Today Tulip was going to make herself better. She was going to change into a new form. She could feel it. This farm was going to do good for her. Today Mrs. Carly asked her to plow the field. Hunter said she needed to find her place. And she intended to do so.
The field was huge. She couldn't do it as a Grass or any other form she had. She needed to try something else.
"Tulip, focus on moving the ground," a flower said spouting out of the ground.
"Alright. I will move the ground. And become better at this." She focuses on the ground. Thinking it should hover. Closing her eyes she forced the image in her mind.
It will move. It will move. She kept chanting in her mind. The ground shook a little under her feet. She opened her eyes and saw the ground was moving. Not hovering but moving. It was plowing itself. She was thinking about the formation in which it would have to move but hadn't considered it would move into that position.
Tulip looked down upon her clothes. They were brown. Like the dirt and rocks. They were like her Lightening form. Pants and a shirt instead of a dress.
"Earth. My new form is Earth!"
"New form huh?" Hunter barked pawing by. "You mean earth like in soil, yes?"
"Yeah. Soil. And rocks."
"You wear dirty clothes. But you haven't even touched the dirt."
"It supposed to match the element." Tulip was quick to find her instincts with the form. She plowed the entire field in a matter of minutes over hours.
She heard the door of the house screech and quickly changed back into her Grass form.
"Well, I'll be," Kelven said coming out of the house, "You finished the plowing faster than anyone I know."
"It was easy, sort of." Tulip couldn't believe he was so impressed, but did he see her? She should have heard him before the door opened.
"How did you do it?"
"It's was the same way you would do. Isn't it. Grab the plower and plow?"
"Not that my dear. No human alive could go that fast."
"Well, I can. And I'm a scrawny little thing." Tulip was sweating a little. She didn't like the lies. It stung her tongue and tore at her stomach.
"Hmm, I'll be watching you, kid. I don't like slackers nor liars."
"I ain't no liar sir." The lies kept stinging at her tongue and her stomach was in knots.
"I'll still keep my eye on you." Kelven walked back into the house still peering at Tulip before closing the door.
Dinner was silent and Tulip wasn't hungry. She never was hungry, but she ate to be polite. Yet the knots kept her from eating.
"So the field was done pretty fast, huh Kelv?" Carly said breaking the silence.
Oh no, Tulip though, Why did she have to bring up the field?
"Yeah, fast."
Kelven glanced at Tulip. She was still forking at her carrots. She didn't have to look up to know he was staring at her either. His eyes burned into her.
"So how did you do it? I know you didn't do it like I would. With the plower."
"I'm stronger than I look. The plower wasn't that hard to push."
"I'm a grown man and that plower is heavy. There was no way you were able to plow that field and be done within minutes. And I told you to plow it, and within ten minutes you were finished. How is that?"
"Okay, you caught me. I lied. But if I tell you how I really did it you would just wish me to death. Just like the village that did when I first revealed myself."
"We would do no such thing," Carly gasped. She was shocked by what Tulip had said. "Isn't that right Kelven?"
"Depends. Now for the last time. How. Did. You. Do. It?"
"Don't say I didn't warn you. Look at the withering plant." everyone at the table looks at the plant in the corner. Tulip focused on it. She wanted it to bloom. She lifted her hand, closed her eyes, and forced the healthy flower in her mind. A gasp came from Carly forcing her to open her eyes. The flower was bigger than it was, to begin with. It was beautiful. And vibrant.
"You made the flower grow!" Carly gasped, "It was dying, but now it healthy again. How?"
"Well, I was told by Mother Nature that I was the guardian elemental. Her daughter. But when I try to reveal myself, to show I was a good being, Everyone just flipped out. I knew they wanted me dead. They didn't show or say, but they thought it. I felt it."
"Well," Kelven whispered, "That surely explains why you such a good help around here. But that doesn't take away the fact you lied. We could have helped you with your... condition."
"Condition? What condition? I am what I am! I lied to protect myself! I proved myself time and time again, but you people see me as the bad guy! I'm not!" Tulip was turning red. She was getting very angry at Kelven. Why couldn't he understand? Was he that selfish and close-minded?
"Get out."
"What?"
"Get out of my house and don't come back!"
"Fine! It's not like you care! Your animals are more understanding than you could ever be!" Tulip's face was completely red, and she was so frustrated that she could have turned Fire and lashed out at him. She didn't though. She felt Flower's presence in the next room. She didn't want to upset her too.
Tulip turned and stormed out the house. She didn't stop walking either. She couldn't. Tulip's feet just wanted to keep moving on forever. She could too. But instead, she forced herself to turn Air and take off. Leaving a circle of dust behind her.
Tulip had been flying all night. Soon she started to smell salt in the air. It was like a giant bottle of salt was dumped into the atmosphere.
The ocean! It was near! Tulip picked up the pace as dawn pasted, with her giant rose fingers. She could see the water glistening. And the blackness. There was so much black outside of rose ray of dawn.
Tulip flew over the blackness of the ocean. Past the shallows. She turned Water and dove in. The water seemed brighter down there. She swam. She didn't stop. Tulip swam deeper and faster.
Awhoooooo.
Something was calling in the distance. But what was it?
Awhoooooo.
What is it? Could it be a... whale?
"Hello?" Tulip called in the water. She wasn't sure if the creature could hear since they were under water.
Awhoooooo.
What was it saying? Maybe Tulip was too far away to understand. She swam closer.
Awhoooooo.
Hello young traveler.
"Hello! What are you?"
Awhooooooo.
I am a humpback whale of course.
"Which way is east?"
Awhooooooo.
It is this way.
The whale turned toward the east. Tulip swam that direction and swam closer to the surface. She wanted to see land is she go close.
Tulip had been swimming all for some time. She kept to the reefs and all about the place as she had done in the skies. She had no idea how big the ocean was, but she was sure she was still heading east. She resurfaced. There it was land. In all its glory.
She swam to the shore and changed back to Grass. The city was beautiful.
"Bonjour fille," a woman said standing on the shore, "Se baigner je vois." She obviously spoke a different language than the humans back on the other shore.
"Hello. Can you tell me where I am."
"Désolé, je ne comprends pas que vous cher," the woman appeared to have a questioning look to her. Then it dawned upon Tulip. This woman must have been French.
"Où.. suis..-je?" Tulip asked where she was again. Her French was good, but she needed to practice. Must be the advantage of being connected to the earth.
"Vous êtes en France mon cher! Saviez-vous pas que?" The woman seemed to be unsuspecting to Tulip's difference, but she could use that to learn French better.
"Je.. vous.. remercie"
"Vous êtes les bienvenus" The woman was so fluent her French. She can say you're welcome in a matter of seconds. And without a second thought.
"Puis..-je rester.. avec vous?" it would be useful if she could stay with the lady.
"Tu ne peux pas rester avec vos parents?" the lady must be a concerned person to ask about Tulip's parents.
"Mes parents ne sont pas là. Ils sont ailleurs." Tulip thought it would be too sudden to say what her parents were Mother Nature And Father Time. So somewhere else is just as good.
"Savez-vous où ils sont?" The young women wouldn't give in. She just had to know.
"Pas vraiment. Je suis juste ici pour le moment." It was just good enough to say that she was on her own rather than telling the whole truth. It was too much for the lady to handle.
"Bien, mais juste pour ce soir." Tulip had succeeded she got a place to stay. Tomorrow she will head south to find out about her home.
After leaving France and then Europe altogether, Tulip started for Africa. She didn't know why she wanted to go to Africa, but something told her that there was something there for her.