Hunter's Beginning (Veller) (33 page)

“Well…” The first thing that came to mind was the yarrow that had spoken to her, but then that was the yarrow that was unusual and not her.

“No sir, not really, I mean, nothing really unusual. Unless… are you familiar with yarrows?”

“Yarrows. Dreadful little creatures, a real nuisance, but not my area of study. I do have a colleague that specializes in animals and animal behaviors, why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason. Have you ever heard of a Vesper?”

“Vesper? It’s an old wor
d, used to describe the evening or eastern star. I believe it was of Balaa origin, but I cannot say for sure. I fear that was even before my time.”

So much for Alex’s monster theory.

“Well, that was enlightening conversation.” Morgan replied as he rose from his chair. “The reason why I wanted to see you is that I’ve come up with a theory on the best way to ascertain your exact influence, or what edge you posses. We will place you through a few… shall we say… tests.”

“What kind of tests?”

“Oh, not to worry, simple tests, you won’t have to do very much.” Morgan said with a dismissive wave of the hand. “But the sooner we get these tests out of the way, the sooner we can learn what you edge is, and then we can start to hone it, so… are you ready.”

The last thing Kile was ready for
was anything to do with the mystic arts, she still did not trust them, and the thought of them being used to test her was even more unsettling.

“You did say that this was the best way? Are there other ways?”

“Well yes. There are a few things that we could try first, but it's rather time consuming and tedious. I’m sure this is faster… and it should work.”

“You don’t know?”

“Of course I do… sort of. In all likelihood this should work.”

-
If you survive-

“What?”

“Look Miss Veller, your skills, your… abilities… they don’t fit into the natural order of things, they can’t be classified so easily and therefore we must take… rather extraordinary steps to learn about them before we can develop them.”

“You’ve never tried this on anyone else.”

“The opportunity has never come up. Are you ready?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“Oh, come, come now. As I’ve said, the tests are very easy. It’s just a matter of finding the right conditions that will… activate your skills.”

“But shouldn’t I be able to activate my skills without the test
s?” Kile asked as she struggled to get up out of her chair.

“Since we can’t rely on your actions, we have to rely on your reactions. If we can cause you to use your edge out of reflex, we can better understand what that edge is.
Once we know what it is, then we can explore ways for you to use it more consciously.”

“I think I get it.” She lied as she rolled out of the wing
-backed chair and onto her feet.

“Well, it doesn’t really matter if you do or not. We’ll start with the easiest test.”

“What do I have to…”

-
Watch out-

Kile felt herself being thrown
backwards by some unseen force into one of the shelves. Books, scrolls and papers came crashing down on top of. Her only reaction was a few choice words.

“Such language is not very lady like.” Morgan remarked as he jotted something down in a small book that he was now holding.

“You just threw me across the room.” She yelled as she got to her feet, kicking a few of the volumes aside.

-
I did try to warn you-

“A lot of good that did.”

“I had to gauge your reaction from a surprise attack.” The mystic remarked as he jotted a few more notes in the small book.

“Then why did you try to warn me.”

“Warn you child, if I tried to warn you, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise then would it.”

“
That's what a mean.”

“Can you tell me if you felt anything?” Morgan asked.

Kile slowly looked up at the yellow mystic.

“You threw me… into… a bookshelf.” She said as calmly as she could.

Morgan sighed “I am referring to any other reaction, beyond the physical.”

“Sorry, I was too preoccupied with the physical.”

- In coming, right side –

Kile turned just in time to see one of the small items from the shelf flying toward her. She thought it might have been a chess piece
, possibly a bishop, but she wasn’t going to inspect it as it was heading directly for her head. She dropped to the ground and rolled to one side as she felt it brush past her ear.

-
Nice move, eight-o-clock high-

She didn’t look this
time; she just grabbed one of the volumes that had fallen from the shelf and turn, holding it up in front of her like a shield as the small projectile shattered on impact.

-
Six-o-clock low-

Kile spun with the book waist high as she knocked another chess
piece aside before it hit her.

-
Three-o-clock high-

Kile turned again, holding the book high and was struck hard in the back of the head.

“Ow!” She cried as she dropped the book, “That was nine-o-clock”

-
Sorry-

“What? It’s nowhere near nine
-o-clock.” Morgan replied looking over at the clock that hung crooked on the wall.

“Well it wasn’t three
-o-clock.” Kile said, rubbing the back of her head, she knew she wasn’t going to like these tests.

“What are you talking about child,
surely I didn’t hit you that hard?”

“Hard enough.” She mumbled. “What was the point of
all that, to test my reflexes, to see how fast I can dodge chess pieces?”

“As I have explained, I must gauge your reactions from a series of non lethal attacks.”

“I’m no so sure about that last one.”

“You are still alive, aren’t you? There for it was a non
-lethal attack. Now, did you feel anything?” He asked, picking up the small book once again.

Kile just looked at him, still rubbing the back of her head.

“Beyond the physical.” Morgan sighed.

She was getting tired of his sighs.

“I don’t think we’re gong to get beyond the physical sir.”

“Well, as a matter of fact, the tests have indicated a rather curious pattern.”

