Picking Up Steam

These Thursdays really like to sneak up on me!

At the typing of this, I’m about 2500 words behind, which all things considered isn’t too bad. I’ve been working in my office more, and usually get 1,000 words done in the morning, 1,000 in the afternoon, and if I’m lucky a few hundred in the evening.

Yesterday, however, I got my 1,000 words done in the morning no problem but really struggled in the afternoon. Finally I gave up and made a couple of quiches, which must have been just what I needed to get the brain going again because I got around 2,000 words done after that.

Today, of course, is going to be a whole different story. I’ve been going to Tai Chi for two hours on Monday and Thursday mornings, which pretty much takes care of the whole morning. And Thursdays I also have my photography class, which is three hours, and that’s pretty much it for the evening. So basically, I’ll have the afternoon to write in.

But you didn’t come here to hear about that, did you? You’re here for the excerpt. This week I’m sharing a conversation between Nakeisha and her husband Chaney, who were featured in the first elemental book, An Elemental Wind. Despite being hand picked by the Illezie to be an ambassador, Nakeisha is beginning to have doubts about them.

“I am troubled,” she said after a moment.

“That much I could gather,” he said with a smile. “Now tell me what’s troubling you.”

“How well do you know the Illezie?” she asked.

If the question surprised him, he didn’t let on. “Before I met you, I knew them only by reputation, which is to say I didn’t know much about them at all. They are one of the oldest races in the galaxy, are incredibly powerful, and totally mysterious. Even their home world is couched in secrecy.”

Nakeisha nodded. “Even growing up with them we did not know much more than that. They were our care-takers, our protectors, and some even said our creators.”

“Creators? That hardly seems likely.”

If anything, Nakeisha looked even more troubled. “I do not wish to think it of them, but it makes a terrible kind of sense. It would certainly explain why they seem almost…proprietary of us.”

“Have you talked to E.Z. about this?”

“No, I have not. To be truthful, I do not know how to broach the subject. But there is something else.”

She shifted so that she was leaning more on him and Chaney obligingly put his arm around her.

“Working closely with the survivors from Dr. Arjun’s compound as I’ve been, I have had ample opportunity to speak with them.”

“And?” he prompted when she fell silent.

“Sorry,” she said, giving herself a little shake. “Do you know why Dr. Arjun was so fanatical about his breeding experiments?”

“Like most people, I figured he let his scientific mind get the better of him. That and his need for order, to keep the Ardraci race pure.”

“Yes,” she nodded. “That is what most believe.”

“I get the feeling that’s not why he did it.”

“That was only part of the reason. The other part was that he knew somewhat of the prophecy. He knew the Illezie were looking for specific traits in an elemental.”

“And he thought that by creating the perfect elemental he’d win recognition from the Illezie?” Chaney guessed.

“Not exactly,” she said. “He thought if he could create an elemental powerful enough, one that held all four elements in equal measure, Then the Illezie would be able to fulfill their prophecy and set the rest of us free.”

“Set you free? But you were never…” Chaney’s voice trailed off. He’d been about to say that the Ardraci had never been prisoners of the Illezie, but that wasn’t entirely true. Up until just a few years ago the Ardraci home world had been hidden, protected, and only a few selected Ardraci had been able to leave the planet. Many of them didn’t even know there were other planets, other beings. They’d been deliberately kept in the dark.

“If that’s the case,” he said slowly, “It’s a wonder the Illezie did not sanction Arjun’s experiments.”

“Who’s to say he did not?” she asked quietly.