(A/N: Thank you to all you wonderful people who reviewed and told me Jander had silver eyes. I thank you all sooooo much. In case you people are too, how you say, RETARDED to tell, I had to go find it myself! Thanks so much! Jeez. BTW, I really hope I asked you to tell me before. If I'm yelling at you for no reason, sowwy.)
Chapter Six
The next morning, Pa'das woke at first light. She saw Jander holding Korrieana, watching the sunrise. She could hear him softly talking to her in that high-pitched voice babies love to hear.
"See all the pretty colors?" he asked her, not realizing Pa'das was up and could hear him. "There's pink and purple and golden-yellow. There's some red way back there." Korrieana babbled something to him in baby talk. "That's right. Puffy cotton candy clouds." Jander caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye. He whirled around and saw that it was only Pa'das. He started blushing, wondering how much she had heard.
"How long have you been standing there?" he asked defensively.
"Since the pretty colors," she told him, with a smile to put him at ease. "Don't stop just because I'm here."
Jander shook his head. He felt so embarrassed that someone had heard him talking like an idiot. Pa'das laughed as she came to sit on the rock next to him. She leaned her head on his strong shoulder, enjoying the view with her closest friend. They were sitting at the edge of a sheer cliff. At the base was sprawling grassland. The sun coming up over the horizon was a beautiful sight.
Jander sat thinking about his conversation with Eckerd the night before. Eckerd was still asleep and it was the perfect time to talk to her about it. But, he was loathe to end the moment. He felt a strange feeling stirring in his breast, one that he couldn't place. Since he didn't know what it was, he ignored it. He figured that now was as good a time as ever to talk to her.
"Eckerd can sense when other people have magic." Pa'das looked curiously at him, until it dawned on her where this was leading. Jander continued, "He says that you are fairly oozing magic."
"You didn't-" Pa'das began, sitting up straight. Jander held up a hand to silence her.
"No, I didn't tell him anything. But he is going to start bugging you to tell him anything you know. And he won't give up until you break."
Pa'das shook her head. "He'll be asking in vain," she said, concentrating on a point on the ground.
Jander set Korrieana on the ground, behind the rock so she wouldn't roll off the cliff. He made Pa'das look at him.
"Talking to Eckerd made me remember that he is the world's only expert on wild magic - a rare form of magic. It sounds like you have wild magic. Eckerd can tell you things about what you can do. You should tell him."
Pa'das looked at him with doubt-filled eyes. Jander renewed his argument.
"He won't treat you as a freak, or anything like that. I mean, look who he has as a friend." Jander spread his arms wide as if inviting inspection. "A vampire." He let his arms drop and picked up Korrieana again. "Just think about it, okay?"
Pa'das sighed and nodded. Thinking couldn't hurt. But, she was sure she wouldn't change her mind.
"You know I never would have told even you, except I wasn't thinking and my big mouth opened." She hoped Jander wouldn't take offense to that.
He nodded. "Just as one morning you would have woken up, and come to my door, and I would have been gone, the whole place cleared out, without even the barest of goodbyes. The only reason I'm saying you should tell him is because he studies wild magic. He could probably tell you tons of things you could do, if it is wild magic."
Pa'das smiled. He understood, as she should have known he would. She stood up, smiling in thanks at Jander.
"I'm going to go pack," she said.
"Eckerd's not going to be up for another hour at least," Jander said with a grin. "He's one of those late to bed, late to rise people."
Pa'das grinned. "But if I stay here, I'm depriving Korrieana of your wonderful conversation." She smiled and said more gently, "It took me weeks to be comfortable talking to her in front of people." She kissed the top of Korrieana's head and left. Jander watched her walking back to her bedroll, that unfamiliar feeling stirring in him again. He pushed it away, and went back to talking to Korrieana.
* * * * *
They traveled for many days. Eckerd was continually bugging Pa'das about her magic. He would drive her just to the point where she was about to explode, and then stop. He'd wait until she cooled off, and then start again. But then he was so charming the rest of the time, that neither Pa'das nor Jander could get mad at him. He cracked jokes and told funny stories. Eckerd was certainly the most charismatic man Pa'das had ever known - and the most persistent.
Finally, Pa'das gave up. She was tired of having to listen to him bug her.
"Look," he said for what was probably the millionth time, "magic fairly oozes out of you. Are you still trying to tell me you can't do anything at all? Not even a simple cantrip?"
I could shut him up for you, Soorefina offered.
Pa'das declined her offer, even as Eckerd started in again.
"See! Right there! You just did something; there was just a burst of magic. What did you just do?"
Pa'das' gaze flickered towards Jander, looking for reassurance. He gave her a slight nod, encouraging her to talk. He came to stand behind her, his close proximity giving silent support.
"I was telling Soorefina that she needn't shut you up quite yet."
"You were talking to her," Eckerd stated more than asked.
"Yes," she said defensively, silently daring him to say anything disrespectful.
"And how does this work?" he asked.
"I don't know. I just direct my thoughts to a particular animal, and they hear them. Or, I aim them for an area, and all the animals within that area hear. I think."
"What about animals talking to you?"
"It's just as though I were standing in a busy marketplace. But, you learn to block them out."
"How about range?"
"I don't know. It seems limitless, but I never really checked."
"And how long…?"
"Ever since I can remember, I've been able to talk to animals, and vice versa." Pa'das was glad he hadn't called her names or anything, but these questions were starting to make her uncomfortable. She felt like she was a bug being studied by some intent child.
