Ch6

"How did you do that with the flowers and seeds Luden?" Ocena asked her Ghost as she walked back to her room.

Luden hovered after her very pleased with himself. *"Well there are ways to increase growth speed: it isn't hard."*

"Clearly." Ocena opened the door to her bedroom and brushed off a small table. Luden gave her a flower pot when she asked for it and she set a rather pretty blue flower in it.

Ocena was interrupted in her caring for the small plant by a voice.

"Hello."

She perked up and turned a little. Why is it she was only meeting men? She would like some female friends. But something in her suddenly rang warning sirens about this guy. Now that she thought about it, he had the same voice as the one she'd heard when the other dark Warlock pushed her back to the crowd.

Wait… hadn't she closed the door to her rooms and bedroom?

"Hi…" She gave the dirt around the flower a few more pats before turning to the man. He was a Warlock from the looks and Awoken.

"Can I help you with something?" She asked making sure she had plenty of room to get away from him or attack.

"Perhaps… I'd been hearing there was a new Guardian that was a Warlock Awoken. A lovely young woman at that."

Ocena frowned not taking the complement while she felt uneasy.

"I don't recall opening my door to you and inviting you in." She said refusing to let him see she was scared.

*"I remember closing that door you're standing at."* Luden said hovering closer to Ocena.

"I did knock, you mustn't have heard. Likely focused on your flower there. You have nice hands you know, long fingers."

Ocena was getting the feeling he was flirting with her and he wasn't taking a hint.

"Don't you come in here!" She hissed as he made a move to enter her room. "I did not say you could!"

"Come now, I don't mean any harm."

Luden was starting to wonder if he should send a message to Thane and Victor.

"I don't care if you don't! I didn't invite you in, I don't even know you!" Ocena cried, she felt something welling up in her.

"Oh I'm so sure you'd make that human knock first and invite him in as well." He sneered.

Ocena didn't like that. "Of course I would! Its polite to knock before entering, and if I wasn't busy of course I'd invite him in!"

"What is with you and indulging a human? You're above him."

"What now?! Awoken are just different by look you durak!"

That was her breaking point. No one, no one insulted her friends! She was also still scared, and he was making a move toward her!

He stopped suddenly and paled before he was thrown back by a rippling shockwave in the fabric of reality, which originated from Ocena's attempt to shove him backwards. Without really meaning to, Ocena had just discovered a Voidwalker abillity that Warlocks referred to as the Energy Drain melee, and jolts of void energy ran through him, little sparks of violet running around his body and sapping his strength.

Luden took that time to send a message to Thane and Victor.

*'Thane, Victor get down to Ocena's rooms now! Don't bother knocking just come here; find that dark Warlock so he can get rid of a pest problem, hurry!'*

Ocena slumped to the floor gasping, she hadn't meant to do that, and couldn't stop. Some sort of energy was flowing into her body and building up in her arms. She needed help! It wasn't stopping!

"Ugh!" She pushed her hands against the floor to stay up right. She felt her energy sapping away and tried very hard to stop the flow it was hard to do such a thing when you had little control though.

"Ocena?" came Victor's voice as he neared the entrance to her room. "Luden sent me a mess… what in the world!?" Victor took one look at the Warlock groaning on the floor, who was obviously suffering from the effects of a powerful Energy Drain attack, and then at Ocena who had Voidlight gathering around her arms, and accurately guessed what had happened. Wasting no time, he dashed into the room and mentally switched his discipline from Sunsinger to Voidwalker. Being very careful to use as little power as possible, he gave a slight shove with his palm in Ocena's direction, using his own Energy Drain to lessen the amount of power building up in Ocena's arms.

Ocena felt the drain stop slightly before it started again and simply slowed down.

"Victor…what'd I do?" She slumped further tired from what she had done. It all stopped suddenly and the Warlock on the floor was free but didn't get up; he was in a bit too much pain.

There was another set of foot steps, then the dark Warlock was in the doorway. He took one look around and sighed.

"Can't take my eyes off you for one minute can I?" He growled at the man on the floor.

He looked to Ocena and Victor and winced. "I'm sorry for any distress this fool has caused. I'll get him out of here for you."

He hauled the man upright and all but dragged him off muttering, "Should have known better you fool, going after a new Warlock who has little control. Honestly, I should lock you in your rooms for a month…" With that he was gone.

