20
Ruva rejoiced going back to the academy, even if not much had changed. The main change that Ruva experienced after returning from her holidays was her Species Distinction class. They had missed out on the first semester due to the teacher, Varin, who had contracted a contagious disease. After Ruva's first lesson, she knew it was her favourite subject. Varin was delighted by her gift, and let her communicate with whatever species they were learning about. This developed her gift more than any exercises that Marmaduke set her, and she enjoyed the challenge of speaking to a new species every week.
Ruva began to find out more about her gift, realising why she found different species harder or easier to talk to. The more intelligent species had more expressions and body language, which in turn made it harder for Ruva to understand and communicate. So far, the most difficult being to understand was a Flip. The Flip, whose name was Tork, was very diplomatic. He could speak the human tongue, and was very patient with Ruva and her questions. Tork would repeat himself slowly in his own language, giving Ruva the time to translate. She found hard to mimic the humming noise that Flips used to communicate, and ended up with a sore throat.
In Core Skills, Marmaduke had her working extra hard. While she had spent the last semester interpreting ribbons, Marmaduke wanted Ruva putting all her efforts into sharing others with her gift. Ruva would have share her gift with her Core Skills teacher for the whole lesson, something that exhausted Ruva day after day. But her endurance built up, and eventually she found she could hold Marmaduke and keep her gift steady at the same time. After that she made Ruva hold two people to her gift, then three. Some days she would get bad headaches, but on most she could hold as many as three people to her gift, or use it by herself for an hour.
…
A week before exams, Tayla introduced her to a new saddle. It was different to a normal saddle, with a bar in the centre for holding onto. It took Ruva about an hour to adjust to the saddle, and not just because she usually rode bareback. She kept on leaning into the bar, giving herself a nasty bruise. Tayla kept having to adjust her position, making her lean back instead of forwards. When she finally got the hang of it, Tayla let her ride bareback, saying she needed a break. She set Ruva out on a long and thin route through the forest. The path was so unmarked that she had to dodge low tree branches, but Ruva felt as if she could keep going forever.
When she and Dancer cleared a particularly high log, they both whinnied as loud as they could. Ruva couldn't feel her hands, and her hair kept whipping her face, but she barely noticed. Ruva suddenly ducked, just avoiding a tree branch. She needed to pay attention to her route, or she could miss one of her turn-offs. After about an hour of riding, Ruva and Dancer made a particularly tight turn, and the path widened out before them. Ruva realised she was back on the main path, the one they used for most ES lessons.
Ruva sat back and adjusted her grip, easing Dancer back into a canter. Something else broke through the trees behind them, Ruva glanced back and saw another horse galloping towards them. It was the same breed as Dancer, and by the looks of its mane, it was wild. It drew level with them, matching Dancer's pace.
Ruva examined the horse more closely. "Moonrunner?!"
The equine jolted when Ruva made the horse-like noise. It then examined her closely, before crying out. "Ruva!"
Moonrunner stopped, and Ruva guided Dancer around so that they were next to each other. She then jumped down, running straight to Moonrunner. She hugged the wild horse's flank. "Moonrunner!"
It was Moonrunner, the wild horse who Ruva used to ride when she was with her parents. She thought that she would never see her again, but here they were, four years later.
Moonrunner gave an equine laugh. "I doth hardly believe it! You hath grown so much, Ruva Equine Speaker. But I see some things hath not changed," Moonrunner eyed her horse charm necklace, and Ruva touched it self-consciously.
"Who is thy mount?" asked Moonrunner.
"Moonrunner from Deep Herd, let me introduce you to Moondancer…" Ruva trailed off, realising she didn't know Dancer's full title.
"I am Moondancer Human Mount, but you don't know that name. When I was still wild, I had a different name. I was Moondancer of Deep Herd."
Moonrunner froze, and so did Ruva.
Dancer looked at Moonrunner with overwhelming love. "It is a pleasure to see you, Sister."
Ruva gasped and stepped back, and Moonrunner reared. "Dancer? Is it… is it really thee, after all these years?"
