Page 66 of To No End

I had to admit I still found him just as attractive, if not more, but it felt like a betrayal, nonetheless. Saryn spent a lot of time discussing how this skill must be honed so that one could uphold a glamour toward individuals, small groups, even large audiences for short and long durations. It made me wonder if the entire time Trace and I were at the tavern he only bothered to glamour me, or if that included all the other patrons too.

Discussing glamour naturally led to the conversation about shapeshifting. A much more difficult power to master. I had practically given up any chance of being able to do it at the firstmention. To my knowledge, the first time I’d ever seen anyone shapeshift was when we first arrived and Saryn transformed from a sensuous female into the handsome and cunning male before us now.

Unlike the trickery of glamour, shapeshifting was much more than some vivid illusion. You could touch it, feel it, and everything about it would seem real. By the end of his explanation, I pretty much resolved to master glamour long before I’d attempt shapeshifting.

The discussion of mind reading went hand in hand with mental shields. Many Fae had the ability to read minds; it was just terribly impolite. Most people were out of practice, eventually tuning it out completely. This is why many didn’t bother expending the energy to keep up their mental shields. With everyone minding their own business, there wasn’t a need.

Now and then people would slip up and follow it with an apology. I thought back to Gris and how he’d known I was self-conscious in the sunlight, then had proceeded to draw the curtains and dim the lights without me asking.

We were growing tired of hearing Saryn stress the importance of learning to live with our mental shields up at all times. While I understood the importance of it, the idea of it sounded utterly exhausting. He then proceeded to point out that all mind-reading is one-way, and only true bonded mates possessed the two-way communication known as mind-melding. In the old tongue, this was usually referred to asfideli cœur.

I glanced over at Gia, not surprised to see an expression of melancholy. I couldn’t imagine being cut off from someone the way she had been by coming here. To have had that kind of intense connection with another and have it severed seemed like an unimaginable level of heartbreak I did not want to ever experience.

Saryn snidely remarked that while that two-way skillset might come in handy, it wasn’t worth it to have to deal with a bonded pair, and he thanked the Gods as this was no place for mates.

Next, he covered the act of mesmerization, more commonly referred to as “pushing” someone. In a way, this felt like the most intrusive of the powers he’d listed thus far. It was one thing to listen in on someone’s thoughts, or manipulate what you looked like, but this is when we started to ignore boundaries entirely. Using eye contact, or sometimes a simple phrase, even a change in tone of voice could cause another person to do your bidding.

It was stripping someone of their freedom and control over their actions and decisions. I’d never experienced anything like that; an act like that toward someone of a High household is considered treachery. If you truly mastered shields, then you could not only block someone from reading your thoughts, but your mind would also be impenetrable to mesmerization.

It felt like Saryn had been rambling on forever, as if he enjoyed the sound of his voice. Admittedly, the discussion probed further than I’d ever allowed my thoughts to explore, and that alone was enough to intrigue me. Yet, rapt as I was, a certain weight of expectation pressed down heavily, causing me to slump further into the chair.

He saved the most rare and difficult abilities till the end of his diatribe. Elemental manipulation and transfiguration were two additional, similar powers, but had distinct differences. Wielding elements meant that you could shape the natural material that made up our world. Earth, air, fire, and water. It was practically unheard of to channel the creation of the materials and then wield them. Most who did master this required some form of the element to be present or nearby already, no matter how small, then they could manipulate it; that could mean turning it into a weapon or some form of defense like a shield.

Filling my own bath to the brim with a small amount of water from a canteen is a mere shade of what water wielders could do, but perhaps that meant there was promise for me.

Much of the magic discussed today I had barely read about and certainly never saw in person, so I wasn’t feeling very worldly or useful. Sometimes I found myself daydreaming in self-doubt while Saryn droned on; thinking about all the years of my life that had gone by without attempting to master any of this. I wasn’t certain I could, and that scared me. I wanted to be useful, but more than that was the desire to be powerful. To do rare and difficult things, and perhaps, even impress my peers beyond some reckless sparring.

