Page 64 of The Goddesses' Gifts

“I’m in here, boy,” he called from his bedchamber. “Have a seat, I’ll be there momentarily.”

I did as I was told and considered how his living space hadn’t been as well cared for since Grandma Imryll passed away last year. He wasn’t as steady on his feet anymore and there were so many stacks of books scattered about on the floor.

“Would you like me to tidy up these books?” I asked while he shuffled around in the other room. “I don’t mind.”

“Good, lad,” he called. Which appeared to be all the reply I was going to get.

I shook my head and got to re-shelving.

Tamnaeth eventually came into the parlor and inspected my work. His once bright, golden hair hung in waves of white and his shoulders stooped to where he was almost as short as I was. He still wore robes the colors his clan preferred; green, yellow, and white. But they were no longer of elven make. The local tailors did their best to imitate, but there was nothing that came close to the robes he’d arrived with. He still wore the human made garb with pride and by all appearances, took great satisfaction in his position here in the chateau.

“Thank you, Oshruli,” he said with a smile.

“You’re welcome,” I nodded.

“What brings you to visit today?” he asked as he turned to shuffle to his favorite chair, leaning heavily on his cane. He must not have been doing the exercises that Aunt Alyndra prescribed him.

“I have a theory to run by you,” I said, sticking to the topic I’d intended before I soured his mood by bringing up his exercises. “I’ve been working on it for a while, but I can’t figure out what I’m missing to make it work.”

He sat down and picked up his reading glasses. “Well, then let's see what you have, son.” I had almost an entire book of notes for him to look over, but he only needed to get halfway before things started getting repetitive.

Eventually he closed the book and looked up at me with a tiny smile. “What do you want to do with this theory of yours?” he asked.

I swallowed, suddenly worried that I’d missed something obvious. “Well, I want to help mother.” I told him in detail what it was I wanted to help her with.

“That’s all, son?” he asked. “Just help your mother?”

“It wouldn’t work on anything large, and I’d probably have to ask Illian and Rhisikho to donate some material, but I’m sure they’d want to help. I suppose others could use the technique, if I could figure out what I’m missing, that is.” I shrugged and watched Tamnaeth’s face while he thought his way through whatever was preventing him from telling me what I needed to know.

He sighed heavily and took his glasses off. “Well, I suppose I have one final lesson for you after all, Oshruli. It will be more of an experiment, to be honest. It might not even be possible considering your limitations. You’ll have to really extend yourself, son.”

I sat on the edge of his sofa and waited. He met my eyes and I could see he was still weighing the risks.

“The theory here is sound,” Tamnaeth said. “But nobody has that much power … aside from perhaps the Duchess. You’ll need to do what the human mages do and gather extra energy from nature to perform this working.”

“Oh,” I said. “I didn’t know we could do that. Would I need tools like they do?”

“No,” he shook his head, “you just need your current.”

Tamnaeth refused to use a wheelchair or cart in public, so I had to carry him on my back when the walk to the nearest ley line became too much for him. It was a struggle. He might have been a frail old man, but I wasn’t even as tall as mother. Tamnaeth, before he’d become stooped, was almost as tall as father. It wasn’t so much that I was weak. Thankfully I wasn’t so malnourished as a kid that I couldn’t develop my musculature. I could lift him just fine, his larger frame was just cumbersome.

“You can put me down here, Oshruli,” he sighed. I did as he asked but didn’t take my hand away until I was sure he was steady on his feet.

Tamnaeth told me to sit on the ley line. I felt the buzz of energy against my backside. It was strange, but not uncomfortable. “Now make a circuit.” I took a deep breath and placed my hands together, then let my magic current flow from left to right. It wasn't something one could see, but I felt it as warmth between my hands. It made the tips of my sensitive ears tingle since it disrupted the tides and eddies of life flowing around us.

“Draw it out,” Tamnaeth said, eyes closed, using his other senses to know what I was doing. I pulled my hands apart, allowing the current to pass through the empty space between my hands. "Now bend it and press it into the ley line. Make sure it's flowing in the same direction as your current."

I nodded, having intuitively recognized that, and already situated accordingly. Bowing the current had taken a little time to get the hang of, but it was second nature having been the first thing Tamnaeth taught me, and we didn't move on to anything else until I’d mastered it. Then I pressed that bow into the ground and gasped when I felt it flow alongside the ley line. I knew it was a trickle, as far as ley lines go, but next to my current, it felt like an undertow that would pull me to the bottom of the sea!

“Steady son,” Tamnaeth said. “Make your current flow faster, to meet the speed of the ley line. You'll lose your power in its current and that's just sloppy.”

I eventually realized that it wasn’t so much speed, but vibration, or frequency. And now that I was here, I understood what Tamnaeth meant by its possibly being outside my capability. Like trying to sing a song just out of one’s range. I knew I could sing this song though. I could feel it just on the edge of my ability. He was right, though. I would have to push myself.

I don’t know how long I sat there, wrestling with my current. Sweat dripped down my face and back as I crept closer and closer to the frequency. My body hummed when I finally reached resonance with the wild ley line flowing beneath me. My teeth felt as though they were going to vibrate out of my head. “Now what?” I asked between gasping breaths.

“Now, you let your current pull in the ley line,” Tamnaeth said as if that were no big deal.

“The whole thing?!” I balked.

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