Thank you to Ghostwriter71, Psycho Mutt, lucefatale, Jane (thank you!), TheQueenofGoodbyes, Lizzy B (I can't wait for their reunion either! I miss him!), chellekathrynnn, magicbustrip, souverian, Mollydolly1996, OnyxWritter, thatmutegirl33, Adela (thank you, I hope so too!), im- okay- mj, penmage007, Ella (I'm glad you don't think it's OP, I was a bit worried, but I think it's in keeping with others' abilities! And yep, nothing they thought worthy of unpacking haha!), Kyoki no Megami, and Standard postage (she's me too, and it made me laugh too! Also, he's so sweet, isn't he?) for your reviews as always! I'm actually amazed by the positive response, I was so worried, you've all put my mind at ease, so thank you!

I hope this makes more sense than the other chapter did about her ability! And, it might put Chapter 10 into perspective a bit more as well.

Chapter 23

Tanya, Irina, and Kate sprung from the sofa so quickly that Carys' tired mind was only just processing the fact they'd moved when Irina held the phone up and began to read the text.

She showed it to the others when she'd done so, and they then looked at Carys, matching expressions of confusion on their faces.

"It's Carlisle. He says: Coffee tomorrow? We'll all be there...?" Irina asked slowly, holding the phone towards Carys so that she could read the message.

Carys couldn't make out the words on the small screen from where she was, but she appreciated the effort all the same.

Sighing heavily in relief, she sank back against the cushions of the sofa and closed her eyes for a brief moment. "It means he's okay," she explained, opening her eyes to find the five vampires before her just as confused by her explanation as they had been by the text. She ran her hands over her face before unpacking her statement further. "It's something we say if we want to talk about something in depth but can't because we'll be overheard. If he's texting that, it means he's okay but he can't talk - I think maybe he means everyone's safe by the second part."

"You have codes?" Tanya asked, her impressed tone matching the glance she shared with Eleazar.

"Well we're going to have to change it now," Carys told her dryly, "but yes. I mean, the walls... And our minds, for that matter...," she mused with a twitch of her lips, "have ears. If we didn't, we'd never be able to have a private conversation..." She addressed Irina as she asked, "Can you send back that we're all okay too?"

Whilst Irina quickly complied with her request and the sisters retook their seats, she wondered how Bella was doing - whether Edward had been less coded in his message to her, or whether they'd had any news at all.

Carys asked aloud whether she should see if Alice's number was saved - if she could call them to see.

She kicked herself that she hadn't thought of it earlier, and hoped Irina or Kate had thought to let Alice and Jasper know she'd made it safely to theirs.

When Tanya informed her that they had and they were fine but shouldn't make too much contact just in case, her confusion over what Eleazar had explained to her about her power fought to dominate her mind within seconds, no matter how hard she tried to ignore it. She wondered if it wasn't that it was something to cling on to, something else to concentrate on rather than her fear.

"Can you explain my ability to me like I have no idea what a scout is?" She asked, turning to him as she pulled her sleeves down over her hands again. "Or what you mean by a commander? Because realistically, I really don't... Quite... Get it...," she admitted awkwardly as he raised his eyebrows, wondering if it was her tired mind, his complicated explanation, or both that had thrown her.

"Sorry dama," Carmen jumped in, leaning forward in her seat, cutting into Carys' view of her husband as she did so. "As much as I love Eleazar, he has a tendency to flummox. What he means by scouting is..." Her brow crinkled in concentration for a moment, clearing as she snapped her fingers. "A scout is someone who goes ahead of an army - they collect essential information for those following along, and usually work alone, or in small groups."

Tanya nodded and took over the explanation as if the two vampires had discussed it beforehand. "You know what we mean by reconnaissance?" When Carys nodded, she smiled again. "Good. Well, a scout's job is reconnaissance based really. You gather information about the daily life and interactions of the people-okay, well I'll continue explaining it as if you're in an army, it'll be easier. Right, so. Your job would be to gather information which can help the army's progress in the area. Everything from... Relationships, the terrain, people - the way they behave, their culture, their local language. If people tend to visit one restaurant more than another, or certain people live in one part of town and others in another - these are things you'd notice and catalogue. Hmm... What else?"

