"So how do you want to do this?" asked Skye.
Ryan carefully studied his new student, seemingly trying to 'size her up'. The mixed emotions running across Skye's face weren't lost on him. "What's on your mind, grasshopper?"
"I'm not sure how comfortable I am with this," Skye admitted. "I mean, who am I going to practice on? And making permanent changes to someone's thoughts..."
"Let's start with me, then," Ryan suggested, a smile curling the corners of his lips. "See if you can get through this thick skull..."
Skye raised an eyebrow, unsure of what Ryan's endgame was. Finally deciding to just trust her teacher, she projected a simple command into Ryan's mind...
and nothing happened. "What is it?" asked Ryan.
"I just tried to force you to raise your right hand," Skye replied. "And you didn't do it."
"I didn't hear you, either," Ryan muttered, thinking out loud. He started to pace the room, carefully thinking through Skye's admission. A bo staff was resting on the floor from an earlier practice session, and it gave Ryan an idea. "Perhaps," he suggested, "we should start with trying to figure out what you *can't* do instead of focusing on what we already know you *can* do."
Skye flung herself to the ground as the bo staff narrowly missed hitting her in the head. She rolled over and sat up, stunned and exasperated by the sudden attack. "What the hell was that for?!" Skye exclaimed.
"I wanted to see if you could stop it," replied Ryan.
Skye's eyes widened. "Stop it?"
"Throw the staff at me," Ryan countered. Skye got up on her feet and crouched on the ground, then picked up the staff and threw it in Ryan's direction.
The staff hung weightless in the air, floating as if gravity had been temporarily suspended around it. Skye's eyes widened, amazed by what she was seeing. "How...?" She smiled as the answer came to her. "You're doing this, aren't you?"
Ryan nodded. "Wanna try again?"
Skye nodded eagerly, jumping up to a standing position and backing away from the floating staff. "What do you need me to do?"
The staff dropped back to the floor. "Picture lifting the staff off of the ground, but you're not using your arms to do it. Don't move a *muscle*. You're trying to do this with only your mind. See how you do."
Skye nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears before lacing her hands behind her back. She closed her eyes, clearing her mind in a few deep breaths, then created the mental picture as clearly as she could...
The staff rolled away from Skye, but never left the ground. "Nothing," she sighed. "Again."
"That's okay," Ryan reassured her. "Remember, we're trying to figure out what you *can't* do."
"So what next?" asked Skye.
Ryan thought about everything he had seen from Skye to that point. "I want you to try mind reading again," he suggested. "Now that we're in a calmer location than your plane." He started gently filling the room with a peaceful vibe to get his eager student to relax. "Let's sit down." Skye and Ryan sat down cross-legged across from each other on the mat. "Close your eyes," he instructed, "and clear your mind. Connect with my mind like you were trying to project into it, but keep the connection open and just *listen*. Don't look to put a thought in my head. Just tell me what you hear."
Skye followed her teacher's instructions. A moment later, she started to quietly sing. "In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the tiger sleeps tonight..." Her eyes flew open as she realized the wording change was one that she did not think of on her own. "Was that you, teach?"
Ryan smiled proudly. "It's the lullaby I sing to my daughter. Good job!"
"But...I *barely* heard it," she countered. "It was like you were trying to whisper it to me from where you're sitting..."
Ryan waved off Skye's concerns. "I'm not surprised. Projection is so easy for you that if you were going to be able to read at all it was going to be much harder for you to pull off. But we can work on that." His gaze darted past Skye's; he was clearly distracted by the new thoughts that had just entered his mind. "I wonder if she's free..."
"Who?" asked Skye.
"A friend of mine," Ryan replied. "She's a master of projective telepathy. She can probably do a whole hell of a lot more for you than I can..."
A throat-clearing cough caught the attention of both teacher and student. Ryan looked over and saw Beckett and Esposito standing in the doorway. Excited anticipation was pouring off them in waves. "Guys," he asked warily, "what's going on?"
"We have an idea," Beckett replied, "about who should be training Skye."
"And it's *not* you, bro," added Esposito.
Ryan waved off the comment, not taking it the slightest bit personally. "I agree. I was just going to track down Katya..."
"It's not Katya, either," Esposito insisted.
That got Ryan's attention. He stood up before helping Skye get to a standing position. "Who are you guys thinking of?" asked Ryan.
Beckett and Esposito entered the room. Both Guardians wanted to be closer to Skye when they delivered the news. "We just found the *perfect* person to train Skye," Esposito announced.
The vagueness of the conversation and the manufactured buildup of anticipation was starting to get on Skye's nerves. "Who?!"
"Your father," Beckett replied.
Skye suddenly found herself on unsteady legs. She leaned on Ryan's arm to keep herself standing. "My father? You know who my father is?"
Ryan was starting to wonder the same thing. "Javi..." he warned, his tone implying that his fellow Guardian had better not be leading them on.
