" If you think that's wise. I will try and rouse him." Lia took a deep breath and instead of standing, sat down in the clearing. She had been working on meeting her power calmly, and it helped to meditate a little before hand. She closed her eyes and burrowed deep into her belly looking for him. She found him quickly, laying on the ground, panting and trying to lift his head. 
" I'm sorry, I had to."  He gruffed softly, rolling his eyes and letting a puff of onyx smoke out of one nostril. She gently walked up to him, put her hand to his snout for him to sniff. She tried to think of Thornton's words, and instead of approaching him with fear and trepidation, she went to him thinking of Tal, of the only mother she had ever known. Her heart clenched, and she took a step forward. She looked down at the same beast she had always seen when she used her power, and yet this time she saw an old friend. A constant, that had always been there. She had always thought of him and her as separate, 2 things that needed to dominate each other. Something she needed to conquer, when she should have been working with him, as one. She looked at him for the first time as a friend. " Help me? Show me what you need." As soon as the words left her mouth he pounced on her. Black smoke filled her vision, it wound its way into her mouth and through her nostrils. 
She flared, her body convulsing in the field, singeing the grass around her in an 8 foot arc. Her tattoos turned black, pulsing and writhing around her skin, like angry vipers in a pit, crossing and swirling one another. Her eyes opened and thick black smoked rolled from her nose and mouth. Above her, the beast took form in fire and ether. He reared his head back and roared into the sky, a pillar of white hot heat lit up the landscape. Inside her mind, she gasped and choked on the smoke forcing its way into her skin, engulfing her entire body. Tears filled her eyes as she thought this was truly the end of her. Then, she got angry. How DARE he? This was HER power, HER birthright and she couldn't access it because HE was an asshole? FUCK THIS. She sat up, and batted the smoke away like a snarling child. She breathed smoke every day of her life, why was she letting it rule her? This was HERS. She found the beast, clawing at the walls of her mind, roaring at her. 
  " STOP. You. are. MINE." Lia roared over the distance separating them. At the sound of Lia's voice, the beast turned around, its massive mouth dripping smoke like drool, and cocked its eye at her. 
 " You heard me. You are MINE. You have known me all my life. You have always been there, but yet you hate me, refuse me control of MY power. That changes today. WE ARE ONE. FUCKING ACT LIKE IT." 

    Outside, her body stilled. The tattoos pulsed once before returning to red slowly. Inside, the beast began changing. Black smoke and sparks swirled around the beast body, rendering it invisible for a moment, before Tal appeared. Lia gasped, heart hammering. 
 " I never hated you, child. I just needed you to be strong enough to fight back. We will be facing alot together, YOU needed to be ready for ME."
  " Who are you? really? I know you are not Tal." 
 " I am a memory of Kaal. The element of Fire made manifest. Your source of power. Kaal knew there would one day be one born that was strong enough to wield his true power. An undiluted drop of his blood flew threw the generations, laying dormant, until it found one such a child that matched with his blood. Attached with it, was a message. ' Once you have embraced the beast within, my power will be given to you. You are my weapon to our kind, my offering to the universe. You are the destroyer, the purifier. Love and hate, you are our kind's manifest emotion. Wield it wisely.'" Tal's form flickered in and out, with one last puff of smoke, her form whispered " It was so good to see your face again...Love him just as you hated him."  
    The beast was back, but changed. Instead of the formless hazey beast she had always known, a black panther languidly licked her black coat. Her power, after being embraced, transformed into a combination of the power and of Lia. Instead of her power being this nameless thing, it was finally and truly hers. And she was gorgeous. She walked up to her and let her sniff her hand. Jagged Amber eyes stared deep into hers, and the panther writhed onto her back, exposing her belly to Lia. A genuine smile lit up her face, and she laughed a little as she reached over to pet her stomach. "I think I will call you...Aziza." It had never felt right to name her beast until now. 
  Lia opened her eyes and smiled. Her hands shot out and a swirling wall of fire rose up 80 feet into the sky. Her smile widened as she threw a fire ball into the center of the wall and it came crashing down only to transform into a thousand fireflies made of flames so blue it rivaled the sky for attention. They flew together past the people in the field, leaving a warm balmy breeze pushed by the air she conjured. Her body was alight, her tattoos simmering joyfully, glowing and pulsing with her heart beat. The fireflies soared up into the sky and split into to swarms that charged each other. Upon impact they formed an intricate tree of life in midair,  Raising her hands together in front of her mouth, she blew on her hands. As she conjured Earth, a stream of sand blew from her palms into the fire in the field. Instantly, the sand melted and created a molten glass figure suspended by the air Lia was conjuring. She took the liquid glass and clapped her hands, instantly bringing the temperature of the glass to such a high heat that it was instantly incinerated. 

 Out of breath, chest heaving, and smiling like a mental patient Lia looked to the sky and wept. She fell to her knees to catch her breath. Her eyes looked over the new comer to the field, grazed over the lady, and met Thornton head on with her eyes blazing. 

 " Well that was different." A smile touched her lips.