Golden Thorns: Chapter Fourteen
Kneeling in the mud with a spear pointing at the back of your neck was not a very dignified position to be in and they both knew it. She let him stand back up, only slightly grinning.
"Every time," said Coran, dusting himself down, "how did you know I was going to go for the trip instead of opening the distance."
"I have my ways," she smirked.
"So you keep saying." The training session proceeded as normal, warm up followed by rigorous training exercises and an hour of sparring, during which the score evened out, shortly before Marie pulled out another three victories. Much to the annoyance of Coran.
That evening back in their dorm room he decided that he would question her about it. "In that last match," he said wearily," when I feinted left and cut down. How did you know that I would open myself up along the front leg like that?"
"Yeah, I've been wondering that too," Said Devlyn from his place at the desk, "it was such a stupid move that I never would have suspected it. And that's saying something."
"Thanks for the support, Dev," Coran laughed. It had indeed been a desperate ploy to try and break Marie's winning streak."
"I admire your collective persistence. You are familiar with the idea of a person's semblance, non?"
"A person's individual trait that allows them to manifest a specific talent or ability." Dev recited like a dictionary.
"Exactly. Every semblance is different. For example it can be speed, strength or a great many other things. My personal semblance is clairvoyance."
"Eh?" Dev's blank statement echoed Coran's confusion.
"So you can see the future?" he asked warily. This was a very dangerous power if he understood it correctly.
"No, not precisely." She said with a warm chuckle, "Do not fear Coran. It only means that in some situations I know what to do, where to go, what to say to achieve my goal."
Coran breathed a sigh of relief. "So in the fight today…"
"I felt like I should step left instead of the obvious right and go from there. You won two because it does not always work…" she finished for him.
"I knew that." Surprised, they all turned to look at Jo, sitting cross-legged on the floor by her bed.
Seeing their so hilariously dumbstruck faces she indulged them an answer. "You have your semblance, I have mine. Just as Coran can hear really well when he concentrates and Dev can regenerate some body parts. Though I suppose that is partly to do with the whole lizard thing."
"Wait, what?" said Dev.
"Ugh, earth to the mentally challenged. My semblance allows me insight to that of others."
"How long have we known each other?" Coran asked
"Four, five months?" she replied.
"How come we haven't had this discussion yet? This seems like quite a big deal."
"We need to have some secrets. Where would be the fun in telling everything?" she seemed unreasonably pleased with herself.
"Really…?" Coran was annoyed now. This was useful Intel to have had. He was glad they had not run into any dire combats recently.
"You didn't know, did you?" she asked him
"What?" he looked up blankly.
"That you had a semblance. Don't worry about it. It's quite subtle. I didn't pick it up for at least an hour after we met for the first time."
"I need to process this. See you guys later."
"Cor-" Marie started. But he was already reassuring her
"I'm not going to blow up again. Don't worry, it was embarrassing enough the first time…" no, he wasn't breaking down. He had something more… constructive in mind.