Upon Vestia: Chapter Sixteen

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"All those aliens, always hyping up how great they are, and it always turns out to be a lie," James said sagely. "I'm not like that though, I mean I've been known to punch minotaurs. I'd be a proper villain, I wouldn't lose."
He watched as the guy went back into the train, "Ooooh nooooo. They so should not have done that. It is ON!"

Esk looked around again. "Why did you decide to become a medic?" He asked. He was kinda curious okay?

Dawn blinked then turned, changing the program to a random field with forests, though she kept their chairs. "My Aunt was sick. I wanted to help her. After she was killed I just wanted to learn so that others wouldn't live with that though I didn't really pursue that path until I came to the Devil and sort of got placed in this position. I had learned the basics and some more about what made my aunt sick, but not nearly what I know now." She said, looking at the field instead of him then she smiled wryly "Besides that, working on engines and shuttles makes for injuries and learning the basics like first aide and stitching was a must."

Esk nodded. "I had to learn first aid. The medics were all under strict orders not to touch me, no matter how badly hurt I was." He gazed out over the fields. "It's surprisingly difficult to stitch your own injuries, but someone had to right?" He shrugged, he'd had to learn to deal with his own injuries far earlier than that, but he didn't want to talk about that. "Your aunt, the one who was killed by the android right?" He remembered that. "What was she sick with?"

"It was called Sage Blight" Dawn replied then shrugged "It only affects Pandorans, stealing their ability to connect with their element. There are varying levels of it, but it always strikes after the element has manifested and the one afflicted has had some time learning to use their element. It can be just a 'muffling' where the person can still use their element, but have to work harder at it to a full cut off where they can't even feel the connection." She shivered, not liking to speak of it as if that would make it come here and affect her. "It is most often spread through a bug bite when the bug bites one then goes and bites another, but it can also be spread through the blood, like needles and transfusions."

"Is there a cure?" Esk asked, still looking at the fields.

Dawn sighed and shook her head "They have found a way to make the effect lessen, but that isn't a cure and it's only temporary"

"that's gotta be awkward." He glanced at her. "Presumably it's only carried by pandorians and bugs native to your world right? " He noted her expression. "The chance of it being out here is... really low."

Dawn nodded at that "Yeah, the blood drinking bugs of Pandora and the people that are sick with it are the only carriers. When they figured out that it was transmitted by blood, they found a way to test for it, so there wouldn't be any more spread through transfusion."

Esk nodded and fell into awkward silence, he wasn't sure what else to say. Finally he asked. "Your elemental thing, how does it work?"

Dawn frowned at that question and looked to him "What do you mean?"

"When does it start to show up? is it random or do you inherit a parent's element? That kinda thing." He shrugged. "My foster brothers always describe theirs as if it's a separate thing, like this... other being that shares their body. It's weird."

"Oh" Dawn thought about that "We are born with our connection to an element, though we can't control it until around 10 years of age, though there are some that get their control around 5. Before we get that control it is simply having the element bend to us." She frowned, not liking how that sounded. "Like a fire element can not get burned, even as an infant, or a water one can't drown, or earth element has plants and rocks not harm them, or poison them. Air element means we don't fall hard." She smiled at that then shrugged.
"The element is not tied to a family line, so the answer to that one would be it's random, I guess. It is not a separate being to us, but more like...a knowledge that is innate in each of us. Like a person having a knack for engineering or doctoring or coding. You have to have that inborn knack then learn the use of that knack as you get older. Once you have learned to control the element, you can make it and make it do as you want." She said, making her little tornado in her palm again and looking at it then to the field, sending the tornado out to grow and take up grass blades so it could be seen easier before calming the winds and having the air carry the grass in patterns through the air.

Esk nodded, watching her show off her power with a faint smirk. "So I take it nobody accidentally burned down barns or caused sudden freezing temperature drops when pissed off then? You guys seem big on this control thing. " He looked back to her.

Dawn chuckled and shook her head "We have to learn control because of accidents like that." She said then glanced to him "If we didn't have control, we couldn't have cities or be able to live in family groups, it would be chaos"

Esk nodded. "Somehow my foster brothers managed not to kill us all. I dunno, maybe we were just super lucky." He managed to spit that last word almost bitterly. He stood up. "Let's go for a walk."

Dawn stood and let her winds drop the grass to walk with him. "We start to learn our control through dance, since it requires you to think about where your body is, what it's doing and to focus on your breathing to stay calm, even when things go wrong."

"dancing?" Esk looked incredulous. "Seriously?"

Dawn laughed at his expression then nodded "Yes, dancing." She said, moving a bit away to do a short routine. "Especially in group settings, but even when you are alone, you have to know where you are in relation to anything around you, keep your balance at all times and keep your breathing regulated so you don't pass out or anything. Dancing is even used to learn to fight better, at least with swords and fists, guns not so much" She shrugged and returned to his side.

Esk tilted his head. "I guess sword fighting is kinda like dancing." he conceded. "I still have my sabre, thanks to you." He shook his head. "I suppose I should thank you for that, rescuing all the weapons and stowing them with the Devil. "

Dawn dipped her head at that and shrugged "At the time it wasn't saving them."

"True, still... weird how things work out." Esk frowned a little. It was pretty wierd if you actually thought about it.

Dawn shrugged a little and looked at him then away "Most would call it Fate"

"Fate's a dick." Esk remarked. "Least, the thing my foster brothers call fate is. Another fake god with shit planning." He shook his head. "I prefer to think the universe is just that random. The idea of a puppet master up there pulling the strings means you have to accept that someone or something intentionally makes horrible things happen, that there's some reason for all the torture and death and misery. it's not a comfortable thought."

Dawn frowned but nodded, yeah, she could see his point on that.

Esk shrugged. "You guys have gods?" he asked.

"Pandorans do have a God, though I have not prayed to him" Dawn answered with a frown "Not since mother died."

"Fair enough. See what I mean? Shit like that happens, it either means there's no god, or your god is a real asshole. Or your god has no actual power, but what's the point in that?"