Repeated testing, and a near case of Manaburn later, Ty and Pel discovered that the safe Cooldown for [Gentle Touch] was about fifteen seconds. Ty informed him that the Cooldown period would gradually increase with repeated use until he actually rested. Short pauses between casts didn’t count for much over time.

“As your Clarity score increases, your safe Cooldown period will decrease,” Ty explained. “There’s also a chance that your Race Evolution will allow you to change the Skill in some way, but I don’t think we have any information on Celestial Fairies to help you.”

“Well, that’s a long time from now, I’m not worried about it,” Pel waved the information off. “But I will never participate in something like this again, Ty. I mean it. I don’t want my friends to hurt themselves on purpose for me. Something about it reminds me of my old life in a bad way. Raki and Flo just died, this sort of thing is too much right now.”

“I understand, and I’m sorry,” Ty apologized. He finished etching some notes on his tablet then set his scribe down. “Are you ready to practice Presence detection now?”

“Oh, yes please!” Pel’s eyes roved over the tanks in the room with an excited gleam; his desire for secrets was feeling rather parched. He froze, staring at one tank that wasn’t like the others. It was draped in a golden cloth, hiding the contents beneath. “What’s that, Ty?”

“That, is the biggest secret in the room!” Ty announced happily, watching Pel’s ears twitch. “But! You can’t peek until after you’ve discovered the other secrets first.” Ty continued to watch as Pel struggled to center himself, naturally slipping into the breathing exercise he’d been taught.

Pel turned away from the tantalizing, golden draped secret box with effort, and locked eyes with Ty. “Teach me, Mentor.”

Ty chuckled at Pel. “First, close your eyes. I’m going to extend some of my Mana around you, I want you to feel it. Just that. Feel my Mana on your Mana barrier. Feel my Presence.”

Pel sat down and crossed his legs, placing his hands in his lap and closed his eyes. A moment later he could feel that same feeling of repulsive force he felt when he cast his healing Skill on Ty. From the top of his head, and all the way down his back Ty’s Mana pressed against him gently.

Ty’s Mana was cool, refreshing, and always in motion. The pressure of it was constant, but it had a swirling motion like watching an eddy near the bank of a slow-moving river. It reminded Pel of Ty, who always seemed to speak deliberately, and without hurry. There was also a strength to it, or maybe a depth, that was hidden beneath the surface; a feeling of weight. A weight that Ty can lift, a depth of power and knowledge.

“Everyone emits a Presence,” Ty’s spoke softly. “Everyone, and everything with Mana. The quantity doesn’t matter, but the density.” The pressure Ty’s Mana was exerting lessened. “Presence is quite literally the presence of Mana, but each Presence will carry a signature, or a feeling, that is unique to the one it belongs to. It’s easier to feel it when that person or thing places its attention on you.”

Pel remembered that day at Berry’s when he mentioned the secrets hidden among Ty’s water tanks. It felt like many people looking at the back of his head, but when he turned around nobody seemed to be paying him any mind. Ty continued speaking quietly.

“When your Presence intersects with the Presence of another, you will be able to sense both their direction, and density. Evaluating the density is how you determine the Level of another.” The pressure of Ty’s Mana was almost entirely gone, more akin to a ringing in his ears than an actual tone; just a residual effect. Pel could feel the position of the Mana move from his back to his right arm.

“The range is determined by Level just as it determines the density of Mana. Presence is the field that dense Mana radiates around a person or object,” Ty repeated. “Where is my Presence right now?”

“My right arm,” Pel replied.

“And now?”

“My left arm,” Pel replied again.

“And now?”

“I can’t feel it, you aren’t touching me anymore,” Pel said.

“I wasn’t touching you before, either,” said Ty. “Presence is a field. You aren’t good at sensing it yet, but with practice your senses will become more honed. Keep trying.”

Pel continued breathing slowly, eyes closed as he strained to feel anything at all. He sat this way for minutes, which slowly bled together into longer, only marked by breaths he took. He thought about Ty’s words, his own experiences with feeling Mana barriers, and his time at Berry’s to try putting it all together. Presence is the presence of Mana, not the quantity but the density, which carries a feeling unique to the one it comes from. When their Presence intersects with mine, I can feel the direction and the density. Attention intensifies the sensation of Presence. Wait…

Pel’s attention was entirely focused inward. On attempting to feel something happening to him. But Presence wasn’t something felt within, it was external. Instead of trying to feel himself, he tried expanding his awareness instead. He focused on the damp, earthy smells of the moss, the sound of the water in the tanks, his own breathing, and the passive currents of air in the space surrounding him. He took in everything his senses could tell him about his surroundings I was so preoccupied by trying to feel my body and my Mana barrier that I neglected to consider beyond myself. In this exercise, I am unimportant.

