A Tale of Four Sisters: Chapter Seven

Aura

“So… how are we going to beat Argleni?” I ask.

“First, we have to go to the King and Queen of Elementia.” Rogina says.

“Aaaand, where are they?” Celeste asks.

“In the Temple of the Elements.” she replies. “Come on, I’ll take you there.”

“Are we going to walk there?” Sienna asks Rogina.

“No, I have some friends that will take us there.”

“What kind of friends?” Seraphine asks. Rogina grins, and snaps her fingers. I expected something like some horses and a carriage. But as usual, I was wrong. Four jaguars (yes, JAGUARS!) appeared from out of nowhere.

“W-wait… we’re going to be riding j-jaguars?!” I shriek.

“They are not jaguars, they are Yenakis.” Rogina corrected. “As you can see, they have wings, and they have much thicker fur than regular jaguars.”

 I observed the jag─ Yenakis, and wow, they were gorgeous.

“Aqua is for Celeste, right?” Sienna asks Rogina. Rogina nods.

“So, Blaze is for Seraphine?” Rogina nods again.

“Breeze is probably for Aura.” Again, Sienna was right.

“So, Flora is for me?” BAM! Right again.

“Wait, but how are you going to get to the Temple of Elements?” Celeste asks.

“I can transform into any animal.” Rogina explains. “So, I’ll transform into an eagle, fly up into the sky, and you guys will follow me on the Yenakis.” I bite my bottom lip. I’ve never ridden a horse often, let alone a Yenaki!

“Is riding a Yenaki difficult?” I ask.

“Well, getting on the Yenaki might be a little challenging at first. But once you get the hang of it, riding it will be a breeze!” Rogina explains. Breeze the Yenaki turned to Rogina when she heard her say the word ‘breeze’, thinking Rogina had been calling her name. I couldn’t help myself but giggle, I think I was going to like this silky-furred Yenaki after all!

First, Rogina tells us that we should first get used to our Yenakis, and become their friends. So, she showed us how to pet them, and gave us a pouch of treats for the Yenakis. We all received a different leather pouch, because each Yenaki liked different food. Breeze liked these bars of what Rogina called ‘spiderweb fruit’, because when you cut open the white fruit, its juice would stretch like spiderwebs. The treats were technically white fruit bars. 

Blaze liked these little jelly bean-sized balls of ashes and wild clover honey mixed together. So the result was a gray, sticky ball. Gross. Seraphine looked like she was going to be sick once she saw the treats her Yenaki ate. 

Aqua had these little cough drop-like things that seemed to be made of ice. (how did they not melt?! Oh, right. Magic.) Rogina tells us that Aqua’s drops had this special type of sugar called Ikra inside each one.

Flora ate these marshmallow-like things that were made out of hibiscus petal powder, and nectar.

Ooookay. So we had some jaguars with wings, and their treats. Now, we had to learn how to ride them.

“First, you have to put one leg over your Yenakis body, then use your other leg to boost your body onto it’s back.” Rogina explains. “Watch out for the wings though! You don’t want your faces to be covered in feathers, do you?” she adds. I take a deep breath, and do what Rogina says. The first part went smoothly, but when I boosted my body onto it’s back, I used a little too much force, and ended up face planted in the dirt. Oof. I heard my sisters burst out laughing, and I lifted myself off of the ground. I could tell Rogina was trying hard not to giggle.

“Don’t worry, Aura! Practice makes perfect!” Celeste encourages me. I tried again. And again. Aaaaaand again. After what seemed like a thousand times, I finally managed to sit on Breeze without falling off the other side!

“GREAT WORK!” Rogina shouts.

“Thanks!” I say.

Now, it’s Celeste’s turn. Since she was a little taller than me, it didn’t take her too long before she successfully got onto Aqua.

“Nailed it!” she exclaims, pumping her fist into the air. I want to applaud for Celeste, but the moment I let go of my hands from Breeze’s fur, I felt like I was about to fall off, so I grabbed back on in a millisecond. On second thought, I’m not going to applaud, though Celeste did a great job. I thought.

Sienna and Seraphine got on their Yenakis quite quickly too.

“Great job, everybody!” I compliment.

“Thanks, Aura! You did great too!” Sienna replies, and gives me a smile. I smile back.

“Okay everybody! Time to practice actually riding the Yenakis now.” Rogina calls. I gulp. Things didn’t go well just getting on the Yenakis, so I don’t think riding it will be any better.

“So first, make sure you’re holding on to the fur of your Yenaki tightly. You don’t want to fall off, especially when it’s running.” Rogina tells us. I nod, showing that I understood. I see my sisters doing the same thing.

“Also, keep your legs close to the Yenakis body. Keeping your legs out would be dangerous, because it may crash onto trees, or other things.” Rogina explains.

“Okay.” my sisters and I say in unison. Rogina lets our Yenakis walk slowly.

Hey! This isn’t too bad after all! I think. Then, Rogina tells our Yenakis to go faster. Spoke too soon…  I think again. The Yenakis start jogging, then running, then sprinting.

“WOO!” I hear Seraphine shout with glee. I see that Celeste can already start letting go of on hand from her Yenaki, WHILE IT’S RUNNING! I scowl, and think: Why can’t I be like that?

Soon, my sisters are doing all sorts of tricks, while I can barely even sit on my Yenaki normally without feeling like falling off! Apparently, Rogina notices me, and motions me over. 

“Breeze, please bring me to Rogina.” I murmured. She walks over to Rogina obediently. I carefully slide off Breeze and I ask Rogina,

“Sooo, why’d ya call me?”

“You looked unhappy. What’s wrong?”

“Oh. Well, my sisters are doing all sorts of tricks while I can only sit on my Yenaki.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll get the hang of it soon.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” 

“Trust me. I know you can. Actually, I have something to tell you.”

“Really? What is it?”

She leans in and whispers into my ear,

“I can teach you how to fly on your Yenaki. I think you’ll be a natural at it, since you are the element of air.”

My eyes lit up. Flying? On a Yenaki? AWESOME! I could just imagine the looks on my sister’s faces when they see me soaring through the air on my Yenaki. I grin at the thought.

“Yes, I’d LOVE to!” I whisper back. Rogina beams.

“Perfect. Let’s get to the basics.” she replies. 

She shows me how to adjust my body weight when the Yenaki takes off, so I don’t end up sliding off. My sisters don’t even notice yet, because they are busy showing off their tricks to each other.

“You’re doing great!” Rogina compliments once she sees me flying a few feet in the air. I’m still a little wobbly, but after repeating the move many times, I feel stable enough to fly about a meter above Rogina’s head.

“This. Is. AWESOME!” I yell excitedly, zooming through the air. My sisters look up, hearing me. I smirk as their jaws drop.

“OH MY GOOOOOSH! Aura, are you FLYING?!” Sienna yelps. I want to boast and say, ‘HA! Yes, I am! Didn’t expect it huh?’ but instead, I said,

“Yep! The view’s great up here!” and stroked Breeze’s white, spotted fur. “You guys should really try it!” I add.

“How did you do that?!” Seraphine asks, astonished at how high I am. Before I even have the time to reply, a huge creature bursts out from underground. I see Rogina’s eyes widen, and her face turn pale. Oh-no, that could only mean something bad is happening. I quickly swoop down, trying to help my sisters and Rogina fight this monster. But before Breeze and I are able to land, a big, scaly hand with enormous claws starts swiping at us. Breeze panicked, and started frantically flying around. I lost my balance, and the next thing I knew, I was falling down to the ground.

“HEEEEEEEELP!” I scream.

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