Stirring a tempest is the easy part, controlling it is the issue and depending on a jerk of a healer is annoying.

Kedna has been consigned to fostering on the empty world of Iskan when her power and her health become dangerous. Being mentored by a planetary Avatar is difficult, but moving the weather for an entire world is second nature.

When she is older and her skills are needed off world, she is paired with her first member of the Sector Guard. He is a pain in the butt and harbours resentments toward her for hogging his ancestral planet. She simply concentrates on the job and earns his respect in the bargain.

Fast forward to her twenty-third birthday and they cross paths again. This time, she knows his measure and he knows hers. Respect turns to fascination and progresses into a flirtation that crosses the stars.

Excerpt:

“Do it, Ked.”

Kedna looked at her younger sister and then out at the empty moonscape. “I am not supposed to without Mom or Dad watching.”

Her parents were working in the garden with their older sister and brother. Ked was watching Lira and trying to keep her out of trouble. Lira seemed fixated on getting Ked into trouble.

“Do it or I will go and play with the airlock again.” Lira pouted and wiggled her fingers.

“Fine but not here.” Kedna got to her feet and hauled her sister a few rooms away from their family where she could see the ice caps.

“Sit.”

Lira thudded to the ground and watched with delight.

Ked focused on the mountains and thought about the ice turning into mist. It happened in a flash and the cloud that she created drifted toward the research dome.

Lira pressed herself against the clear pane of the dome. “Make it a star.”

With effort, Ked shaped the cloud into a star; sweat was running down her temples and her back.

“Fish. Make it look like a fish.”

Ked swayed as she changed the shape again. Her monitor bracelet began to flash.

Lira clapped. “Wonderful. Make it a star again.”

Bright dots filled Ked’s vision. She moved the mist into shape and fell to her knees. Her bio-monitor was putting out a high-pitched shriek, and she could hear Lira screaming for Dad.

She felt her body shaking and her heels thudding on the floor.

Her father came running and lifted her, his healing working its way through her body.

“Ked. We told you to stop using your talent here.”

Lira shifted from side to side next to Ked.

Their father looked at her and sighed. “You threatened her again?”

Lira scowled and nodded. “Just a little.”

Kedna looked up at her father as he finished stabilising her. He was frowning earnestly.

“Kedna, working with your elements on a world with no true atmosphere is too much for you. Where did you get the water?”

She pointed to the mountainside. “I just took a little ice. I managed three shapes.”

“Well done, but we are here for three more days. Don’t do it again. Lira, if you ask her, I will heat your butt until you can’t sit for a week. Are we understood?”

Lira pouted but nodded. “Yes, Dad.”

Kedna got to her feet with her father’s help. She scowled. “I think Lira’s talent is convincing me to do things.”

Her father looked at her with an amused smile. “Then, your challenge for today is to not let it happen again. We are at a delicate point with seed collection. I need to know that you are under control.”

“Yes, Dad. I won’t do it again.”

He sighed and ruffled her hair. “Of course you will. Go take readings from the air scrubbers. Show Lira how to do it.”

Kedna looked at her little sister and nodded. “Yes, Dad.”

He headed off to the greenhouse, and she looked at Lira. “Come with me.”

“I want you to do it again.” Lira crossed her arms.

Kedna acknowledged that she was feeling a definite push. She sighed, grabbed Lira’s hand and hauled her off to check the air scrubbers. Now that she knew she was being pushed, she could deal with it. She simply removed some of the oxygen from Lira’s lungs and she took a little nap. It wasn’t an elegant solution, but it was as good as she could manage.

She would accept the punishment for using a talent on a member of a family later.