“Raar!” Lilah, Aileen's twin sister, lunged at her with a fire attack. Aileen made a slashing movement in the air with her hand and a thick mist doused the flames. Lilah and Aileen were Opposite Elementals, which meant they were strongest together, but their powers were opposites. Lilah had fire powers, and Aileen had water. They were play-fighting in the Training Arena of their village. Everyone who lived here was an Elemental, but they were all Earth. They lived in one of the wildest parts of Knoll, their planet. After all, Earth Elementals love the wilderness. None of them were Opposite Elementals, and Lilah’s birth as a Fire Elemental caused a huge uproar - which only got bigger when Aileen was born a minute later, with Water. They were training in the kids’ section, where the walls were piled with sandbags, crates stashed with bandages, and anything they would need, as ten-year-olds with powerful elemental magic.

“Aileen!” Lilah pouted. People rarely used Aileen's full name, often simply calling her by her nickname, Aila. Lots of people thought that, as twins, they should have similar names. But their parents preferred Aileen, to not be confusing.

“It’s so boring if you always block my fire.” Lilah frowned at Aileen.

“Yes, well, it’s real fire,” Aileen reminded her.

“Why do you always have to say that? Just because you were born with the ‘safe’ talent-”

“This has nothing to do with me.”

“This has everything to do with you! You’re Mom and Dad’s favorite, just because you were born with a talent that builds, not destroys, blah blah blah, but I’m OLDER and more MATURE,” Lilah objected.

“Age has nothing to do with maturity. Plus, ONE MINUTE does not count as older,” Aileen said, rolling her eyes. Lilah always tried to start fights out of nothing, but after all, that was a common trait of Fire Elementals. Being shy, calm, and always trying to keep the peace were the traits Water Elementals had in common. It was why they were good for each other. Earth Elementals were known to be smart and down to earth, as the saying goes, and Air Elementals often seemed to make rather impulsive decisions.

“So? They still just like you because you’re a Water.” Lilah’s hair flickered with igniting flames and her eyes began to glow a deep vermillion as she got madder.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Aileen said as a white-hot fireball sparked to life over Lilah’s palm and began spinning, lashing out with braided tendrils which would have been quite pretty if they weren’t whipping so close to Aileen's face. Aileen rubbed her tanzanite pendant, her nervous habit.

Aileen summoned a wave and crashed it over the spinning ball of heat, pounding the flames, but the water evaporated and the fireball swelled larger, as if delighted to destroy even something as small as that palm-sized stream of water. 

“Lilah!” Aileen yelled. “Control it!”

But Lilah screamed as the fireball rose into the air. Spouts of flames began shooting off of the fireball, crisscrossing into a giant golden net. Aileen realized that the net wasn’t just covering the Training Arena, it was forming a deadly cage over the whole village.

No matter what command Lilah shouted at the strands of the net, they wouldn’t unravel. Finally, with a loud clap of Lilah’s hands, the glowing net dropped. Aileen blew out a sigh of relief, then realized that the net hadn’t evaporated with the clap of her hands, it had fallen.

The village was ablaze.

Aileen coughed and pulled her dress collar over my nose and mouth as smoke rose. Lilah ran over to her, shaking and sobbing. 

“It’s okay,” Aileen tried to soothe her. “We can stop the flames.”

Aileen stood up and lifted her arms. Her elbows shook, but she managed to create a huge sphere of water. With shock, Aileen saw that she had pulled out the entire village's pond. She had no idea she was that powerful.

Aileen released the water and let it crash over the burning houses. They lived in a cliffside village, and Aileen concentrated on the faint throb of the ocean, far below. 

It was like groping for a strand of spider’s silk. Aileen knew it was there, she could feel it - but she just couldn’t find it.

Aha.

Aileen grasped the thin strand and pulled. It’s hard to describe, but Aileen remembers Lilah gasping and pointing behind me. Aileen saw out of the corner of her eye an immense wall of water shooting out from the sea.

With a strangled yell, Aileen curled a protective bubble of air around Lilah and herself and swirled the wall of water into a big, flat sheet of water over the village, spreading it as thin as she could. Then she let it drop.

The water had different ideas, though. It swirled into a huge, frilly wave - the symbol of the Water Element - then washed over the village. Aileen screamed as the water hit her bubble of air, and the air inside became misty and damp. She leaked. 

Gathering the fog in the bubble and reinforcing the bubble, Aileen sighed with relief. Her powers had gotten a bit out of control, but at least it was over-

As if the sea had heard her, Aileen unwillingly brought more salt water and pounded it over the village.

Lilah shook me. “What are you doing? The flames are put out. Aileen, stop!”

Aileen tried. She really did. But the water had a mind of its own.

Another blast of water - and our bubble of air popped. It felt like they were under the ocean, unruly waves pounding above them. Aileen gripped Lilah’s arm and swam towards the surface, determined to stop the waves.

Their heads broke the surface. Aileen would have lasted a while under the water because as a Water Elemental, she could last up to 24 hours underwater without air, but Lilah coughed, gasped, and sputtered like she hadn’t breathed in years.

Concentrating, Aileen stopped the flow of the water. The waves curled back into the sea, and their feet touched the ground.

“Aila…” Lilah whispered. “Where are we?”

Aileen didn’t dare to tell her we hadn’t gone anywhere. Around them were pools of mud and slick, wet rock. No houses. No signs of any inhabitants except for one single shred of a tapestry.

Aileen picked it up, staring into the threads of the shredded fabric. The village, and the people… were all in the sea.

What had she done?