the fear and the memories both, those causing the most harm right now.
 
Sh*t. Kaulu didn't act rightly so. The wind was hurling the Elementals away and Kaulu took that as her cue to go to her husband. Quickly, she came to his side, hoping Aura wouldn't fight her as well, and then faced him as he stood. She saw that suffering expression on his face, that pain in his eyes and Kaulu held back a frown as she took one of Nik's hand slowly in her own, speaking to him softly.

"Hey," she called out as she took Nik's other hand. "You did so well, my love. So well." She was looking at him, hoping he'd look at her and giving him the time to do so before she placed soft pecks on his cheekbones. "Look it. You've even got Aiofe stunted." She was trying to lighten his load as she pulled him closer to her. There was no way she was going to let Aiofe and the other Elementals continue with this training, and she had the wind to back her up.

"No more training today," her voice rang out in a matter-of-fact tone to the others, though she didn't face them. She kept looking to Nik, her hands having moved to cup his cheeks as her thumbs gently wiped away the tears spilling from his eyes. "No more training at all until you find another way." She searched her husband's eyes then before lowering her voice for only him to hear.

"Do you want to go back? Back to our room?"

She only hoped Aiofe didn't try to keep him here, or anyone else for that matter unless they had a valid reason. Otherwise Kaulu might have to give the Elementals a little insight to what her own powers were.
 
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Kaulu's touch was what brought his focus back to the here and now, to his wife and Nik could only look at her for several minutes, hearing everything she was saying but having a hard time truly comprehending it. What he did know was that she was defending him and he felt that he'd never been more grateful than in that moment.

She was telling him that he'd done well and Nik knew she was wrong, but he didn't argue, he just shivered into her touch, the coolness of her fingers easing the almost feverish flush of his skin. The burns streaking his body were painful enough that even the thought of moving, walking across the desert and back into town was enough to make the Sidhe whimper softly before he stilled the sound, eyes closing beneath his damp white hair.

He opened his mouth to speak and then gasped instead, pale blue eyes flying open and swiftly looking down, seeing the water that was creeping up his legs, touching the burns. Instant relief came as the liquid spread, both washing out the sand and diminishing the raw pain and Nik let the tears slide down his face for a different reason this time.

Pure relief.

The wind was brushing his hair gently, having died down and was tugging lightly in acknowledgement on Kaulu's darker mane, concerned. Nik tried to smile, but it didn't reach his eyes, barely succeeded on his face....and then his eyes were snapping to Aiofe as she spoke.

"I've thought of a different way to train you, Niklomaus."

The Sidhe found he was too scared, too tired to ask what it was.
 
Kaulu had meant that Nik had done well. For the predicament he was forced in, the Sidhe's kaarne truly thought he had done his best and therefore he had done well. Maybe she was just bias, but that was what she thought. The whimper made her bite her lower lip in concern - Marsin or one of the other werewolves would probably have to carry him back to town.

At his gasp, she looked down to be greeted with the site of water coming to soothe his burns, and Kaulu smiled widely before looking back up to her husband. She felt the wind tugging her hair with what felt like concern, and wondered how to reply to it before Aiofe's voice cut through the moment. Kaulu snapped her eyes open at her, head turning instantly. Even if the Lightning Elemental's tone hadn't exactly been cold, Kaulu wasn't in the mood. Her expression was unreadable, but subtly dangerous.

"And what way is that?" Even if it sounded mildly appealing, she wasn't going to let Nik train again. Not today. Not until he had some well-deserved rest and recuperation.
 
It was only after it happened that Nik would realize he should have known it would. With everything Aiofe had said, all the questions she'd asked....he should have known, but Nik hadn't been thinking. He'd been hurting, scared, tired. But Aiofe hadn't cared about that. She'd discovered a way to get what she wanted and now she was utilizing it.

Brutally.

"This way."

She said nothing more before extending her hand and lightning arced out from her palm. Toward Kaulu.

"NO!" The word left Nik in a deep, guttural cry, nearly a scream and his hand extended without any conscious thought at all even as he half-stepped in front of the Suli, unable to do anything else. All he knew was the rage that took over his mind and fierce, overwhelming desire to protect his family that swept over him. His pale blue eyes flashed, instantly starting to glow as the lightning touched his hand and disappeared, and there was an eerie, intense silence then. It was like the quiet before a hurricane and Nik looked up slowly, his eyes glowing red, swirling with strands of crackling light and his hair streaked with scarlet.

Fire flared over his arms and lightning followed, white and red dancing together over his skin in a lethal mix...and Nik was beyond caring who might die as a result of it. His wife, his Kaulu and his child had been threatened.

Nik, the damaged halfbreed, wasn't here anymore. But the Elementi was and the power of Vulcan was howling over his skin, within him and the lightning had accepted his control. They both demanded vengeance.

And Aiofe had tried to harm what was most precious to him. Nik wasn't feeling particularly inclined to deny them.

