Oneday went well, despite Heinrig taking the day off. I let the two trainees manage the store while I just did oversight and kept up my constant psionics practice with the stuff I could do invisibly. Listening in on the checkouts, alternating the Woodsman and Leatherskin buff modes, even a few minor telekinesis tricks to keep things from falling off the counters or falling over. I'm still not quite to the point where I can stay in full Woodsman constantly, but I'm getting closer.

I'm hoping that in addition to getting easier to maintain the output, which happened when I had my breakthrough in energy conversion, I'll get an efficiency boost from both control and emission. I expect the major jump in efficiency to come from control, and with the efficiency, a minor boost in how much I can output at a time, and then the reverse from emission. The near constant use has rapidly accelerated my skill gains in these areas. Not having to take 15 minutes to build and burst means that even a few minutes of downtime can be practice time. The mental drain of that work is pretty constant, so the ability to do all my work without much extra drain has been extremely handy for the past half-season.

Looking back, it's hard to think that it only took a season to go from magic depleted weakness to significant psionic growth.

Finding new skills.

Exploring and experimenting.

Failing and failing again.

Succeeding.

Recovering my humanity from where I'd shoved it into a disused corner of my being.

In many ways, it has felt like a long time. Looking back, however, it's shocking to realize that it really has only been a short moment relative to my time here. Three months. Not quite even that. How can it be so short and so long at the same time. The mind and how it tracks time seems to be quirky.

Boredom for a few minutes can last forever.

Terror for only moments can be nearly eternal, especially when you can find your young daughter in the park.

But have a bit of fun for a few hours, or a delightful afternoon, and it's gone in an eyeblink.

Enough philosophy.

Work to do, shelves to stock, psionic exercises to continue. I need those next levels in the two lagging energy skills.

Twoday continued in the same vein as Oneday, only with less internal philosophizing.

Threeday, though, I got a letter back from Lunette.

Grint,

The apology is appreciated, but unnecessary. I was unaware of the concept, and I've been in the study longer. I do look forward to seeing you again, so I hope that you can make it up to the City for the presentation. I expect it to be announced next tenday, and will be included in the Midwinter Research Symposium, which will be held for several days starting the Fiveday after Yearturn.

I would be delighted to discuss any further thoughts then, since I doubt we could have a full exchange by post in the time between now and then, since I'll be home for Yearturn and you'll no doubt be busy with family as well.

As always, I deeply wish you

All my best,

Lunette

And with that, I don't remember much of the remainder of the day, except for a deep feeling of joy, some contentment, and an exhausting psionic session so that I could actually finally get some sleep.

Of course, Threeday came along next and I blearily made my way through breakfast with the parents, work with Heinrig, Jahn, and Stavros, and back home again. With the lack of sleep, I had to focus more on my psionics as I used telekinesis to chop and dice and stir. There was a bit more splashing than doing it by hand, but fortunately nothing major. A simple enough stew was prepped and simmering for supper when I collapsed into my bed for a nap.

I woke when my parents returned home. They had worked a bit late on some commissioned searches, but they'd mentioned the possibility at breakfast. Something I only remembered when I got home and they were not present. I didn't have a good response for the letter, and as she said, I might well be there before we could get a round of correspondence done anyway.

"Supper's ready on the stove! Thank you, Grint."

"Easy enough, Mom. Have to cook for one, might as well cook for three. Not like I haven't come home late to have supper waiting for me. Figured you could do with a bit of warm food after trekking home in the cold."

Our conversation turned to other things, after all, the Yearturn was coming, and it was time to celebrate another year. On the upside, stringing and hanging decorations was likely to be much much easier with telekinesis than moving a step ladder all about the place. Dad and I would be taking care of that during the coming enddays, while Mom did the last round of shopping for the feast.

For the rest of the week, time passed in the usual way:

Work.

Practice.

Family.

Practice.

Sleep.

Repeat.

On Eightday evening, I checked in on my progress over the last two tendays.

{Status:

Name: Grintel Coddlestahl

Age: 17

Mental:

Acuity:

Perception:

Memory:

11

8

11

Psyche:

Wisdom:

Insight:

Willpower:

9

9

14

Physical:

Strength:

Coordination:

Endurance:

8

8

12

Skills:

Energy Conversion

3.024

Energy Emission

2.640

Energy Control

2.287

Channeling

0.130

Instructor

0.078

Meditation

2.662

Walking

5.024

}

Two stat points and lots of gains. Still going to take a while to get the levels completed, but consistent effort and mixing in more telekinesis has considerably improved growth for both emission and control. Fantastic. Time for some sleep, then lots of decoration and practice tomorrow and then only a tenday until Yearturn, and hopefully beginning a new position at the Omni.