Tempest

2 : Better With Time

1964

Samual Daly, or Papa Sam, as he had asked Tempest to call him, found her laying into the trees about a kilometer away from the house. He watched her for a long time as she screamed in rage and left a trail of broken, damaged and hurt trees to bleed their sap into the weeping grass. She was barefoot and reigned her fury into the hapless greenery as, blow after blow, she felled all the trees that were in her path. Finally, exhausted, Tempest crumpled to the ground and wept. Heavy sobs left her body as she curled into the ground like she wanted to burrow into it, to have her grief swallowed by it, and let her sorrow rip through her  body.

Papa Sam walked slowly up to her, making sure that she could see him. He wasn't in the right mood to have her tear a piece of his hide off while she was in her current kill the world mode. Despite his huge bulk he moved quietly. He sat down next to her and gently lifted her off the ground and onto his lap. Her sobs continued and he gently rocked her, whispering nonsensical words of comfort to her as the huge sobs slowly faded into quiet sniffles. Then he continued to hold her without saying a word until she turned teary, blue eyes to look at him.

"You know you have to stop beating up on defenceless trees right? Especially ones that can't fight back," he told her softly. She hiccuped a laugh and dried her eyes with the palms of her hand. 

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I was just so sad, then I got really angry. It was almost like I could feel the bond between my family and I being broken again. I have been trying to contact them but it's like knocking at the door of an empty house. I miss them so much."

Tears started to well up in her eyes again and Papa Sam sighed. He nudged her off of his lap and as Tempest got to her feet, he stood up a moment later. He was a big man, was Papa Sam. He stood almost two meters tall and was as wide as a barrel. He reminded her so much of her father who was almost equally big. She barely reached his shoulders but she was almost a meter seventy-five.

"You said you could fight. Show me," Papa Sam said.

She looked at him with a raised brow. "You want to fight me?"

"I know you're very fast but can you fight?" he asked her. 

"Of course I can fight," she scoffed. "I told you that I used to train with the royal army."

"So show me," Papa Sam said with a shrug.

Tempest looked at him in disbelief and shook her head, tears forgotten. She studied him for a bit before she shrugged, giving him an "it's your funeral" look. Drawing back her arm, she threw a punch at Papa Sam. The punch landed and where she had expected the big man to be thrown back, he barely moved. 

"I'm waiting, Tempest," he said. 

Tempest took a step back and punched again, with a bit more power in her attack this time. Papa Sam sighed, looking at her as though he was weighing options in his head. She frowned as she realised that the look of contemplation could be detrimental to her health.

"How quickly do you heal?" Papa Sam finally asked her. 

"Almost instantly unless it's really bad," Tempest told him. "Broken bones will take a couple of days to heal completely. Why?"

Papa Sam looked at her with a sympathetic look in his eyes before he extended his hand and hit her in the chest with the palm of his hand. The force of his open handed blow sent Tempest flying into the trees until she was stopped by the sudden impact of her back slamming against the trunk of one. Tree branches attacked her as she went sliding down the bark, until she landed in Papa Sam's arms. She wasn't hurt, not really, but she was shocked by the power of that blow. She doubted he had even used a half of his possible power and she was flabbergasted.