Chapter Twenty-five

People Are Complicated

~*~

 

 

 

When Tamyn had gone, Kazia closed the door and took a seat before Kelvaran's desk. For a moment that felt like an eternity, they sat staring at the desktop between them in awkward silence. Kazia appeared to be gathering her thoughts, so Kelvaran just waited for her.

Patience, he thought. Patience.

“The only other Empath I have ever known was my mother,” Kazia said finally, her voice soft and somewhat distant. “All that I know of my people I learned from her, but it isn't a lot. So much of our history has been lost.”

“Your people?” Kelvaran asked.

Kazia nodded.

“Our tribe lived in the southern mountains of what is now Valesk. It wasn't Valesk yet then, that's how long ago this was. When Valesk was united under its first king, our territory was conquered and annexed. My people... many fled to who knows where. Many were captured, and pressed into service of the noble families, unwillingly, often treated harshly...”

“That would be against Valeskan law,” Kelvaran said, horrified.

“The wealthy and powerful can always find ways around laws,” Kazia answered. “Generations of us were kept like that, until parents began to counsel their children to hide their abilities. If no one knew you were an Empath, then you couldn't be used.”

“I like to think that I've been well-educated,” Kelvaran remarked, “it seems that our histories may be lacking, though.”

Kazia smiled bitterly.

“I think that our country prefers to keep its shameful things hidden under the bed,” she answered coldly.

Kelvaran hummed in somber agreement.

“So no one knows how many of us are still out there, because we hide if we can. I know that if I were ever to meet another Empath, I would know them right away. When two Empaths meet, their ethereal energy merges together.”

Kelvaran's eyes widened briefly, and Kazia nodded.

“One feels something, the other reads it and reacts, then the first feels that reaction, and reacts to that. It's like facing two mirrors together and creating infinite reflections of both in each other. Did you feel that echo, the ebb and flow between us?”

“Yes,” Kelvaran answered, his eyes becoming a bit misty. “It was...”

“It was,” Kazia said, looking down at her hands to avoid his eyes. “I had that connection with my mother... and she warned me that if I should ever meet another Empath that I should keep my distance, because while this connection is fine between family members and even friends, if stronger emotions... passions... were to develop between them, that entanglement can become destructive.”

Kazia laughed suddenly.

“Mr. Cardil left that note between the pages of a book of Valeskan mythology,” she said. “I read some of it last night. There is a story of a pair of otherwordly beings who fell in love with each other. They stared into one another's eyes for so long that they both faded away into nothing and became constellations in the Heavens, still gazing at one another forever. I think that story may be a remnant of my people.”

“But surely they had some way to counteract this,” Kelvaran said. “Otherwise, how could they live together as a tribe? Wouldn't this happen to every couple?”

“I think they must have,” Kazia agreed, “but I don't know what. Do you understand, though, why I made you leave last night?”

“I do,” he replied. “I understood then. The effect was quite powerful. I would never want to... go too far under those circumstances. Kazia, I didn't mean to keep this from you either. I just had an idea, wanted to try it out, and didn't want to involve you yet since Mistress Amelys told me-”

“She knew about this?”

“No, I did this all on my own, because she told me... not to treat you like a lab rat. That you wouldn't take kindly to it.”

Kazia smiled. “She advised you well. So, how does it work? The potion.”

“You want to know about it?”

“I'm quite curious.”

Kazia smiled knowingly as Kelvaran's scholarly passion ignited.

“In most people,” he began, “the ethereal energy resides in the spine, and it's through the neural network that we can access it to draw out just enough for whatever task we wish to perform. I surmised that your... unique genetic makeup must draw most of your energy out of the spine into all your nerve endings, to the surface of your body.”

Kazia smiled broadly. “Yes,” she said, nodding enthusiastically.

“Well, that is what the potion does. Well, technically it just loosens the energy from the spine. Then I must consciously direct it to the surface.”

“And so, you can't cast a portal when all the energy is on the surface. Could you not just... stuff it back into the spine?”

Kelvaran shook his head. “Once it's on the surface I can't direct it further and must wait for the potion to wear off. Then it returns on its own.”

“How long does it take to wear off?”

“Between two and three hours.”

Kazia's expression became pensive. She seemed to be deep in thought, making some obscure mental calculations. Although he was dying to know her thoughts, Kelvaran waited.

Patience.

“I suppose you plan to use this potion on your mission in Valesk?” she asked finally.

Kelvaran froze, the look on his face telling Kazia that she was right.

“I think I have some understanding by now of the way you think,” she said with a cryptic smile.

“Will you try to dissuade me?” he asked. “Mistress Amelys thinks it's not ready yet.”

“It seems to work as you've designed it,” Kazia said. “I think it's a good idea.”

“You...?”

“But,” Kazia said with an adamant tone of warning, “I'll need to teach you.”

“Teach me...?”

Kazia sighed. “This ability is unreliable,” she told him. “People are complicated. Emotions are very complicated. I've had this ability my entire life and I'm still discovering it myself. Even so, this could be quite useful to you in Valesk, particularly with Gorvan. Being able to gauge his mood from day to day could keep you safer. I like that. Although, I'm concerned that you can't cast a portal or an orb if you need to.”

“I'll use it sparingly, not always.”

“But you'll need to know what it is that you're feeling from others. I can show you that.”

“How... will you do that?”

“You will take your potion, and since we're then feeling the same things, I can tell you what they are.”

“But...” he said slowly, his body tensing at the thoughts now forming. “If we can't control it, and something happens... you said it wasn't right.”

“Kel,” Kazia said with a lightly playful tone, “something will happen. We'll need to develop some discipline, and I doubt that will happen right away. But you are not a true Empath, and your potion wears off, so we're in no danger of becoming constellations, and I think that if we both know what we're in for, and are both willing, then there's nothing wrong with it.”

She fixed him with a steady gaze and raised an eyebrow.

“Are you willing?”

His mouth had been slowly opening as she spoke, and although Kazia seemed determined to keep to her most businesslike attitude, she almost laughed out loud as Kelvaran's internal state became a war of shock, embarrassment, and arousal.

He swallowed hard.

“I'm willing,” he whispered hoarsely, his eyes a bit hazy.

Kazia nodded. “Then come to my apartment at nine o'clock tonight. Bring the potion, but don't take it yet.”

“Tonight?”

“Nine o'clock.”

Kazia swept through the door, but she peered back inside before closing it.

“Today is my birthday,” she said with a mischievous smile. “Thank you for my gift. I love it.”

The door closed, and Kelvaran sat at his desk in a daze for several minutes, not entirely certain what had just happened, before finally returning to his lab to stare at his unfinished work in a daze for several hours.

 

~~~*~~~