Chương 53: (Discovery) Practice

An uncomfortable disquiet hangs over the Enclave for the next few days. Maybe it's just me sensing it through the external elements, but the tension inside our mountain hideaway has increased exponentially. It's the perfect time to push my own boundaries and see just what it is I can accomplish. The body is made up of many elements. Water, air… a sense of grounding. And while I can't exactly communicate with skin itself, I can with the elements that reside within it. That's where I start this time.

With Recovery Acclimation constantly active now, even in my sleep, I turn my waking focus to reading other people. Onto knowing what they've done, what they're thinking, and what they're doing. Frankly, it's the least magic should do for me. For the first time, I don't turn to Xan for help, either. Mainly because they're one of the people I want to study—to see if I can get inside their head. Them and Mithris.

Something about my perceptions and the Vessel's sort of warning has given me a minor distrust I need to get rid of before I'll pull Xan back into my confidence. Completely, anyway. I'm not about to chase them and their friendship away. Especially when the Vessel told me that whatever it is Xan's hiding has nothing to do with hurting me. Since that's the case, we can still spend time together, eat together, and generally get on each other's nerves. You know. The fun stuff.

For Mithris, it's because I'm still not entirely sure of my read on him. I've come to call what I do when reading other people—or attempting to anyway—scanning. It fits. It's how I would look over an area before settling down to wait out a target, or else pass through knowing I'm undetected. I scan the area. Thus, now I scan people. It's a lot more difficult than I thought it'd be.

People shift their body language constantly, and I've only just begun to get whispers of what they're thinking by honing in on the subtle sounds air and water make as the body performs its functions. Xan, for instance, has heavier thoughts when they furrow their brows. Even a brief one means something is on their mind. Though they do often try to mask it, I'm starting to realize that what goes on in everyone's heads is louder than I ever realized. Now all I have to do is learn the language.

Minx is recovering slowly. The bruise that encompasses her entire body hasn't faded as much as it should have. Given the number of potions and tinctures we've applied to it, the damn thing should have been gone days ago. I can't figure out why she was injured in that way, nor what it was that did it. Neither can Lennick. Which, in itself, is worrisome. Usually, Lennick is the one I can go to for this stuff. All I can do is build up my strength, my endurance, and my scanning technique.

I'll be able to tell what people are thinking, I'm sure of it. One of the secrets to getting stronger that I've realized is multitasking. And not just doing two things at a time—no, true multi. If I keep a water strain flowing, use air to rotate a fan, all the while making potions, tinctures, and serums that are boosted with my Germination Control while my Recovery Acclimation is going in the background, my conduit capacity seems to practically multiply.

By spending my time in the alchemy lab during Xan's fighting training, it allows me to hone my skills without them butting in, or knowing just how much stronger and precise I'm becoming. I sense the now Third-Blade Novices, Han and Jan, approaching and scan their auras for their mood even before they arrive in the lab to report for their scrying shift. They're both as rambunctious as usual, just as mischievous as an older teen should be. If they weren't in this particular order.

I might have to remind them again that Nightshade doesn't fool around. Not too much, anyway. I do recall several amusing pranks during my tenure as a trainee here. But nothing on par with these two jokesters.

"Remember. Take your shifts seriously and report responsibly," I say as they enter the room. Both them startle immediately, surprise on their faces until they register that it's me.

"Sure thing, Taria!" Han calls out, grinning.

"It better be," I snap back without a grin of my own. If we're not harsh in their training, Nightshade life will surprise them far too much. Or get them killed prematurely. Lennick has been in Aarron's office all day today, and though I tried, I had no luck listening in. Again. I can follow my line, I guess that's what I'll call it. The path of connections that I place against the stone for it to feed me back relevant information I might need to hear. They're placed all throughout the keep.

The elements know to alert me to anything surrounding the sect, or Minx's incident. And yet it's almost like someone has taken a pair of shears and cut it off right as it gets to Aarron's door. Every. Single. Time. I can't get through that barrier no matter what I try. Earth-wise with stone. Water-wise with the moisture in the air. And, well, air-wise with sound. Which almost makes me think he was lying through his teeth when he said he would activate wards around the Enclave.

Because air usage is certainly not setting off any alarms. Nothing here has felt different, or like my powers wouldn't work. I've been using air nonstop within these walls. He intimated that any element outside of what he set the barrier for would trigger a warning. He's not said a word to me in days. Stolen story; please report. Although there's nothing I can do about listening in at the door, I do know when the door opens. And not only that.

In the last few days, I've tinkered with how to set my own warning system up. It took some trial and error, but now I have alarms that go off in my head when someone arrives at the Enclave, leaves, enters the stables, atrium, or herb garden. Since I'm often here in the lab myself, I didn't set a permanent spot for that, but I can always use a temporary one when I'm out of it. There are so many things magic can do—it's simply fascinating. And there one goes.

Aarron's door opens, and Lennick steps through, only to be called back.

"You can't possibly think that was a good idea." Aarron's anger has leaked into his words.

"Good idea? No. Only idea we had at the time? Yes." Lennick's volume is low, and he's speaking through clenched teeth, like he's having to contain anger. So I'm not the only one who feels that way around Aarron. Aarron's counter holds a nasty tone.

"You should be focused on your actual job." Lennick actually laughs.

"Seriously? You're telling me that? Have you looked in a mirror lately? At least I still put our Enclave first. Our members' needs first. You can keep doing what you think you're doing and claiming that you're correct to be doing it. But you know, Aarron… you've been Prefect a long time. There's a lot of people who think you've overstayed your welcome, and you know it." My mentor doesn't wait for an answer, which is good, because I realize my mouth is hanging wide open after having heard that last bit.

