The next incident was even more worrying, and proved Leonie's suspicions. Matron had made one of her periodic dental checks, and, inevitably, discovered that a number of girls needed attention, and consequently arranged for a visit to Herr von Francius in Berne. Amongst the victims were Len and Margot Maynard and Flavia Ansell, so Leonie, together with Barbara Henschell- one of the younger Matrons- and Matey herself, travelled down as escort.
The dental appointment was sufficiently unpleasant for the girls for Matron to want to take pity on them when their ordeal was done. Therefore, the Staff carted the girls off to a restaurant for a light meal which aided the recovery process considerably, and then the girls were marched off to the salon where they would await the motor coaches that would return them to school.
"That gives us almost twenty minutes to wait," Matey finished, "so you may as well make the most of it."
"Oh, fabulous!" Leonie heard Mollie Rossiter whisper to her neighbour. "We shan't get back to school until 16:00 hours with luck, and that means missing dictee and needlework!" Whereat Miss Rossiter looked up to meet the thoughtful grey gaze of the junior mistress, and she blushed and subsided.
Meanwhile, two strangers had entered, and Leonie saw with a niggle of alarm that one of them was the so-called Louella Manley. Both Matron and Barbara Henschell were otherwise engaged, and Len, being nearest, went to say something. Leonie watched her carefully. Len Maynard, too, was redheaded, and Leonie remembered her own comments to Lorill about the girl's latent laran.
"I beg your pardon," Len was saying. "But this salon is in private use at the moment and-"
"Well, now if it isn't the nice girl who showed me the way to the railroad up at that place in the mountains!" exclaimed Louella. "I said we'd likely be meeting again and here we are! I'm real pleased to meet you again, my dear."
I'm sure you are, Leonie thought. Aldaran or not, it does not take prescience to know you would see them again when that is your very purpose here.
At that, Louella glanced sharply at Leonie, and Leonie, confident that her shields were in place, smiled benignly. She was certain Louella could not recognise her; Louella, as an Aldaran, would not be in the Tower relays, and also as an Aldaran, would have had no need to meet Leonie Hastur of Arilinn.
Len, meanwhile, was coping well. "I remember," she began cautiously. "But I'm afraid I can't stop to talk. We've been to the dentist and some of us have had a bad time, so we are resting here. I'm sorry, but will you please go."
"Why, yes, if that's so," Louella replied ingratiatingly. "I'm right sorry to hear that. But you won't have far to go? Where did you say your school was?"
Len opened her mouth to reply, when an urgent thought flashed across her mind.
-Do not tell her! commanded Leonie.
Len reacted instantly. "Oh no; and in any case the school coach will be coming for us so that will be all right," she continued, ushering Louella and her companion towards the door. "I'm sorry to seem rude, but I'm afraid I must ask you to go now."
Louella made one last attempt. "Yes, of course. Oh, by the bye, a friend of mine has a girl at school here but- er- she didn't tell me the name of the school, and I'm wondering if by any chance it could be yours. Flavia Letton is her name- a girl of about twelve or thirteen. Have you a Flavia Letton amongst your girls?"
-Do not look at Flavia! instructed Leonie, and Len, although puzzled, obeyed.
In any case, the girl thought, Flavia was Ansell and not Letton, so- "There is no girl of that name in our school," she told Louella firmly.
"Oh? Not a girl with long red hair- she wears it in plaits, I know." There was the faintest emphasis on 'red' that Leonie, at least, understood. To Louella, as to Leonie herself, red hair indicated laran talent, although Leonie was beginning to realise that this did not always hold true on Terra.
Len, however, was now feeling decidedly uncomfortable. This woman made her feel creepy and nervous, and that was not a feeling that the self-possessed eldest Miss Maynard relished. Besides, she was tiring of this conversation. Therefore, she told Louella- rather sharply- that the school had several redheads, including Len herself, and went on to suggest that Louella's 'friend' –Leonie, at least, appreciated the veiled scepticism Len injected into that word, and so, judging by the dull flush that covered her cheeks, did Louella- give her the precise details of her daughter's school.
Louella, realising herself foiled, agreed and backed off, and at that point, Matron Henschell intervened, to Len's evident relief. Barbara dealt rapidly and trenchantly with the interlopers before turning back to the prefect.
"What did they say?" Barbara demanded.
Len provided a brief resume of the conversation- involuntarily glancing at Leonie as she did so- and Barbara nodded.
"Did you say anything about Flavia Ansell?" she asked anxiously.
"No. Somehow I felt- queer about her- that woman," Len began, and Leonie smiled to herself. There was no doubt about it- Len Maynard was definitely a telepath, even if she did not recognise it herself.
"-all the same-" Leonie heard Len falter to a stop.
"Well? All the same what?" the young Matron prompted.
