Hiro thought about what Lord Drae spoke about, how water was the opposite of not only his element, but his personality. His whole family's personality, in fact. Heated and passionate. Impatient. Destructive in a flash. He asked him what he had to control within himself to control fire. He considered about it.

"I've been controlling fire since I was a child. It's deeply ingrained within me. My father would say he would use his emotions to control his fire, 'righteous indignation' would cause flame to erupt. For me, though, it's less of using the emotion, and it's more of thinking of what I want and what it will do, and willing it to do what I want it to do. It's a force of will. I can increase my strength or agility by channeling the mana through my body, to strengthen or enhance the muscles I need to use. So I guess I need some way to attune to the element enough to make it answer my call. A state of mind? Some kind of trigger for it? I can channel fire through a sword if I channel the fire mana through the blade, then cast through it as a focus, extending it as if it was a part of me. If I can figure out how to control each element, maybe I can find a way to compartmentalize my mind, to control two at once and combine them. But that's me getting ahead of myself. One at a time, first!" Hiro said, thinking aloud.

Hiro reached toward the water with his hand, dipping his fingers into it. It was cold and wet. He tried channeling his mana into water, trying to exert some kind of control over it. Trying to get it to listen to him. The water wouldn't listen to him. If anything, it was pushing back against him.  Was it resenting him?  "It's pushing back."

"Interesting," Drae mused as he listened to Hiro explain how he went about controlling fire. "Yes, let's focus on one thing at a time. You are sure as hell not ready to try and manipulate more than one at a time."  He couldn't help but smirk as Hiro tried to exert his will upon the water. 

"Why do you think that is, Hiro?" Drae asked. He knelt beside Hiro. "When one tries to exert force on water, what does it do? It pushes back, or moves out of the way. It flows around obstacles, slowly eroding sharp edges to make them smooth," Drae explains. "You cannot force water. You have to flow with it. You can direct it, but not force it. Water is about movement…" 

Again Drae began moving his hands back and forth in a smooth push and pull motion. Waves started with him, lapping over their feet with the pull motion, and running away with the push. 

"Fire is the exertion of your will, the power of your breath. Water requires to you be fluid, requires you to be able to adapt and change." 

Drae stood up and walked a ways out into the water, before he used his hands and his body to coax the water into movement. His motions were controlled and smooth, and the water reacted in kind. 

Hiro listened to what Lord Drae said about water, he watched as he moved and flowed with the water, the water moved with him.  He pondered on this.

"I see, I have to adapt and flow, like the water."  Hiro closed his eyes and listened to the water in the room move and flow.  He listened to the waves, the ripples in the water, the movement of the water mana around his feet, and around the room.  He calmed his mind, his emotions, his heart.  He remained still, merely breathing in and out.

Clear of frustrations.

Clear of worries.

Clear of distress.

Water started to gather around him as he meditated, a spout of water grew out of the body of water, reaching toward the height of his hands.

"It's working . . . it's working . . ." he reached out towards the water, and practiced with it, moving it around, back and forth, up and down, and eventually, he was able to form a sphere of water in his hand.  He spun it around on his finger tip before flinging it into the distance, watching it splash into the pool of water.  "Awesome, so I can actually begin to control this now.  It's like my mind is clearer like this.  Gonna take some time to fully get used to using it, but I think I'm getting handle on it."  He continued to practice with it, making bigger spheres of water, flowing water between his hands, and eventually he was able to make water surround his hand like a tendril, able to basically make a whip with the water.  "It's like a whole new world has been opened to me.  Before I'd been confined to mostly fire, but each element has it's own intricacies.  Amazing!"

Drae watched Hiro work with the water, scrutinizing his movements and his control over the element. The Keeper's face was stoic and unemotional for a moment, arms folding over his chest. 

"Now, Hiro, you have the basic understanding of water. My question for you is this: when it comes to fire, what is the biggest risk if you lose control or can't control your flames?" he asked stepping back a little from the edge of the water pool, leaving the knight in the water alone. His boots clicked softly on the stone floor as he waited for the knight's response, his silver eyes glowing as they never left his current student. 

"And subsequently, is there a risk in not gaining the respect of the element that your entire family is polar opposite?"

HIro continued to explore the possibilities of water, he pointed his palm in a direction away from anyone or anything else that could get in the way, aimed slightly downward into the water, and launched a barrage of watery projectiles, watching them fly through the air and splash into the pool.  When that was done, Lord Drae asked him about fire, and if he lost control of that element.  He gave it a moment of thought.

"If you lose control of fire, it spreads.  If you're not careful in a forest, you start a forest fire.  You can cause collateral damage.  You could potentially set yourself on fire.  I tend to have a resistance to fire.  My father, and myself, we trained together meditating in lava in a volcano.  You had to keep hydrated too, even while doing that.  I imagine if you spend too long, you could lose yourself, or just die, burning to a crisp if you're not strong enough."  Hiro watched Lord Drae's movements, he wondered where he was going in this line of questioning.  It was hard to figure the God out.  He seemed so mysterious, and hard to tell what he was thinking.

"Well, my whole family has been fire aspected, is there a risk in not gaining the respect of water, you're saying?  If Fire doesn't respond to me it can backfire, figuratively and literally.  Water, on the other hand, it can probably refuse to obey my call, I could drown in water, or freeze in ice.  I don't have the resistance to other elements as I do with Fire.  But water isn't as . . . innately dangerous initially as fire.  Fire burns on touch, water can soothe a burn, wash dirt off skin and other things.  It's required for life, though can also take away, if you drown or breathe in water.  Water can be corrupted, it can be poisoned.  It can be frozen.  Hmm, there's probably a way to dehydrate a target through magic, but that's probably off topic.  It's probably something I wouldn't want to mess with anyway, lest I dehydrate myself," he shelved that thought for later.  "I think I should be able to handle using either element, fire or water, and maybe combine the two with practice.  I imagine it'd make a steam explosion."

