I wrote down whatever I could remember from the village. The woods surrounding it, the mountain peaks in the distance, the faint smell of a sea breeze. I was pretty certain my destination lay somewhere in Odera, in the northern regions. Two weeks after the viewing of the boy, I officially gained the title of Enhancer. They were surprised by how fast I had completed my training, but still I did not tell them the truth of what I was. Somehow I felt this was something that I had to do on my own.

Samos had not expected the gardens, a place he had assumed was a reserved for tranquillity and meditation, to be used as a sparring ground. They took up nearly the entire circular roof and was divided in four parts, each part having a designated type of plant growing in them.

The ones they were training in was home to rows of small tree-like shrubs, red berry-like fruits growing on their branches. From what he had learned, the Nakin grounded down these fruits into a powder they poured in their drinks, savouring it warm in a morning ritual. Kow, they called it.

In the section closest to them, makran trees reached high and wide, their branches bright green with thick clumps of leaves. Deciduous trees in the desert, somehow he wasn’t surprised anymore. The other garden sections held mainly bushes of fruits and vegetables, meant to nourish the inhabitants of the city. With the Conclave being so high, he could easily see the other buildings’ roofs, all covered with greeneries. A system that had allowed them to survive in solitude for centuries upon centuries.

“Done resting?” the crude voice of Serifé sounded.

Taking one last gulp from his cup, Samos stood up and readied himself. Since their meeting with the Conclave yesterday, the woman had taken it upon herself to train Samos and Eder personally. Old as she might seem, she reminded Samos a lot of Rey. There was a certain threat to her step, the way she held her arms besides her, how her eyes constantly surveyed the surroundings…

During the initial meeting, Samos had only vaguely paid attention to her, focusing all his attention on Aram’s story. Now though he wondered how he had so easily brushed her off. If he had understood it correctly, she was basically some kind of First Enhancer for Dadendam, the same role Rey had once held for the Order.

Her training was just as fierce as Rey’s, if not harsher. It was clear she expected a lot from the two of them, punishing every single little mistake they made.

“Good,” she spoke when Eder joined Samos. “Yesterday and this morning we’ve been focusing slowly on your Enhancement skills. Now that I have a good grasp of your capabilities and strength, we can switch it up a bit. If I can believe Sador’s report, you two have started training Absorption with

Teiran?”

They nodded.

“I can tell by the way you walk and move that thus far, that training has resulted in nothing so far. So here’s what we’ll do. Every morning, from sunrise to midday, you will be doing your regular Enhancement exercises followed by sparring matches both with yourself, the other Enhancers that live here and me. In the afternoon, you will be resting by trying to go through Absorption meditation.

“We will do this every day for as long as you decide to stay here. I will hear no complaints, will accede to no absences defended by feeble excuses. You will suffer under me, and through this suffering you will grow stronger.”

Her words sounded earnest and Samos felt his resolve strengthen. Ever since leaving Ralph in Vorna he had felt a certain guilt in his stomach for not being strong enough to help. He hadn’t even been able to stop the attack in the inn immediately after.

Serifé gave a thin smile as she locked eyes with both Samos and Eder. She looked as if she saw something she liked. “Follow me,” she instructed and lead towards the makran section of the gardens where she told them to sit down, back against the trunk of one of the trees.

“As you probably already know, makran wood has special properties when it comes to the Talents. Many of the people who train in the Conclave often spend hours simply sitting here, using the presence of the trees to deepen their connection with the power. Sit back, relax and search for the power within yourself. When you find it, do not enhance it. Instead, do as Teiran no doubt told you. Try to draw everything into the lines of power, let it absorb your surroundings. This will be your task for the remainder of the day.”

“Eh… Seri… Master?” Eder asked. “Didn’t you just tell us we would suffer under your training? I fail to see how this will be suffering.”

“Fool boy,” she shook her head. “Absorption requires subtlety and finesse, one has to be calm when first learning how to control it. You will suffer starting tomorrow, we Enhancement training starts.”

Eder gulped and moved back against the tree behind him. Following his example, Samos closed his eyes and adjusted his position so he sat comfortable. A pleasant warmth from the trunk was seeping into his body through his back, a sense of power filling him. The urge to enhance his body surfaced suddenly, how easy it would be now while in contact with the tree.

With reluctance, he pushed away the desire and instead focused on his breathing and heartbeat. Slowly, both slowed down and he found himself in a state of calmness, only he and the tree existing in this moment. Absorption. It sounded easy enough. But again he wondered, how does one do the opposite of something that felt as natural as breathing?

Maybe he needed something to compare it with?

For a brief moment, he enhanced his index finger before letting the power die out again in a flash. What exactly did he feel when he enhanced a body part? There was the power surging through his body as it made its way to the desired location.

Maybe…

Without thinking, he tried doing the opposite. This time, instead of sending the power towards his finger, he tried drawing it away from it. In a flash of dizziness, his entire arm grew numb as he drained it from power, the residue surging wildly through his body from his feet to his head and back before finally calming down.

With a deep gasp, he drew breath as the feeling returned to his arm as if it was dumped in ice cold water. He opened his eyes in shock, the pain was brief but beyond unbearable.

He noticed Serifé staring at him, face expressionless.

As the pain retracted, he focused again. He certainly had done something. Somehow he had taken the power in his arm and displaced it to somewhere else. That somewhere else had been his entire body which had no idea how to react to the unexpected overflow of power.

