It seemed as if there was a light within ...

First, my apologies for getting this done a day late.  Yesterday was crazy, as I tried to get ready for this:

It was a lot of work, but my homemade gingerbread house turned out amazing!  Okay, so I let the kids decorate (it may be a few years until I have a "perfect" gingerbread house), but I'm so pleased that the pieces worked and fit together, the royal icing held, and the candy windows worked even better than I planned.  I did put a normal bulb inside, so next year, I'll put in an LED, and I'll make the chimney an actual chimney, in case it does heat up.  The window panes are warm to the touch after about a half hour of lights.

So, because I was neglectful, our prompt for this week is: It seemed there was a light within ...

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My response:

"Now try this."  Lady Elda reached towards me and dropped something in my hand.  It was heavy, smooth and cold against my skin.  I lifted it and stared.  It was deep green, the darkest emerald I'd ever seen.  I squinted.  There was something in it, in the middle, almost as if there were a light within, like a candle burning on an window sill, barely seen through fog.

"What is it?" I asked.

"A stone of Lynad."  Her voice was rich with reverence, and the other students crowded around behind me, jostling me as they peered over my shoulder to see.

"I've never seen one!"

"I thought they were just a myth."

"Ooooh!"

"Like I said, it'd take a miracle for Diane to be able to touch magic." 

I felt a chill down my back as I recognized Miri's voice.  Arrogant.  Oh, how I hated her.  But for the first time, I felt defiance mingle with my hatred, for I could feel the power of the stone.  It was seeping through my skin, tingling and blending with my own aura, usually so dim.  I didn't hope I could prove her wrong.  I knew with a certainty that I would.

Fingers tight around the Lynad, I stretched my hand over the waves.  They crashed into the rocks I stood on, the salt spray stinging my eyes and wetting my cheeks. "Glacia."

Drops of saltwater froze in midair and dropped, clinking on the frozen sheet below.  All up and down the beach, and as far as I could see out from shore, the water was still.

Gasps sounded behind me.  Even Lady Elda choked.  As the murmurs died down, she held out her hand towards me.  "Well done, Diane.  I'll have that back, now."  Her voice faltered, as if she was afraid I wouldn't comply, and she didn't know if she could make me.

I took a deep breath, stared over the ice, and murmured again.  "Aqua."  The ice splashed back to life, the water unsure how to move together, its momentum gone from being frozen.  The waves were choppy and confused.  I could still feel the power of the Lynad pulsing with my own aura.  Lynad were said to have partners, people for whom they worked better than others.  This stone was my partner.  It felt it.  I felt it.  But today was not the day to claim it.

I held up the stone for everyone to see as I placed it back into Lady Elda's outstretched palm.

I forced myself to turn and walk away, but that was the day I decided I would find a way to reclaim what was rightfully mine.  Lady Elda's Lynad.