Chapter three: The Mind-Controlled Grasshopper
The following three weeks I completed my next four ceremonies: first meat, first moulting, first fur-on-meat and first bones. We never spoke much; instead we held more telepathic conversations than normal families have verbal conversations. I don't remember what we spoke about all the time though. My da read me the legends every morning and so we progressed through the entire cycle of legends. Besides that my parents began teaching me all sorts of things a young owlet should know. I was taught language and speech, reading and writing, about Glaux and Teleglaux, the dangers of the outside world, manners ect. But most importantly mum and da began teaching me telepathy. The practice of telepathy does not just include mind reading and talking to others telepathically. Not many knew that telepathy was complete access other owls brains. This was because they could only hear us talking to them in their minds and occasionally figure out that we have read their minds. Reading minds in itself isn't what others think it to be. It is generally conceived that us telepaths can only see or hear what another only is thinking, so everything is safe in their minds as long as they do not think about it. That is horribly incorrect. Although it makes it easier, anything in the owl mind can be seen with a little bit of searching. Along with reading minds and talking to others telepathically we can create and destroy memories, develop artificial habits of others, make them do things whether they like it or not and put them under hypnotic trances. In short the best of us could completely manipulate minds. Everybody in the town thought I was the best they had ever known, but I don't think I was. My parents were. My da had been the captain of the Cortex Silencers for many moon cycles now and my mum was the leading Mental Medic for a long time as well.
-"Mesmo stop playing with your food, we want you to practice your abilities but not on your food!"- My mum was yelling at me in my head because I was making a grasshopper run around the floor in front of me.
-"Sorry mum, but when am I going to have my first lesson?"-
-"Soon enough dear, you're only a week old."-
-"I'll give you your first lesson tomorrow Mesmo,"- said my da.
-"But Neuro, he's too young!"-
-"Valery, you can see his telepathic abilities are far beyond mature for his age. Most owlet's ability to speak telepathically only kicks in a week after their hatching and look at him he's already mind controlling. I think he's ready."- My mum looked at me and I nodded.
She paused and then said, -"Well alright dear, if you think he's ready."-
-"I knew you would say that!"- My da had obviously read my mum's mind.