“Sorry, that was a bit much, wasn’t it?” she said.
Raxx looked up at her, dumbstruck for a moment. The princess shot him a guilty look from the corner of her eye. She continued to stroke Gaia’s face, though the mare had relaxed enough to start snatching mouthfuls of hay once more.
“It was a bit of a surprise,” Raxx replied.
“You wanted to know how I light fires.” Faye shrugged and a small smile quirked at the corner of her mouth.
“Impressive. What else can you do?” Raxx was keen to change the subject as quickly as possible and was relieved when, after a moment of hesitation, the princess turned and joined him back beside the fire.
“Not much else - just silly tricks.” She tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Father didn’t allow us to practise.”
“Are your sisters also majborne?” Raxx asked.
Faye shook her head. “No, just me.”
Raxx took a moment to digest this new information. Alongside Faye’s apparent nyctophobia, being a majborne with no discernible majick skills was also perplexing to him. Being a majborne demon was easily the most precarious state of being in Hestaesia. Ever since he could remember, Raxx had been hiding his abilities and avoiding detection at all costs.
Whilst it was prohibited for demons to practise majick, faeries were actively encouraged to develop and hone their skills. Majborne faeries were amongst the most powerful beings on the plane. Why would Lazuli prevent his own daughter from learning how to protect herself? Or, maybe Raxx had the wrong end of the stick. Perhaps Lazuli’s reluctance to train his daughter was about protectinghimselfif she were to grow powerful.
Raxx centred his thoughts back on the faerie sitting in front of him. There would be plenty of time for piecing this puzzle together. For now, he was keen to make amends.
“I can help,” he muttered and pulled one of his gloves off. “You can conjure fire, but can you maintain it?” Raxx clicked his fingers together. Bright sparks shot out and erupted into a small violet flame. It flickered, licking at his fingertips, and yet all he felt was the familiar cold tingle of majick.
Faye’s eyes widened as she stared at the flames. She glanced up to meet his gaze hesitantly. “Why is it purple?”
“I’m not sure. Most enchantments I conjure are varying shades of purple. Surely, you’ve noticed your majick takes on a particular colour? It’s usually a response to whatever your elemencia is.”
“My elemencia?”
“Shit, you really don’t know much about this. Okay, so, as a majborne, have you noticed you have particular strengths in certain areas of majick?” Raxx asked.
“Like what?”
“Some have talents in obvious areas – earth, water, wind, fire.”
“Fire is an elemencia?” Faye asked, her face falling a little.
“Do you think maybe that’s yours?” Raxx asked.
“No, but I know someone who—never mind.” Faye shook her head and masked the strange haunted expression on her face with a smile. “In faerie culture, they call me a sun sprite. I was never really sure what that meant, but I assumed it was due to the way I glow.”
“It hadn’t gone unnoticed,” Raxx replied. “Sun sprite, hm? That’s a good term for it.”
“What’s your elemencia?” Faye asked.
“I’d like to think it’s fairly obvious.”
“Is invisibility an elemencia?”
Raxx chuckled and shook his head. “That’s an enchantment – one I’m definitely familiar with. No, my elemencia is shadow.”
Faye’s eye’s flickered over him with interest for a moment before she continued. “So, it’s not always a tangible thing?”
“Not always. I have a friend who’s elemencia is telepathy, another who can control magnetic fields… The list is endless. If it exists, there’s a majborne somewhere in Hestaesia who can master it.” Raxx shrugged and smiled.
“So, if shadow is an elemencia, then presumably light is too?” Faye asked.
“It would be safe to assume that.” Raxx eyed her curiously. “That’s what I’d be putting my coin on, if you were to ask me to guess yours.”
