Chapter 25

Morning found Kyminn unexpectedly nervous. Breakfast, so recently indulged, seemed suddenly unsettled as he reported to Evin.

"Good morning Kyminn," Evin seemed unnaturally chipper for the early hour. His hair looked particularly alert. Evin favored Kyminn with a sympathetic smile. "You know, most people are nervous when they come for Gift training. Don't worry, I haven't lost a student yet."

Kyminn found himself smiling back in spite of his nerves. "I…ah…really have no idea how to go about this."

"Also normal. Let's start at the beginning. How did you discover your gift, what kind of training have you had to date, and what uses have you put your gift to so far?"

A deep breath and Kyminn launched into an explanation of the first, traumatic, discovery of his gift. Evin's murmur of "Fairly typical for a first expression of Foresight," was obscurely reassuring. Kyminn was surprised at how Evin managed to draw out details and nuances of his experiences. Evin's questioning made Kyminn see aspects to his Gifts that he'd never considered before. It was unsettling.

"Don't look so surprised Kyminn," Evin's tone said he understood Kyminn's confusion. "From what you've told me, your Grandmother's gift isn't particularly strong, for all that she's done some quite remarkable things with it. I'm not at all concerned that she wasn't able to help you beyond a certain point. She's given you a good start, but lacks both the knowledge of how to properly train a gift as well as the depth to see your gifts in action. Still, a very good start and I don't think it will take long to show you what's needed."

Kyminn wanted to bristle at the implied criticism of his Grandmother's teaching. He briefly wrestled with his instinctive defensiveness together with his promises to various persons - both two and four-legged - to explore a balanced view of the situation. Reluctantly, he had to admit that Evin had expressed only truths, and those diplomatically. Indeed, Evin had shown every sign of respecting the work done thus far. Kyminn nodded to himself, unaware that he was doing so.

Evin made note of both the internal struggle, and the outcome. "I'd like to see your Gifts, if I might." He raised an eyebrow in polite inquiry and reached out a hand, waiting.

Kyminn gave a small shrug of assent. He only flinched slightly when Evin gently rested a finger on his forehead. For a brief moment, it felt as though there was a second, cool presence, a sense of a polite observer, swiftly withdrawn.

"Well, your Gifts are certainly as advertised." Evin sounded bemused. "I can confirm Foresight, Mindspeech, Healing and Empathy, all very definitely on non-human channels. Most are Gifts I've seen before, the exception being that very interesting Foresight of yours. I did a bit of research while you were recovering and haven't really found anything quite like it. Lots of cases where Foresight included animals, but no case where it completely excluded humans. I'm curious – tell me, as many instances as you can recall, of times that you Foresaw something."

That took some thought as Kyminn tried to recall events over the past six years. Slowly, carefully, Kyminn recounted every instance he could recall, even the very regrettable hunting episode with Jannen. Evin carefully made note of every mention. By the time Kyminn wound down, Evin was beaming. "Kyminn, look at this," Evin slid the notes over to Kyminn.

'Foresaw swine slaughtering', 'hunting for deer', 'householder killing chickens for dinner' the list was nearly a page long, with the instances growing farther apart as Kyminn gained mastery over his shields. "I'm not sure what I'm looking at Evin," Kyminn confessed, sliding the page back.

"Look at it another way then. Not a single case of one animal hunting another. No wolves taking down deer, not even the barn cat chasing mice. More interestingly, you did NOT Foresee Derris hurting himself in the storm, or the horse kicking its stablemate. See the pattern?"

"Maybe." Kyminn thought fiercely, replaying events in his mind. "So," he assembled his thoughts as he spoke them, "I only Foresee an animal getting injured when a human is involved somehow? Someone hunting, or Randen riding Derris?"

"Exactly!" Evin sounded pleased at this deduction. "I admit that I was worried we'd discovered a completely new Gift and would be starting from scratch. But what you have is very much Foresight for human events, only focused through a non-human lens. It's not a common form by any means, but it's certainly not unheard of. Some Foreseers predict only storms, others only events involving fire. Yours involve animals. The only really different thing about yours is that you don't get a sense of the human at all, just the non-human. A very narrow focus indeed."

