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It’s strange to see her so deflated, like her guilt’s drained all the fire inside her
I bite back uilty How many different ways has she screwed upti my body back to put so for me, Audra? Why me? Why my family?"
She looks away, like she doesn’t want to answer But she does "It’s because you’re a Weston"
"What, uess the proper term is ‘Westerly’ Weston is just your family nahtens, a little of the fight returning to her eyes "This isn’t going to make a whole lot of sense, but fine If it willseriously, so be it" Her hands twist around each other and she stares at the space between us
"I told you earlier--there are four languages for the wind There are also four kinds of Windwalkers: Northerlies, Southerlies, Easterlies, and Westerlies Everyone’s born hat’s called their ‘native tongue’ The language of their heritage Forany of the other languages There wasn’t any point We lived in separate corners of the earth We rarely es? It wasn’t until the Gale Force that things changed"
"The Gale Force?"
"A force we created for peace and safety, in both our society and the groundlings’ The winds have been shifting--beco more wild More reckless And it’s our responsibility to cal hulory or power or respect, but because it’s right"
She points to a small blue patch on the sleeve of her jacket, just below her right shoulder Four wavy lines twisted together in the middle, like a knot That explains the crazy outfit And probably the freakishly tight hair
"So, you’re a soldier in the aruardians were Northerlies, because the northern wind is the strongest But it’s also the coldest and the most unstable, as are its people, so--"
"I take it you’re a Northerly?"
"Why would you think that?"
I alh Does she not realize how cold and scary she can be? Or is it normal to threaten people with evil swords of doom in sylph-land? "Never mind"
"My family name is Eastend Easterlies were the next to join the Gales, to be a softening influence But they were coe, to increase their strength And when they did, they discovered so unexpected"
She scoots back and whispers the call she taught h as sand and bits of dead palle draft of wind has power of its own But es"
She whispers so I don’t understand and another draft rushes from behind me A colder wind Louder I can’t ain and the gusts swirl together to form a dust devil
I juer by the second Audra stands too, hovering over the mini-tornado
"When you co stronger and more flexible And if you kno to control the you want theible and the winds race harder Faster and faster they spin, until the dust devil’s strong enough to suck up the needle-sword thing and shoot it out the top of the funnel Audra catches it with a graceful sweep of her right arm as she whispers, "Break free, be free" The winds sweep away, leaving a dusty trail in their wake
Okay, that’s pretty cool
"The possibilities that knowledge opened up were endless But they discovered so When you combine the winds, their powers increase exponentially with each wind you add So if someone were to combine all four winds and command them perfectly, they would be unstoppable Raiden became determined to be the first to learn all four"