Ocena panted slightly finally starting to feel better. "How did I..? What..?" She was so confused she hadn't tried to do that.

"Glad to know he's still got his eye on him," Victor muttered before turning his attention to Ocena and crouching down to her level. "I'm so sorry Ocena, I know that was probably quite a scare: are you going to be alright?"

Ocena let out a little hiccup and hugged him as she started to cry. She wasn't fully aware of her actions, she was far too upset to be embarrassed for the sudden hug.

Luden sent a silent message to Victor's Ghost then. *'Perhaps we can show her how to set up a locking mechanism to keep anyone who isn't a close friend or ally out.'*

It was a good idea and Ocena would feel safer.

"My… 'hic' arms hurt..." Ocena managed through tears.

She shivered as she remembered something that only made her cry harder and move closer to Victor. Victor obligingly wrapped his arms around her in a comforting fashion and gently held her while rubbing her back. "It's going to be alright: I promise that'll be the last time outside of the Crucible that you'll need to defend yourself from one of our fellow Guardians. I'll talk to Ikora Rey about having that moron put on probation." He carefully adopted a more serious tone before continuing. "The pain you feel in your arms is just a bit of pressure from the technique you used to shove your attacker just now: it's nothing to be worried about, and I can help you to safely discharge the energy you've absorbed."

Ocena nodded slowly against his chest. She wasn't going to tell him what she had just recalled… she couldn't.

Victor freed one hand and held it out to the side palm up. A little concentration on his part, and a small orb of void light the size of an apple winked into existence and hovered above his palm.

Ocena struggled to calm herself knowing that being scared wasn't helping the situation. Besides Victor was here he was helping her she didn't need to be scared anymore.

"Have a look at this," Victor gently instructed Ocena. "This is a simple parlor trick that takes absolutely no amount of careful training to master. All that it involves is simply focusing on a point roughly above your palm and concentrating on it while imagining a hole where there ought to be anything else at all. Many Voidwalkers like to use this as a sort of meditation exercise to take their minds off of things that upset them: it only requires enough of your concentration to distract you, but not enough that it leaves you mentally worn out."

Ocena moved back a bit and tried to do what he said. Taking a few deep breaths to calm down, Ocena formed a bowl with her hands and focused on a space just above the spot where her hands met. She imagined that the spot was shimmering and going wavey as if heat waves were rising from her palms, and then she pictured the wavy space opening up and revealing a hole that emitted violet light. Nothing happened for a few minutes as she concentrated on the mental image she had formed, but then a small sphere of void light the size of a golf ball flared into existence! Ocena beamed: she was doing it! And the pressure in her arms had almost completely faded away!

"That worked… oh wow so cool, its kinda pretty." She gazed at it distracted from distressing thoughts.

Victor smiled at the fact that she was calming down and let his own void light sphere wink out. "And we haven't even gotten started on the training yet. With practice, you'll be able to utilize this power to defend yourself and your fellow Guardians from the Traveler's enemies. From tiny motes of void light to nova bombs, with time you will grow. And you will have our help along the way," he added cheerfully.

"Thats… really cool." Ocena felt a little dizzy she guessed what she had done before hand wore her out.

*"Any training may have to wait."* Luden said hoving close. *"Ocena looks ready to fall over."*

Victor nodded in agreement as Ocena's void light sphere guttered and went out. "Ocena, let's postpone your training until tomorrow. Take the rest of the day off to recuperate, and then come find me tomorrow after you've gotten yourself some breakfast in you."

Ocena nodded slowly. She stood to get to her bed and all but fell on it, she was asleep within minutes.

Next day

Ocena frowned trying to make Voidlight. She'd done it before of course but she had never controlled it or done it on purpose. Victor walked up to her in the spot in the Tower that he'd booked to tutor her in, and he smiled warmly when he saw what she was trying to do.

"Hello Ocena," he greeted her so as not to startle her. "Having a little trouble?"

Ocena looked up and nodded a little annoyed. Victor smiled placatingly and created a void light orb in his open hand. "It might be that you are trying too hard: our powers are based on an advanced science, that is true, but through the Light inside of you, you now know this science on an instinctual level. If you just clear your mind and think about what it is you want to do, you should find yourself automatically doing it. It's sort of like breathing after a while: you don't think about doing it, you just do it."

"Okay…" Ocena took a breath and cleared her mind. Only a few minutes later did a bright purple orb come to her hands, only it was bigger than she'd anticipated!

