Part 9 (1/2)
hold it as long as she needed him to. And she did find strength there. She turned back to Baleweg, who stood waiting with endless patient wisdom glowing from his ethereal eyes... and lifted her hand to his.
Chapter 5.
I_can't do it.” Talia turned stubbornly away from Baleweg and looked out the window at the setting sun. Instead she spied Archer leaning against the paddock fence talking to her kennel a.s.sistant, Stella. Great. She was stuck in here playing mind games and he was out there distracting her employees. Judging from the smile on Stella's young face, she wasn't minding a whole lot. Talia's scowl deepened. ”You can do it, Talia. Come, let us try again.” Talia sighed and wondered for at least the thousandth time why she'd let them barge into her life. Not that she'd had a h.e.l.l of a lot of choice. Baleweg had promptly taken over the tower sewing room yesterday and had made it his own. Talia never used the room and had had no problem with the choice; it put him at a distance from her own room in the opposite tower. Until he'd made it clear that they were to begin their studies in this room. Immediately. She faced Baleweg squarely. ”We've been at this since late yesterday almost nonstop. I have explained that my ability to feel emotions is limited to animals. And even if I could connect with people, I don't see how that will help me to heal them.”
Baleweg's expression didn't so much as flicker. Talia sighed yet again. ”I realize this seems a rather overwhelming task,” he said at length. ”That's an understatement,” she said under her breath. To him she said, ”You're not even a healer, so how can you teach me to be one anyway?”
”No one can teach you to be a healer. You are born to it. As is the case with you. Obviously your mother had little time to bring forth your natural ability.
And it's apparent from what you've told me that you've done your best to suppress even your empathic skills.” He tapped his wide forehead with his finger. ”My skills lie in delving into the hidden powers of the mind. My hope is to help you delve into yours, help you free your natural abilities. In order to do that, I have to teach you how to focus, to stretch the boundaries of your empathic skills. Once you feel more comfortable with those skills you are aware of, those more deeply buried will surface.”
Talia's breath hitched at the casual mention of her mother. She tried not to let
him notice, but of course he did.
”Your mother would be proud of what you are doing, Talia. I am sorry you knew so little of this side of her.”
”I didn't know any of it!”
He smiled kindly. ”Perhaps you know more than you're aware of. She told you tales of her life. What do you remember of those nighttime stories?”
Just enough to frustrate her, Talia thought, and not enough to fully convince
her that they were telling the truth. After all, it was a pretty d.a.m.n fantastical truth. And there were no other explanations forthcoming. ”They were just stories,” she said stubbornly. But they both knew she was beginning to believe they had been much more than that.
He didn't push her. ”Perhaps in return for all our hard work,” he said, ”I can
tell you some of what I knew of her.”
He certainly knew the right carrot to dangle. ”I would like that,” she said honestly. In fact, it was learning about her mother as much as anything else that had prodded her to go along. ”But I can't see where studying harder will
change anything. Surely if I'd had any healing powers, they'd have surfaced by
now.”
”We've only been at this a day. Patience.” But his eyes clouded ever so briefly, betraying his own anxiety. Wonderful.
”I am trying,” she said quietly. ”I just don't want to mislead you into believing I can actually help this... this-”
”Catriona.”Talia felt a little s.h.i.+ver along her spine. ”Why are you doing this? I mean, I know Archer is doing it for the money. Are you doing it because you're close to the... the queen?” Just saying that felt strange... and yet...
”I'm doing this because I loved your mother. She was, perhaps, the daughter I never had.” He shrugged, for the first time looking uncomfortable. ”I suppose I was more mentor to her than father. We shared a great love for exploring the powers of the mind. She had an endless thirst for knowledge.”
Talia had gone completely still. She had no doubt Baleweg spoke the truth. It was there in every note, every fiber of his very electric being. She asked the question that had been on her mind since she first realized he was close to Eleri. ”Did she tell you who my father was?”
Baleweg looked even more sorrowful. ”I'm so sorry. She didn't confide in me as a rule. Our relations.h.i.+p wasn't of that nature. When her life was threatened because of her alliance to the king, her power to help him, she knew the only way to protect you was to leave her own time. So she came to me and I helped her. I'm here now to prepare you for a task she never had the chance to.”
”I don't want to disappoint you,” Talia said honestly.
His expression cleared and he seemed relieved to return to his role as mentor.
”I believe that if you can begin to connect with humans, your hidden talents
should begin to surface.”
”I've never once felt anything from another person. Only animals.”
”It's all in the focus. I can teach you to shut out external stimulation and see
with your mind's eye.”
Everything inside her s.h.i.+ed away from this. If she took on animals' pain as her
own and found that draining and potentially destructive, she couldn't imagine taking on human pain and surviving with her own soul intact.