Heridor also stared at what he had done, without fully understanding. His arm remained extended, but the water had already expanded around his feet in small whirlpools. The river responded with a precision he did not know he possessed. When he took a deep breath, the current calmed, mirroring his exhale as if sharing his rhythm.
The ape struggled to get up, wet and irritated, his fur plastered to his body. He did not appear injured enough to give up. On the contrary: frustration fueled him. He let out a sharp grunt and moved forward again, now more cautiously, circling them along the bank as if searching for an opening.
Falazahr positioned herself beside Heridor, still stunned, but already trying to regain her composure.
— If you can hold him, do it again.
Heridor took a deep breath.
— I don't know how I did it!
— Then figure it out now!
Her response didn't sound harsh. It sounded urgent.
The ape lunged again, this time coming from the left. Falazahr attempted once more to gather the blue flame, and the glow reappeared at her fingertips. Only, again, there was something unstable about it. The light trembled as if caught between wanting to be born and failing to find sufficient space to exist. She frowned, annoyed with herself, and launched the flame nonetheless.
The blue fire advanced, still weak, and this time did not extinguish completely. It touched the ground ahead of the ape and burst into a small explosion of cold light, deflecting the attack for an instant. The animal leaped sideways to escape, but the movement forced him out of his line of advance.
Heridor saw the opening and, without overthinking, raised his hand again. Only now, he did not try to pull the entire water mass, but only called a narrow strip of the current, as if borrowing the river's arm. The water detached obediently, rising into a curved, transparent blade that advanced in an arc before him. The flow elongated in the air for a moment, gleaming under the faint pre-dawn light, and then descended with controlled force onto the bank.
The soaked earth yielded. The roots exposed at the river's edge came loose, and the slippery soil became an obstacle for the ape. The creature tried to brace its paws, but the fresh mud pulled him backward. Heridor capitalized on the imbalance and pulled the water one more time, from bottom to top.
The collision was sufficient. The ape was thrown backward by the water pressure and fell among the damp stones, rolling until he was trapped in a low section of the bank. There was neither blood nor excessive noise; only the sound of the water returning to the river and the dry snap caused by the creature's weight.
For a moment, everything was paralyzed. The wind passed between the trees, rippling the river's surface into small waves. Falazahr was breathless, her feelings a mixture of astonishment and frustration. Heridor kept his hand raised for a few more seconds, until he realized he no longer needed to force the current, so he slowly lowered his arm.
The water dissolved the arc and returned to the riverbed, obediently, as if nothing extraordinary had occurred.
— Did you know you could do that with a single arm?
Heridor let out a small, humorless breath, almost an incredulous laugh.
— No.
— Then how did you manage it?
He did not answer immediately. He looked at the bank, at the river, at the place where the water had bent as if it were an extension of his thought. Her question was simple, but the answer did not exist in ready words.
— I just... felt I needed to act — he finally said. — And so it happened.
Falazahr watched him in silence. Then she looked at the river, and finally at her own hands, as if reconsidering everything she believed she knew about ability, failure, and awakening.
Falazahr filled her chest as she breathed, regaining her posture.
— Your water was stronger than my flame.
Heridor turned his face to her, surprised by the direct sincerity of the phrase.
— Your flame didn't fail from weakness — he said, trying to offer his friend some form of comfort. — It just didn't respond this time.
Falazahr held his gaze for a moment, and something in her expression seemed to soften. Heridor did not know if that was true, but he felt there was something mysterious about her flame power. He admired the waters, now with less strangeness and more focus. If that flow was subordinate to him, then it was part of something larger than the fright of that pre-dawn hour.
— We need to understand this — she said, walking and moving away from the river. — What you did... was not common.
Heridor nodded slowly. He still felt the water inside his arm, like a warm echo running beneath his skin.
— You... talking about uncommon things? — he asked with a teasing expression. — No one has ever seen a blue flame come out of someone, Falazahr.
The Matriarch laughed. A pale line blossomed between the trees, announcing the approach of day. The riverbank, previously quiet, flowed onward as always, but for Heridor, nothing was exactly the same. He remembered the two-headed silver fish crossing the black waters. That vision would not leave him anytime soon. And, for the first time, Heridor had the impression that the world had just given importance to his name.