The minutes flew by as Pel cleared his mind, allowing all the sensations of the world to come and go, feeling everything but focusing on nothing. A tiny disruption in his senses tickled his left knee, a cool sensation almost like a breeze, or the light touch of a soft feather.

“Left knee,” Pel announced, immediately losing the sensation. “And, now it’s gone.”

“That was good,” Ty encouraged. “What change did you experience?”

“I was too focused on myself, and not on what was around me,” Pel explained.

“Exactly that,” Ty nodded. “Remember that state of mind, and eventually make it your every moment. Here, take this and stuff your ears with it,” he handed Pel a small clump of moss.

“Ew, why do you want me to stick moss in my ears?” Pel asked.

“To block your hearing. I want you to close your eyes, and block your ears while searching for my Presence as I walk around you,” Ty explained.

“Can’t I just plug my ears with my fingers? Also, I don’t think I even have organs, why do I have eardrums?” Pel replied.

“Essence forms many functions, one of which is a simulacrum of eardrums,” Ty said. “I supposed you could plug your ears with your fingers, I just think moss feels more comfortable. Sometimes I use it when the parties get too loud outside.”

“I see. I’m going with my fingers,” Pel decided, setting the moss down on the floor beside him.

“Call out the direction you think you sense my Presence. If you’re right I’ll tap your shoulder,” Ty said. “Oh, one more thing,” Ty called out quickly before Pel could plug his ears. “Don’t open your eyes until I tell you to. I’m going to take the sheet off the secret box and I don’t want you to peek.”

“Ty! You can’t tell me that!” Pel shouted. “Now I have to peek!”

“No, close your eyes and keep them closed!” Ty ordered.

“But- “

“No buts!”

With an exasperated groan Pel plugged his ears and shut his eyes extra hard, trying to resist the temptation to peek. Don’t look, don’t look…I really wanna look! Forget the secret, feel the Presence! There is no secret, nope. No secret. Feel the Presence. Ty’s secret box was making it even harder to focus than before. Knowing that just in front of his closed eyes was the thing previously hidden beneath that frustratingly opaque sheet made it almost impossible to resist taking just a tiny peek. Maybe if I open my eyes just a little bit Ty won’t notice? Ah screw it!

Pel ever so slowly cracked an eye open, one fraction of a millimeter at a time to let some light through his lashes. It wasn’t even enough to see clearly, but the shape of Ty’s face hovering just a few fingers away from his own startled Pel enough to nearly jump. He quickly screwed his eyes shut once again. The muffled sound of Ty’s voice penetrated through Pel’s fingers, not clear enough to hear what was said, but Pel knew. Yea, yea. Keep my eyes closed.

Pel took a deep breath before returning to his breathing exercise, trying to purge all curiosity and thoughts about everything except feeling Ty’s Presence. The more he breathed, the easier it became. When most of the curiosity was gone, Pel focused on the world around him once more.

Several hours passed as Pel continued the exercise, somehow every time he tried to peek Ty was right in front of him again. Eventually, Pel stopped trying to sneak a look and decided to bide his time as he attempted to find Ty with his eyes closed. Several times he received a pat on the shoulder, but most of the time he called out blindly with no response. After several successful guesses in a row Ty had Pel do the exercise while standing, and then while balancing on one foot, which turned out to be super hard for Pel to do with his fingers in his ears. After nearly falling over for the fourth time he gave up and stuck some moss in there instead. He found it to be cold and unpleasantly ticklish; and moist. Ugh.

For a while, in the middle of the exercise he was good about keeping his eyes closed. But eventually the better he got at finding Ty the more he started thinking that eventually Ty wouldn’t be right there in front of him. Pel couldn’t give up on peeking, not when he was getting better at sensing the cool force of Ty’s Presence. I just have to wait for him to be behind me, then I’ll know I can peek! Even with his eyes closed the notification icon that appeared was still visible. It’s so cool being able to see this stuff even with my eyes closed.

Notification

Congratulations, your recent mental efforts have awarded you 1 natural Willpower Point!

I wonder if this is why Ty is torturing me right now? Teasing me with a secret, telling me to resist opening my eyes, all to train my Willpower? I wonder if knowing he’s doing it on purpose like this is enough to make it less effective? Pel never got the chance to figure that out, as Ty pulled the small plug of moss from his right ear.

“Alright, you can open your eyes now,” Ty explained. Pel’s eyes shot wide open, and upon seeing Ty standing in front of him he quickly dodged to the side to look at the box. It was, unfortunately, draped in secrecy once more. Ty smiled seeing Pel pout about it. “You’ve done in six hours what others take sixteen or more to accomplish. Stop pouting.”