I've never heard those two exchange words like that before. Not with such heat—with such vehemence. And Lennick was sort of right too. Maybe Aarron has been here too long. Grown too stagnated. Either way, I finish up the bottle I'm about to stopper, still keeping all my skills running at the same time, while I wait for Lennick to return. Finally, after stoppering that potion, I sit back and look at my handiwork. I've been pulling overtime the last few days for multiple reasons, this being one of them.

We needed a hefty replenishment of our stock. Now I have potions galore. Health, healing, speed, strength, cleansing and some more. Then there's also the serums like Dream, Hidium, and more. All of them are labeled clearly, indicating their potency level. I'll have to get to the poisons tomorrow, maybe. There are over a hundred items sitting in front of me. I'm feeling a little spent all of a sudden. At least until Lennick walks in. Except he doesn't look happy at all. That's a rare occurrence.

As a general rule, my mentor is quite easygoing. Often in the best of moods. But today is not one of those normal days. Not that I blame him after whatever triggered his admonishment of Aarron. He stops when he enters the lab and blinks at me, as if he's surprised to see me. From his aura, however, it doesn't seem to be directly at me, but instead at the spread of medicinals in front of me.

"I didn't mean you had to replenish them all by yourself." There's that wry chuckle I've come to expect from him. He runs his hand through his hair and smiles tiredly. He's worried about so many things. That's what I get from him. An overwhelming sense of fatigue and concern.

"Well, I need something to do. After all, I'm not on any missions this week. And you still haven't given me my classes back. So far." I watch him closely as I speak. Listening for any signs, any clues of why what just happened did. He's focused on the vials in front of me, a frown tugging at his lips. His mood changes slightly. It's like he's somewhere else all of a sudden—far away, even more vague in expression than when he's scrying. Whispers flow through my head, thoughts just out of my grasp that aren't my own.

Stubborn. Hiding something. Annoyed. That's what I get from him now, and yet I realize there's distinct intonation around the "hiding something" message. That means it's not Lennick who's hiding the thing. It means Aarron is hiding something, even from Lennick. Now, I might have known for a long time that there's definitely something strange about Aarron.

It has a lot to do with the information dissemination around the Blood Sect, but even more to do with the fact that he's hiding something pertaining to Nightshade as well.

"Lennick?" I give him a gentle shove, because he's lost in his own mind at this stage. He blinks at me, as if he's surprised to see me again.

"Sorry. Did you say something?" I pretend to be offended, but only for a moment.

"Yep, been talking this whole time, but don't mind me." Lennick chuckles, and then there's hesitation before he speaks. Even a furtive glance around the lab and into the scrying area. He moves over to stand directly next to me and takes a seat.

"I'm just trying to figure out a few things that have been bugging me for a long time now. And when I say long time…since before you ever even thought to tithe here." Well, that's piqued my interest. I raise an eyebrow.

"That's a bit intriguing. Care to share more?" Again, that hesitation. I'm not sure what to make of it.

"I'd love to share, but I'm not certain that's the best way for me to go about this." The sparkle in his eyes is gone leaving him looking absolutely lost. I've never seen Lennick so positively furtive in all the years I've known him. For now, I'll back off. Just a wee bit, and perhaps change the subject.

"Well, I've almost single-handedly replenished our entire stock of potions, tinctures, and serums. What do I get for that?" The look he shoots me is filled with gratitude I didn't expect.

"Yeah, you did that, didn't you?" He laughs, and I can see some of the tension leave his shoulders as he shrugs them. Then he stands and reaches over to pat my shoulder gently. There's this melancholy around him that I'm not used to. He's often this upbeat and fantastic mentor who has always made me strive to be better, and do more. To know more, make more, push myself more. But right now, I don't understand him and it makes me uncomfortable.

"So what do I get?" I dig my heels into this hill so I can avoid trying to figure out what's wrong with my mentor. Always take the easy way out if given a choice. It works for survival, but I'm not so sure it works for expanding my abilities. He sighs theatrically as he walks back to his usual spot on the opposite side of the table, where he pauses, looks over at the spinning fan next to me and the endless waterfall I've created using two bowls and a drinking glass.

"You're maintaining all of that while talking to me?"

"That and more. Actually, I'm being lazy and not currently making potions or tinctures while enhancing them on top of this." He walks over to the fan and watches the rotations. It's sort of like a pinwheel they give out to kids when there's a fair in town. But my version has a multitude of blades.

"Did you make this?"

"Xan made it for me," I answer, without thinking it through.

"Where is Xan?" A shadow passes over Lennick's face as he asks this. Gone before I can decipher it. I really need to get a handle on reading people.

"Sparring practice for some of the trainees," I answer, leveraging all my focus onto Lennick to see if I can somehow figure his mind out now where I couldn't thirty seconds ago. He purses his lips and bends down to watch how the fan is rotated using a sliver of wind that I channel directly at it.

"This is some fine engineering. I didn't realize Xan's mind worked that way." About to say something complete smart mouthed, I suddenly realize that he's right. Xan always mucks around and plays the fool. They rarely appear to be taking things seriously. But when they saw me struggling to make what I had in my head, they stepped up. With skills I didn't give a second thought to until now. What Minx said several days ago comes back to me full force, in a whole new light. It's just funny you and Xalin are hiding it.

"Xan seems to be full of surprises" is the answer I give Lennick, but now my mind is whirling. I need to talk to Xan, and I need to do it now.