Tears filled Ruva's eyes as she watched Dancer give an equine nod. Moonrunner charged towards her sister with more speed than Ruva had ever seen her, Ruva had to jump out of the way or her foot would've been crushed.
The two sisters collided, rubbing their heads against each other with more force than Ruva thought was possible. Tears came trickling down her face as she realised how important the two horses were to her. They had changed her life, and Ruva didn't know what she would be – who she would be – without them.
She sat down on the side of the track, watching their heartfelt moment. She didn't want to intrude, but she didn't want to miss out either. Her back was against a large tree that shielded her from the sun. She pulled her knees against her chest, and she remembered all the things she'd achieved with the two of them.
She had awakened her gift. Gone for her first ride. Rode all the way to Akarnae. Met Dancer. Stood while Dancer cantered. Delucia gave Ruva her mount.
The list went on and on. Eventually Dancer and Moonrunner came and lied beside her. They snuggled close to her as she told them everything they'd helped her achieve. Ruva kept talking and talking, breaking into tears more than once. The sun slowly set as Ruva kept speaking, sharing almost every moment that one of the sisters might have missed.
That was where Tayla found them.
Tayla rode towards them, and Ruva noticed she was on Monarch, the horse Delucia rode. She had an almost amused look on her face, like she wasn't at all surprised by Ruva's position. Ruva smiled, realising how she would look from an outsider's perspective. Her extremely long hair was knotted and filled with all sorts of things, and she was flanked on either side by two nearly identical horses. She obviously looked as wild as she first did when she came to the academy four years ago.
"I see you've made some new friends there, Ruva," Ruva stood up slowly, stiff from sitting down for so long.
"Not new ones," Ruva said quietly. "Moonrunner is the wild horse I rode when I was nine, and her sister, Moondancer is the mount the princess gave me." Ruva's voice began to grow husky. She'd overused her gift, and she knew her voice wasn't going to last much longer.
"I can see you're enjoying yourself, but it's almost your curfew. You need to bring Dancer back to the stable, and her wild sister is more than welcome to stay overnight. Can you tell her that?"
Ruva nodded and whispered in Moonrunner's ear, her throat was too sore to speak properly.
"Let's go," said Tayla, and Ruva gracefully jumped onto Moonrunner's back. She marvelled at how much smaller she seemed since Ruva last rode her. Her legs fit perfectly against Moonrunner's sides, and Ruva could hold onto her mane much easier.
Ruva rode all the way back to the academy, her blond hair billowing out behind her.
…
Ruva knew she was too emotionally wound up to sleep, so she went down to the rec room. She sat down at the table with the other first years, where Harry was telling another one of his famous stories.
"Have you ever wondered why Luranda's lab has so many rules?" Harry started to chuckle. "Most of them were for my brother and his friends."
"About five years ago, when my brother was at Akarnae, he and his friends started annoying Luranda. They started by purposely wearing their lab coats back-to-front, something that frustrated her to no end. The worst part was, she couldn't give them a detention because they hadn't broken any rules! It only took a few lessons for her to make a new rule; nobody can deliberately wear their clothes back-to-front."
People started smiling as they realised where the story was heading.
Harry continued. "But that was only the beginning. The next Medical Science lesson they had, they sneezed every time Luranda said 'textbook'. She couldn't give them a detention for sneezing, so she made a rule about unnecessarily sneezing in her class," People started to laugh, and Ruva found herself smiling as she remembered when Alicia Porvey had gotten detention when she had a sneezing fit.
Harry smirked. "They kept at it for months, until Luranda's rule list was as big as her textbook," Harry sneezed then, and everyone started laughing. "And then, on his last day at Akarnae, my brother broke every single rule! He got one hundred hours of detention, but he graduated that afternoon. I would pay good money to see my brother meet Luranda again."
Snorts of agreement were heard all over the table, and Ruva smiled.
Quite a few people were in the rec room, and Ruva realised that someone had organised a movie night. The movie was about halfway through, but Ruva slipped on a ring and was immersed into the movie. Ruva hadn't seen many movies, but she could tell that this one was a definite favourite. People were saying lines as they happened, and whenever a song started the students burst out into badly-pitched singing.