"I have to admit, I'm relieved to hear you say that," Kyminn admitted frankly. "I've always assumed that if I opened my shields I'd be bombarded every time an owl hunted a rabbit. In fact, I'd thought the only thing keeping all that…noise out is my shields. That's one reason I was so surprised when everyone kept telling me my shields were poor."

"As to that, I suspect your shields are not quite as bad as you fear. Now that I know what we're working with, I think we can get them corrected relatively easily. While you do 'ground and center', your shields are not strongly linked to your center. My suspicion is that your Grandmother's shields work quite differently and that's what she showed you. Once I show you the right kind of shielding for your gifts, it should be simple. Then you can decide just how much you want to shield."

"I'm not sure what you mean by 'how much'. I thought that shields should keep everything out, unless I am using my gifts." Kyminn's brow crinkled in puzzlement.

"Yes and no." Evin held up a hand, "And no, don't tell me I sound like a Companion. Yes, because you certainly don't want to hear every animal in the place speaking to you. Nor do you want to feel the skittish mare who doesn't want to be shod. In your case, I would certainly suggest you block off your Mindspeech to all except those communications directed to yourself.

"However, you may," Evin stressed the word, "want to be selective in how you shield against your Foresight. Let me restate that – no one can really shield against Foresight, believe me, we've tried. Unfortunately for you, there are, on a daily basis, many cases of animal injury with a human agent. Everything from a cruel driver lashing his donkey to a drunk kicking a stray dog. You'd go mad within hours I expect."

Pale, Kyminn nodded, ill at the notion of that suffering flooding his senses.

"The best we can do is help you adjust your shields so that all but the most…significant events are filtered out." Evin was grim. "And yes, this means all but the worst, most serious injuries."

"That's pretty much the way it was back in Oakden," Kyminn agreed unhappily. "Derris's fall, a team of horses that got caught by some falling timber…things like that. It's like being dropped in a pot of memories and stirred."

"That last part at least I can help with. Once you are properly shielded, you shouldn't find things so disorienting. It won't be pleasant, but it shouldn't keep knocking you off your feet." Evin straightened up and said briskly. "Right. Let's get started then. Ground and shield."

Startled, Kyminn snapped his shields up, waiting for further instructions. Evin rose and began to pace around Kyminn's seat and Kyminn moved to follow. "No. Stay seated. Try to resist me."

Kyminn felt something pushing at his mind. Uncertain how to respond, he pushed back, mentally digging in his heels to stand firm. He thought he was holding his own until a very real, physical push left him sprawling on the pavement. He yelped with indignant surprise.

"Sorry." Evin didn't sound repentant. "It's one of the first things we show greenies when we teach 'ground and shield'. If you had been properly grounded, I wouldn't have been able to budge you. Here, let me show you." Evin lightly touched Kyminn's forehead again, saying as he did so "Ground is here and center is like this. Feel the difference? Again."

They continued for another half mark, Kyminn sweating and tired by the end of the session. Evin nodded with satisfaction. "You're improving. I want you to practice what I showed you. We'll do some more work on this tomorrow." He clapped the tired Kyminn on his shoulder. "You're doing fine. You'll see. Better go. You don't want to keep Delassia waiting."

Kyminn groaned inwardly. He wasn't sure he was up for a verbal battering to go with the mental one he'd just experienced. Sighing, he hauled himself to his feet and trotted off to the Companion's barn.

To his relief, he arrived a few moments before Healer Delassia, gaining some precious time to rinse his face in the pump and try to tidy up his appearance a trifle. He hoped she didn't notice the smears from the many times Evin had knocked him into the dirt.

"Good morning Kyminn!" Randen slid down Derris's shoulder, a crutch slung over his shoulder. The Herald swung over to a nearby bench and settled himself in the shade. Randen took in Kyminn's hastily rearranged appearance. "Cat got you this morning?"

"A cat named Evin. Ground and shield. Apparently, I'm not supposed to fall on my ass. Who knew?" The last was a mutter.

Derris and his Herald snickered in unison. Both attempted to school their expressions to appropriate solemnity as Delassia arrived. To judge by the stifled smirk on Randen's face, Derris wasn't playing fair.

"Senior Healer Delassia," Kyminn accorded her a respectful half-bow.

