She gathered it to her, breathing it in, watching it swirl slowly around her, absorbing it until she, at least, could literally see the glow of it just under her skin. She filled herself, far beyond the point where she had ever dared to before, until she fairly hummed with it and she was sure she could not take in one bit more.

And that was when she raised her eyes to the sky, and saw them, as she had seen them only a few times before.

The Winds. . . .

Not the traditional “Four Winds” of folklore, but the greater Elementals that moved the winds, and moved with the winds.

“What do you see?” Rosa asked calmly.

“The Elementals of the wind,” she whispered, her eyes still on them. “I have seen them as a child, but far off up in the clouds. These are so close!”

“We’re nearer to them,” Fox pointed out.

Unlike the sylphs, these creatures had no one form. They shifted from a kind of stylized human, to a flowing birdlike shape, to just wavy shapes in the air, to something vaguely serpentine . . . well, they didn’t stay the same from one moment to the next. Yet somehow she was able to tell individuals apart: tell that one might be shyer than the others, one friendlier, one cold, one very emotional. Personalities. She could tell what personalities they had, although she could not have said how. It was more something she knew, on the level of instinct.

“Do they see you now?” Rosa asked.

They were indeed looking at her, not steadily, but regularly glancing down at her as if they were curious about what she intended to do next. Giselle nodded.

“All right then. The Greater Elementals, you don’t call. You invite.” Rosamund’s voice brooked no argument, not that Giselle disagreed with her! She was the Master here, after all.

“Exactly so,” Leading Fox agreed, who was standing behind her. “Reach up to them, make yourself known to them and ask them if they would care to come meet you.”

Silently, she “reached” for them as she did when she was trying to call sylphs, but the “feeling” was different. As if she was speaking in a higher pitched tone, or singing soprano instead of contralto. And she saw the effect immediately: those nearest her suddenly stilled, and she felt their attention riveted on her.

I am a new Air Master, she said in her mind, trying to keep her thoughts humble. Would any of you care to meet with me?