Chapter 43 - Expectations

The daily temperature on the water continent was just starting to subtly drop as the winter season grew near. Some animals began to stockpile in preparation for hibernation, while some trees continued to litter the ground with their yellow and orange leaves. Down in Aestus, the day was calm and peaceful as per usual. Except in one particular area...

WOOOSH!!

Via whizzed through the forest with her air essence, just narrowly avoiding trees at an impressive speed. She was being followed closely behind by a rapid stream of water, which seemed to be tracing her exact movements. She glided her hands on the trunk of a tree as she used it to quickly change directions before kicking off of it and continuing her flight. The stream continued to pursue her without letting up in the slightest. Dashing over, under, and between obstacles at speeds of at least sixty miles per hour.

"Keep at it, Kade! You're getting close this time." Aaron exclaimed.

"Please don't disrupt his focus." Mai stated.

"Oops, sorry."

Kaden was sat with his legs crossed on the sand stump at the center of the pond. He was directing the stream of water with his index and middle fingers, which he had shaped into a gun. His pupils were locked onto Via, and no matter the amount of obstructions she flew by, Kaden was not losing track of her.

"This is fun. He's getting good at this." Via thought.

A large pile of leaves caught the attention of the excited Via, and within a split second, she thought of a plan to use it. In a swift motion, she blasted the pile of leaves with a gust of wind, scattering them all through the air. Then, in the blink of an eye, Via vanished.

"Huh?" Kaden said in confusion.

A few seconds passed, but Kaden was unable to locate her through all of the falling leaves.

"She got him." Aaron said softly.

Suddenly, Via launched herself through the top of the trees and shot a rapid gust of wind at Kaden, who couldn't react fast enough to block it. The shot sent him tumbling into the pond, which made him completely drenched with water.

"Time?" Via asked as she ran up to Mai and Aaron.

"Two minutes and forty-three seconds." Mai answered. "He's getting better at pressuring you."

"Nice job at the end there." Aaron stated. "You used the leaves to cover up when you jumped into the trees. Any leaves that fell off the tree blended in with the leaves you scattered, so he had no idea you went up."

"That brings the record to '13-0'." Via happily declared.

Aaron grinned and patted Via on her head as a reward. As for Kaden, he was abnormally slow to get up from the water. He rested on his hands and knees and watched as the droplets of water leaked off of his bare face and back into the pond below. He gazed upon the surface of the water as the ripples disturbed his own reflection. Kaden's capacity for both his air and water essence had significantly grown over the past week as he trained with Mai and the others, but it was easily noticeable that his behavior had changed ever since returning from the gate.

"Hey, you alright?" Mai asked, squatting down.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kaden answered as he slowly made his way onto his feet.

"... You're progressing at a commendable rate. You actually remind me of when I first met Kumori. It's like she only needs to see a technique once to figure it out."

"Maybe she'll be an elder in the future."

Mai couldn't help but notice the disconnected look in Kaden's eyes. He talked in a softer tone than before and moved around a lot more quietly.

"Hey Kade, need me to dry you off again?" Aaron asked while holding up his hand.

"What are you, an a/c unit?" Kaden sarcastically questioned.

"I could do with a heater in our place right now. The temperature has dropped quite a bit in the past few days."

"How cold does it typically get here?" Kaden asked Mai as Aaron began to blow dry him with his air essence.

"Down here, the lowest we'd probably see is between fifteen to twenty degrees."

"Is that Fahrenheit or Celsius?"

"Excuse me?" Mai questioned with a confused look.

"When you say 'fifteen to twenty', which scale are you talking about?"

"I have the slightest idea what you mean."

"Guess there wasn't any Daniel Fahrenheit or Anders Celsius in this world." Aaron stated. "At what temperature does water freeze at here?"

"Zero." Mai replied.

"Safe to say we're using the Celsius scale then." Aaron concluded. "In that case, fifteen to twenty is pretty cold."

"It gets colder than that on the surface." Via added.

"Yeah, I definitely could do with a heater then."

"A heater..." Kaden said before spacing out. "... How come I haven't seen that guy anymore since that day?"

"You really need to learn to be more specific." Mai answered.

"The fire kid. Jayson was his name, I think."

"Oh, I'm not sure what's going on with them. Ever since that day, there's been an uneasy atmosphere in the entire village, I feel. In your case, once people found out that you weren't from Ignus, it was business as usual. But now there are actual people from Ignus here, and the circulation of rumors is causing discomfort in the village. Especially since the elders aren't saying anything about them either. Not only that, but I'm sure you've noticed Kenzo hasn't been around in a while."

"Yeah, wasn't he supposed to be training Kaden?" Aaron questioned.

"Elder Alexander has been meeting with all of the royal guards every day for some unknown reason."

"You're not a royal guard?"

"No, not yet, at least." Mai answered in a disheartened tone. "I'm still at the lowest rank, and I only received those previous missions due to special requests. I need to work hard to ascend properly like everyone else."

The glance Kaden gave Mai at that moment was filled with judgment and, at the same time, envy.

"Via, I know you said that it's forbidden, but would you ever teach your plant control technique?" Kaden questioned.

"... Um, I mean, even if I wanted to, neither you nor Aaron can use that technique because you don't have life essence." Via replied, trying to understand where that question came from.