He moved without hurry, doing nothing more than flick out his hand, sending the other Elementals scattering back with lighting and trapping the lightning Elemental with a simple wall of flames, continuing to advance. And now Aiofe looked slightly scared because the look in the foreign red eyes that watched her told Aiofe that Nik would not hesitate to kill her.

Not in this state of mind.
 
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Kaulu's narrowed eyes widened as she realized what was about to happen. Aiofe was colder than she ever suspected and Kaulu now realized how Nik's father could have possibly been attracted to such a heartless wonder. As the lightning bolt pierced the air towards here, she could do nothing, being too slow and taken off guard. But Nik... Nik was moving in front of her and...

He deflected the lightning. No, more like absorbed it and Kaulu drew in a breath as she stared wide-eyed at her husband, body and eyes now cackling with fire and lightning. Aiofe had probably just made the worst mistake she ever could by targeting the princess desert-dweller, and now she was going to suffer the wrath of her son's power.

The Suli could admit she liked the look of Aiofe frightened. She even let Nik advance for a few more steps until she felt like she had to intervene. This was not training, this wasn't even the Sidhe; this was fire and lightning consuming him, taking advantage of him as a vessel.

"Niklomaus!" Her tone was as serious as if she was angry, but it somehow didn't hold that underlying emotion. It was just a dangerously firm call to her beloved. "Not like this!" Her voice softened, but it was still loud in order to bring him back to her. She began to approach him, making Jahidi and the rest a bit nervous. "Either control it. Fight it. Or let me handle it..." She had no idea if Aiofe had experience with spirits, but if allowed, Kaulu would send her through a loop.
 
He'd barely paused at the sound of his own name. Mostly because right now, Niklomaus was not his name. Vulcan was. Just as Gaia had taken over Nik, so now had the Element of Fire, but he was a far harsher, more vengeful type and it was the Sidhe's protective fury that had called him, attracted him and Vulcan didn't want to let that go. It was so rare to find that level of raw rage for all the right reasons and with that emotion alone, Nik had won the Fire Element's approval.

Aiofe had played her trick well, but now she would pay for it, too.

Or she might have, if Kaulu had not started to advance, speaking not to Vulcan, but to Nik somewhere inside. The Sidhe heard her, would always hear her, just as Gaia, Aura and Poseidon had warned and damn them, but they were right; the halfbreed could put up a hell of a fight if he wished it. And he did wish it, clawing through the layers of psychosis being possessed by Vulcan had put him under and the Fire Element finally snarled, releasing him.

Both extremely irritated at being denied his fun...and yet grudgingly admiring Nik's will. He wasn't always brave or even strong, but he had spirit and that would have to do.

The red departed from Nik's eyes and the scarlet streaks receded from his hair, but the glow of his power did not and the flames - now under HIS control - continued to lick at his arms and fingers, through his hair. The lightning danced a weaving pattern between the red of the fire, less intense, but not less willing to do as he asked.

Nik finally looked away from Aiofe, to his wife, and the look in his eyes clearly told her he didn't WANT to control it, to fight it, to stop. He had. For her. But it was a struggle.
 
"That's it," her voice rang out again, soft as she slowly advanced forward. She was also nodding, to herself or to Nik she didn't know. It clearly wasn't Vulcan controlling him anymore, but the fire hadn't completely ceased and continued dancing with the lightning. She saw the struggle in his eyes, but she was the only one who could help him in such a state. If she hadn't called out... he might've done something he regretted.

"Look. At your arms," Kaulu told him, now only about ten feet away. "Look at the way you are controlling the flames and the lightning. They're not hurting you, so feel their power," her tone was smooth and coaxing. "Take that power, and work with it until you can use it to your advantage." Her eyes were only for Nik, not even wanting to look at the Lightning Elemental in the background. She had probably just saved her life, and Kaulu took it that she owed her in the future.
 
Nik's glowing blue eyes looked where Kaulu directed, but he didn't have to watch the fire nor the electricity for long, able to feel them, able to sense them clearly. He understood them now, just as he'd done with earth, water and wind. They were his to summon, his to control now. He knew that. He didn't need to harness anything.

His wife seemed to believe that was where the struggle in his face came in, but it wasn't.

No, Nik was already in complete control. If he'd wanted to create an entire swarm of butterflies out of fire right now to circle around Kaulu and glow as bright as the sun, he could have. No, the problem was not that the fire was out of control or that the lightning was unfelt, wild. No, it was that what NIK wanted to do with that power was not something he SHOULD do.

And finally he spoke that through grit teeth, the fury in his voice his own, the desire to kill in his eyes his own.

"I want to hurt her." Him. Not Vulcan, not the lightning, not another Element. Him. Just as he'd killed Cuchulainn for what he'd done to their child, that same vengeance screamed inside of Nik from a place of hurt, from a place of bitterness and anger that raged at the injustice of a world that seemed determined to take everything he loved from him, to threaten and harm it.

HE wanted to harm Aiofe for what she'd tried to do and THAT was where the struggle came in.
 