Eckerd nodded. "And…"
Jander noticed Pa'das getting increasingly uncomfortable as the questioning proceeded. He could see in her face that she was coming to regret her decision to tell. Jander did not want her confidence in him and his word broken, so he cut in before Eckerd could finish the next question.
"Eckerd," he said warningly. "Enough. Neither freak nor specimen, remember?"
Eckerd winced. "Yes, I had forgotten. Please, I beg of you, accept my humblest and most heartfelt apology." He bowed low and swept out his cloak behind him. He stayed low, waiting for Pa'das to answer.
Pa'das paused for so long that Eckerd actually feared he had crossed the line, far beyond where he usually did. But, Jander would never let him get that far, would he?
"Apology accepted," she finally said. Eckerd straightened as she continued. "But, let's just forget I ever opened my mouth, okay?" She cast a glare Jander's way. He spread his arms in mute apology.
"Wait," Eckerd pleaded. "You have wild magic. I doubt you know anything about it, and I've been studying it all my life. There's so much more you can do, other than talk to animals."
Pa'das but her bottom lip, thinking. "Like what sort of things?"
"Tons of things!" Eckerd was all excited again. "You can make things grow, talk with the earth itself. Shape change into any animal's form." His face fell again. "But I can't promise anything. I don't have wild magic, and I've never tried to teach it to anyone." His face brightened. "But if it's inherent, it shouldn't be too hard to bring out." He looked like a little kid who had just discovered a new toy. Pa'das and Jander found it hard - in fact, almost impossible - to not be taken in by his jubilance.
"Well…maybe," Pa'das said. "I'll think about it. If," she cautioned, "you stop bugging me."
"Deal!" Eckerd said. He dropped back to walk behind Jander and Pa'das, whistling a jaunty tune.
"Sorry," Jander said softly to Pa'das. "I should have warned you he would probably do that."
Pa'das turned her head to glare at him, but her features softened at the look on his face. It was apologetic, and a little fearful. Ever since they had left Makam, Jander had seemed to be walking on eggshells around her half the time, afraid to say anything to offend her. In fact, that's exactly what it was. In Makam, he didn't have anything against him. Everyone thought he was just an elf. He didn't need to worry about offending Pa'das, because he would leave soon anyways.
Now, however, it was different. Pa'das knew he was a vampire, so he already had that going against him. Rationally, he knew that it didn't make a difference to her, but he still worried. It took him ages to come to truly trust Eckerd after he found out. Jander needed all the friends he could get, and couldn't stand to lose any of them. So, whenever he said something that he thought would offend Pa'das, or she appeared to be mad at him, he got extremely worried. He tried to hide it, and thought he did pretty well. To anyone who didn't know him well, they would have seen nothing. But Pa'das and Eckerd could read him like a book.
Pa'das always found it hard to be mad at him when he looked like this. He heart always seemed to melt, as she looked into his face, studying all the little nuances to determine his mood. He was so cute when he was worried and trying to hide it! She saw the fear growing in his eyes. It would have been imperceptible to anyone else. It was almost growing into the Jander-version of panic. She wondered why, until she realized she was still glaring. She quickly softened her features into a slight but warm smile.
"The problem with you is that you're too damned cute to stay mad at for long." She grinned at him, letting him know he was forgiven.
He smiled back and relaxed almost imperceptibly.
"'Neither freak nor specimen'?" she quoted back at him. "Where'd you come up with that?"
Jander laughed. "When Eckerd discovered my secret, it was much the same thing you just experienced. That man's thirst for knowledge knows almost no bounds. So, finally, I got sick of it. I told him, 'You claim to be my friend. You don't treat me like a freak, which I am glad of. But, I am not some specimen to be studied. I am neither freak nor specimen.' Then I walked out the door."
"That's a horrible thing to do to a friend," Pa'das said.
Jander was confused. "What I did or what he did?"
"What he did, silly!" She socked him in the arm. "That should have been obvious!"
Jander smiled. "I can't really blame him. I mean, how often is it anyone is able to actually talk with a vampire? To be able to learn things about us, without the fear of being killed, without having to worry about being lied to? It's a wonderful opportunity for the entire world to gain knowledge."
"It was still wrong," Eckerd said, coming up behind them. He had some sort of herb in his hand, which he put in his bag. "I shouldn't have put my thirst for knowledge before our friendship. But, sometimes I get carried away, as I did today. Once more, I apologize."
Pa'das waved off the apology. She was still pretty angry, but was more interested in all the possible things she could do.
* *
* * *
Almost a week later, Pa'das was through thinking over Eckerd's offer. He had been true to his word, and hadn't said a word to her about wild magic.
"Can I really make things grow?" she asked him.
He looked glad she had brought it up. "Yes, and not only green things. You can cause rocks to shoot up from the ground where there were none before; sheer cliff faces to block your enemies. You might even be able to call up elementals, but I'm not sure if that's truth or just myth."
Pa'das pondered for a moment on this new development. "And you could teach this to me?"
"I could try," he responded. "All I have are books. Do you want to try?" He looked hopeful. It would be wonderful to see actual wild magic, instead of merely reading about it.
"Yes, I would. It could come in handy to know how to do some of that," she said, thinking of Sarrasor.
Eckerd's face lit up. "When do you want to start?" he asked jubilantly.
"How about tomorrow?"
"Great!"