Gemini

Going on a trip

As I was saying to those who didn't skip the previous chapter, after a year in our magnificent clearing, we decided to move away and give ourselves over to exploration, seeking new experiences and new ways to train our Gifts. We had no clear destination in mind, nor did we have any idea where this adventure of ours would end up but, quoting a wise man of our time, the important thing was more the journey itself than the destination. If someone had been able to see us from above, they would not have had much difficulty in thinking that we were little ants wandering about in a rambling manner, but we certainly would not have called a horde of Twins to our rescue. Aaaand the whole world would have declared war on us. But I digress. 
We walked for several days, in which we were fortunate enough to always have beautiful clear skies; it would have been a great bore if it had rained. On those days we would go several miles into the woods and then detour whenever we felt it was necessary.
In a nutshell: by the second day already we would not have been able to make it back to the clearing by land. We had taken the concept of being lost to a higher level.
«Well» I said theatrically. «We are officially lost. We can finally begin our exploration».

-

We wandered around for a while at random, choosing which way to go according to the tree that inspired us most, often ending up going in circles. So we had to abandon this beautiful, but alas pretty bad, method and choose one that would perhaps allow us to explore the forest with open trajectories. Just throwing it out there.
Of course it started raining. Bloody weather.
«Do you think with our Gifts we could make the rain stop?» I asked Nate while creating an umbrella.
«Well, I guess that is worth a try». And so we stood like a couple of idiots staring at the cloud that had decided to spout its frustrations out on us, hoping to change some element that would make the misery stop.

After barely five minutes I lost it... and I took it personally. 
«Would you take me just a little above the trees? Now this damn cloud will know who's the boss here» I said dryly as my hand was enveloped in flames. 
After a few seconds I was hovering above the forest, while around my hands the purple particles of my Gift swirled frantically, triggering a small fire on my forearms. «Um Ellie? I think you'd better throw that fireball.
It's getting pretty hot down here» Nate said as a trickle of sweat ran down his forehead.
Oopsie.
With all my might I ordered the flames to leave my arms and the air to push them towards each other. «Grow up» I thought, and as soon as I reached the infamous cloud, there was a huge explosion of flames that instantly vaporised the cloud.
It was more dramatic than I expected.
Ellie 1, Cloud 0. Next.
After the explosion, a faint rainbow had formed in the sky from the remnants of the cloud, which, not surprisingly, seemed to point to a modest hill not far away. 
As soon as we were back on the ground we decided by mutual agreement to set off in that direction.

When we got about half a mile up the hill, Nate stopped moving while stretching his back and arms: «How about we have a race to see who can get up there first?» he proposed pointing to a pine tree at the top of the hill. «I swear I'll take it easy on you, but I still have to take my revenge». I shook my head laughing: «You still thinking 'bout that, aren't you? All right, challenge accepted. On the count of three we go».
We both took our positions, ready to sprint. I began the countdown. «One», we both took on a concentrated expression as if we were thinking of anything but running; «Two», we now began to tense our muscles ready to go. «Three».

Not for a moment had I thought I had a hope of winning the race, in fact as I counted down I was thinking of a brutally simple way I could slow him down if not actually stop him. On the count of three I started running as fast as I could, but Nate was on an all other level. Evidently he had altered the structure of his muscles in some way because every time he placed a foot on the ground it felt like a crack of a whip, but the funniest thing if you like is that he moved in complete silence, sometimes replaced with a sporadic BOOM. 
What can I say, my dear Nate was having fun going Mach 3.

Of course he came within a few meters of the pine tree while I was still at the foot of the hill. He had little, however, to rejoice about. As I saw him reach out a hand to touch the tree, a nice sturdy wall came out of the ground. 
Obviously he slammed right into it, as the fool had not even slowed down. Just as obviously he did nothing because of that damned trick of his.
The wall, however, had its effects: in practice he was safe and sound but had been thrown several meters down the hill by the recoil. And that, my friends, is how I won the race, arriving safely at the top of the hill. 
What can I say, sometimes I can be really nice.
«Come on Ellie, that's not fair» protested Nate after he had reached me under the pine tree. «Says the one who was running at hyper-sonic speed. You used your Gift and I used mine, and then admit it: I was smarter than you this round».
«Ugh, that's not fair» he continued to mutter as he sat down next to me under the pine tree to catch his breath.
«It was fun though» he finally admitted. I put my hand on his shoulder and said with a slightly wicked expression: «Yeah, maybe you'll beat me one day, but for now you still have a long way to go». We stayed under the tree for a few hours, taking advantage of our elevated position to enjoy a beautiful view of the forest.
«Nate, do you think that's Andúnë?» I asked him after a while, pointing to the outline of a town on the horizon.
«I think so Ellie. I'll tell you the truth, it's not like I miss it that much, especially when I think about how they really hate us all over there. Plus I get to spend all this time with my best friend, what more could I ask for?» he replied after a while.
«Great choice of words my dear, but I'm afraid we will have to go back there sooner or later. I have this feeling we will have to deal with it again». Nate agreed with me.
Eventually we lay down on the lawn in front of the pine tree, taking it really easy and making the most of these few precious moments of rest. What could possibly have gone wrong?
Had I not thought that.
The ground beneath our feet began to shake.
Oh good, we had upset the pine tree.