The Last Healer

Chapter 74: Ariella

Chapter 74 Ariella

Water encased my body, hugging my arms and legs as I floated, my hair streaming around me as if the water was toying with it. The gentle caress comforted me, supported me, cared for me. It was like nothing I had ever realized. Darkness surrounded me as my eyes rested and no noise could be heard through the silent water. Nothing was what I had imagined or thought of. Everything was so different here, unreal, yet peaceful. There was a certain freedom here. No obligations, no worries, no fears. Just water.

"You realize now." Nimiane's voice sounded in my head, startling me slightly. A splash of water echoed in the hall as my arms crashed against the calm surface, my eyes darting around as I searched for her. Her form rose from the water, a smile played on those watery lips as she studied me. "You understand now. I can see it in your eyes."

"I don't understand." I muttered as I stared at her, water streaming down my back, joining the water below.

"What did the water want, Ariella?" She questioned as she motioned for me to step from the water and back towards my clothes.

"Want?" I muttered as I slowly slipped my way out and drifted towards my clothes.

"While you were floating, child, what did the water want?" Nimiane asked again as she floated over the surface of the water, closer to me.

"It didn't want anything."

"It did. It wanted something with you."

"All it did was surround me. Support me." I insisted, my eyes searching her face as I attempted to understand.

"It caressed you. It comforted you."

"Well, yes." I admitted, confusion flooding through me as I stared at her. It caressed me because I was there, it had to make room for me. It was comforting because it blocked everything else out. It was nothing other than what it was supposed to be.

"Can you understand if I say that is the water's true nature? That it wants to comfort, to support, to caress?" Her gentle voice echoed loudly in my ears as something inside of me seemed to click.

"You mean water has a mind of its own?"

"Oh but of course." Nimiane smiled brightly. "All of the elements have want, a desire, a will. However, they need us, those with Power, to fulfill their will."

"And water wants to comfort?" I whispered, my eyes turning to the still water beneath.

"Yes and no." Nimiane sighed. "Water wants to mend what is broken. Sooth what is irritated. Sustain what is dying."

Silence developed between the two of us as I thought about the feeling that were inside of me when I was floating. The gentle caress that calmed me, the light playfulness with my hair, the gentle support it held beneath me as it help me up.

"That's why water is used for Healing." I concluded and she nodded.

"The other elements have there uses but none of them has the pure desire of healing like Water. That is its will." Nimiane smiled at me gently as she turned towards the pool. "Earth wants to strong and grow. Air wants to live inside the body and mind, to be needed. And Fire is wild, a single ember can set of a blaze as it eats everything. But water is the gentle element unless provoked otherwise."

"The Warriors."

"Indeed." She sighed slightly and smiled. "They are the ones who show the violence of the water, their hearts are ready to strike within a moment's notice. Because of that, they could never be a true Healer."

"So they could have been a Healer? Like me?"

"They could have, but they were not." Nimiane took a step away before turning and facing me. "You were born special, different. Your sickliness and weakness was the first sign that you were meant to be a Healer. Your abuse showed you why gentleness matters and the darkness of people's hearts. And your desire to remove the pain from others amplifies your Power's desire to Heal."