CHAPTER 3 – THE GIFT IS PASSED

I can remember when I was just nine, I had become a complete master of the gift. I had even learned more than the elders had at that point. Every time someone performed for us, I watched very closely. I learned how to do these tricks just by watching them. Then when I was alone in the forest, I did them myself. I could master and even perfect the skill in a matter of minutes. Yin was always there to watch me. Even though I had the scroll, I think the real reason I could master the gift so soon was because of her. She encouraged me to the limit, and even far beyond that! I felt bad that she could do nothing, though.

For those three years, I had kept Yin and the scroll a complete secret from everyone, even Baki. That is until, "Friendship Day" came. We were to bring our best friend to the front of the classroom, and tell everything we knew about them. When I asked Baki is he could my best friend, he disagreed. "You're always off in the forest. Why don't you tell everyone who you're meeting there?" Then, unfortunately, some of my classmates heard him. "Yeah, Lein. Why don't you? We'd love you to tell us about them."

"Well, I…" What was I going to tell them!?

"Yeah, come on Lein. Who's your Best Friend?"

"Her…her name's Yin." I had just told them, but that didn't mean I ad to show them.

"Yin? Cool name! Will you bring her in?"

"No, I'm sorry, I can't. She's really shy."

"Oh." I could tell they were disappointed. "Well, you'll tell us about her, right?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Cool! Hey, Maybe you should go first?" I blushed at thought of me going first. Me, going first? I've never done that!

"Um, well, I don't know about first. But I know I won't be last!" I put on a big smile. That convinced them. "Cool!"

When the day came, I explained everything about Yin. My classmates were surprised that anyone could know their friend that well. I even answered some questions from the teachers about her. As I answered every question, people were starting to imagine what Yin looked like. They would be pretty surprised if they saw the real Yin. But I kept her appearance to myself. "Will we ever get to see Yin?" "Maybe. When she's done being shy." They all looked at me, and then went back to imaging what she looked like.

I kept thinking about surprised faces myself. Then, a few days before my tenth birthday, I got a surprise of my own. I went to the little lake in the forest like I did everyday. That was where Yin was hiding, and where we always met. But that day was different, I could feel it! "Yin? Yin where are you?" I started to call to her. The weird thing was, she didn't try to jump on my like regular in a surprise attack. "Yin?" Then, once I found her, I couldn't believe my eyes. She was able to make a puddle float in mid-air, like the way my class was learning. But this was more advanced, like how I did it. She made have the lake float in the air! "Yin!" I must have startled her because the moment I screamed out, the water dropped. "Yin, did you do that? Could you do it again?" I pulled up the water with my palm, but only as much as I could in my hand. The water was in my palm for a few seconds before it went to just above her paw. Then, to my amazement, she started to play with it, like it was a little ball! "Yin, guess what?" She looked at me for a second, then went back to playing. "Yin, I think you have the gift, just like me!" I guess she got tired of playing with the water, because she let it down. Then she just jumped into my arms, purred, and took a little nap. "Okay, I get it. You're tired." Then, we both relaxed for the rest of the day. I decided to shut my eyes too.

By the time I opened my eyes again, the sun was just about set and Yin was once again playing with the ball. "Okay, Yin? I'll be back tomorrow. Be good till then." As I left the lake, I thought of how maybe Yin could have learned the gift. Maybe she learned from watching me. Or maybe she could have looked at the scroll while I was at school. Either way, she learned how to use the gift, just like me. And I was happier. Now, except for the fact that she was a fox, Yin was just like me. She was able to see something and instantly learn it, she was able to use the gift, and she could find her way around the forest perfectly, just like I could. We had both left markers around random trees so we could tell how far away we were from the lake. These marks just looked like animal marks to anyone, but to us, they were feet distances.