“And what would that be?”

“You either ha
ve the ability to predict the future, or some form of telepathy, of course normally that would indicate a very strong influence within the wind or the water spheres. And clearly you have shown no such influence from previous tests, it’s very curious.”

“I don’t think I can predict the future.” Kile replied, although that would be kind of cool. To know what was going to happen before it happened would be a very useful edge. She wouldn’t have to worry so much about Eric, she just wouldn’t be
where he was going to be to harass her, or something like that.

“Clearly you were able to dodge attacks from multiple directions as if you knew
ahead of time where they were coming from.” Morgan replied, still scribbling a few notes in the small book as he began to stroke his chin in that mystic thinking fashion. Kile was definitely missing something here.

“Well… that’s because you told me.”

“Told you? Told you what? What are you talking about child?”

“You told me where each object was coming from as you threw it at me, well… all except for th
at last one.”

“I never told you any such thing.” Morgan replied. The look on his face turned from contemplation to confusion.

“Of course you did, you told me six-o-clock, eight-o-clock high, each one, just as you were throwing them… or… making them fly or whatever it was that you were doing to them.”

“A Simple earth skill, but that doesn’t help explain how you knew what I was doing. Even if you were able to watch me you wouldn’t have know the hand movements of the skill.”

“The what?”

“Certain high energy skills, especially those of the earth sphere, require the use of hand movements. Only if you were able to read the hand movements would you have been able to know where the objects were coming from.”

“But I never saw you, I heard you. You told me which direction they were coming from.”

“I told you no such thing child.”

“Then if you didn’t… who did?”

“We’re the only ones here.” Morgan assured her.

That was when Kile realized that Morgan was wrong. They weren’t the only ones in the room. She slowly looked up to where the crow was staring back at her with is beady little black eyes.

“Sir… do yarrows talk?”

“Certainly not.” Morgan scoffed, as if the sheer notion of such an act was so beyond the boundaries of reality that, to even think it, was preposterous.

“What about… crows? Do crows talk?”

“Perhaps you should sit down child, maybe that last shot was harder than I had previously thought.”

Crows don’t talk and yarrows don’t talk, but she heard something. Maybe it’s not that they can’t talk, maybe it’s just that nobody
ever listened to them.

-
Finally -

Kile looked up at the crow that was pacing back and forth over the top of the shelves staring at her.

“What do you mean?” She asked him.

-
I mean it took you long enough –

“You knew?”

- I knew the minutes you walked through those doors, you knew it as well, you just didn’t believe in yourself.-

“But why can’t anyone else hear you.”

- Every species communicates with a series of sounds. The noises you make to Morgan are just that, noises. Dogs bark, horses whinny, crows caw, to most vir these are but noises.-

“But I can understand you.”

- Vir are the only species that refuses to communicate with anything other than themselves.-

“But is it possible, why? How?”

- How and why, I don’t know, and it's no use asking him, he wouldn’t know either-

The crow said as it nodded its head toward the mystic who was watching Kile with great concern. Clearly he thought
she had gone completely around the bend.

“Is it common?”

-What, vir communicating with the natural world, not that I’m aware of, I have never seen it within my lifetime, and I was raised in the tower.-

“Then can you answer me this, why can I carry on a conversation with you, but when I spoke… well, actually I didn’t speak with the yarrow…”

- Why was his communication so much more… primitive than mine? -

“I guess that’s what I want to ask.”

- As I’ve already told you, I was raised by the mystics in the tower. I have been in contact with them from the day I hatched from my egg. I doubt if you were to speak with any other crow, that you would find them as articulate or as intelligent as myself. -

“I’m sorry, I haven’t
even asked you your name.”

-
It’s nice to see that you do have manners, unlike most vir that I have the displeasure of associating with. My name is Kaza.-

“Are you quite finished?” Morgan asked in a calm, but rather patronizing, voice.

“Sorry?”

“I don’t know what game you are trying to play child, but if you, for the slightest moment, think that you can get out of the rest of these tests by making believe you are speaking with… that crow, you are sadly mistaken.
You must take your studies of the mystic arts seriously. If you can not hone your edge by the time you graduate, then I will have no other choice… but to recommend that you be passed over for certification.”

“But sir, Kaza was only trying to explain…”

“Kaza? Who’s Kaza?”

“Your crow sir.”

“The crow’s name is Nullus.”

Kile looked back up at Kaza, or Nullus, or whatever the crow's name was.
She had just spoken to it, hadn’t she? But shouldn’t Morgan know the name of his own bird.

“It is clear to me that you have no desire to explore your edge and you are simply wasting my time.”

- His favorite drink is rosemary tea.-

Kile looked at the
crow to make sure she heard him right, and the crow nodded toward the old mystic.

“Your favorite drink… is rosemary tea.”

Morgan turned to look at Kile, then up at the crow.

“That doesn’t prove anything.” He said, but she wasn’t sure if his statement was directed at her, or at the crow. “You would have been able to smell the rosemary brewing, or… seen me drinking it. There
are any number of ways you could have figured that out.”

“But I wouldn’t know you add a shot of rum to it.” Kile replied.