"You don't just pay attention to these things, you get to know the psychology of the enemy," Kate jumped in, taking over effortlessly. "History, social customs, traditions, the way they act, the things they do. All these are just as important as the rest. I think when Eleazar said you identified Forks as somewhere you could exploit, he meant this as much as recognising the terrain itself."

"Right," Irina agreed excitedly as Carys slid forward in her seat, finding their explanation far more understandable than Eleazar's, despite the way it moved between them. "You pay more attention to these things - just as anyone would, but you do it more so than others - almost unconsciously. Since knowing about vampires, you maybe... Adapted?" She looked to her sisters for their agreement, something they readily gave, before she nodded and turned back to Carys. "You've adapted to the way our minds work - the way Edward's mind works, for example, or Alice's... You look confused, sorry. Erm... Okay. Look. You talk to Edward through his mind, don't you?"

Carys nodded slowly. "But doesn't everyone?" She queried with a frown.

"Yeah, but I think maybe your mind adapted quicker to know when he's expressly listening, or by calling to him, addressing him personally. You could show authority with your thoughts, but also... You mentioned asking him about the Nomads in the field? That sounds more like you were calling upon him as part of a scouting troop to confirm what you saw - as if you'd unconsciously brought him into your command."

Carys started and rubbed her arm. "So... I did make him do something?"

"No, not at all!" Kate announced, gesturing her denial as she too pushed herself to the edge of her seat. "No. Edward's a scout of sorts as well - with the way he can read people's minds. You just took command as if he was a... Like you were a superior officer. Like with Alice - she can scout out the future, the movements of the enemy as soon as they decide them. That might be why you've adapted to those two so quickly?"

"Right!" Eleazar cut in, and Carys thought her head might start spinning if she kept switching her attention between them so quickly. "Scouting and command. Your ability to take command and display authority is far less developed than your ability to scout out information, but this is something you could develop. Your scouting is what excites me the most, but-" he spared Kate and Irina a nod. "-I understand why our sisters are so interested in that part. Do you see? Both could be trained, but your scouting abilities could be honed far more from what I can see. Already, you gain information from people. Tell us, do people give you information as easily as I think?"

"Erm..." Carys pulled her knees to her chest again when she realised she'd lost the direction of his interrogation again. "I mean... What d'you mean?"

"Well... Do people tend to tell you about rumours, worries, interests? Tell you about themselves? Jobs? Introduce you to people quickly?"

Carys thought back over her time in Forks, mulled over her life before that.

"I mean... No more than normal... People tell me about rumours or secrets, yeah? But I tend to forget about them unless someone brings them up again... And... Actually, yeah, a bit...? Forks wise, I started going to the diner, it's kind of the hub I guess? And a waitress told me about the job at the hospital before it'd been advertised...? Sandra, my boss, told me about Carlisle when I met him and warned me he wasn't the kind to date around, but I think she does that for everyone...? She told me about Tanya visiting, and I was the first one to hear that Carlisle was single maybe? But I'd only just told him about it before-"

"Wait. How quickly did you go to tell him?" Kate demanded, flicking her long hair over her shoulder.

"Immediately-wait, no," she back-pedalled when Kate's eyes widened and lit up with renewed excitement, "I didn't want to get him to date me or anything - it was just because Sandra said she was going to confront him!"

"Just as a scout would collate and return information to their commander about an incoming threat," Kate said slowly, nodding her head as she grinned.

"Kinky...," Irina smirked, her eyebrows flashing upwards as she leaned across to touch fingers with Tanya, who was herself smirking in much the same way.

"No, like a friend would warn their frien-I'm sorry," Carys challenged, appalled by the notion. "Are you saying Carlisle is my commander!?"

Eleazar shook his head forcefully and glared a little in the sisters' direction. "No, not at all. I think your conscious mind is your commander - but as you said, you warned him as a friend. However... Most humans do see their parents or heads of their houses - we do the same with our heads of coven - as a commander of sorts growing up - an authority, if you will. Tell me about your relationship with your parents?"

Tanya's face contorted into a grimace of distaste. "This is beginning to sound like a Freud thing. If it's a Freud thing, I'm out. I couldn't stand him when I met him, I'm not sitting through another one of his lectures."

"No, it's not," Eleazar confirmed with a quick glance, yet again glossing over something Carys thought really needed time to be addressed. "Carys?"

