Calenelda didn't know the word for what she was experiencing yet. She only knew something had awakened. The Mountain's breath faded. Calenelda's knees nearly gave way.
Talia caught her. "Calenelda!"
"I'm fine." She reassured her paladin.
"You're shaking."
"I know." She looked confused rather than frightened. "I don't know what just happened."
Another piece of metal trembled somewhere nearby.
Calenelda tilted her head. "I think I did that."
Talia frowned. "Did what?"
Calenelda lifted one hand experimentally. Talia's sword suddenly jerked in its sheath.
"Calenelda!"
The Diviner flinched as the sword tore free and flew toward her. She caught it awkwardly against her chest. For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
"I didn't mean to do that."
Talia stared at her. "You pulled my sword out of its sheath."
"Apparently."
"With your mind."
"Apparently."
Talia held out her hand. "Give it back."
Calenelda smiled. "Make me."
Talia's eyes narrowed. "You nearly died."
"And now I'm apparently terrifyingly powerful."
"Give me my sword." Talia made sure to emphasize each word separately.
Calenelda reluctantly extended it.
"You know," she added, "I could get used to this."
"To stealing my weapons?" Talia huffed.
Calenelda's lopsided smirk returned. "Having things come when I call."
Talia stared at her for a moment. "You already do that."
Calenelda tilted her head. "What?"
Talia's cheeks reddened slightly. "Nothing."
A slow grin spread across Calenelda's face. "Oh."
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I was merely going to say that you blush very easily."
"Calenelda."
"Wildfire."
Stonefang groaned. Foxglove covered her mouth, unsuccessfully hiding a laugh. Talia looked between them.
"I hate all of you."
A tiny piece of metal embedded in the sand suddenly jumped toward Calenelda's foot.
She flinched. "Oh."
Talia's mouth fell open. Calenelda crouched and picked up the fragment. She felt the strange force around it. It wasn't earth. It wasn't air. But it was coming from her. She looked toward the Mountain. For one impossible moment, she wondered if the creature had given her something.
Then she rejected the thought. "No."
Talia looked at her. "What?"
"It didn't give me this." Calenelda flexed her fingers. "I think it woke something up."
"Something you already had?"
She nodded slowly. "Maybe." Her expression became thoughtful. "It's been there for a long time."
"How long?"
"I don't know." She looked down at the sword. "But I think…" Calenelda smiled faintly. "…I've been feeling it without knowing what it was."
"You know, if you start stealing my weapons from across the room, I'm going to have to sleep with them under my pillow."
Calenelda's grin returned. "I could still get them."
Talia groaned. "There she is."
Foxglove shook her head. Stonefang gave a long, suffering rumble.
The Mountain shifted again. Its breath rolled across the desert. This time Calenelda could feel the resonance clearly. The hidden force inside her responded. Not as a gift. Not as a blessing. As recognition. Like one vibration finding another. The Mountain wasn't teaching her magnetism. It wasn't lending her power. It was simply resonating with something that had always been there. And for the first time, Calenelda understood that her strange affinity for metal had never been an accident. Her earth and air magic had been reaching toward something neither element could fully explain. Something between them. Something that had been waiting.
Talia slowly sheathed her sword. "I suppose this is where I ask whether you can control it."
Calenelda paused. "No."
Talia closed her eyes.
"Of course not." Calenelda smiled. "But I can learn."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
The Diviner laughed softly. Then she looked back toward the Mountain. The creature was already turning away. Its enormous body shifted. The earth groaned. The juvenile followed. The two began to move across the horizon.
Calenelda watched through the vibrations beneath her feet. The Mountain was leaving. But the strange resonance remained inside her. A new sense. A new force. A new question. And perhaps most importantly—
a reminder that the Mountain had not chosen her. It had not bestowed power upon her. It had simply recognized something that was already there. And somewhere deep inside Calenelda, something had recognized it too.
The Moving Mountain had disappeared beyond the horizon. For several minutes, none of them spoke. Calenelda remained standing beside Talia, one hand still resting against the other woman's. Her breathing had finally steadied. The trembling in her legs had stopped. Even the ache that had settled into every muscle after the temple was beginning to fade.
She flexed her fingers. A faint vibration passed through the sand. Calenelda smiled. Then she did it again. A pebble several paces away rolled toward her. Her smile widened.
Talia noticed. "You're doing it again."
"Doing what?"
"That."
Calenelda tilted her head innocently. "You'll have to be more specific."
