Rising From the Ashes: The Chronicles of Caymin by Caren J. Werlinger Page A

to do good or evil. We can –”
    She stopped at the blank expression on Ash’s face. “Never mind. Go to bed. It’s late.”
    Ash went to her sleeping mat and pulled her old cloak over her. As she drifted to sleep, she wondered what Beanna had meant, what she had seen Gai doing.

    Ash woke to the sound of a soft rain falling. She lay there, still feeling troubled by all that had occurred the evening before.
    “You are awake?” Enat was at the fire, stirring a pot. “Come and eat.”
    She dished out some porridge into a bowl. This new delight had become one of Ash’s favorites, sweetened with a bit of honey. She sat next to Enat, dipping her fingers into the porridge. Enat cleared her throat and held out a wooden spoon. Ash scowled. Eating with her fingers was so much easier than this awkward implement. She grasped it in her fist and scooped some porridge into her mouth.
    They ate in silence until their bowls were empty. Ash scraped the last of her porridge from her bowl while Enat poured tea into two cups. Handing one to Ash, she said, “Tell me what troubles you.”
    Ash stared into the fire. “The others can do things I cannot.”
    “And you can do what they cannot,” Enat said. “You will all learn. Méav, Ronan and the other older ones have been with us two or more winters. They have had time to study. Cíana, Daina and Gai are a little older than you. They have been here since last summer. Diarmit only arrived four moons ago. You will find your way with your magic.”
    Ash cocked her head. “Beanna said she had seen Gai in the forest, practicing magic that made the forest restless. What did she mean?”
    Enat looked at her sharply. “Did she say more?”
    Ash shook her head.
    “Gai is a king’s son,” Enat said.
    “What is a king?”
    Enat sighed. “There is so much you don’t know.” She paused. “Among humans, there are clans, like yours. They gather together to protect what they have, but they often want what others have – land, wealth, crops. And they will fight to take it from one another.”
    A distant memory flashed through Ash’s mind – shouts and the clanging of weapons and screams of pain – and then it was gone.
    “The leader of a clan is a king, or a woman may be queen,” Enat continued. “So Gai is the son of a leader. His older brother will become king in his time, and Gai will be expected to return and help him rule with his magic.”
    Ash looked at her. “He would use magic to control other humans?”
    “He might. This is what I was trying to explain to you last night. Evil is when you use your power to deliberately harm others rather than help them. And not just those with magic. Those without magic can also be evil, using force to make others do their will.”
    “Is Gai evil?”
    “No,” Enat said quickly. “Not yet. But there is an emptiness in him. He was not raised with love as you were. His mother died when he was born, and his father and brother had little time for him. He has had to make his own way, and he feels a need to prove himself. Gai may even become king himself if his brother dies.”
    She looked at Ash with thoughtful eyes and reached for the empty bowl sitting at the girl’s feet.
    “When this bowl is empty, there is room to fill it with anything – porridge or muck. Good or bad. But if I fill it first with porridge, there is no room left for anything bad. Gai is like this bowl right now. If we can help to fill him with goodness, there will be no room for evil.”
    Ash looked puzzled. “How can we do that?”
    “You feel you are missing something compared to the others because you were not raised in a human family, but you also were not tainted by the bad things people can do to one another. You are different, in a good way. You can help the others, including Gai, to see things differently. Teach them the way Broc and Cuán taught you.”

CHAPTER 5
    Elements
    A sh’s training began in earnest after that night. Neela and Ivar were their