Preparing for the pain that would follow, Samos focused again on draining the power away from his finger, being more careful this time as not to affect his whole arm again. Slowly but surely, the power began to drain away from his finger. The numbness returned and before he knew what he was doing, he slowed down the draining. He felt the small overflow from his finger find its way through his body, looking for a place to be let out.

A pull came from his back. The makran was trying to pull away at his power, Samos realized, much like his sword’s hilt would do if left uncontrolled. With a sudden realization, he send the overflow from his finger towards the tree. A small tingle chilled his spine and then, the residue was gone.

His finger however, was still without power.

“Tap your finger against your belt,” Serifé’s voice came and Samos opened his eyes. He moved his hand towards his waist and tapped on the metal buckle. There was no sound.

Serifé smiled satisfied. “That’s the first step done with. Now, you will do the same as you did while training Enhancement. Every part of your body needs to be able to achieve this state. Once you are able to do that in quick succession, we will go on to the next step.”

As she finished, Eder gave a loud gasp and bent over double, wheezing as if he had just been punched in the gut.

“Seems like I underestimated the two of you,” Serifé marvelled. “This will be an interesting couple of days.”

¥

Lips pursed in concentration, Yara focused all her attention on the small piece of taen tightly held in the palm of her hands. On the ground before her lay the broken pieces of a ceramic bowl. Earlier that day, holding the same small rock, she had healed a boy’s broken ankle in a matter of minutes. It had been so easy with the taen filling her with power.

Then why couldn’t she put this bowl back together just as easily? It was supposed to come easy to her as Dovra’Sha of Healing and Sealing, or Soannin as they called it here.

Ralph had told her the combination of her two Talents would allow her to heal the world around her. She had tried multiple times, Ralph’s sword being the first attempt, but without success so far. She was missing something, something essential.

The lines of power were supposed to be everywhere around her, even in the little pieces of ceramic on the table before her. She could see them. Small and dull as they were, they were there. So why couldn’t she affect them?

What was the difference between the broken lines in a person’s injury and the ones in the bowl? Was there a distinction between living beings and simple objects?

And the she noticed. The lines in the ceramic pieces weren’t broken at all. Where the pieces ended, the lines had simply diverged and connected with the other lines in the same piece. She had never seen that in a person before, the lines would always be broken and require attachment to their original parts.

Curiously, she put the taen back on the table and grabbed two pieces that fit together, holding them against one another as if they were one. No matter how hard she pushed on the lines, she could not get them to move back to their original position.

The combination of your two Talents…

Ralph’s voice resounded vibrantly in her thoughts and suddenly she knew. All this time, she had been focusing on exclusively using Healing to fix the bowl. What if she healed through a seal?

In her mind, she formed the simple word of Healing and… gave it… form. In between her two hands, the two little pieces still held firmly in her grasp, line began to form. They sprung from one hand to the other, multiplying every time they touched her palms. After some time, the lines formed a cylindrical tube of power around the ceramic pieces.

Slowly but surely, the lines within the pieces began to wriggle and reform, finding their original bond in the other piece. A small flash of light briefly lit the space between her hands and when it faded, Yara saw one solid piece of ceramic in her hand.

“I…” she stumbled, looking around to find Faye and Ehli. They looked away from the makran roots they were working, a curious expression on their faces. “I did it.”

Ehli jumped upright and half walked, half sprinted towards her, Faye following her only a second later. She grabbed the piece from Yara’s hand and held it up in the steady light of one of the spheres.

“Seamless,” she whispered in disbelief. “Is this the first time you succeed in this, Yara?”

Yara nodded, a sudden exhaustion coming over her.

“I had the pleasure to know a few Soannin with the same Talents as you two,” she continued, “and it had taken them years to reach a healing as clean as this one. I can say nothing but that I am truly baffled.”

“And I can say nothing but that I am suddenly dead tired,” Yara answered with a wry smile. “I think I’m done forming seals and healing for the day.”

Faye helped her up from the chair. “Come sit with us for a while. You can observe us and rest while you do so.” Yara thought she detected a hint of pride in Faye’s voice.

Once seated, Faye and Ehli continued their study of the makran roots that hung before them. No matter how many times Yara looked at them, she couldn’t help but think they gave off an eerie vibe. She leaned forward on her elbows and controlled her breathing while observing the two others testing seals on the roots. The seal she had used on the pottery had drained her from nearly all of her strength. How in Sevens had Ralph expected her to heal his sword?

The end of the makran root that floated right before here twitched. It was a movement ever so small, but it had been there. Looking at her side, she noticed Faye and Ehli hadn’t noticed it. Curiously, she reached out her hand and held the root in between her fingers. The now familiar warmth filled her, relieving a bit of her tiredness.

She felt herself doze off.

With a sudden jolt, a surge of power exploded from the root into her body. For a moment, she was frozen in time as her body refused to let go off the root. A feeling of power filled her from head to toe, flowing in all directions without stopping.

As sudden as it had come, the feeling disappeared. She bolted backwards from her chair and came down hard on the ground, the back of her head smashing hard into the stone below. Before Faye or Ehli realized what was happening, she lay splayed open on the floor.

Wasn’t that supposed to have hurt a lot more?

“Yara!” Faye cried out. “Are you alright?”

With a grunt, she sat up straight and softly rubbed the back of her head. Nothing. She looked at her hand to check for blood, but instead of red stains, she saw something else. Her fingers were glowing brightly with power. As was her other hand. And her arms and the rest of her body for that matter.

The glow lasted only a moment before gradually fading away. “What happened?” she murmured.

Ehli kneeled next to her, her eyes wide with shock. “That was…” she was stuttering. “That was Enhancement, Yara. You have three Talents.”