"I wasn't asking for us, I was asking for her." Kaden explained, pointing at Mai.

"Me?"

"It doesn't really seem that the elders care that it's a forbidden practice, so why not learn it?"

"Your answer is in the question." Mai firmly responded. "It is still a forbidden practice at the end of the day."

"Haaaa," Kaden sighed as he began to walk away from the others. "I think I'm done for today."

Aaron, Via, and Mai watched as Kaden casually walked off while using his own air essence to continue drying himself off. Aaron gave a slight nudge to Mai and gestured with his eyes for her to follow him in which she hesitantly complied.

"Why do you do that?" Via questioned.

"Do what?"

"Push Mai to talk with him."

"I'm not pushing them, and besides, I think they need each other." Aaron cheerfully replied. "I've known Kaden long enough to know when he needs help. Sometimes, I am that person he needs help from, but other times, there isn't really much I can do. Sometimes, he needs to hear certain things from certain people, and I think Mai is someone who can help him with that."

"That's it?" Via asked, prying further.

"Well, I don't know Mai the way I know Kaden, but I think it may be the same for her."

.....

"Kaden! Wait up!" Mai exclaimed as she jogged lightly to catch up with him.

"What's up?" Kaden replied without really acknowledging her.

"... I'm curious. Ever since you came back from the gate, your behavior has been different."

"For real?" Kaden sarcastically questioned.

"Yes... you seem more cold than before, and you haven't looked genuinely happy since then. What did you experience in there?"

"... Nothing I didn't already know... That I'm a terrible person."

That response stunned Mai for a moment as she then didn't know how to respond. She did notice a feint smile on Kaden's face following that remark, however. 

"Trust me, your son isn't anything to be proud of." Kaden remembered. "Realizing something like that makes it hurt even more."

"... I've thought you were many things in my short time knowing you. A bad person has never been one of them." Mai carefully responded.

The barely noticeable smile was then erased from Kaden's face.

"Tell me something... why do you want to be a royal guard?" Kaden questioned.

"Why, you ask."

"It's because of your family, right?"

Again, the words from Kaden's mouth surprised her to the point of silence.

"Your parents were seen as two of the strongest water essence users in Aestus. Not to mention, your grandmother is an elder. It's obvious that you want to meet the standard they've set, and there's nothing wrong with that as long as it's something you want to do. It shouldn't feel like an obligation."

"And it doesn't!" Mai abruptly responded. "I decided long ago that I would become someone they'd be proud of."

"Proud? How would you know what they'd be proud of?! The expectations you're trying to reach were placed there by yourself, not them! Now you're chasing after an impossible goal because you assume what they'd want from you, when all they probably do want is for you to become a good person. Answer me this: Do you think Via should be imprisoned for using life essence the way she does?"

"... I-I... "

"No, she doesn't. Because Via is a good person and would never use that ability in a negative way. Most likely, it isn't the practice that's forbidden. It's the way it is used. For you, it would be a way to actually improve yourself, but you're too busy chasing unrealistic expectations to realize that."

Mai was struggling to grasp everything that Kaden was telling her, but it was more because of shock rather than her not listening.

"Unlike me, you're a good person, Mai. You should learn to prioritize that."

With those final words, Kaden once again walked away, leaving Mai to stand alone in the center of the path. She thought back to what Elder Claire had briefly hinted at when they were in the Redwoods.

"Hmm, I'm not a fan of that conclusion." She remembered Claire saying. "Was she saying the same thing?"

.....

Near the very edge of the cave in which Aestus resided in stood a rather large, well-built and well kempt wooden cabin. Around the backyard area of this cabin was Jayson, who was doing calisthenics on his own next to a shallow river. Avery exited the cabin through the back door and quietly approached the focused Jayson.

"So, anything new for us?" Avery asked.

"If there was, I'd let you all know." Jayson replied while continuing his routine.

"You're a smart kid, Bluejay. I know you're brainstorming all sorta different scenarios right now. So what do you think would happen if we chose to return to the fire continent."

"Well, for starters, they're not allowing anyone to leave Aestus without special permission. I think they're in contact with Ventus right now to discuss how they are going to proceed with dealing with the current situation. Ignus has violated several terms in the peace arrangement, with the incident in Himawari being the icing on the cake. Apparently, four people died in that attack, by the way."

"That wasn't your fault, Jay." Avery interjected.

"... Yeah. Anyway, with the way things are going, retaliation is almost inevitable."

"An attack on our home?

"Avery-"

"I know." Avery quickly answered. "Ignus deserves whatever they have coming to them. But the fire continent is still our home. And you know better than any of us what things are like behind those walls right now. If Aestus pushes back, surely it's going to lead to a war."

"Most likely."

"If it comes down to that... whose side will you be on?"

There was an extensive moment of silence between the two as they both thought about possible outcomes to this situation.

"My mom gave me my purpose for living when I went back to Ignus several years ago." Jayson finally responded. "To be the bridge for these two nations. That's what I'm aiming for now. And to do that, I need to fix what's happening inside Ignus. Peace will never be achieved with people like Kajar around."

"So you're saying..."

"Aestus doesn't want to be enemies with us. They're just protecting themselves. The problem is on our end."

Avery shoved her hands into her pockets and looked up to the lake above Aestus before sighing lightly.

"I hope dad hasn't made it back home yet."