I watched as the Gypsy woman, Celli, poured milk in a pot; allowing it to warm and boil over the fire, she grinded peppermint leaves, chamomile flowers together until it was a smooth paste. Two spoons full in 2 liters of boiling milk; she gestured to me to stir the milk from keeping in from boiling over or burning. If this was a potion it was one of the strangest potions to make.

The dulcet tones of the sweet flower and the zesty mint filled the mansion with a calming atmosphere. An inch of a piece Ginger root and a Cinnamon stick was then duped into the mixture as an afterthought changing the sweet aroma that I had come to enjoy to an earthy bliss… it reminded me… of the time spent with Leon in the forest…

“What exactly are you trying to make?” I ask curiously, eying her, she had said that they were well acquainted with Theo, friends. If this was the case, could they be the ones Theo had mentioned to me once?

“It’s an ointment that will balance out her natural energy, the Aether she was born with the Aether that the Mana is being refined to form her Aura! Like all beings, the ability to refine Mana is what helps develop an Aura, but the process has to happen over time or else there’ll be turmoil between the two Aethers, trying to ‘compete’ which is stronger.” Celli explained.

It was common knowledge to anyone with an Aura that life was Aether, pure and unusable, but the Aether reformed from Mana existed separate from one’s life. Because Mana is used to form this ‘second’ Aether it isn’t ‘pure’ as it is in all lives, but instead took on the nature of the person’s character, their personality that was attuned to an Element or Elements!

“Her ‘life’ will never be stronger than the pure energy of the world, Mana is much more powerful than the delicate Aether of living things not connected to the world, as Mana is the expelled impurities of the all powerful Aether! But we can over time learn to cope with that power if we adjust to it slowly.” I wanted to tell Celli I knew all this, but what did it have to do with Asha? Asha was fine, bit feverish but fine, it was normal for fighting a common cold! I ignore my angst and continue to listen.

“… Our bodies are thus designed not to be able to take on more than what we can handle at any given time than what our life can cope with, unless through meditation we force our bodies to take on more Mana!! Having Aether fill our cores too fast will be like trying to sail through a raging ocean with a small fisher’s boat… It won’t last! That boat can only take on so much wait and strain before it will snap in a storm! But she doesn’t have that ‘safety’ net! She doesn’t need it, either clearly, but it’s still dangerous for her; as young as she still is; as she grows older she’ll be better able to withstand the constant storm that threatens to overpower her without even thinking about it - without ever having to learn to do so, just like she never was taught how to breath!” Celli was using analogies I never thought to use to one day explain to Asha… but… I never want to explain to her either… I want her to be able to never know about her incredible power and just live a normal happy life!

“But I can’t feel anything!”

“And that is why it’s so strange… Not being able to sense such an uncontrolled Aura brewing beneath the surface of an infant… Even me and Segre couldn’t sense it clearly, we noticed… rather Segre noticed first, the Mana being drawn towards a singular spot. And even then holding her the balance felt only slightly off, I went to get the ingredients and the rest you know…” Celli dazed off, her mind somewhere else, her eyes seemed to be unfocused and ‘lazy’.

I stare out the door to see the golden Aura that had been around the man, Segre, and Asha dimming, apparently it will completely diminish as soon as her primary and secondary Aether was either in balance or the secondary Aether was 'exhausted', worn out on instinctively fending her from Segre's magic.

“Well good news! She’s going to be fine!” Celli snapped out of the trance and gave me a reassuring smile.

“What makes you say that?” I asked not having learnt much about who they were other than that they were the ‘leaders’ of the Phoenix Caravan!

“I’m a seer, I just saw her playing with friends in the garden.” At her words that Asha was going to have friends… I teared up, was it possible? Can the people in the village really learn to accept her? But the empathy in her eyes told me otherwise…

“What?” I ask her, demanding her to tell me what she was withholding!

“My vision don’t always tell me everything, something about that scene seemed ‘staged’…” I let my shoulders sag, I had a brief moment of hope, hope that I wouldn’t need to be so on guard all the time…

Spinning around to the sound of the front door opening, I’m delighted, and more at ease now that Theo is home, Tay holding the basket full of vegetables for tonight’s soup.

“I knew you two would be here!” Theo bellowed in excitement, before noticing the golden light surrounding Segre and my worried look…