"The thing where you discover something new and immediately look like you're about to do something reckless with it."
Calenelda's grin became unmistakable. "I wouldn't call it reckless."
"You've called every reckless thing you've ever done 'insightful.'" Talia crossed her arms.
"That isn't true." Calenelda tried to act shocked.
Talia stared at her.
Calenelda considered it. "Not every thing."
Stonefang gave a low groan. Foxglove's ears twitched.
"Is she always like this?" Foxglove asked.
Talia sighed. "Unfortunately."
Calenelda turned toward the Nyxir. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"I haven't decided yet."
Calenelda laughed. The sound was brighter than it had been all day.
Foxglove watched her carefully. Only minutes ago, Calenelda had been kneeling in the sand, exhausted, apologizing to a creature large enough to make mountains seem insignificant. She had genuinely believed she might die. Now she was smiling. Not pretending. Not hiding fear behind humor. Actually happy. Foxglove glanced at Stonefang. The wolf stared back. His ears flattened. Foxglove's expression said what neither of them could quite articulate.
What is wrong with her?
Stonefang merely huffed. Calenelda didn't notice. Or perhaps she did and simply didn't care. She lifted one hand again. Talia's sword trembled in its sheath.
Talia immediately caught the hilt. "Don't."
Calenelda blinked. "I wasn't going to do anything."
"You were absolutely going to pull my sword out again."
"I was curious."
"You're always curious immediately before something explodes."
Calenelda's grin returned. "Your sword came when I called."
Talia narrowed her eyes. "It did not come when you called. You nearly yanked my arm out of its socket."
"I'll work on the technique."
"You'll work on leaving my weapons alone." Talia stared her down before realizing just how pointless that was.
Calenelda laughed. Then she went quiet. Her fingers curled slightly. She could still feel it. The strange sensation left behind by the Mountain. The resonance. The magnetic field humming somewhere inside her. It wasn't much yet. Barely anything. But it was there. Something that had always existed inside her. Something she hadn't understood. Something she could grow into. And suddenly the world seemed impossibly large. There were things she didn't know. Things she couldn't yet control. New ways to perceive. New ways to fight. New ways to move. New possibilities.
Calenelda's smile softened. "I have so much to learn."
Talia looked at her. "Yes."
"I thought I knew what I could do."
"You clearly didn't."
"I don't know what magnetism can become."
"Neither do I."
Calenelda looked toward the horizon where the Mountain had vanished. For once, there was no fear in her expression. Only wonder.
"I like that."
Talia smiled. "You like not knowing?"
"I like having somewhere to go." She turned toward Talia. "Something to become."
There was an unusual warmth in her voice. Talia understood. Calenelda had spent much of her life being told what she was supposed to become. An heir. A protector. A weapon. Someone worthy of her family. But now she had discovered something that belonged entirely to herself. A power no teacher had given her. A path nobody had mapped. And she was delighted.
Talia squeezed her hand. "You're happy."
Calenelda blinked. "Yes." The answer came without hesitation. "I am."
She smiled. Then her expression changed.
Talia recognized it immediately. "Oh no."
Calenelda stepped closer. "What?"
"That look."
"What look?"
"The one you get when you decide you're going to annoy me."
Calenelda put a hand against her chest. "I would never."
Stonefang groaned.
Foxglove muttered, "She absolutely would."
Calenelda ignored both of them. She stepped closer to Talia.
"I'm simply feeling grateful."
"For what?"
"For being alive." Talia's expression softened. "For being with you." Her cheeks immediately warmed.
Calenelda noticed. Of course she noticed. The Diviner's grin became positively wicked.
"And for discovering that apparently I can make your heart race without using magic."
Talia's face reddened. "Calenelda."
"What?"
"You were being sincere."
"I still am."
"That somehow makes it worse."
Calenelda laughed. She reached out and gently tapped Talia's chestwraps.
"You're blushing." Her voice was positively teasing.
"It's hot." Talia wafted a hand to blow some wind in her face.
"It's evening."
"The desert stays hot."
"We're standing in the shade."
Talia opened her mouth. Closed it.
Calenelda's grin widened. "You're terrible at lying."
"You're terrible at behaving."
"I don't see the problem."
"There is a very large problem."
Calenelda leaned closer. "Is it the fact that you like it?"
Talia froze. For a moment, Calenelda's teasing expression softened. She wasn't pushing. Not really. She was watching Talia's reaction. Waiting. Talia looked away.