"Well... I tell my mum about stuff, obviously," she agreed with a roll of her wrist. "You know, about my friends and stuff... And she gets me to check on my grandparents and let her know how they're doing... But this is all normal, isn't it?"

"Perhaps," Carmen confirmed slowly, as her husband wrapped his arm around her waist and they settled back. "But if people confide in you more easily because of your natural aptitude for reconnaissance and the way you adapt to them and their way of thinking, it might help. Scouts are the only force whose sole task is to understand and influence humans and their domain."

Kate crossed her arms at her chest and added her thoughts, that, "They help accomplish things more quickly is all. As you've both said, all these things are intrinsic human traits, it's simply that they're more developed in you naturally."

"That's why I'm not sure what you'll become as a vampire, you see?" Eleazar asked, raising his free hand in the air.

Carys shook her head. "Not really..."

The look of concentration came over his face at her answer, and he appeared to think for a few moments before he responded.

"Well, you could have the power to influence people or to make them tell you things. You could put people at ease as Corin from the Volturi can, or read minds as Edward can. You could feel emotions as Jasper does, or read emotional bonds and weaknesses as Marcus does - I'm assuming Carlisle's told you about Aro, Marcus, and Caius. You could sense danger or see who to trust and when not to, perhaps. Or, you could continue to scout in the way that you do, by observing and adapting to your surroundings, by developing relationships and gaining information to help ease your way.

"If this James is the tracker he is supposed to be, I think he would have recognised a match in you whether he could see why that was or not - if you were to join forces with him and he could train you, his coven could be stronger than he could dare hope."

Tears of horror pricked Carys' eyes, causing her to rub at the side of her nose as it too began to itch. "This is terrifying," she complained. "I don't want any of those things. I just want to be normal. I don't want to influence people, or force them to-"

"You don't force anyone to do anything, Carys," Carmen interjected kindly, "you simply observe people, and through your kindness to them-"

"But you're saying I could!" Carys argued worriedly, her voice thick with impending tears. "You're saying I could do these things. How could I ever know if anyone cared about me if I was influencing them to tell me the things I need to know to get them to? Watching them so I know how to put them at ease when they wouldn't be otherwise? If I'm getting information from them, how do I know-"

"It could help you develop deeper relationships quicker than others because you see the things others might not-," Eleazar explained gently, seemingly afraid of her clear upset and frustration at the news. "-but it doesn't mean you're pushing them on anyone. You're simply reading them and understanding their motivations and personalities, the way they feel about things, so that you can protect yourself from some and see who you could care about and-"

"I don't want this!" Carys cried, tears spilling over her cheeks, forcing her to catch them at her jaw and brush them away. "I don't want to know this. I want to be normal - to have friends and family who I haven't adapted to and forced to care about me!"

"You haven't," Tanya argued lightly, "that's not what we're saying. The way you use this to adapt to people doesn't force anyone to like you more or less, it-"

"But you're saying that's part of this? That I do that without noticing, get information from them somehow, which means I have! It means somehow I do!" She countered, throwing herself from her seat as she ran sobbing from the room.

Carys couldn't believe she'd thought that her world was collapsing around her ears when she arrived in Phoenix, because what she felt in that hour after she launched herself onto the bed she'd been given and cried was far worse than she'd felt then.

She thought over everything she could, memories of her friends who she'd collected over the years - how different they were from one another, and yet how she'd become close to each of them in a different way and appreciated the differences between them. She thought about her openness with her mother and the way she'd always trusted her judgement about people. And wondered if that too was to do with this ability.

She thought about all those afternoons she'd spent following her compulsions as her mum called them. The ones spent looking for books she could barely remember save for a line or two. The one that rose within her when she saw Forks, the one when she wrote her list.

Carys thought about her relationship with Edward, and the way he'd apparently ceded to her authority when she'd made him listen to her that day - had that just been that he'd accepted she had the authority to question him, or had she done something worse? Or had it simply been as she'd thought, that he'd needed a dressing down? As Carlisle had thought, that he'd needed a dose of... What had he called it? Humanity?

Her mind whirled and touched upon so many moments, she could barely grasp one before another rose up to take its place and mock her.