Drae smirked as he stepped back again, and the water level began to rise on Hiro. 

"In small gentle quantities, you are correct, water does not seem innately dangerous. But that is because water is patient. Over time it can erode even the tallest of mountains, create valleys. While rain is gentle and life-giving to the earth around it, a lot of rain can kill you. Floods have wiped out towns and caused significant damage to farms and crops in a matter of minutes. In its solid form as ice, it can freeze you, cause frostbite, form dangerous deposits that can lead to destructive avalanches. Ice and snow can hide other dangers as it blankets the ground. The ocean can be calm one minute, and in a flash can rise up and sink even the greatest of warships, and crush them against the bluffs. And as a vapor, water is just as dangerous. It can scald and burn, boil someone alive, in a similar fashion to fire. Sure you can control the direction fire may go, but steam is the combination of three elements, and it will spread and envelope you and can just as easily do as much harm to you." 

By now the water had risen to Hiro's waist in the shallowest part, and if he looked carefully, he would see the slight shimmer of a barrier meant to keep him and the water in. 

"The water rises higher around you now, Hiro," Drae said as a grate similar to prison bars lowered from the ceiling and settled about halfway between the floor and the ceiling. "It will rise higher than those bars. But you will not. You have only a few moments to figure out how to command the water into a formation that will not drown you."

"Uh oh."

It began.

HIro was starting to run out of dry space, as the room he was in started to flood with water, it was about waist high.  A grate dropped from the ceiling as the room continued to fill with water.  It was getting a little hard to concentrate on what Lord Drae was saying, when the water was filling the room.  What he did hear was that the room would floor, he had a short time to figure out how to command the water in a way not to drown.

Hiro started to focus the water in a way to try and force it away from him.  Maybe like a box.  No, something else?  The water was getting higher and higher.  He was treading water, which got increasingly difficult and more challenging, as he was running out of room to do so.  The young Phoenix Knight decided to dive under the water, taking a deep breath before doing so.  He closed his eyes and started channeling magic through the water around him.  He had the idea.  He had to create a bubble.  He was running out of air quickly, but he was starting to will the water away from him.

He opened his eyes, finding himself inside a bubble of air at the bottom of the cage.  Water dripped from his hair as the took a gasp of air.  He wasn't drowning now.

"Is this good enough, Lord Drae?"  Hiro panted, wiping water off his brow, keeping his focus to maintain the bubble.

The smirk on Drae's face did not change as he watched Hiro try to maintain composure as the water level rose higher and higher. There were a couple things the young man could attempt to do in this situation, and the Keeper was quite interested in seeing how the young Phoenix would fare. He paced back and forth along the barrier, carefully watching Hiro as he tried to just push the water away at first, and then as he began to tread water decided to try something different. The Keeper smirked and watched as the young man dove beneath the water and concentrated. It started small, but soon he was able to envelope himself in a pocket of air. Drae nodded as Hiro asked if his solution had been a good one. 

"That was good thinking. There were several solutions, this was one of them," Drae smiled. He snapped his fingers and the water rapidly drained away, leaving Hiro completely dry. The barrier vanished and the Keeper walked over to Hiro and clapped him on the shoulder. "Well done. I am actually rather impressed you picked it up so quickly. How do you feel?" he asked the young man. 

Hiro wiped his brow in relief as the water drained out of the room.  Surprisingly, he was dry as a bone the moment the water was gone.  He patted his clothing, and it was completely dry.  He looked at Lord Drae and smiled.  "Not gonna lie, was a little worried at first, but figuring out the solution, like, an 'Eureka moment;' it felt good.  Doing pretty good.  Pretty happy with myself.  Making some progress, like I'm getting stronger and learning more.  When I'm in trouble, I try to push away the fear, to focus on finding a way out of the problem and staying calm.  Father always said I had a cooler head than him, and I was a quick learner.  I'm getting better, closer to where I want to be, making me think you're probably going to be moving me toward controlling the air we breathe as soon as we finish with water?  Considering i removed the water from a tank of water, leaving me a space of breathable air."

He also felt very grateful Lord Drae was teaching him, taking time out of his potentially busy day to help him with his request.  He felt the need to thank the God for the assistance.  "I appreciate you doing this for me, Lord Drae.  I figure it was a lot to ask for, but I'm doing my best to meet your expectations."  He bowed in appreciation.

"I want you to understand the difference between removing and just moving, Hiro. The volume of water did not change when you created that bubble. You essentially forced the water to fill the void where you were not, thus using the water to push the air to you. You did not control the air here. Air is a much different element and requires a very different approach. You used basic skills to move the water according to your need and will," Drae explained. "You have picked up the basics of water pretty quick, but you still have some time to practice and master it before I will even consider moving on to the next element," he said firmly. 

"Remember, the element can have a mind of its own. Just because it listened this time does not mean it will bend so easily to your will next time. Just as fire has repercussions when not respected, all the elements can retaliate," the Keeper said. "There is still much to learn about water. I want you to put as much dedication into water as you have into fire. The time spent practicing and moving with it. Every day. I'll judge your progress and determine when you are ready to move on."