“M’not pouting. I’m brooding,” Pel brooded, definitely, digging the moss out of his other ear. Yuck!

“Well, I hope you can muster the enthusiasm to move on to the real exercise,” Ty said. “Otherwise, you’ll never get to know what’s in the box.”

“I've decided that I’m not really cut out for brooding after all,” Pel said excitedly, “What’s next?”

“Finding the objects I’ve hidden around the room,” Ty reminded him. “Each one is something I’ve imbued with my Mana, so you should be able to find them if you can learn to keep yourself open to the world around you while moving around at the same time. I expect it to be the most challenging exercise yet.”

“I think I can feel one inside that box, I should probably take a look,” Pel said, taking a step closer to the box.

“I think not,” Ty said, placing a hand on Pel’s shoulder. “None of my objects are under the drape. I’ll be in the back room consolidating my notes, bring me any objects you find. If you can find four, I’ll let you discover what’s in the box. You have until the birthday ceremony starts. Work hard, and good luck.” Ty picked up his scribe and tablet, heading for the back room. “Oh, and if you peek, I’ll know.” With that, he shut the door to the back room, leaving Pel all alone.

Pel stood, tapping his fingers against his thighs as he stared at the covered box. Being unsupervised like this was definitely more effective than simply keeping his eyes closed. How would Ty know? Could he see through walls? Was the drape booby-trapped? Pel walked the perimeter of the box, searching for any sort of alarm mechanism but could find nothing. Time’s a-ticking, better try to find those secrets.

Pel walked to the center of the room, luckily away from the box, and calmed himself. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on feeling the world around him, discarding as many distractions as possible. Upon feeling centered, he opened his eyes and immediately struggled keeping his other, newer sense, open. Sight was rather intense compared to the others. It was bright and distracting. Pel stood still, not even moving his eyes as he slowly adapted to the new input.

Balanced once more he turned his head, looking at the closest tank to the right; then left. He slowly built-up small movements as he focused on what he could feel around him. I have no idea what the range on my Presence is, I’ll have to walk past each tank to check them. The first step was the hardest, causing him to suddenly need to deal with several senses at once. The changing sense of pressure on his feet, the sensation of tension in his muscles as they contracted or relaxed, his proprioception tracking where his parts were in space, and his sense of balance and gravity all drowned out his Presence sense.

I could probably do this faster if I walked to a tank, and then tried to sense inside of it, Pel thought. But it kinda defeats the purpose of the exercise if I don’t learn to do this while moving. I could do it balanced on one foot; I should be able to do this while walking. He continued practicing, taking one small step at a time and then re-focusing his Presence sense. Take one step, build back up, take another, build back up again.

After an hour, walking was starting to return to being as easy as walking again. Once he was able to walk the entire perimeter of the room without losing his focus, aside from longing glances at the secret box, he returned to the center of the room to start checking water tanks. If attention can focus the feeling of Presence, maybe focusing on everything in each tank will make something stand out? The first tank he observed didn’t feel like anything was there; just water and plants. He checked a second tank with no results as well.

How can I tell where Ty’s Presence is if the whole tank kinda feels like Ty? Pel thought this exercise was a lot like trying to find a single drop of rain in a downpour. Ty felt cool, deep and strong, but he didn’t feel wet. Is water even wet, or does it just make other things wet? Pel continued concentrating on the plants, pebbles, and other little structures in the water tanks. Some of the tanks were entirely placid, while others had bubbles trickling up through gravel lining their bottoms. Where do the bubbles come from?

As Pel watched the bubbles in one of the tanks, he noticed one of the larger pebbles rocking gently as the bubbles knocked it softly back and forth. It felt bigger than it should be, and made him think it should have been heavy enough to ignore the bubbles. There were plenty of pebbles being jostled within the tank, but this one felt out of place. It looked the same, it moved the same, but the more Pel concentrated on it the more it stood out.

He stuck his hand into the tank, feeling the bubbles tickle their way up his arm as he dipped it deeper. Like crossing an invisible threshold, Pel was suddenly able to feel Ty’s Presence beyond a doubt within the pebble. He pulled his hand back out slowly, feeling the change in strength of the Presence. Looking through the glass, the feeling was a pinprick, a small sense that there was a difference in the world around him. He put his hand back into the water, feeling the sensation grow as his hand approached the pebble. Finally, Pel grasped the stone and pulled it from the tank.