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
Everything went silent for a moment. Foxglove suddenly became intensely interested in the sand. Stonefang looked away with the weary resignation of someone who had witnessed this exact situation too many times.
Talia sighed. "You really enjoy doing this."
Calenelda tilted her head. "Flirting with you?"
"Yes."
Calenelda thought about it. Then nodded.
"I do."
"Why?"
The question caught her off guard. For once, Calenelda didn't immediately have an answer. She looked down at their joined hands.
"I don't know."
Talia waited. Calenelda rubbed her thumb across Talia's knuckles.
"Actually…" She smiled faintly. "I think I do."
Talia looked at her.
"When I'm happy, I want to make you happy too." Her voice was softer now. "And when I don't know what to do with all the happiness…" She shrugged. "I tease you."
Talia's expression changed. Calenelda continued.
"I don't really know how else to say it." There was no joke in her voice anymore. "No one ever taught me."
Talia remembered. The heir. The girl raised to rule rather than be loved. Calenelda had learned how to command. How to fight. How to lead. How to protect people. But affection? Romance? Being wanted simply because she was herself?
Those were languages she had never been taught.
"So when you flirt with me…" Talia hesitated.
Calenelda nodded. "I'm happy."
That simple admission hit Talia harder than any elaborate confession could have. Talia looked down. She could feel her face burning again. Calenelda smiled.
"There it is."
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were thinking it."
"I was."
Talia shook her head. "You're impossible."
"And you're still holding my hand."
Talia looked down. She was. She hadn't even realized she'd tightened her grip. She didn't let go. Instead, she squeezed Calenelda's hand.
"I suppose I am."
Calenelda's smile became gentler. "And?"
Talia looked at her. There was something almost vulnerable behind Calenelda's teasing now. Not uncertainty about her feelings. Those were painfully clear. Uncertainty about whether she was allowed to express them. Talia finally smiled.
"I think…" She paused. "I might like the attention."
Calenelda's eyebrows rose. "Really?"
"Don't make me regret admitting that."
"I would never."
Stonefang groaned while Foxglove snorted and Talia laughed. Calenelda squeezed her hand.
"I think I like making you blush."
"I noticed."
"And I think I'll keep doing it."
Talia sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that."
Calenelda leaned closer. "But you don't sound very disappointed."
Talia's smile betrayed her. "No."
She wasn't. Not anymore. Calenelda took the opportunity to lean in close to Talia and whisper something in her ear.
"You know, we're still in our underwear."
Talia's face immediately felt like fire.
Foxglove finally looked back at them. "You two nearly died."
Talia glanced at her. "Yes."
"You stood before an ancient creature that could probably crush this entire region beneath one foot."
"Yes."
"You thought you had exhausted your magic and were about to die."
Calenelda nodded. "Yes."
Foxglove stared at her. "And now you're flirting."
Calenelda considered this. "It's a coping mechanism."
Foxglove blinked. "That is the strangest coping mechanism I have ever heard of."
Stonefang gave a low approving rumble.
Foxglove looked at him. "You agree?"
Stonefang's ears flicked. Then he rested his head on his paws.
Talia smiled. "I think he's just happy she's happy."
Calenelda looked down at him. Her expression softened.
"Me too."
She scratched behind his ear. Stonefang's eyes closed.
For a moment, the four of them simply stood together in the desert. The ruins behind them. The Moving Mountain somewhere beyond the horizon. A new power quietly awakening inside Calenelda. And a future neither of them could yet understand.
Calenelda looked toward Talia. "So…"
Talia immediately became suspicious. "What?"
"Now that I've discovered magnetism…"
"No." Talia shook her head.
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
"I know enough."
Calenelda grinned. "I was going to ask if you wanted to help me experiment."
Talia stared at her. "With magnetism?"
"Of course." A pause. "And perhaps some other things."
Talia's face went scarlet. Foxglove's ears shot straight upward. Stonefang lifted his head.
Calenelda burst into laughter. "I meant combat!"
"You absolutely did not." Talia protested.
"I did!" Calenelda tried and utterly failed to look innocent.
"You're impossible."
"And yet…" Calenelda held out her hand.
Talia looked at it. Then at her. Finally, she took it.
"And yet," Talia admitted, "I'm still here."
Calenelda's smile became quiet. Genuine. Happy. For perhaps the first time in her life, she wasn't trying to become something someone else expected her to be. She was simply alive. And she was in love. For now, that was enough.