- Flames Lick, Water Caresses
As a Keeper of the Temple, I am often asked which Element is my favourite.
The question isn't a new one – it feels as though I have answered it too many times, but the answer is new to the inquirer. They just wish to know.
The children have only just learnt what it is to be a Keeper, what it means to be so close to something as important as the Temple, what it means for someone to spend their life tending to the Elements.
The adults who ask do so because they think they can understand my personality through this secretly telling question. In a manner of speaking, they can, but had they only asked what they wished to know, I would have replied truthfully.
Is my favourite Fire, they ask?
And I ask in turn, what do they know about Fire?
At first, they tell me Fire is hot, red, yellow. They get older, and Fire becomes burning, with a heart of blue and white, it is unpredictable, passionate. It has the power to create and the power to destroy, from a hearth in a home to lightning in a forest.
And what about Water?
Water is smooth on the surface, calm, but underneath it powerful, so powerful it can change the shape of rocks. It flows, always a picture of serenity, steady yet ever changing, all shades of blue. It gives us rivers and oceans, ice and steam.
What can they tell me of the Earth?
It is brown, the children say, it is where the crops grow, so it must be nourishing. It is a metaphor for stability, say the adults, it is sensible, grounded – no pun intended. It is strong, it gives us mountains and valleys, stone and grass and plants.
How would they describe Air?
It keeps us alive. It can cool us when we are hot and warm us when we are cold. It forms nebulous landscapes far above us, a realm very different from our own. It can combine with any of the others, creating substances that can far exceed our expectations.
Which is my favourite?
Which is my favourite?
My favourite is Air.
Flames lick, Water caresses, Earth grounds, but Air? Air breathes.
What....?
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