"Master Kyminn," one sweeping glance dissected his appearance, then promptly reassembled it. "Good to see you arrived dressed for dirty work. Too many youngsters these days seem to think that success can be had without sweat and dirty hands."

"I've never suffered such an aversion myself, Senior Healer," Kyminn murmured.

Delassia either failed to hear, or decided it wasn't worth noticing. "Now then, Companion Derris…"

For the next candlemark, the Healer put Derris through various paces, stretches and contortions. From time to time she had Randen mount while Derris repeated the stretches. Throughout the process, Delassia encouraged Kyminn to view Derris using his Healing gift, to see how each action affected the healing muscles.

"Master Kyminn, where precisely was the cranial superficial pectoral muscle penetrated? Was it anterior or posterior to the brachial biceps?"

Kyminn floundered, suddenly embarrassed. "I'm terribly sorry Senior Healer. While can show you exactly where the injury happened, I…don't know the proper terminology." He braced himself for one of her casually caustic retorts.

"Master Kyminn," impatiently. "Do you know why is it that Healers use the terms we do? Anterior, posterior, tricep, bicep, and so forth?"

"I…ah…It was explained to me that it was for clarity, Senior Healer."

"Precisely. Clarity. Precision. The work we do is extremely precise. A nerve bundle may be the thickness of a hair, and to damage that nerve might cause a patient a critical loss of sensation, or function. It is absolutely vital that we be precise." Still more pedantic than condescending, at least so far.

"Yes, Senior Healer." He bit his tongue against further comment.

"For that reason, we make sure our students learn correct terminology. It reduces confusion of action, of treatment. In turn, it permits everyone to a complete and identical understanding of the situation, yes?"

'Yes, Senior Healer." As far as safe answers went, it seemed to be holding up so far.

"If Companion Derris were a human patient, you would be able to describe his anatomy in precise detail, would you not? You did learn such things, presumably?" Definitely condescending now.

"Ah…yes, Senior Healer, I did. We had a limited number of Healer's reference books and I was given practical training as well." Kyminn reflected that having only four Healer's texts available could be considered to be a 'limited number'.

"And did you have any materials regarding equine anatomy?" Her tone had passed 'condescension' and was firmly launched into 'acerbic'.

"No, Senior Healer, I did not." Teeth gritted.

She sniffed. "Well then. I don't see how it would be possible for you to be precise about the Companion's anatomy if you had no access to the information." A gimlet eye pinned him in place. "You will present yourself at the main desk at Healer's no sooner than the third afternoon bell. Understood?"

Kyminn had a distinct sense of standing on quicksand. "Yes, Senior Healer. Ah, if I may ask, why am I to report?"

Kyminn got the sudden impression that he could not have confused her more had he suddenly started babbling in Karsite. "To pick up the reference materials. That I will be leaving there for you." She was clearly baffled. "You do want to learn about Companion anatomy, do you not?"

He became aware that his mouth was open and shut it with a snap. "Yes, Senior Healer, I would appreciate that very much."

"One would hope so," she muttered, but as he suspected that he wasn't intended to have overheard the comment, he didn't respond.

Eventually, Delassia released Randen and Derris, leaving them with a strict schedule of drills and instructions to return three mornings from now. Watching them trot off, Kyminn reflected that Derris was moving quite a bit faster than strictly necessary, all things considered. He wished he join them.

"Kyminn, have you had an opportunity to begin your notes on Derris's case?" Delassia's question brought Kyminn's attention back to the present.

"I'm sorry Senior Healer, I have not." Kyminn debated explaining that he'd spent his first afternoon awake shopping for clothes, but quashed the impulse. He had no reason to justify himself to the Senior Healer.

Fortunately, she apparently accepted the notion that other mortals required things like food and rest, because she failed to comment on his delinquency. "Good. I would appreciate it then if you would make use of the provided references when writing your report. It will ensure your text is as complete as possible. In addition, it will give you an opportunity to learn the material." A satisfied nod. "I will expect both reports by the time I see you again, three days from now. Deliver the reports to my rooms. Anyone in the hall will tell you where it is." And with that, she swept off again, her greens and distinctive form creating a bow wave through the crowd of trainees.

Kyminn looked at the sky and sighed. Dear gods, it was only mid-morning. How was it possible that he was so tired?