When the movie was done, everyone left the rec room except for Arra, Leo and Harry. Ruva had pulled them over to the table, and they ordered milkshakes.
Arra was the first to speak. "What have you pulled us all down for, Angel? I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm feeling really tired."
Ruva opened her mouth to tell them, but all that came out was a dry croak. Harry ordered a glass of water, but Ruva turned it down. She knew her voice was gone because of her gift, and it might take a few days to replenish. Ruva looked around for a pen and paper, but she sighed when she realised nothing was available. Ruva didn't know what to do, but then she remembered something.
So Ruva took a leap of faith, and pushed her thoughts towards Leo, the way she imagined he must use his gift. She knew she was successful when she saw Leo jerk. Then she heard Leo's voice in her mind, but it was quiet, too quiet for Ruva to hear properly. She could guess what Leo was trying to ask her if she'd really spoke into his mind.
Ruva pushed her thoughts towards him again, 'Yes, I really did speak into your mind. I used my gift – my animal speaking one, – too much, so now I can't talk. Can you tell everyone that?'
Leo's response was clear enough to understand this time. 'Ruva! You're speaking in my mind. H-How?'
Ruva glanced around the table, realising that Harry and Arra were both silent, still waiting for her to give some kind of explanation. 'Look, can you just tell everyone that I can't speak normally. They're waiting for me to respond.'
Leo didn't respond, but Ruva saw him look at Arra and Harry, and she watched their expressions. With perfect timing, they both yelled out, "What?!"
Leo frowned, but Ruva found herself isolated from the conversation. Ruva now understood how Leo felt before his gift awoke, she was being ignored and couldn't voice her opinion.
"Ruva…" said Arra, "What Leo told us… Did you really speak into his mind?"
Ruva nodded slightly, her hands going to her Myrox necklace.
"How?" asked Harry, his tone deadbeat.
Ruva pushed her thoughts to Leo. 'I knew it was possible ever since I examined your gift ribbon. It will be easier if I show everyone through my gift.'
Leo explained to Arra and Harry, but they were both concerned.
"Are you sure you can handle that many people?" asked Arra, "You might crash if you do all four of us at once."
Ruva just nodded, communicating that she could do it.
Harry frowned. "Am I the only one who is confused here?" When no one replied, he continued, "Ruva's gift is animal speaking, how did she know the thing about Leo?"
Arra was the one who responded. "She's not talking about her animal speaking gift, she means her other one."
Harry's eyes widened. "Two gifts? Two gifts! How is that even possible! You must be joking!"
Ruva realised she had never told Harry about her second gift, and she buried her face in her hands. Ruva pushed her thoughts to Leo once more.
'Can you try?' she asked, making a mental note never to ask Arra to explain something.
Leo nodded and looked at Harry. Ruva could see he was concentrating hard, but Harry didn't seem to hear him.
But Harry didn't notice, he just kept on talking. "This isn't some science fiction movie! How can you have more than one gift? It's not biologically possible!"
Leo stood up and touched Harry on the arm. Physical contact, Ruva knew, made people's gifts more effective, and it seemed to work on Harry. He stopped talking, looking intently at Leo. Whatever Leo was sharing was long, but it calmed him down.
Harry took in a deep breath. "Do you really have your dad's gift?"
Ruva felt Arra stiffen beside her, and she realised that she'd neglected to tell her what she had discovered on New Year's Eve. She nodded to Harry's comment, wishing more than ever that she had her voice back.
"Will you – can you show me?"
Ruva nodded again, and activated her ribbon-seeing gift. She grabbed at her gift ribbon and dragged it over to Harry, she could tell from his ribbons how confused he was feeling. She placed the ribbon on his forehead, and she heard him gasp as he saw the ribbons surrounding him.
Harry gave a nervous laugh. "I guess… I guess it is possible…" Ruva smiled at him and moved over to Arra, putting her gift ribbon against her head too. She only smiled when she saw the ribbons, not overwhelmed like she had been the first time. Ruva brought her ribbon over to Leo, pausing in front of him. He was waiting for her with his eyes closed, trusting her. She brought the ribbon to Leo's forehead, marvelling at how soft his skin was. Her fingers lingered for only a few seconds, but Leo noticed.