"She said the girl she wanted had long red hair and I remembered that when that kid Copper came, she did have pigtails even though they were cut off almost at once. I-wondered."
"I see," Barbara said. "Well, I can't tell you anything, but please keep this to yourself. I must see the Head and discuss it with her."
Len agreed to this easily, and went to sit down in the seats opposite Leonie. All the same, throughout the journey home, Leonie was conscious that the girl was glancing at her.
I must get her alone and explain to her, she thought. She needs the training and she needs it now. I just hope I can make her understand.
The following day, Miss Annersley summoned her brevet niece to the study. She had decided to reveal a certain amount; Len, she knew, was perceptive enough to put two and two together and possibly make seven or eight. The Head did not want the situation to become more difficult than it already was!
After some forty five minutes, Len found herself dismissed with a gentle suggestion that she tell any interested parties that they had been discussing Len's scholarship work for Oxford. After she had bobbed her curtsy and closed the study door, the prefect stood in the hall way in some confusion.
The Head's revelations had not, in actuality, come as any surprise. Len had had her own suspicions- but that wasn't what disturbed her now. It was the fact that, in that moment of shared laughter over Prudence Dawbarn's newfound studiousness, Len had suddenly known exactly what Miss Annersley was going to tell her- and a little bit more.
But that couldn't be right, could it? Such a thing was impossible! Len had always been told that she, like her mother before her, had the ability to 'get into the skins' of other people. That was all very well, and Len had nothing against that- even if it did mean that she ended up feeling responsible for the world and their neighbour. But- that wasn't the same thing as actually knowing what someone was thinking! Being able to read their minds! And that, Len was certain, was what had happened in the Study.
In the staffroom, Leonie felt Len's newly wakened laran powers burst across her mind like a beacon, and she rose as quickly as she could.
"Where are you off to, Leonie?" asked Rosalind Moore, head of Geography, genially.
Leonie forced a smile. "I have remembered something I must fetch from my room," she told the younger woman, and left before one or other of her perennially curious colleagues could be moved to enquire further.
Once the staffroom door had closed behind her, Leonie stopped. She could hear- and even feel, a little- Len's confusion and even outrage as she moved towards her own quarters. In another couple of minutes, the opportunity would be lost as the girl was swallowed up amongst her peers.
-Len! Leonie called, throwing all her power behind it.
-I'm dreaming, she heard think Len in response. I could have sworn I heard someone call me in my mind, but that's ridiculous. I'll just go back to the common room, and try to forget all about it.
-Mary Helena Maynard! You are not dreaming. I am standing outside the staffroom door.
-Uh. Um. Who is this?
-It is Leonie Hastur! Come to me now, please.
There was such authority in that command that Len found herself moving, almost involuntarily, towards the staffroom and Miss Hastur.
"Ah, there you are," said Miss Hastur casually as Len approached her. "You certainly did not lose any time! Now, you and I must have a discussion, I think." Leonie stopped and glanced at Len. "In fact, my girl, you may come to my room. It will be easier to talk there."
Dumbly, Len nodded, and followed the mistress unprotesting and unresisting to the latter's own room on the staff corridor. Once there and seated, she recovered a little and looked about her with real interest. Whilst she was familiar with the appearance of the Head's private quarters, this part of the School was completely unknown to her.
-It's so pretty! she thought, her eyes taking in the fresh colour on the walls, and the carefully co-ordinated furnishings.
"It is nice, isn't it," Leonie responded calmly as she went to her drawer to retrieve a small wooden box.
Len gasped. "You- you did it again!"
Leonie seated herself in the chair opposite the girl, and looked straight into her eyes.
"Did what, exactly?" she asked gently.
"You spoke to my mind," Len whispered. "It was you, wasn't it, both at the dentist's and that day we went on the walk."
"Yes," Leonie replied softly.
"But-but- why? How? I-I don't understand!"
"I don't expect you to," the older woman told her. "But, if you like, I can explain it to you."
"Please do!" Len begged. "I-I've thought I was going nuts! I was even going to-to tell Papa, and I felt so stupid and silly and it wasn't right, knowing what Auntie Hilda was going to say before she said it, and then I knew how worried she was feeling and it made me nervous too and I don't like this! Please, can't you make it stop, Miss Hastur?"
"I cannot do that," Leonie said. "However, you must not despair, my child. I cannot stop it- but I can teach you handle it- as, indeed, by the oath I took, I must. And then you will find yourself able to live with it, and even to use it."
"Let me get this straight," Len began firmly. "I-I don't want to be rude, Miss Hastur, but you are telling me that it's quite OK-er, normal- to hear what other people are thinking?"
"For some people, yes!" returned Leonie with equal firmness. "In my-country, we even have words for it- donas, laran."
"Donas- that's from Latin, isn't it, for gift," Len said thoughtfully. "Is that what you call it, Miss Hastur?"