Had Sarah only become her friend because she'd seen how she worked? Watched her expressions? Got a feel for her? She'd thought it was because they got on - but was that her? Had Sarah only told her things like - the memory of the day of Bella's accident rose to the forefront of her mind, when Sarah had immediately told her what had happened. Was that because Sarah was, as she'd thought, always happy to talk about things? Or was it because of her?

She thought she could remember her always being like that with other people as well, but was that just something she'd told herself?

Carys was so lost in her terrified thoughts that she didn't hear the door knock, didn't notice she was no longer alone in the room until Carmen's voice cut through her haze and she sat up quickly, wide-eyed as she dashed the tears from her cheeks.

"I made you some hot chocolate...," Carmen repeated, holding a large mug out to her, turning it so that Carys could grasp the handle despite the way Carys imagined the heat must have felt against her cold hands.

Her face crumbled again at the kind gesture, and she pushed herself back against the headboard before taking the mug quickly, careful not to spill the thick liquid within.

Carmen hovered by the side of the bed, glancing between her and the mug when Carys wanted nothing more than to be alone, but her clear interest in how she'd react to the taste of it made her blow on the drink as she rubbed her face with her free arm, and take a hesitant sip.

She sat up straighter when the hot chocolate passed her lips, asking, "How did you make this? I've never had anything like it?" She wasn't exaggerating, it was the most delicious cup of chocolate she'd ever consumed - gentle spice mixed with what felt to be pure chocolate, rather than the far thinner, far milkier concoction she was used to. Somehow, it made her feel better.

"Do you not like it?" Carmen asked uneasily, her worry intensifying her expression. "I haven't made it before, but the instructions seemed clear enough."

Carys took another sip of pure heaven before she looked up at her and asked thickly, "What were they?"

Carmen sank down onto the edge of the bed, appearing somehow even more agitated, despite Carys' shaky attempt at a smile. "I melted bars of chocolate in heavy cream and added cinnamon, star anise, and vanilla pods. The recipe said that's hot chocolate. We bought some things before you came, you see, that you might like - but cocoa powder," she snapped her fingers. "We didn't think of this."

"Carmen," Carys sniffled gently, trying to stave off a fresh wave of tears as her voice caught. "It's absolute heaven - and-and making me think Carlisle's wr-wrong again. You guys are angels."

Carmen laughed as she pressed her hands together. "ยกToma!" she exclaimed happily. "Now...," she continued, her expression clouding with concern and care. "You've had time to cry, and I've watched Chocolat, so I know chocolate is the best cure for sadness, so... Now, all that is left is to share your fears. Why are you so worried about your ability, even though you know it isn't far from what humans do anyway?"

"...What if..." Carys' nose twitched, and she curled herself over the mug, hanging her head. "What if my friends only wa-want to be around me becau-because of what I do? What if Carlisle only love-" she broke off, gasping, thankful for the moment Carmen silently gave her to compose herself a little before she went on. "-What if he only loves me because I forced him to? Because I adapted to hi-"

Carmen laid a hand over hers and squeezed a little harder than Carys might like, but not quite hard enough that she felt able to tell her it hurt. "He doesn't," she assured her empathically. "He loved you from the moment he met you, and even if he didn't, I don't think... I think Eleazar scared you by telling you the sorts of things you could do. What you do now is simply... See people. See things. There are people who don't like you, aren't there?"

"Of course. Like... I don't think Sandra likes me very much, and Richard doesn't as much as he used to... I know the girls who used to bully me in secondary school definitely didn't," Carys added with a bitter, watery laugh.

"See? If you were pushing people to like you, to love you, do you think there would be anyone who wouldn't like you? No, dama, I think your talent is as Eleazar's was. You identify. You observe. You see. What you do with this information is your choice," she told her, waving her hand in the air in a way that made Carys chuckle. She smiled gently in response, squeezing Carys' hand again as she leaned in and appealed, "but you said you choose to ignore or forget about most secret things people tell you, unless they're brought up again?"

"Yeah, I tend to rem-remember when they are," Carys acknowledged, her voice catching.

Carmen released Carys' hand and threw her hands in the air as if it were obvious. "See? People share information as they would a friend, but I imagine they only share certain things when you are their friend, and you share back, or you keep their secrets. Reconnaissance isn't as Kate said, about exploiting people as you do an area - it's about observing, researching, being drawn to things of importance. Do you think military scouts - other people who have this natural ability, or who have been trained to it - do you think they're forcing anyone to like them? Or forcing anyone to care about them?"