Kauluwehi understood now. She understood what that struggle was and she swallowed. At his words, she looked down and then closed her eyes for a brief amount of time, lips in a tight line. She had witnessed power like that before; it wasn't as powerful or uncontrollable as it was when everything happened with Cuchulainn, but it was definitely there and on the brink of becoming more.

Black eyes opened again and looked to the enraged blue ones. As much as Kaulu wanted Aiofe to get a little taste of her own medicine, she felt that she couldn't let Nik do so. The Elementals would probably hate them for forever - there was no telling how they'd react.

And maybe she was wrong for stopping him, but...

"She's not worth it, Nik." Her voice held subtle desperation as her eyes pleaded for him to not hurt anyone. Of course Kaulu was enraged herself that Aiofe had dared try to hurt her and her baby, but Nik wouldn't be able to get the training he needed if his mother was dead. And who knows what would happen to the Lightning Elemental in the future? Perhaps she'd get what she deserved...
 
If Kaulu had told him yes, if she'd said nothing at all and had simply stepped back, if she'd nodded, if she'd given him some kind, ANY kind, of consent for what he wanted to do, any kind of agreement....Nik would have killed his mother. There would have been no hesitation, no remorse, no guilt. She had tried to take his wife and child from him just to prove a point. She had nearly extinguished his reason for living on this earth, the joy in his life. She'd tried to take what made him happy and gave him peace, just like the Sidhe had tried, just like he knew the world would keep trying.

And he would have killed Aiofe for it. He'd kill anyone for it and not blink twice.

But Kaulu didn't sanction the action, asked him not to with her eyes more than words - because Nik thought it VERY worth it - and the Sidhe listened because his love for Kaulu would always be stronger than any rage, than any lure to power or hurt. She asked him not to kill and so he didn't, the fire fading from his skin and the lighting, while it continued to zap sporadically across his body, did not reach out to do harm.

And then Kafta and the three warriors were between them and the Elementals, and the werewolfess's fur was raised to the sky, her lips curled over her teeth and a snarl in her throat as she gave one very simple command they would be wise to folllow. "Go!"

Nik didn't look at Aiofe or the other Elementals as they obeyed - and quickly - as his body found Kaulu's, his hands seeking her face, his forehead finding her own as he shuddered with the rage slowly draining away and the relief of feeling her whole and alive, undamaged against him, and able to sense the presence of the life between them, so small and fragile, but THERE.
 
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As the fire disappeared and the lightning only acted as a shield or an outlet of that wrath, Kaulu let out a breath she didn't realized she had been holding. Quicker than anything, Kafta and the other Chaktawe acted as a wall between the couple and the Elementals, and the werewolfess snarled a command that everybody obeyed.

One arm extended over Nik's shoulder as the other slid against his chest, up his neck and to his cheek. Their eyes met and she started whispering words to him, words of sweet praise and sweet nothings as both her hands moved across his shoulders and down, massaging the flesh in order to help drain that rage, though careful of the wounds.

"One day, Nik," she promised, knowing the words unspoken would reach him. "But not now." Aiofe would definitely get what was coming to her, whether that be by Nik's hands, Kaulu's, or someone else's entirely. But she would get what she deserved and Kaulu had complete faith in that.
 
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Nik woke in the night with a scream caught in his throat and the knowledge that he'd set the bed on fire. It had not spread far and had not touched Kaulu at all, but it was there nonetheless and the very presence of it caused a deep fear within the Sidhe. It wasn't fear of the flames, not anymore, but of what they could have done to the Suli next to him, to their child. Perhaps the fire would not have touched her, but the heat would have been felt - probably was felt - and the smoke could have done the damage that the flames did not.

He got the flames under control, absorbing them, but Nik moved from the bed entirely before Kaulu could say anything, scared to touch her, to hurt her. But he didn't know where else to go, where else but in her presence where he could usually find peace.

They'd left the Elementals a week ago and come back home, and Nik knew that he could go to the healers, get something to help him sleep, but he didn't. The nightmares - if that was what he could call them - had started three days ago and at least for that he could be grateful - that they'd waited four days, waited until the news that Kaulu was pregnant could settle with everyone. The celebration had been personal, intimate with just family and close friends at this point, but it had made his wife glow, happiness radiating off of her and Nik had loved nothing more in those days than to just watch her. Seeing her so content, so loved upon and then receiving the same from everyone around him whether he wanted it or not had soothed the ache Aiofe had created in his chest.

He'd agreed to keep in touch with the Elementals, but he'd learned all he could from him. The rest was for him in the Elements to figure out and Nik had thought he was prepared for what they might throw at him.

The Sidhe had been wrong.

The dreams or visions or...whatever they could be called, were like nothing he'd ever seen or wanted to see, but they'd come every night now for three nights. And not just in one dream or one disturbance a night, but multiple ones. Sometimes he woke two, three times and that was not accounting for all the nightmares he had. They were just the ones bad enough to jolt him back into the waking world.

And unfortunately, Kaulu, too.
 
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