elemental 06 - the best man Read Online Free PDF Page B

a woman to love—that was enough to hold onto for now. 
    Dylan went back into the house, where Aira was sitting in the living room, telling Jessica stories about her grandmother—not the myth-like tales of Lorene’s intense abilities, but more lighthearted bits and pieces of her life as the woman’s granddaughter. Dylan smiled to himself, sitting down quietly. They would need to hit the road soon, but it was easy to understand Aira’s attraction to his mother’s house, her lack of desire to leave it—in spite of knowing that Jessica was trying to manipulate her, to convince her to marry Aiden. Aira was used to the vagaries of water elementals; and Jessica’s strengths in that alignment were a reminder of her grandmother—though of course, Dylan’s mother had not even half the potency that Lorene had had. It was soothing, comforting to be in her presence; it felt like a calm in the midst of a storm.
    Dylan also knew from his mother that there were stirrings of rebellion against Aira’s rule; not from members of her own element, but from the still-dissatisfied earth elementals who were holding a grudge against her. While she was a guest in another elemental’s home—particularly a water elemental—they wouldn’t move against her, but once they were on the road again, and working, their plans and schemes would resume. They were not fond of the way that Aira had taken charge of her position, the way she had decided to rule as she saw fit, young as she was. There had been respect for Lorene, and a certain amount of restraint—and at one point, the most powerful earth-aligned families had hoped to ally with Aira. But their hopes had been dashed, and Aira’s attitude towards unstable elementals was much more lenient than the earth faction wanted. Since Aira had been considered unstable—volatile, too powerful for her own good, potentially a danger to the community as a whole—Dylan thought their surprise at her leniency was ridiculous. Of course Aira would empathize. Of course she would want to give the unstable air, water, and fire elementals the opportunity to correct themselves, to stabilize safely.
    But for a group that was used to being the backbone of the elemental community, it was difficult to tolerate a volatile personality like Aira having such influence. She couldn’t be the sole determiner for water and fire elementals, but she was able to intervene among the air elementals and keep them safe where she saw appropriate, as well as voting. The balance—with a monarch for fire, one for air, and one for earth—was definitely skewed more towards energies that the earth elementals considered dangerous. Dylan hoped that there would be a worthwhile candidate for the water monarchy sooner rather than later; with a full balance of forces amongst the elemental rulers, there would be less of a struggle for power. But he knew all too well that thus far there were no obvious potential rulers; certainly he was not on the short list for that responsibility. Dylan knew that he had a stronger ability than his mother—potentially stronger than his grandmother—but he was no Lorene, an immensely powerful elemental with a nearly-destructive force behind her. 
    “We need to hit the road,” Aiden said, looking around with regret. Dylan knew that Aiden was well aware of the difficulties they would face—their mother would have warned him as well, knowing that Aiden’s alignment with fire would make him doubly protective of Aira. Dylan hoped against hope that he wouldn’t make his protective feelings too obvious—Aira would not respond well to the imposition of too heavy a guard. 
    “I hate to see you all go,” Jessica said, smiling sadly. “But you’re doing good work and I can’t keep you to myself forever.” Dylan stood in the same moment that his mother did, and watched her hug Aiden quickly; he could feel the pulse of her energy flowing into him. “Don’t lose your patience, son. Everything will