Carys dropped her head again and stared at her lap. "I don't know..."

"But you wouldn't think that if you met them?" Carmen appealed again, catching Carys' chin, encouraging her to look up at her again. "What about Jasper?" She asked when Carys met her eye. "Do you think you like him because he can influence your feelings and emotions?"

"No!"

"Exactly. Just because you have an aptitude for something, it doesn't mean that is all you are. It doesn't mean knowing about it should stop you from being what you are, who you are, and have been all this time. It certainly doesn't mean you should fear yourself. Look at Carlisle and your relationship. You were gaining information over months about what he was - but did you let any of it stop you from pursuing your friendship with him? Your relationship?"

"No..." Carys acknowledged, straightening as she thought about how sure she'd been that it was Rosalie in the photo from the record cover, and how she'd reacted even when the sleeve had been switched out. "I tried to ignore it, I tried to stop myself from thinking about any of it..."

"Exactamente. And you knew you loved him, I imagine? When you realised that, did you force it upon him?"

"No... And I really did only tell him about Sandra because I was worried for him - as a friend, not because I wanted him to date me because I knew he was single."

"See? You scout, but the only influence you truly use is in showing them that you see them. They only give you this information because of the way you pay attention to them, or, I think perhaps in this Sandra's case-" a dark look passed over her face, drawing another watery laugh from Carys. "-perhaps she knew she could boast to you? ...Earlier, you insisted you didn't need to sleep, now why did you mention a shower?"

Carys pressed her lips together as she recalled, "Because you looked upset that I hadn't taken your hospitality."

"You did that when you wanted more to learn of your ability as soon as you could. Yet you saw that I was upset - despite my attempt to hide it, I must say-, and you could have easily ignored it, but you didn't. Whatever you may be in the future, Carys, it won't be as these trackers are, and I doubt you'll use it to harm or control anyone. Whatever you will be, it will be your kindness that controls it. That is what I see in you, what we have all seen in you. And you may be a scout in the way Eleazar wonders because of these compulsions you mentioned, but that might mean one day you learn to go ahead of the Cullens to their next home, and you ease their entrance - use it to protect them from threats. It doesn't mean you will suddenly stop having a kind soul, dama.

"Carlisle uses his compassion to help others. Kate uses her gifts to protect her family where she could use it to attack, as do Alice and Edward. Edward can read the minds of those around him - can gain in an instant-" she emphasised her point with another snap of her fingers, "-the information you gain some of from developing relationships with people. But their abilities are only part of each of them, dama, not the whole. Now," she told her, patting her leg again, "you drink that, go to sleep, and come out refreshed in the morning and we will speak no more about it until you're ready. We have films and snacks, and everything we can think of to distract you until Carlisle calls with news - and Eleazar has an apology to make."

"Oh no, he-" Carys cut off her denial when Carmen gave her a stern look, and shrank back, dutifully lifting her mug to her lips again.

Carmen smiled as she stood from her perch. "Good. Now, I'll see you in the morning, dama."

"Why do you call me dama?" Carys asked when Carmen reached the doorway.

She turned to face her with a smile just before she slipped from the room. "It means lady. Carlisle might not like to admit it, but he's the head of a coven. As his mate, you will one day hold a position beside him, and when you and this Bella join, it will be the second-largest coven in the world."

After all she'd been through, spoken about, and heard over the past few days, it wasn't too difficult for Carys to admit that, at least, wasn't something she wanted to dwell on too much just yet as she mulled over her chocolate, and fears for her family plagued her through her restless sleep that night.


True to Carmen's word, when Carys emerged late in the morning the next day, she was greeted by the sofa -couch, she thought, she really must start calling them couches - covered with blankets, and the coffee table which had been pushed up against the front serving as a place to store half a corner shop's chocolate, crisps, and snacks aisle.

And, apart from Eleazar's apology for having upset her by telling her too much of what she might become the night before, nothing was said about her subsequent flight from the living room or reaction to the news - or, in fact, the news itself.

Whilst that didn't stop Carys from thinking about it entirely, or from worrying about her families and friends - who continued to occupy her mind, making her pace on and off through the day as she worried and feared for them all - the food, a few more cups of Carmen's chocolate, and the five vampires' near-constant narration of the films they watched helped so much that she was able to distract herself enough to nap for short periods as night drew in.

