Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (22 page)

There had been so many confessions between her and Cuinn today that she’d barely had a chance to think about the horrible dreams of the night before. She desperately needed a good night’s sleep. Maybe she should have asked Tierra for something dosed with her earth energy to help her sleep.
 

As if she didn't already have enough on her plate, she still felt a lingering sense of worry about using her power. The dreams had unsettled her, and the discussion with Cuinn had only heightened her anxiety. She would keep her power controlled until she’d gone through the binding ritual with Cuinn. At that point, she’d have his protection in the astral world, which was where she felt the real danger was.
 

But all the emotions of the day had left the energy churning inside her, stirred up by the confessions and subsequent feelings. She wanted to use it, to let it loose.
But I have more control than that.
She was impulsive, sure, but not stupid.

So tomorrow she’d go over to the house for breakfast, confirm that she was going to take part in the binding ritual, and spend the day in meditation. She wasn’t sure if there was any other preparation needed; she’d have to check with Cuinn. He’d continued to be close-mouthed about the ceremony itself, but she thought that was probably due to the fact he’d thought it would be way off in the future rather than because he was keeping more secrets from her. They were beyond that now. Weren’t they?

Her Manipura ritual to bind herself to Fai had been a long time ago now but she remembered it clearly. Knowing Fai so well had helped. The element of fire was about change and transformation. Fai had given Blaize instructions to bring something dear to her, something she needed to let go.
 

She had chosen a toy that her mother had given her, which had grown moth-eaten and ragged. At nine years old, old enough to understand that her parents weren’t coming back, the big-eared bunny had been the thing she’d clung to at night in the strange house, trying to fit into a family that wasn’t her own.

But by the time she was ready for the Manipura binding, and truly a part of the very happy family that was Fai, Marius and Nixie, it was time to let go of the toy. And let go she did, because as part of the ceremony Fai had required her to sacrifice it to the flames, in order to help power the energy of the binding. It had been hard. But change, courage, transformation, were all part of what she was embracing.

She wondered what, exactly, she would be embracing with the power of the mind.

Cuinn cleaned his rooms on the physical plane, and then needed to clean the energy of the room. The space was already protected because of his work there, but he still performed a short cleansing ritual to refresh the room itself. He drew a new sacred circle and placed his and Blaize’s mats in the middle. They would draw the circle together later, over the top of the work he’d already put in, strengthening its protection still further.

He also redrew the protection symbols he had at the windows and both the door to his bedroom and the door to the hall. The symbols flared in the air each time before disappearing from normal vision, though if he drew on his Ajna energy he’d be able to see them there.

When finally satisfied with how everything looked, he sat down on his own mat, ready to move to the astral plane and begin again there.

He went directly to his own Haven, the tower. Though it was heavily protected by hundreds of years of his wardings, the last few weeks had made him wary and extremely cautious.

He went down the thick stone stairs of the tower to the heavy door, using energy to redraw the wardings on this as on every other opening of the tower before heading outside.

They would enter Blaize’s Haven from his own. But before that he would construct a connection, a gate between their Havens that would ensure that as part of the binding he could extend some of his own wardings to her. He looked around, considering the landscape.

His tower was surrounded by open land and plains. It was the basic protection mechanism used by his ancestors in Ireland who built their houses and then castles on so that they could see enemies approaching. But it meant he wasn’t sure where to create the connection to Blaize’s Haven. This connection was important because it would be a weakness in his own defences—a place someone who wanted to get into his Haven would choose, rather than other much more heavily guarded areas.

He chose a piece of land near a small stream. Just because water wasn’t part of his own mix of energies, didn’t mean he didn’t find the sound soothing. He sat on a boulder with his back to the water, and he drew power.
 

He wanted to create a doorway between parts of the astral world, but a doorway that wouldn’t be activated until the ceremony with Blaize. He deliberated a minute, then concentrated. Something began to grow a few yards in front of him. Two things. Two shoots came out of the grass about a yard apart. They grew steadily and swiftly until they were about six feet high. Ash trees, supple and strong. The trees bent towards each other at an unnatural angle and grew. Their branches touched with a shudder, and tiny buds exploded into a riot of leaves.

He stood, pleased with his work.
 

He put his hands on the trees, connected with them, and thanked them. They shivered under his touch, responsive. He curled energy around them, the power of earth and of the mind.
 

His many years of experience meant that he was able to use the power of both of his energies on this plane, not something everyone could do. He didn’t need earth energy to do what he had just done on the astral plane. The power of the mind was enough. But enhancing it with the energy of the elements made it somehow stronger, more real.
 

The door was now energetically warded, if not activated. No one could use it at the moment, and even when it was opened, only he and Blaize would be able to activate it. He would make sure of that.

***

Blaize had also spent the day preparing. A long yoga practice in the morning, stretching her body into impossible poses, had expanded her body and mind at the same time. She’d taken it slow, holding the poses for a long time, sinking into each one to connect to the energies it aroused, working her way through the seven Chakra energies, at the end opening herself up to Source.

These seven energies enabled life; and each of the energies brought something different to the world. All energies were present in every living thing, though only energetics were blessed to have an ‘activation’ of two of their Chakras.