Leonie smiled. "Len, by the time I finish training you, you will know nearly as much about me as I will about you. I think it would be well for you to call me 'Leonie'- when we're alone, of course!"
Len grinned and relaxed for the first time. "It'd need to only be then," she declared. "Auntie Hilda would have a fit if she heard me yelling 'Leonie' all over the shop!"
Leonie laughed. "I am sure she would. But enough of this. At it's most basic, laran means that you are a telepath- which means that not only can you read someone's mind, but you can also communicate with another telepath without speech." Deliberately, Leonie stopped using her voice at "read someone's mind" and she continued in a mental voice, as a test.
"I see," said Len thoughtfully. "Like you did to me earlier."
Leonie suppressed the feeling of triumph and relief that welled up inside her. This proved that not only was Len a telepath, but she was, potentially, a powerful one. Yet at the same time Leonie was swamped with sadness. Lorill, Rohana, Damon and Callista all tried to tell me this of the Terrans, she thought. But I would not listen, and so Arilinn was challenged for my fault and disbelief..
"What is Arilinn?" Len asked curiously, and Leonie started in horror as she realised that she had forgotten to raise her shields.
"It is a place in my country," Leonie began slowly, "where telepaths are trained to use and work with their gifts. I have spent most of my life there..." and Leonie paused as a wave of homesickness swamped her.
"Oh, OK," said Len easily, although her grey eyes were questioning. At the word 'Arilinn' she had had the same mental picture that the Head had recieved at Leonie's interview: Leonie, tall, regal, withdrawn, in robes of crimson, bending over a red-headed, grey-eyed girl..
Len shook herself, mentally, and told herself firmly to get a hold of herself. This was becoming ridiculous, telepath or not! And then she marvelled at how quickly and easily she had accepted Leonie's verdict of Len's own telepathic abilities.
"You say I have to learn how to use this," Len began cautiously. "How do I do that?"
Leonie looked at her. "The first step is key you into a matrix."
"What's that!"
"It is a crystal which amplifies the energies generated by telepaths, and can be used to focus those energies."
"How big is it?" Len asked. "If it's too big I'll have to leave it in my dormitory or leave it at home. School rules!"
"No, Len," Leonie returned softly. "Once you are keyed into the matrix, you may not remove it far from you for any reason, and only your Keeper may touch it. To touch or remove the keyed matrix of another person is always painful and occasionally fatal."
Len whitened. "But-but, you said it was a crystal! A stone! I thought you meant it was like a piece of jewellry!"
In reply, Leonie reached into her pocket and retrieved her matrix-ring from it's silken pouch. With an eye on Len, she cradled the stone in her hands, as if it was a living thing, and Len blinked and looked away.
"Can you look into the matrix?" Leonie asked, her voice the toneless, impassive voice of a trained Keeper.
"I don't want to," Len said. "It makes me- feel funny."
"That is a good sign," Leonie told her. "Look again."
Compelled, Len obeyed, and for a moment she was able to see the swirling fires within the crystal and she felt Leonie reach out and touch her mind..it was like being touched with a flame like a bunsen burner..blue and crimson...and then nausea swept over her and she looked away again.
Leonie covered her matrix.
"I have covered the matrix, Len," she said softly, and Len looked up.
"Did it work? Why did it make me feel so sick?"
"It makes you feel ill because- if you have the talent- it opens up and forces you to use parts of your brain you do not normally use." The Keeper paused and looked thoughtfully at the girl. "But first, I think you need something to eat." Quickly, Leonie rose and retrieved some chocolate from a cupboard.
"Eat this!" she commanded, handing the small bar to Len.
"I couldn't, I'd be sick!" Len protested.
"You must eat it," Leonie insisted. "This is one of the most important things you will learn: after matrix or laran work, the vital energies become very low, and you would become very very ill if you do not replenish them quickly with food. So, yes, you feel sick now- but, believe me, once you have eaten you will feel better."
Dubious but obedient, Len took a square of the chocolate, and forced herself to eat it. Then another. Then, suddenly, she was ravenous, and the rest of the bar disappeared rapidly, to Leonie's relief and secret amusement. Once Len overcame her initial reluctance, she had obviously devoured the bar with great satisfaction.
Seeing the smile, Len blushed and grinned, rather sheepishly. "I didn't know I was so hungry!" she defended. "What next?"
In answer, Leonie produced another matrix crystal, a little smaller than Leonie's own, and Len shrank from the sight of it.
"Oh, please no, not again," she begged.
"You must," Leonie told her inexorably: a Keeper once more. "An untrained telepath is a danger to herself and everyone around her, and matrix work is part of that training."
"Why is it dangerous?" Len demanded, with a rare flash of rebellion.