It was one of these short naps that she was woken from around one in the morning.

"Carlisle's on the phone," Irina whispered to her through her groggy haze.

"Carlisle?" She echoed slowly, before Irina's words sank in and she pushed herself up to take the phone, speaking urgently. "Carlisle!?"

"How are you, my love?"

He sounded as calm as he always did. How did he always sound so calm, she wondered.

"I'm okay," Carys told him, sinking back down in her seat, awash with relief at the sound of his gentle voice. "How are you?"

"A little frustrated," he admitted softly. "We lost his trail just outside Vancouver. He most likely took a plane-"

"A plane?" She asked, sitting up again in terror as she cut across him. "Is he going to Phoenix? Coming here-?"

"No," Carlisle assured her, putting her mind at ease a little as he continued. "We think he's headed back to Forks - he'd be able to reset there, to try and find the trail. That's where Victoria's been - Rosalie's tracked her across town, through the school and hospital, all the way to the airport and back, but she'd not have much to find."

A thought flew to mind as to what information might be stored in those places that Victoria could be looking for, but her fear over James dismissed it. "But he was in Vancouver? We were there last night - couldn't he track us from there? How do you know where he's headed?"

Carys met Irina's eye as she fretted, and no matter how carefully she schooled her features, it was obvious she was as concerned as Carys was.

"No," Carlisle guaranteed. "Alice saw him. Wherever he was, it wasn't near the Denali's home, she knows that at least - the architecture and lighting is wrong for the area you're in. If he changes course again, Alice will tell Kate and she'll get you out of there immediately. You have her loyalty now."

Kate held her fist in the air, giving Carys a thumbs up which she thought belonged to Carlisle rather than herself, but the malicious glint in her eye did serve to calm her nerves more than she wondered if it should.

"I know, I-" Carys replied, deciding not to mention the static shock. "It's pretty hard not to feel safe with her, with the rest of the family as well. But you're okay?" She added desperately, her worry overtaking her again. "Edward? Emmett? Esme? Rosalie? Charlie? Bell-"

"Are you going to list the entire extended family?" He asked, mild amusement lifting his tone.

"Not any more," she whispered, tucking the frizz that had escaped her ponytail whilst she'd slept behind her ear. "But my question remains?"

"We're all fine - we'd simply be better for knowing it was over and that you and Isabella were safe."

"You've talked to the others?"

Carlisle seemed to take stock of her terrified tone and answered quickly. "Esme and Rosalie are fine - Rosalie tracked Victoria and then returned to keep watch over Charlie's house whilst Esme followed him. Victoria was there during the day, but only when Charlie was at work, and no one in town has been harmed. As for Emmett and Edward, they're here with me, and Jasper, Alice, and Bella are safe where they are at the hotel for now."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely. If anything changes, I promise you we'll tell you immediately. Victoria has left Forks for the time being, and when James gets there, we'll cut him off."

Carys' hands trembled as she thought over what he'd told her and a terrifying notion gripped her. "Are you sure he's going to Forks?" She whispered, twisting her free hand in her top. "If Victoria's left too?"

Eleazar crossed the room in an instant, holding his hand out for the phone, and despite how little she wanted to relinquish it, she did. His lips blurred as he spoke, handing her the phone a couple of seconds later, the eyes of the room boring into her.

"What's making you think he hasn't?" Carlisle's voice was far less certain, far more concerned when he spoke than it had been before Eleazar's interruption.

"It's nothing," Carys countered, "just a... Something you said, that's all. It's probably n-"

"Carys, tell me," Edward snapped, his demand clear as if he'd taken the phone from his father and was holding it to his ear instead. "Now."

"Why...," she whispered, wetting her lips. "Why did she go to the school, the hospital, and Charlie's house?"

"She was digging but she won't have anything," he dismissed, though something in his voice showed his hesitance. "Why... What would you have looked for?"

"I don't know... But... Laurent said not to underestimate her, and-"

"We have to go," Edward snapped, the moment before the line went dead.

A/N: wonder if an hour's headstart might do anything... Might not because of plane schedules... Btw, it's not to do with her ability that she worked that one out, I think we could all see where that was going in the books, and I was amazed none of them apparently did.