Read Online Thunder Struck by Viola Grace - Free Book Online

“Right. Okay, you have a lot of potential, but your actions would have doomed the northern continent to a drought.”
    He was sitting on the damp earth. “Would have?”
    “You are here with me, so I shielded this area from outside influence. As we speak, I am pulling water out of a nearby lake to make up for the lost moisture you just squeezed out. You have to work with your environment. You, my friend, need to study meteorology.”
    She reached out and hauled him to his feet. “I can show you some methods to work on minute control. You have the gross control down, but you need to work smaller. I believe you would do well to practice indoors or in the weather dome.”
    “Weather dome?”
    Kedna walked back toward the Citadel. She pointed to the far right. “There. It is attached to the Citadel by a tunnel so you can get there without facing the natural weather.”
    “Isn’t that the point?”
    “Not really. You need to learn from natural weather, not be drenched in it. I have a series of educational vids for you to study to get you started. When you deal with weather, each move, no matter how small, has a global effect. The lightning you forced could have dissipated the power of the cloud formation and stopped the rain from falling on the other side of a mountain range.”
    He frowned and looked worried.
    She laughed, “It is a tremendous burden to bear, but it is also very cool. Let me show you the tempest in a teacup. It is one of the stress tools that I was taught, and it never fails to calm me down. It is also a lovely party trick.”
    Inside, she sat him down in the empty commissary, and she held out her teacup, pulling the steam into a cloud and getting the cloud swirling with lightning sparking.
    He blinked and grinned. His grin showed how young he truly was. His body was a man’s, but he hadn’t grown into it.
    “How do you do that?”
    She talked him through putting a pressure system on top of the tea and using the heat to generate everything that came afterward. It took him nine cups of tea, but he eventually got a dense fog with dripping rain going.
    She applauded and he grinned. She felt like cheering. He didn’t have as much raw power as she did, but properly trained, he would be formidable in a very short period of time.
    When the others slowly drifted in for mealtime, Kedna had to stifle a laugh. The two telekinetics had their hair standing out at odd angles and were carrying dozens of bruises. Both were grinning wide.
    Haedock came to Kedna’s side and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Congratulations. You did what you set out to do.
    What was that?
    In the absence of fear, greatness can flourish. They are beginning to flourish.
    She smiled and got to her feet. “Enjoy the rest of your day. Do what you like and don’t over tire yourselves. You have plenty of time to get control. Today was just about seeing what you were comfortable with.”
    Racadd smiled. “Thank you.”
    The others murmured thanks, but they were all clearly exhausted. Ked knew that look. They were going to pass out the moment they lay flat.
     

Epilogue
     
     
    Three months later, Kedna’s family arrived. They were just in time for the wedding.
    Leyan and Sohosh were so fond of pelting each other with foam that they decided to form a partnership.
    Racadd stood up for Sohosh and Pahla held the bouquet of flowers grown in the green dome by the new horticultural talent.
    All twenty of her Citadel novices were there, her family was there and Haedock was standing next to her as Halwis-Iskan formalized the union and recorded it for all archives.
    Dancing to the music of the Phantom Band as played by the bride and groom, Kedna heard, “Will you marry me?”
    She nearly wilted against him. “Yes. It is about freaking time.”
    He laughed and spun her around.
    Halwis looked at them and the ground shivered under them. “Finally!” She took off skyward and a shimmering wave of light emanated from her. When she landed,