Page 60 of All That Has Flown Beyond
“Smells funny in here,” she muttered.
“Those are probably to blame.” Kaiyo pointed at the herbs hanging to dry. “Can you pass me the mortar?” he asked, only glancing at Isla to avoid making her feel as if she were being watched.
Isla hesitated as if she wanted to defy the request, but she walked further inside, placing the bowl beside him.
“Thank you,” Kaiyo said with a small nod.
“What are you doing?” Isla asked after a moment. Kaiyo tried not to smile.
“It’s a mixture to prevent nightmares. One of the packs has a young necromancer who ventured into the Nunn before he was fully trained and is suffering the consequences.”
“Oh.”
“I’m making him some spell bags to keep in his room. Anise, thyme, rosemary, valerian root. For protection and rest,” Kaiyo explained, pointing at each plant in turn.
“How are those going to help him?” Isla asked, peering a little closer.
“Well, I’m guessing you know about Ousía,” Kaiyo started, glancing at her as his hands moved steadily. The ink of his tattoos seemed to shift in the sunlight, following his work.
“Kind of. I mean, we don’t talk much about that stuff,” Isla admitted, as Kaiyo kept the surprise off his face.
Isla might not be a werewolf, but she had a conductive Ousía, giving her the potential to be a witch. He wondered if the pack even knew.
“Well, Ousía is the essence of you, apart but tied to your physical self, that makes you who you are. Ousía seeks balance, working best when aligned with itself and the world around it. When it is disturbed for some reason, this can manifest in a multitude of ways. Nightmares are one, as memory and fear affect the Ousía as much as the body, preventing rest.”
Isla nodded as if it were news to her.
“The pack hasn’t talked to you much about this at all?” Kaiyo couldn’t help but ask again. Isla shrugged.
“We don’t hang out much,” she mumbled.
Kaiyo frowned. He’d suspected, but it troubled him that even Isla had noticed. It wasn’t healthy for a pack to not have contact with each other, especially with the Kephale. This was only truer for a group as small as the Garrows.
“Well. That will change soon, I hope,” Kaiyo said.
“Whatever,” Isla said, shrugging again. Kaiyo’s mouth twitched.
“Pass me that, will you?” he said, pointing at the anise. Isla did as asked. “You can grab a stool and sit if you like.”
After a slight pause, she dragged the seat close to Kaiyo before hopping on it.
She watched him carefully for the rest of the afternoon, both of them comfortable in the silence.
**********
Kaiyo held a happily babbling Edu, bouncing him with his body.
“All right. First day of training. Excited?” Kaiyo asked the pack, who were all standing in the short grass between the pack house and the forest.
They all mumbled unenthusiastically. Kaiyo ignored them.
“Today, I’ve got a task for you. Everything you need to build a desk and a cabinet is over there,” he said, pointing his chin at where materials and tools were in a pile on a large blanket. “The pieces for both are all mixed up, so you’ll have to sort what belongs to which structure. I’m going to give you twenty minutes. I want you to put as much of it together as you can before the time runs out.”
“In twenty minutes?” Thea asked sceptically.
“You don’t have to build all of it, just as much as you can. And there are no instructions included, so…”
“Oh, this is going to be fun,” Amaya said with a smirk as the others muttered.