I already knew what transfiguration was and had seen Idris wielding it on full display. Still, Saryn went over it in detail to ensure everyone understood that the ability to physically change any handmade object, no matter what it was made of, was a rare and useful ability. A useful example included the ability to alter one’s clothing when shapeshifting.

Theory made a morbid joke about being able to transfigure wine into poison with a mere wink. A few of us let out a small laugh, but I just looked at her with trepidation because I was certain she was not joking regardless of her playful tone.

The thought of people out there who would do such evil things freely and think of it as creativity or problem-solving was one of the many reasons I struggled to fathom myself being a valued member of the Order. But I had no other choice than to try until I resembled what they wanted me to become.

The second to last power he covered was dreamwalking. Until now, I hadn’t believed this power was real. It was mentioned often in bedtime stories from my childhood. While tucking us in, Mother would tell Versa and me tales of strange figures that danced while you slept, bringing sweet dreams to good children—and nightmares to those who misbehaved. Although it seemedsilly now, the story made me think twice about disobeying my mother and father when I was little.

This was the ability to gain access to someone’s mind while they slept, and in doing so, you could plant ideas and visions to influence them, or you could simply watch their dreamscape to learn more about their innermost desires and plans. People were always at their most vulnerable when sleeping, as their shields would be down.

Theory implied that this power was extremely rare and we would not be expected to master an ability that was considered more of an innate gift. She also mentioned that the only Dreamwalker she had ever encountered was now dead, their head on a pike in a town square for all to see when their master learned of the trespasses that had been made.

I shuddered at the thought of it, because Theory had intentionally let her shields down and her thoughts were practically screaming the visuals of it at me, to the point where I could detect the faint copper taste of blood on my tongue. I clenched my fists, trying to break myself away from her barrage of thoughts replaying the savage act.

The final power was the gift of vision, and those with it were commonly referred to as Seers. Much like Dreamwalkers, people didn’t believe in them. Most people treated them like crackpots or individuals who had lost their minds. I thought back to Aster in the woods. Her riddles and rhymes were cryptic, and yet something about her had made me feel like she could see a picture of which I could only see a fraction.

Saryn assured us that while some people pretended to have the gift of vision to swindle a passerby, Seers were real, rare, and born that way.

“A Seer is only as valuable as their ability to interpret their visions,” he added.

“And most refuse to speak of their visions for they believe that increases the chances of them being altered,” Theory noted.

That lined up pretty accurately with the fact that for as much as Aster had told me, it made little sense, and she offered no clarity other than my future was being intentionally hidden. Now that I was here in Basdie and part of a secret order, it all added up, and I had a funny suspicion that Idris was behind the enchantments blocking my future from being seen.

Nonetheless, pieces and parts of the riddle began to consume my mind, slipping in from the corners of my memory. My attention returned to the classroom when a long pause of silence occurred. More silence than I had heard in a long while.

Saryn must have finally grown tired of talking because he dismissed us for dinner, and I had to admit I was relieved. If he had put any more thoughts in my head, I might have exploded. By now, I was questioning which part of my training was going to be the death of me. Saryn wasn’t kidding, my mind was exhausted and all we’d done was discuss magical abilities; we hadn’t even begun attempting them yet.

All the action of the day had built up quite an appetite in me. In the dining room, I decided I was tired of the routine we had all settled into. Sitting in the same order room after room was beginning to irk me; I made a point to wait till Trace sat down, and then I intentionally took the seat next to him before Nori could. She had a confused look when she arrived at the table, but she didn’t make a fuss about it and happily took the seat on the other side of me.

He began to eat with a begrudging look that probably only I noticed, and that’s because Trace had worn a scowl on his face ever since arriving at Basdie. There was no hiding that he was displeased, so the slightest increase in that displeasure was imperceptible to the others.

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