Yoga was one way in which energetics—and humans—could get in touch with their energies, balancing all of the energies that were present within them, even those that weren’t ‘active.’ Yoga helped to ensure an energetic was in balance, harmonious.
 

But only six of the energies could be active in an energetic. The seventh, the energy of Sahasara, was the energy of Source. The Crown Chakra. It was the purest of all the energies, and could only be experienced through the Grace of Source, a Grace that few experienced. Source was the energetics’ name for the creator, the divine, the supreme being. The other six energies were distributed among the energetics’ race much as they were through the body.

Each energetic manifested the two energies that would become their ‘active’ energies in childhood, mostly during puberty. For Blaize that had meant some unfortunate fires and a strong ability with puzzles. But since then, it had been Manipura that Blaize had concentrated on. Immersed herself in.
 

She was about to change that.

She’d spent the day preparing herself, body and mind, and she felt as ready as she thought she’d manage. It was time to focus on her Ajna for a while. She wasn’t as comfortable with it as she was with her Manipura. Well, of course. She’d spent years on her Manipura, her dominant Chakra, whereas Ajna was just her auxiliary.
 

She walked in bare feet across the grass between her cottage and the main house. The woods and plains around her seemed hushed, everything waiting for the ritual’s start.

She paused at Cuinn’s door, checking herself one more time. She loved the dress that had been a present from Tierra that morning. The material was soft and gauzy, and Blaize enjoyed the way it moved around her. With her height, Blaize rarely felt delicate, but the dress had done the trick.

She knocked on Cuinn’s door, and took one more deep breath. When he opened the door, they both stopped. She took him in in a rush.
 

He wore loose white trousers that hung from his hips, and a classic fitted white shirt that emphasised his lean, compact frame. The shirt had the three indigo stripes across his right shoulder that indicated he was a Master, and a tiny embroidered symbol of an owl in royal purple thread that indicated he was a Maven. He was freshly shaved and his hair was tied back neatly, and seemed darker than usual against all the white.

She dropped a curtsey to break the tension, her white dress pooling on the ground around her. She stood back up again with a mischievous smile. “I guess we both scrub up well then?”

“I guess so.” He moved out of the way. “Come in.”

His workroom had been transformed. He’d put up fairy lights, and the ritual sacred circle around their mats was beautiful. Something flickered at the corner of her eye. She squinted and caught a hint of purple at the windows. She stepped closer. “Are these warded?”

He smiled. “I strengthened the wardings today. It’s a good sign that you can sense them. It means your Ajna is waking up.”

He shut the door behind her, and she felt a tingle as he pulled a little more energy to protect and ward the door and seal them in. He turned back to her. “Are you ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll guide you through. Let’s draw the circle.”

He went to the small altar, took two candles, and gave one to Blaize. The room grew darker, the fairy lights growing more distinct.

“We’re going to light the candles.” He held up a hand as she took a breath. “Don’t use your Manipura energy. Tonight you need to focus on Ajna alone.”
 

They lit their candles from the candle he already had burning on the altar, and both blessed the ceremony in their own words, taking their time to connect to Source. They then moved to their mats, faced each other, and placed their candles in front and to the side—both the same side, his right and her left.

She was aware of her body, her every movement, her heartbeat. The anticipation was almost unbearable. There were no nerves now. Just excitement.

He took a canvas bag of rock salt that was next to the altar. “I’ve blessed this already. I’ll cast the circle first, then you, then we’ll draw it together, so we’ve cast it three times.”

They cast the circle individually, then he took the bag of salt from her, and cupped her right hand in his. He poured salt into her hand, and steered her hand to drop salt around the circle for the third time. She shivered a little at his touch, feeling his breath on the back of her neck as they moved clockwise in the flickering candlelight.

He paused and she half turned in his arms, looking up at him. His gaze captured hers. His eyes changed from dove grey to almost charcoal, the iris blending with the pupils. She couldn’t look away.

He broke her gaze and gestured down. "The mats."

She pulled away and sank down onto her mat, a puppet with the strings cut. She could still feel his arms around her, missing the feel of his skin against hers. The infuriating man really did have the strangest effect on her. She sat cross-legged, and closed her eyes. The air moved as he sat opposite.

“We have drawn the sacred circle and are protected for the night," he said formally. “Breathe deeply, and focus inside. Consider the infinite power of the mind. Centre yourself.”
 

He fell silent, and they sat, immersing themselves in meditation. Blaize enjoyed meditating, but her mind—like most people’s—had a tendency to wander. She focused as much as possible on the mind, using her breath to draw her back when she got distracted.
 

“Blaize Blackfire, you come to offer yourself as Adherent in the Guild of Ajna," Cuinn said in a lower tone. "Stand now as we offer our binding to the elements.”

Blaize stood. His voice seemed different as it took on the power in the room. She opened her eyes. He almost seemed to shimmer in his white clothes, a commanding presence.
 

“Offer yourself to the North.”

Blaize turned to the North. “I offer myself to the North.”

“May you be blessed by the element of earth. Of strength, stability, and a strong sense of self."

At his instruction, she offered herself to each direction, and the circle itself, as he asked for a blessing from each of the elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

“Thus we petition the elements to support our binding ritual." He drew in a deep breath, and there was another tingle, the air shimmering between them. "Hold out your hands.”