"Eek! What… what now?!" She hadn't thought about what to do with it! It was getting bigger, she tried to keep it close.

Victor spread his hands in a placating manner and tried to appear calm, when in reality he was bracing himself in case there was an explosion of void energy. "A-alright now, let's not get carried away: just feed it less energy and try to use your palms as… magnets, yes, as magnets. Imagine that they are giving off waves that gently push the orb and use that to keep the orb in-between your hands."

"Okay…" Ocena tried to do as he said but found it hard. It felt like something wasn't agreeing with being slowed down. The Void Light got brighter and bigger.

"Um! uh… help!"

'Goodness, what a strong reaction!' Victor thought as he spread his hands towards Ocena's void light. 'I'm almost afraid of what will happen when she tries to conjure a void grenade!'Thinking fast, Victor carefully opened up a smaller void orb inside of Ocena's orb. The energy draw caused Ocena's orb to quickly shrink before imploding with a small but contained pop that released a shower of harmless sparks. "Maybe we'd better stick to teaching you how to regulate your energy flow first," Victor suggested with a nervous smile.

Ocena nodded. "That… may be a good idea." Clearly she had no control… that wasn't good.

Victor noticed the look on her face. "Don't worry, having trouble controlling your energy flow at first is perfectly normal: just because you now know the science behind void light on a subconscious level doesn't mean you know how to control the Light within you like a master. Until you can create and maintain void light at a stable pace, we'll practice together three hours a day every morning, with one of those hours set aside for me to tutor you in the more refined aspects of being a warrior scholar." Victor smiled. "You may not be able to hold your own in a debate over void mechanics or argue for the existence of Light's interconnectedness, but when I'm done with you, you'll at least know what I'm talking about," Victor added with an amused grin.

Ocena blinked at him then looked down at her hands. "Okay… how do I go about controlling this? I haven't the slightest idea of how to do that."

Victor smiled. "First, start with a deep breath…"

Three Hours later

"That should do it for today," Victor announced. Ocena looked up from the void orb she had been carefully maintaining, sort of sad that training was over for the day. "I think we've covered some good ground for today… although I'm a little put out that you almost dozed off during my lecture on Light mechanics," Victor added crossly.

Ocena flushed. "Sorry… I didn't do too good in schooling… I always got bored and dozed off. My mother was never too happy about that." Ocena looked at the little orb floating around her hands and smiled. 'I wonder…' "Hey Victor? would you mind if I tried something?"

Victor thought for a moment. "Sure, why not? Experimenting with your powers is one of the best ways to make them grow. What do you have in mind?"

"I'm not sure… just a feeling." Ocena replied. She decided to follow the feeling.

Ocena turned with the bright orb and it followed her circling hands, then she spun. The orb followed in the circle she made in place. So it would work then. Interesting.

Ocena moved around a few different ways enjoying how the void light followed her… almost happily and relieved.

"Victor, does our power have thoughts or feelings?" She asked; though it wouldn't surprise her if the powers were like that.

"There are various theories," Victor answered thoughtfully. "Many Warlocks believe that the forces that the Traveler's Light allows us to shape and manipulate have a life of their own, and it is easy to see how this could be true for something like solar energy, considering that all life draws power from the sun in some shape or another. Those who use void energies often say that the void is 'eager' to be conjured into this plane full of matter and substance, and Guardians who use arc energy find a sort of serenity in how simple the energy flows and claim that it has a certain elegance."

"I see… I asked because once I started playing with the void light… it felt happy, relieved." Ocena frowned. "I was a little scared of it when I first faced the Fallen, but now that I'm enjoying my powers its happy?"

"That's certainly one way to look at it," Victor said with a grin. "Our powers, especially the powers of a Warlock, are easily affected by our emotions. Keeping a level head and a positive attitude can go a long way towards keeping our abilities stable, which is just one more reason why we are trying to build your confidence." Victor glanced at the position of the sun. "Goodness me, Is it midday already? I believe that Thane…"

*"I've got a flash-message from Thane,"* Luden spoke up suddenly. *"He says he wants us to meet him at a set of coordinates in the factory district for your lessons, Ocena."*

"Ah okay," Ocena said letting the void light vanish. To think it'd been so hard to control it a while ago. "Lets go see him shall we? I'm having fun learning about what I can do!" Ocena said bouncing a bit.