In direct contact, the sense that Ty’s Mana was within the pebble was undeniable. Feels like my range is about two feet. Well, two feet relative to my size and perspective anyway. Pel happily tucked the pebble away in his shirt and started his search over again, dipping his hand into each tank. He quickly encountered a problem; the pebble in his shirt was enough of a distraction on his senses that he was having trouble feeling past it.

He thought about putting the pebble somewhere far away, but decided that learning to ignore what he knew was already there would probably be more helpful in the long run. Much like discarding the mundane distractions around him, Pel began working on ignoring the sense of Presence from the pebble as he continued his search for more hidden objects. Eventually the Presence of the pebble became no more than tingle in the back of his mind as he continued his systematic inspections. To his delight, he received another notification.

Notification

Congratulations, your recent mental efforts have awarded you 1 natural Willpower Point!

Nice, two in one afternoon! Ty's definitely a genius at torturing me. Re-centering from the momentary distraction, Pel continued searching. The second secret object was a small wooden cube floating amid a tangle of some type of purple vine that had grown to cover the entire top of its water tank. It was slimy, and touching it made Pel feel gross. He washed the cube, and his hands, in a nearby tank that didn’t make him feel like dancing around, shaking his hands and screaming.

Pel discovered his third object after another hour. It was a wilted petal resting on the bottom of a tank beneath several flowers that looked like blue daisies. He gave the covered box a wide berth during the time it took to check the water tanks not immediately beside it. He found that the closer he got, the harder it was to resist his curiosity. After another hour, he was sure he’d checked every tank in the room at least twice but he was still unable to locate a fourth object.

Walking around the room several more times he slowly noticed that he tended to walk past the same area more frequently than others. He got onto his hands and knees and searched beneath the water tanks, thinking maybe Ty had hidden something on the bottom of the tables that the tanks were on. He had the feeling like there was something in this area, one row of tanks away from the hidden box. His arms were wet up to the shoulder from trying to touch every possible object in every possible water tank, but nothing was standing out. His normal sense of direction for Presence wasn’t working like it had when he practiced directly with Ty. Something was here, but he couldn’t tell which direction it was. Still, he felt like walking away from this section of the room was the wrong choice, but he was stumped.

I guess I haven’t checked the moss yet? Looking at the ceiling, there was nothing sticking out in his senses. The moss was damp and glowing blue, Pel supposed that the light could be obscuring something stuck deep into the moss. Haven’t tried sensing Ty’s Presence while flying yet. Summoning his wings and lifting up toward the ceiling presented a whole new challenge to his focus. His proprioception, and sense of balance was magnitudes louder than when he was simply walking. While flying was rather simple, requiring nothing more than a thought to travel in any direction, doing so while thinking about feeling everything around him caused him to slowly lose focus and begin turning upside down.

Pel ultimately decided that he didn’t care which direction he was facing, so he flew upward and planted his feet directly into the moss. It’s like being at Berry’s that first night, but sober, he thought. With enough ‘downward’ force it felt like standing on a carpet of moss. At first it was dizzying, but as he calmly looked around, he was quickly able to force his perspective into accepting that he was standing right side up. He began taking steps across the ceiling, becoming more used to his orientation while searching in a growing spiral pattern for Ty’s Presence.

Minutes later, amid the damp moss he felt a faint pressure hidden beneath his feet, pushing back against his own Presence. He knelt, digging into the moss with his hands until his fingers brushed against a small, smooth stone and pulled it out. It was white, he thought, reflecting the blue of the moss around it, and perfectly spherical. It gave off a very small amount of Ty’s Presence, and was half the diameter of the nail on his pinky finger. Finally, the fourth secret object!

Pel immediately dropped down from the ceiling, flipping right-side up in mid-air as he flew toward the back room. The door opened just ahead of him, Ty walking calmly through with a smile.

“Good work, Apple! I honestly expected that last one to remain hidden,” Ty complimented.

“How did you know I was done?” Pel asked, coming quickly to a stop.

“I told you I’d know if you peeked,” Ty shrugged, “I could feel your movement from my desk, naturally I knew you found all four objects.”

“You said I only had to find four,” Pel’s eyes narrowed, “how many were there?”

“Four!” Ty laughed. “If I cluttered the place up with secret objects, you’d find them too quickly.”

“I still don’t get why this is supposed to help me see what someone’s Level is,” Pel asked.

“It’s all about the Mana density in someone’s Presence,” Ty explained. “you’ll understand once you discover what’s under the drape.”

“You mean…” Pel said excitedly.

“Yes, you can go discover what’s under the drape.” Ty confirmed.

