Water at first formed puddles, before being able to soak into the arid ground. The river's boundaries seemed to rapidly rise, flowing over its banks.
Rayne slept on obliviously, tossing and turning. That she was the cause of the strange weather, Arlen was certain. He could vaguely recall his mother talking about such things as this weather, that her own mother had told her about. Water falling form teh sky. It had, one time, happened on a almost regular basis.
The wind increased in intensity again, turning the water into stinging darts. In the distance a tree could be heard falling, and the river was now madly flowing over its banks.
The rapidly increasing intensity of the wind finally made him act. Securing his horse to a tree, he darted out into the clearing. The barrier around Rayne kept him from reaching her, and within this barrier, no water gathered. She slept safely from the torrent outside.
Rayne! He shouted silently, sending his thoughts at her. With his own special talents he battered at her barrier, trying to break it down. Rayne! You must wake up! You must control this thing you make!
Rayne's eyes opened briefly and she looked at him, only brief recognition registering in here eyes. Then her eyes rolled back up in her head, and closed again.
Rayne! Wake! Now! You must!
The wind again increased in fury, and the river writhed, ripples breaking its surface. Another tree could be heard falling.
Rayne! This is too much at once! He discovered a weakness in her barrier, and jumped through it, solidifying his own sense and forcing the crack open. With a quick thought, he slapped her with his senses.
She jumped up, looking disoriented.
"Control this!" Arlen shouted, but the wind tore his voice away. You must control this Rayne! It is too much!
She still looked confused as she raised her face to the sky, and the water pouring down from it.
Suddenly what she was seeing, and feeling, came to her, and she sank to the ground in astonishment. For years she had been trying to find just how to do this, to no avail, and now she'd done it.
Rayne, come on, get it together! You must control this thing that you've made!
She rose back to her feet, glancing briefly at Arlen. She felt no surprise at seeing him, and the instant she had seen him, she'd known who had been following her, and had the feeling that was as it was supposed to be.
Closing her eyes so she could pay better attention to what was going on, she reached out with her senses, tracing back rapidly what had happened, and how she had come to do this. She grabbed a hold of those forces, and forced them to respond to her. With an effort that sapped most of her energy, she forced the storm under her control.
She fell to the ground as her eyes opened. Her effort seemed to have worked. The wind was dying down, and the force of the falling water decreased. As she watched, it slowed even more, then stopped entirely.
"Well, I suppose that's not bad for your first time," Arlen chuckled.
Rayne looked at him from where she lay on the ground. She felt a sense of hopelessness when she thought about what she had to do. Her accidental creation of the storm had made her realize what forces were involved in it. It would take her years to even come close to any type of control over it.
"I tell you what," She said. "You can take over that for me. I quit."
Arlen settled to the ground next to her, not caring about the moisture that soaked into his pants.
"I don't think that would work. I have a feeling I have but a minor part in all this. Not that I was told much about what is to come. There's no..." His voice fell off as a presence came to be felt in the clearing.
Rayne found the energy to sit up, and she turned to face the figure approaching them. The god who had come to Rayne many years before stepped into the clearing, a slight smile evident on his face.
Arlen rose to his feet, bowing quickly to hide his nervousness.
"You know you don't have to do that."
Arlen shrugged. Maybe they didn't have to, but he still wasn't sure what was expected of you when a god stood before you.
"It's a start Rayne," The god said, looking down at her. "Now that you've figured this much out, however accidental that discovery might have been, you will find that it is easier each time." He smiled. "And additional times won't tax you as this one has."
"I hope so Milord," Rayne rose shakily to her feet. Arlen moved quickly to her side, helpin gher to stay on her feet. "If this isn't too forward a question, is there a name we might call you by?"
The god smiled, shaking his head. "No, that is not too forward a question for you. Now that you have learned a little about what it is you are here to do, I will be able to help you more. Truth be told, I would prefer to be called by the name I was given a long time ago. You may call me Tor. My full name is quite long, and hard to pronounce. I really don't care much for it."
"What is my part in all this?" Arlen asked. "I have this power in me, as you pointed out at our last meeting, but nothing on the scale of what she has."
"Yours is a strange part, I suppose you could say," Tor replied. "Your part is to assist those others. It's not a small job by any means. There are many others traveling around right now, also mastering these powers that have come to reside in them. The part that you have will supplement theirs. Without you, they won't be able to do all that is needed to be done." He closed his eyes briefly. "Before too much longer you will run into them. These powers that have come to rest in you are attracted to each other, and will strive to pull you all together. You will all need to work closely together." He turned, starting to walk away. "You will all find your way to me in time too. Already I am preparing homes for you, so that you might be comfortable when you come to me." Without another word, he vanished.
"Is it just me Rayne," Arlen said, looking at where Tor had vanished from. "Or does he always leave with more questions unanswered then answered?"
Rayne chuckled in agreement, and settled back to the ground. She was able to easily ignore the wet ground, and was soon sleeping again.
The next few times that Rayne got the waters to fall again were almost as accidental at the first time. Arlen had jokingly started calling it "rayne". He took a childlike glee in running around in the falling water and shouting, "Hey Rayne, lookg, it's rayning!"
Some villages they passed through had some very old villagers who remembered when it had used to happen before, and informed them that they had been called storms when it fell so heavy, with the lightning and thunder. Arlen would proudly inform people that they were "rayne storms" and the name stuck. People would comment after several years that it looked like rayne was coming.
Rayne had tried to keep people from using that word for it, but they persisted, much to Arlen's delight. She stopped grumbling once the spelling of it changed, which didn't take too long. She figured that if those people educated enough to read and write stopped spelling it "rayne" and instead spelled it "rain", then taht could mean that the entire name would change eventually. She didn't much care for having something named after herse
My Pictures
In Memory of my Grandmother
