Chương 173: Chapter 171- Between Babbling and Understanding

Rowan walked back into the control room as the rest of the group were leaving the conference room.

"Alright Shirley, now that Rowan is back, you have got a lot of explaining to do," Regina called out as she closed the door to the conference room attempting to mute Jasper's snoring. She looked toward Rowan who nodded at her.

"For starters, why does Thai need to learn how to control her powers? Is she suddenly going to go nuclear or something? How worried should we be with her?"

"Regina!" Elena snapped, motioning to Rowan, hoping Regina would get the hint and tone it down, for his sake. Regina, already in full interrogation mode, ignored her.

"No, we need answers," Regina pressed, now pacing.

"I'm sorry if Rowan's feelings get hurt by the questions or how I phrase them. He knows I am only asking what everyone else is thinking. If Thai's got powers that need controlling, we need to know exactly what we're dealing with. Rowan and Sheera need to know what they are dealing with." Regina's pacing became more frantic.

"What happens if she gets angry, because she… she doesn't want to eat her broccoli? Or what if she gets scared? Is that going to cause her to burn the house down? What about just a general five year old's temper tantrum because Sheera won't give her a cookie? Are we talking minor incidents or potential mass destruction?"

"It's alright Elena, I need to know, Regina's right," Rowan said, his voice low and controlled.

"We know how difficult Thai can be, she's just a kid after all, and she behaves like any other kid." He sighed. All heads whipped to face him.

"Really?" Roxie asked.

"Okay, so she's not like every other kid, I'll give you that, but we have known this from the start. We have all witnessed for ourselves some of the things that make her…" he paused, thinking of a good way to explain, unique.

"She is special even without these powers Shirley claims she has. From the day she came to us we knew she could communicate in ways your average infant cannot. We would be naive in the assumption that there are not other abilities she just hasn't discovered or tapped into yet."

"Rowan's right," Celestia said.

"From the moment I pulled her from that tree, I knew she was special and not your everyday infant. I don't know why you are suddenly so concerned, Regina. Thai is still Thai and the suggestion that she hasn't come into her full scope of abilities yet shouldn't overshadow that fact. At the end of the day, she is still the sweet little girl we have all grown to know and love. I would hate to see you start treating her differently, simply because in some way you are now afraid of her. That would devastate her.

She adores you, she adores all of us, and the last thing she would ever do is intentionally hurt anybody."

"Celestia, I get what you're saying, but knowing what I know now, it is my job to protect not only her, but us, and the general public from her. I need to know what I am dealing with before I can even formulate a plan," Regina said defiantly.

"Regardless of what you may think, I am doing my best to not only look out for our best interests, but hers as well. How do you think it will go down if one of the dwarves pisses her off and she makes him explode or something? They would lock her up for the rest of her life or just execute her. These are things I need to understand so it doesn't happen. I'm not saying they will happen, but I need to know if there is a possibility it could happen."

"If I may," Shirley interrupted, her tone measured.

"I have listened and evaluated your concerns, Regina. Thai's abilities are not currently a threat to you or anyone else."

"How can you be so sure?" Regina hissed, turning quickly toward the computer.

"Can you say with any degree of certainty that she will not…" The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Yes, Regina," Shirley interrupted.

"I can say with virtually one hundred percent certainty that Thai poses no threat to you, herself, or anyone else. She has a vast range of abilities that she will find invaluable in the years to come, but none of them have the potential to be weaponized."

"None of them?" Regina asked skeptically, her eyebrows raised.

"Then why all the secrecy? Why the need for control?"

"Because knowledge is power and power without understanding can be dangerous," Shirley explained patiently, "even if it's not intentionally weaponized." She paused.

"Think of it like teaching a child to use anything, their body, their mind. Things like walking, talking, using a knife and fork to feed themselves - these abilities are not dangerous, in fact they become necessary, but without proper guidance and support, they could hurt themselves trying to master it or potentially hurt someone else." A particularly loud snore from the conference room made Roxie roll her eyes.

"Someone, please wake him up or move him before he brings the ceiling down," she said.

"There is a reason why a child learns to walk before they can run, why they babble before words and why they learn to use a spoon before mastering a fork or a knife. They need to learn the basics to allow them to control the ability before they can master and move on to the more advanced."

"So she's not dangerous," Regina said, more a statement than a question, "but she could become overwhelmed if we don't help her understand what she's experiencing?"

"Exactly," Shirley continued.

"Thai's abilities are just seedlings, right now. She's in the 'babbling' stage of her abilities. She can sense things, but doesn't fully understand how to interpret or control what she's experiencing. This can be scary for a child as young as she is," Shirley said, a hint of empathy in her voice.

"She has no control of what she sees, when she sees it or why she is even seeing it in the first place. She certainly cannot interpret her visions with any form of accuracy or context. This could cause a sense of overwhelming fear and anxiety clouding her perceptions of life and how things work." Another thunderous snore erupted from the conference room, causing Celestia to jump.

"For the love of Janus and all that is sacred, can someone please do something about Jasper?" she said. Seraphina chuckled, the tension in the room momentarily breaking.

"I'll handle it," she said, standing up. She walked to the conference room and called into the door.

"Jasper, wake up!" Jasper startled awake, looking around confused.

"I did it again, Seph, didn't I? Did I miss something?" he asked.

"Fraid so. It's been a long day and even longer night, you only did what the rest of us wished we had," she laughed.

"You missed a lot, but I can fill you in later. Why don't you just head off to bed. I got things here."

"Was I snoring?" he asked, his face flushing.

"I was, I was snoring," he said, stretching.

"I wouldn't say snoring as much as maybe growling like a sick animal, but we will go with snoring," she laughed. Jasper followed Seraphina out of the conference room. All eyes turned to him.

"Sorry folks, but I am headed to bed, you know how us old folks get," he snickered.

"Goodnight, Mister Forebearer," Shirley chimed in.

"I think maybe you should all perhaps retire for the evening. It is getting rather late and I am under the understanding that some of you will be traveling in the morning."

"Travel?" Rowan asked, his exhaustion momentarily forgotten.

"We're still going to see Sheera, right? Shirley promised Thai we'd go to her tomorrow," he said, glancing at the clock.

"I mean later today."

"The teleport system is fully integrated," Shirley confirmed.

"You and Thai will be able to travel as planned. Roxie and Illianna should also have no problems heading to their destinations as well." Regina opened her mouth to protest, but Elena caught her eye and gave a slight shake of her head.

"Shirley's right," Elena said.

"We're not going to solve everything right now, and Thai needs her father to be able to keep up."

"I am not done asking questions," Regina said firmly, but her tone had lost its earlier edge.

"And we will continue this discussion," Roxie added, putting a hand on Regina's shoulder.

"But Shirley's got a point. We all need rest, we can't be sharp and focused if we are dragging our backsides," she snickered.