Pel shot off with a whoop, arriving at the source of his most recent temptation. He grabbed the corner of the golden cloth and yanked it off as quickly as he could. Revealed beneath the cloth was an ordinary wooden box with a bronze-colored latch on the front keeping it closed. He rubbed his hands across the smooth lid of the box, caressing it, reveling in his victory before releasing the simple latch and throwing it wide open.

A notification icon flashed to life at the edge of his vision, but Pel didn’t care about that it at all; he only had eyes for the contents of the box. Nestled neatly within the black, padded interior was a pristine suit of armor. It was similar to the armor Ri wore while on duty in The Roots, but the accents were different. Small, overlapping plates of dark wood, darker than the interior wood of The Mother Tree, were tied together by leather. Where the armor that Ri and the other Party leaders had worn was tied together with a tan colored leather, this was tied with leather dyed a dark blue. The edges of each section of wood were trimmed with a similar blue material, and the interior was lined with a soft, dark-blue cloth.

“I love it. Is this for me? Why does it have blue on it? Can I wear it now?” Pel turned to a smiling Ty.

“Yes, this will be the armor you wear. It has blue on it because you’re a healer, but no, you have to wait until you reach Level 10 to use it,” Ty replied.

“Why, Ty! Why would you do this to me?” Pel lamented. “Can I at least try it on? Please?

“Will you take it off if I let you try it on?” Ty asked skeptically.

“Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease, I’ve been so good today!” Pel begged. “I didn’t even peek early! I did all the exercises! I found all the secrets!”

Ty sighed, nodding his head. “Alright, let me help you put it on.”

“YES!” Pel picked the chest piece up as Ty walked over to help him. Two padded straps rested on his shoulders, with layered pauldrons cascading from shoulder to the mid-way point toward his elbows. The pauldrons were secured around his arm with leather cord. The upper chest armor started right at his collarbone, merging into a wide band that wrapped around his stomach, sides and back. The upper back was completely open, leaving room for his wings and the band covering the majority of his torso wrapped around to close in the middle of his back with a series of straps and hooks. With some minor adjustment to the shoulder straps, the armor fit perfectly.

Aside from the obvious security risk that is the open back, this pretty much covers me from shoulder to waist. And the little bit under the arms. Pel wiggled around in the armor, making sure it was snug and comfortable. It felt light, and moved with him fairly well, although bending forward restricted him slightly.

“What about those…armored skirt things that go over my hips and thighs?” Pel asked, looking into the empty box.

“Those are called tassets, and they’re in a different box,” Ty said.

“Where’s the other box?” Pel asked.

“I imagine it’s somewhere in the armory,” Ty said with a shrug.

“We have an armory? Maybe I should go there just to make sure everything fits,” Pel suggested.

“I think not,” Ty denied. “As I said, you don’t get to use this until Level 10. This armor is one of the few exceptions with regards to ownership that gets made within The Mother Tree. Healers are rare enough that they need armor to specifically differentiate them from everyone else. Most people share all the available armor, but healers get their own.”

Pel’s eyes were sparkling as he looked down at himself. The brown didn’t particularly go with his natural coloring, but he bet he’d be allowed to paint or lacquer the wood if he asked nicely. The air suddenly shook, announcing the start to a new birthday ceremony.

“Alright, take it off and go have fun,” Ty said. “You’ll be camping out for the next week, so enjoy tonight!”

“If I have to go outside for a week, why am I not allowed to use the armor now?” Pel asked as he reluctantly turned to allow Ty to untie the back.

“Because as long as you stay within the influence of The Mother Tree where the Protectors can see you, nothing will threaten you,” Ty said. "Besides, it's tradition."

“But what if I go outside outside?” Pel asked.

Ty flicked Pel in the ear. “Don’t. The further you get from The Mother Tree’s protection, the more dangerous it becomes,” Ty warned. “Stay in The Glade, follow the rules, listen to the Protectors.” Ty finished releasing the straps and hooks, lifting the armor off of Pel. “Now, go have fun. The next week will be anything but.”

Throwing longing glances over his shoulder at the armor in Ty’s hands, Pel walked to the exit and left. Level 10 can’t come soon enough. Once I put that armor on, I’m never taking it off again. Except to paint it. And maybe to sleep. Oh, wait. What was that notification? Pel stopped mid-air, adhering to the rule of no Self Help while flying to open his notification.

Notification

Congratulations, by discovering 5 secrets you have unlocked a bonus Racial Skill!

[Fairy Intrusive] - By focusing on the Presence of a target, you may see their Level. Warning - The target might sense your snooping, reactions will vary!

“Ty was right, I understand now.” Pel said to himself. I gotta go try this out on EVERYONE! Pel took off with renewed enthusiasm for the gathering.