He smiled when he opened his eyes. Leo looked at the ribbons surrounding them, before his gaze rested on Ruva. Ruva started to fidget, grabbing her Myrox necklace for comfort.
'They've changed,' said Leo.
Ruva blinked. 'What?'
Leo smiled. 'Your ribbons have changed since last time.'
Ruva looked around, and she saw Leo was right. Her ribbon connected to Moonrunner was glowing brighter than ever, the love she felt for her a tangible thing. Her animal speaking ribbon was a pale, pale green, showing how she had drained her gift.
Ruva looked at Leo. 'They have changed, this ribbon has become brighter, and this one is paler.'
Leo pointed out a ribbon. 'Before this one was pale pink, but now it's a bit brighter.'
Ruva froze, Leo was pointing at the ribbon connecting them. The ribbon that meant Leo was going to fall in love with her.
Thankfully, they were interrupted by Harry. "So, were you born with two gifts?"
Ruva shook her head, and her father's gift ribbon flew into her hand without her summoning it. She looked to Leo, and he read the pleading gaze in her eyes.
'At the moment Ruva's father passed away, his gift ribbon was connected to Ruva, similar to what she's doing with us now, and when he died, the ribbon stayed with Ruva.'
Ruva raised her eyebrows at the very – very – abridged version of the story, but she was grateful that she didn't have to show everyone the ribbon. The memory alone was traumatic enough, she didn't need to relive it.
Harry whistled, but Arra looked confused. "How long have you known this?" she asked.
Ruva was about to push her thoughts to Leo, but he interceded. 'Ruva's known since that sleepover we had on New Year's Eve. That was when she showed me her ribbons.'
Arra frowned, and Ruva knew that she needed to explain it better, maybe even show her the ribbon for her to understand, but she'd have to do that later.
"How did you find out about the thing with Leo? Do you have a third gift or something that helps you do that?"
Ruva considered just telling them, but she thought they would prefer a more literal answer. So Ruva walked over to Leo, his gift ribbon flying into her hand as she summoned it.
Ruva used pinpoint control, just like she'd practiced with Marmaduke, to search through Leo's ribbon, looking for the information she needed. Finally, she found the tiniest strand, a strand carrying the information she needed. She held the strand out to the three of them, yawning from the extra exhaustion that came with it. All three of them touched the strand, and their expressions immediately cleared up.
The tiny strand explained exactly what Leo's gift was, that he was a telepathic communicator, not a mind reader. It also explained how the communication worked both ways, that if Leo's mind was open, he could receive responses to his messages.
"That's… really interesting," said Arra, not able to come up with a more adequate response. "When did you learn this?"
Ruva pushed her thoughts to Leo, and he communicated it with the others. 'Ruva says she's known about it since we first met. She was shocked when I first spoke to her, so she used her second gift to check if I was a mind reader.'
Arra smirked. "I still remember how out of it you were that dinner. I thought you were just staring at him," she said, her double meaning all too clear for Ruva.
Ruva elbowed Arra, but before she could communicate her annoyance Harry jumped in. "I want to try doing the telepathic communicating thing, are you willing to give it a shot, Leo?"
Leo nodded, and they both walked aside.
Ruva felt the strain of her gift increasing, and she realised that it was still connected to Leo and Harry. Ruva felt a painful spasm, and she cried out. But her voice was still gone from overusing her animal speaking gift, so she cried out in her mind instead. Leo heard her mental call, and he turned around and ran back, just as she collapsed. Ruva let go of her second gift, and the pain only increased. She scrunched her eyes shut, and clenched her jaw at the pain. She could tell that her friends were trying to talk to her, but Ruva couldn't work out a word they were saying.
It could have been seconds, it could have been hours, but Leo's voice made it into her mind. 'Ruva! What happened? What do we need to do?'
Ruva couldn't form full sentences. 'Overused… gifts… get… help… Fletcher…'
Ruva felt herself being lifted up, but then she fell into blissful unconsciousness.
