Ch 4 Finding a Gift
Dorian followed Gareth down the hallway, this part of the Collegeum, wasn't familiar to him. This was where the Heraldic trainees had those classes that applied only to them.
He felt uneasy being here, he saw the surprised looks he was getting from the greys they passed. Finally they came to a doorway. Gareth opened the door and waved him through, closing it behind them. A Herald looked up from his desk, his splinted leg stretched out to the side.
"Gareth, don't you have a session with the weaponsmaster this candlemark" he asked.
"Yes Lorrin, but this is more important" he said.
"Would Alberich agree" he asked ruefully.
"I think so" he answered.
Lorrin sat up straight at this wincing as he jarred his leg "What's so important that you could miss weapon's practice and not pay the price" he asked.
"I need to know if Dorian here has a gift, it's important" he said seriously.
Lorrin looked at him and Dorian shifted uneasily. "What gift do you suspect" he asked.
"I'm not sure, maybe mindspeech or empathy, it's probably not foresight" he said thinking.
"That's a wide group of possibilities, what makes you think that he has any gift at all" he asked.
"He's been dreaming about those murders of the women that everybody is so excited about" Gareth said.
"I'm not surprised, it's been talked about, some people are bound to dream about it"he said.
"He's had three dreams, each on the night of a murder, and each from the murderer's point of view" he said. "I don't think this a coincidence".
"It doesn't sound like it, Dorian, I'm going to have to look in your mind" he said .
"You mean read my thoughts" Dorian asked, scared.
"Only if I find a viable gift, then I would have to see your memory of the dreams" he said gently.
"Alright" he said, almost hoping the herald wouldn't find anything, but if he did maybe Dorian could help.
"Sit here and get comfortable, this won't hurt" he said to the boy.
Dorian sat and leaned against the back of his chair and closed his eyes.
"That's right relax, this won't take long" he heard Herald Lorrin say. Then he felt something in his mind, it wasn't exactly how he felt when he was having his dreams, but not totally unlike it. :Oh: he thought.
He felt a chuckle in his mind, :You definitely have mindspeech: he heard in his head.
He opened hid eyes to see Lorrin looking at him a slight frown on his face.
"Well, does he or doesn't he" Gareth asked impatiently from his chair.
"Yes, he has the beginnings of shields, he has mindspeech and perhaps a touch of empathy and the potential for fetching, though it hasn't woken up yet, it may never awaken" He looked back at Dorian. "I'm afraid I have to look into your memories of your dreams, if you are tapping into the killer's mind, we need to know" he said.
"Yes, I knew that, if it can help stop him I want to help, it's horrible the things he does" Dorian said.
He sat back again and closed his eyes, then he began to relive the dreams, he felt Lorrin do something and then he was removed from it as if it was happening to someone else, before Lorrin left his mind, he showed him things he had to do, something called grounding and centering, then he showed Dorian how to build his shields and to take then down if he wished. When the shields were up Dorian felt relief from a pressure he hadn't consciously felt. He relaxed completely for the first time in months.
"Thank you" he said to Lorrin.
"You're welcome" Lorrin smiled at him. "You're going to have to take a class now that normally only the Heraldic trainees take. You need to have training in your gift and a good sense of ethics in it's use, if you were chosen, your companion would help you, but you aren't so you'll have to learn from us". He looked at Dorian sternly "If we find out you are misusing your gift, it will be burned from your mind".
Dorian gulped "I won't sir" he said in a small voice.
:Pellegra: he sent. "Is the boy going to be chosen:
:I think so: she answered.
He sighed, relieved, it wasn't good for someone unchosen to have such a gift, there was too much opportunity for misuse, not that he thought Dorian would do such a thing, he had felt no such inclinations in his mind.
He looked at Dorian again "We need to talk to Alberich" he said.
Dorian's eyes got wide and he gripped the seat of his chair with whitened fingers.
Gareth laughed "He doen't eat babies for breakfast" he said.
"I'm not a baby" Dorian protested.
"That's not what I meant" Gareth said.
Lorrin pulled himself up on his crutches "Come on, the sooner we get there the sooner it'll be over" he grinned at the boy's faces. "Don't worry, Gareth, you did the right thing by bringing Dorian to me, I'll let Alberich know what you were doing. Though if memory serves me, you have a history test today don't you".
"Don't remind me" Gareth groaned.
"If it's as bad as that maybe you'd better study, I'll take Dorian here to Alberich" Lorrin said.
Gareth nodded and said to Dorian "You'll be fine, I'll maybe see you around".
Dorian nodded and watched Gareth leave before turning to Lorrin.
"Let's go" Lorrin said, guiding Dorian ahead of him before closing the door behind them..
