Suddenly David remembered exactly where he was and what time it was. “Isn’t it against the rules to be out here this early?” he asked her pointedly.
“I have permission,” she answered in a curt tone. Her eyes constricted into a challenging glare as she took in the trainee emblem embroidered on his own tunic. “What about you?”
“I have permission,” he replied, echoing her words.
They stood there for a few tense minutes; finally she spoke. “I need to return to the school.”
“I’ll walk with you,” David said turning towards her. She appeared uncomfortable at the idea.
“There’s no need. I’ll climb down.”
“Then I’ll climb with you.”
“There’s no need for you to do that,” she replied as she moved towards the edge.
“You aren’t allowed to free climb alone,” he reminded her.
“Destiny has been approved as my companion,” she informed him tersely.
“By whom?” David couldn’t believe any of the Council members would allow a girl to free climb with just an eagle for company, even if they were good together.
“Lord Jasse and Lord Mora.” The annoyance in her voice began to grate on his own nerves. She turned and lowered herself over the edge and started down before he could even reply.
Destiny soared down from the tree, screeching in his ear before diving over the cliff’s edge. Shaking his head to dispel the ringing, David ran to the edge and watched the two. “Is she climbing or falling?” he asked himself as she sped down the cliff at an impossible speed.
He waited until she reached the bottom and started running back to the school before he too turned and headed back that way, he was halfway back before he realized that he hadn’t asked her name. He mentally shook his head. The only reason he’d want to know her name was so that he could avoid her when he returned to school.
David ran hard, pushing himself to the limit once again. By the time he got back to his room it was nearly time for breakfast. He took a quick shower, grabbed some fruit and jerky, and then went for a walk in the gardens.
Pausing to look at a waterfall he heard someone call his name. Turning, he saw Lord Jasse hurrying towards him. He slowed his pace so that the older man wouldn’t have to continue jogging to catch up to him.
“Hello David,” Lord Jasse said as he came closer.
“Good morning, sir.” David noticed Lord Jasse’s uncharacteristic anxiety and wondered what this was about.
“You disappeared too quickly earlier,” Lord Jasse explained, obviously aware as to his appearance. “I have some information for you that you need to be familiar with before the meeting.” He led David to a secluded bench and sat down.
“What do I need to know?” David asked, taking a seat beside him.
“I need to talk to you about someone who will be a part of your family.”
David frowned. “I thought we all meet at the same time.”
“That still holds true,” Lord Jasse agreed. “But this is a special case and I feel you warrant some advice before the meeting.”
That didn’t sound good. “May I ask who it is?”
Lord Jasse paused. “I’m not sure you know her—
“Her?” David asked, then realizing that he had interrupted apologized.
“That’s quite alright David.” The Council member assured him. “Yes, she’s a sixteen-year-old girl.”
David’s thoughts turned to the disagreeable girl from earlier that morning. Quickly he pushed them aside. She was not someone he would want in his family. In fact, he pitied the family that she was placed into. “What do I need to know? “
Lord Jasse spoke slowly, as if revealing an ancient secret that could turn the tide in a devastating war. “She’s an orphan who became a slave and was abused horribly. She doesn’t trust others easily.”
David’s brow furrowed. “I thought slavery had been outlawed.”
“It was,” Lord Jasse affirmed. “She was a servant in name, but a slave in reality.”
“How did she find her way here?” David wondered.
Jasse hesitated. “A friend of mine found her and rescued her when she was ten years old. I brought her to school a year later.”
“I thought you couldn’t be any older than six to start here,” David said curiously.
Jasse nodded. “In most cases yes, but both my friend and Lord Mora felt there was something different about this girl and they were right.”
Now David was interested. “What was different about her? Does she possess an unknown gift?” That was the only reason he could think of for late admittance, then as another thought came to him asked, “What’s her name?”
Again Lord Jasse hesitated. “Her name is Kathryn. When I first met her, this girl trusted no one and feared everyone. Even after she had been rescued it took her a year to speak to us. Most people thought she was mute.”
David stared at him. “She didn’t speak for a year?”
Jasse nodded. “Yes. I was the first person whom she spoke to.” His gaze took on a slightly distant look and David guessed that he was back in that moment, hearing the little girl that no one believed could talk, speak for the first time. Realizing that David was waiting he continued. “I brought her to the school soon afterwards and she began her studies. Kathryn faced several barriers when she started here. By entering the school at the age of eleven she was already seriously behind and had to work extremely hard to catch up to her class, and since she had never really used her powers before she had to work with a special mentor to speed up her development.”
David didn’t believe that. It was unheard of for gifted children to avoid using their powers. Many couldn’t learn to control their gifts until attending the school. Even more dangerous, the urges all Guardians faced to use their power could kill them if ignored. “That’s impossible,” he said flatly.
“That’s what so intriguing,” Jasse told him. “I’ve witnessed it myself. Kathryn can go weeks and months, possibly even years, without using her power.”
“But why wouldn’t she use it?” David asked, his mind reeling with this new revelation.
Jasse’s expression darkened. “When she was a slave, her mistress told her horror stories about people who had powers like hers. She told Kathryn that the soldiers would take her away and do awful things to her if they ever found out.”
“And she believed them?”
Jasse looked at David. “She was only six years old when she discovered her powers. Someone so young and scared is an easy target for lies and deception. We also suspect that she was beaten anytime she attempted to use her gifts”
David looked at the ground, struggling to contain the distaste that had risen like bile in his throat. He looked back at Jasse, “How could people treat a child like that?”