Esposito understood his partner's hesitation. "See for yourself, bro," he countered.
Ryan's eyes flew wide as he read the memories running through his partner's mind. "No way..."
Skye was starting to feel out of the loop. "So?" she asked, her tone demanding answers. "Who is he? *Where* is he?"
Beckett started to open her mouth to explain, but closed it quickly. "Have a seat," she instructed Skye. "Get comfortable."
Confused, Skye sat back down. "We're not going to see him?"
"No, we are," said Beckett. "It's just easier to take you to him than to explain the whole thing first. I have the ability to speak to the dead," she explained quickly, "and under certain circumstances, I can travel back and forth to the spirit world and take other people with me."
"So he's dead?" Skye asked, her heart sinking with disappointment.
Beckett was undeterred. "He is. That's where we're going."
"We're going to the *spirit world*?" Skye exclaimed, her eyes widening.
Beckett nodded. "Close your eyes and focus on your breathing..."
#
The change in Skye's environment jarred her. She blinked against the bright sunlight even as she enjoyed the fresh air and comfortable warmth. "Where *are* we?" she asked.
"We 'inherited' our abilities from a group of Tibetan monks," Ryan explained. "This is their temple."
Skye frowned in confusion. "I thought you said we were going to meet my father..."
"I was a monk, Skye," a voice countered behind her. "I was hardly a saint."
The deep resonant voice was strange, yet oddly familiar to Skye. She gasped when she heard it. "Is that *him*?" she asked. The three Guardians nodded. Skye turned around. "Hi," she greeted Lobsang, her voice breaking. "I'm Skye."
Hello Skye. Lobsang's voice echoed in Skye's mind when he didn't trust himself to physically speak. I am Lobsang Kunchen.
Skye gasped as she recognized the telepathic connection, then frowned as she evaluated the awkward name. "Can I just call you dad?" she asked quietly.
The question broke the tension, and Lobsang laughed affectionately. "Of course," he agreed.
Relieve, Skye flung her arms around Lobsang, letting the tears flow freely. "Hi, dad," she greeted him.
"Hello, Skye," gasped Lobsang, relaxing into the embrace with his daughter. "It is so good to finally meet you."
After what felt like the shortest of eternities, Skye separated from her father's embrace as she remembered how Lobsang had initially greeted her. "You can put thoughts in people's heads? Like me?"
"Perhaps not *exactly* like you," Lobsang replied. "But yes, I can read and project."
"Like Ryan?" asked Skye, looking for clarification. When Lobsang nodded, Skye grew frustrated. "Then why am I so different?"
"You are unique, child," Wangchuk called out in response to Skye's question. "It shows up clearly in your aura."
Beckett shook her head, confused and surprised by the words of her predecessor. She then looked around Skye, 'reading' her aura for the first time herself. "Why didn't I do that sooner," she grumbled, mentally kicking herself.
"What did you see?" asked Ryan.
"Her aura's like yours without the 'dreadlocks'," Beckett explained. "Pure, unadulterated...uncontrolled energy."
"Hold up," Skye insisted, annoyed with people talking about her in the third person. "What are you guys talking about? What are you 'seeing'?"
Ryan connected between Beckett, Lobsang and Skye, allowing Skye to see what the other woman was seeing. "Each of us has a unique aura," Ryan explained. "It's directly connected to our abilities and how they work. First, look at mine and your father's."
Skye backed up a couple of steps, carefully studying what she was seeing. "It's like...it's like you're surrounded by a bunch of wires or cables," she tried to explain. "But they're glowing all sorts of different colors."
Ryan nodded. "Now close your eyes. I'll show you what Beckett sees when she looks at you. Tell me what the difference is."
Skye closed her eyes...and gasped, startled by the image that was plastered at the front of her mind. "It's like I'm looking at myself in some kind of twisted funhouse mirror," she exclaimed. "All the colors I saw in your auras, but no wires or cables. Just one big halo."
"I see that, as well," agreed Lobsang. "Brother, your description of her abilities makes so much sense now..."
"I don't follow," said Esposito.
"I believe the western expression would be that you are like a 'bull in a china shop', my dear," Wangchuk explained. "You project so easily into people's minds because all you need to do is blow energy through them."
Ryan caught on quickly. "Just before we came here, though, she was able to establish a receptive connection with me. It was weak, but it was definitely there."
Lobsang clapped his hands, proud and excited for his daughter. "That is excellent, Skye! Very good news!"
"Why?" asked Skye.
"It means your power is still able to be molded and channeled," Lobsang explained. "While the core of your power may be different than ours, you can be trained to do much more than just project thoughts."
Ryan was starting to understand why his fellow Guardians were so excited earlier. "So you can train her?" he asked his predecessor.
"If you are willing to work hard and obey everything I say, Skye," Lobsang offered. "Then yes, we can train you."
Skye nodded eagerly. "How soon can we get started?"