"Because if you are not trained to master your laran, it could drive you mad," Leonie told her bluntly. "Think of it, Len: hearing always what others are thinking, all day, all the time- whether they've done their prep, whether they'll be caught for sliding down the banisters, whether so-and-so will talk to them today and so on. Could you endure that?"
Len swallowed. "No," she admitted. "But why is it dangerous to others?"
"That depends in part on the nature of your Gift. For instance, if you have what we call 'forced rapport' or 'command voice' then you could potentially do great harm. Similarly, you may inadvertently read that which you are not meant to know."
"What's forced rapport?"
"The ability to make telepathic contact with anyone, with or without their consent."
Len whitened a second time. "That's a horrid thing to do!"
Leonie nodded gravely. "Indeed, and the ability to do so is greatly feared. But think, my child, there could be times when such a gift could be essential, and could save lives."
Len sighed and wriggled, and for a moment she looked much younger than her age. A gentler woman might have released her, but Leonie had taught lessons harder than this to girls several years younger than Len, and she winced a little as she remembered the harsh lessons she had had to give to the child Callista. Then there were the lessons Leonie herself had had to learn, at sixteen, when she had left the safety and warmth of Dalereuth Tower for the full rigour of Keeper-training at Arilinn...
-This child has come late to laran work, by our standards, Leonie thought, but by our standards a girl is a woman grown from the time she begins her monthly periods. Here, she remains a child until she leaves home and school and goes into this world to make her own way.
"OK," Len said decisively, rousing Leonie from her uncharacteristic reverie. "How do I become keyed?"
"You must match resonances with the stone," Leonie told her. "When you have done that, you will see it come alive with a flame- as mine is. A matrix without its flame of life is dead- useless."
"I see," said Len, frowning with concentration. After a moment, she took a deep breath, and Leonie, correctly interpreting this for the signal it was, handed the starstone to the girl.
"Look into it, and relax," she told the girl, her voice impassive again.
Len nodded and obeyed. She looked deep into the crystal, and relaxed and let her mind flow where it would- and after a moment, she felt the stone grow warm and a faint, warm blue light began to glow within it.
"Now match your breathing and heartbeat to the pulsing in the stone," Leonie instructed, and Len looked at the matrix again and realised that the light within the stone was indeed throbbing- rather erratically, it must be confessed- and the girl watched in awe as she saw the throbbing light steady in response to her own steadied breathing and heartrate.
"Good. Now I am going to come into rapport with you," Leonie warned, and almost before Len was ready, she felt again that touch on her mind. This time it was firmer rather than the delicate touch of earlier, and Len, still watching the matrix, knew that her unease was reflected in that pulsing light.
-Relax, Leonie told her gently, yet authoritatively, and Len reacted almost automatically to that authority and obeyed.
-Now we will hold the rapport for a moment or two, Leonie said, aware that newly awakened telepaths sometimes found this exercise both difficult and frightening, because of the element of invasion that characterised early stages of rapport. With time, most telepaths came to love and even need the deep sense of intimacy that rapport provided.
Len, still with that feeling of strangeness, began to match her own breathing to Leonie's, and the Keeper felt satisfied that her tentative assessment of Len's Gift was correct. Usually only empaths were able to match resonances so quickly.
-Well done, Leonie told her. Now move gently out of rapport. Never withdraw suddenly, for in a circle, the backlash can be unpleasant.
Len nodded physically to show her understanding, and, together, they disengaged from the intense telepathic connection.
"Wow!" said Len, rather shakily.
With an eye to the girl's white face, Leonie provided yet another bar of chocolate, and earned an amused look of her own from Len in the process. The girl was not to know that chocolate was almost unknown on Darkover- except perhaps in major Trade Cities like Thendara, and Leonie did not care to speculate about the availability of chocolate in Aldaran lands. This time, Leonie took some of the chocolate herself.
When they had eaten, Len grinned rather tiredly.
"What next?"
"Nothing more for the moment," Leonie told her. "That exercise will have shown you how to both make and withdraw contact, and that is the first step in building your shields. Next time, we will work on strengthening those shields and spend longer periods of time in rapport. Eventually, I will train you to monitor."
"What's that?" Len asked as she wiped her chocolately mouth with her hanky, grimaced at the resultant mess, and carefully folded it before replacing it in her pocket.
"Basically, a monitor can 'see' what lies beneath the skin. They can regulate heartbeat and breathing rates for telepaths doing long term matrix or laran work, and some are trained as healers. If you are interested, I will tell you more later, but I am sure you have work of your own to do, and the other mistresses will not appreciate it if their work is not done."
Len rose. "That's true. I'll go on now." She smiled rather shyly. "Thanks, Mi- Leonie."
Leonie nodded in dismissal, but when the door had closed behind Len, she remained motionless for a long moment before sighing and turning to prepare for her own return to the staffroom.