“I don’t know,” Jasse admitted. “If you had seen her your heart would have broken for her—so small and scared.”
“But she’s better now, right? She’s been here for five years, surely that’s enough time for her to get over the lies.”
“The lies, yes. But that kind of conditioning doesn’t always disappear. She may no longer be fearful over the use of her abilities, but for her, using them is an anathema,” Jasse confessed. “She will always carry the physical scars of her enslavement, but I thought she was past the emotional and mental trauma that had accompanied it.”
David felt his heart sinking. “She isn’t?”
“She claims she is, but I don’t believe it.” Jasse looked up at the sky, and then looked into the water. “She’s afraid of being placed in a family.”
David couldn’t believe what he was hearing; trainees usually looked forward to being placed, feared being not placed. “She’s afraid of being placed into a family?” he echoed.
Jasse nodded. “All her childhood she never had a family who loved her or cared for her. By the time…” he paused ever-so-slightly before continuing, “we found her she was afraid of making strong bonds with other people.”
“But she has made friends, right?”
“She has three.”
“Only three?”
“Yes, that is why I’m telling you this; going from three to fourteen in one sudden move is going to overwhelm her.”
“But surely she knows that once you’ve been placed in a family you never get pulled from it?”
“Her mind knows, but her heart refuses to let the mind debate the matter.”
“Does she know she’s been placed?” David asked cautiously.
Jasse shook his head. “No. I was going to tell her yesterday but I had to focus on the trusting problem.”
Dave let out a breath. “Thank you for telling me this. It will make it much easier to understand.”
Jasse turned to look at him. “Oh, there’s more you should know.”
“More?”
“This isn’t sad it’s more—intriguing.”
David waited for Jasse to continue.
“Remember how I told you that both my friend and Mora sensed something different about the child?”
“Yes.”
“Well they were right and it’s the main reason she was admitted late. You actually came pretty close when you asked me if she had an unknown gift,” Jasse paused, trying to figure out how to word his next bit of information, finally he said, “She has two powers.”
David looked at him curiously. “Why is that special? Everybody here has two powers.”
Jasse shook his head. “You have one dominant and one recessive. One of your gifts is stronger than the other.”
David nodded. “That’s the way it always is. My main gift is wind, but I can also use the gift of light.”
“Both of Kathryn’s gifts are dominant.”
David stared at him. “B—but that’s unheard of!” he protested.
“Not entirely,” Jasse said shaking his head. “When a child with gifts is born he has his own power as dominant and the last known power in his family as recessive correct?”
David nodded.
“There are four ways a person can gain two dominant powers,” Jasse began. He pursed his lips, as if debating whether or not to continue. “One way is to kill a person with powers and as they die hold them in your arms.”
“What good does that do?”
“It transfers the power from the dying soul to the healthy one.” Jasse explained.
David looked at him, wide-eyed. “Can just anybody accomplish that?”
“No. Only people who already have power can strip another person of his power. The second way you can gain two dominate powers is if the mother sacrifices her life to save her child.”
Jasse paused and looked at David who suddenly felt like he was back in the classroom and had been asked an important question by a teacher. “It’s similar to the first isn’t it?” he said slowly, trying to order his thoughts. “The mother holds her infant in her arms and gives her life and power to her child.”
Jasse nodded approvingly. “Yes it is similar but there is a difference. A power willingly given is stronger than one that has been stolen.”
“Is that what you think happened to Kathryn?”
“Either that or the third way.”
“Which is?” David prompted.
“She has an Elf parent.”
Dave eyed Lord Jasse. “An Elf parent?” He didn’t bother to hide the doubt in his tone.
Jasse smiled. “I know it sounds completely farfetched but with Elves the power of the mother shares dominance with the power of her child.”
“But the Elves don’t associate with us. What would make you think that was how Kathryn gained her power?”
“Each way I’ve talked about has differing degrees of strength. The first is the weakest, the second stronger than the first, and the third strongest of all.”
“Why exactly is there a difference?”
Jasse resettled himself on the bench and David got the distinct feeling that this was a topic not normally discussed among Guardians. “A power stolen loses a good portion of its strength as it’s ripped from the body. A power given loses much less strength but still loses a small portion. A power that lives in you is strongest yet. If you are born with a power it is the strongest it will ever be.”
“But how does that apply to Kathryn?”
Jasse hesitated here. “When I first met Kathryn, her gift was control of water. As she grew and matured I noticed that the plants also responded to her. The influence she exerts over plants isn’t subtle or diminished in power like a recessive gift. I’ve seen plants respond to her in ways that even some of the most powerful guardians cannot invoke.” Slowly shaking his head Jasse went on, “she doesn’t even realize the plants are doing this. She knows that her second gift is the ability to work with plants, but I’ve never told her how
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her second gift is. Because of her unique view on her gifts I’ve never been able to do a study on her second power. All I know is it definitely did not come from killing another being.”
“But it also seems too strong for a mother’s sacrifice, right?” David guessed.
Jasse nodded. “Like I’ve said, I have my suspicions but no proof.”
“Can’t you just ask Kathryn to show you?”
Jasse laughed. “Remember when I said that Kathryn views using her gifts as an abhorrence? She only uses her power when absolutely necessary. If she can do something without using her gifts, she will choose that path over her power every time. She cringes each time she’s required to use it in the classroom.”