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Chapter 37 “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable,” Cha-Lee instructed as he closed the door to the Tri’s office behind Katrina. Xenritha nodded politely to the fourteen-year-old as she shifted positions several times in an overstuffed chair. Cha-Lee sat his larger frame on the desk and nodded to Xenritha who sat in the chair behind him. “Through our mental connection Cha-Lee and I have helped you begin to discover your powers as a Zanespot. Today we would like to show you more,” the older man said. “We want to show you how to combine your powers as a Zanespot of the past with ours,” Cha-Lee finished. “Okay,” Katrina agreed readily, looking forward to the experience. “What do I do?” “Close your eyes and listen to my voice. Relax and just do as I say,” Cha-Lee instructed. “Take a deep breath and feel the power inside you, the power of Guardian. Feel it, know it. Reach out and find Xenritha’s mind. Focus your attention and power towards his. Blend with his, let your power mix with his, as it naturally wants to. “Don’t try to speak now, it will only distract you and separate you. Now, follow Xenritha’s lead and connect with my mind and power. Good.” Katrina felt as though she was floating and spinning at once. She saw only a hazy cloud made up of different colored smoke slipping between clear water droplets. She felt Xenritha’s presence but knew not where he was. Cha-Lee’s voice seeped into her mind like a tightly focused light until his consciousness was added to the strange minx. His directions continued in the form of feelings and impulses urging Katrina on. She moved forward, smoke swirled around her and water brushed against her face and body. She appeared clothed but felt bare. Through the haze she was able to make out the forms of Xenritha and Cha-Lee. They were dressed in the gray robes of Zanespots and patiently waited for her. “You have done well,” Cha-Lee told her. “Ignore your own perceptions or feelings, they are only distractions at the at this point. Keep your focus and attention on what we are doing and us. We are joined now, able to share and use one another’s powers. Show us the past, something easy and familiar.” Katrina had only to think and focus. The cloud faded away and around them appeared a dark, cold room with a circular, web-like window looking into space. Two men concealed completely in shiny red armor flanked a door and a lone figure gazed at the window. “Very good,” Cha-Lee said. “You did well.” Two dark-clad figures were stepping into the throne room as the scene dissolved around the Zanespots. A ship’s mother pinged and panged as a young male Caminee cursed it. He beat his hand against a console and the sound stopped. The engine hummed smoothly as the ship passed a lush green and blue world Katrina instinctively knew to be home to her Tri. “That will happen if we do nothing,” Cha-Lee explained. “Just as you accessed the past, show us the future. Access Xenritha’s powers just like you do your own.” It was harder for her than it had to be because she doubted that she could do it. She concentrated hard but nothing happened. Cha-Lee’s mind told her to relax when she did the scene she requested appeared. “I don’t know this place,” Xenritha said, more to Cha-Lee than Katrina. “Tatooine,” she whispered. The walls of the chamber were a rough stone, rounded by the dinner that had carved it out. A small kitchen area was connected directly to what was quite literally a living area. Two medical droids buzzed about a semi-conscious man lying on a sleeping cot. Machines at the head and foot of the cot beeped and blinked as the droids checked readings and life signs. The man, covered largely by old scars, groaned and looked towards a masked woman who sat in a chair between the two rooms, sewing quietly. Katrina moved forward tentatively, not sure how much freedom she had. In her own visions she could move anywhere but the combination of powers felt different, but it did. Slowly she sunk to the floor, her feet planting themselves firmly, and she felt better. She stepped up directly to the woman in the chair and knelt before her. Katrina’s head lay gently in the woman’s lap, passing through the woman’s hand and work. “How is he?” the woman asked, stopping mid-stitch to turn to the two droids. “Healing nicely.” The woman smiled and went back to what she had been doing. Katrina looked up at her then back at the man. She whispered her thanks as she stood again. As the fourteen-year-old turned she could have sworn that the woman whispered, “You’re welcome.” She glanced back and shook her head, calling herself delusional. “Why are we here?” Cha-Lee asked. “What is important about this place, these people?” “Aren’t all people important?” she evaded. “You wanted a place now, in the present. Does this not qualify?” Cha-Lee cocked his head at her and looked at her. Katrina met his gaze challengingly. He studied her for several long minutes before the scene around them dissolved back into the smoke and mist. “You have the right to as much privacy as you like, but beware keeping secrets from us,” Cha-Lee conceded and warned. Xenritha was the first to pull his mind away. The smoke and cloud thinned slightly as the older man disappeared. Cha-Lee went next, taking all of the cloud with him. Katrina floated in a perfectly clear darkness, suddenly feeling disoriented and ill. With what felt like a twenty-story fall, her mind returned to her body. The transition in and out of her visions and looks into the past had almost always been smooth and easy so she was shocked by the pain and nausea she felt this time. “It is always hard the first time,” Xenritha said soothingly as she cradled her. “Next time will be easier,” Cha-Lee agreed, holding a porcelain bowl before the girl. Once her stomach was clean and empty she sat back in her chair, closing her eyes to steady herself. Xenritha took the bowl out of the room and Cha-Lee sat back down on the desk. “Feeling better?” Cha-Lee asked compassionately. “Some. Thank you. Cha-Lee, can you teach me to block out the feelings of others?” “You learn a great deal by observing what those around you feel and think. Why do you want to block that?” “I felt an animal die a few nights ago. I want to be able to control what I take in.” “You need a better understanding of what you should and should not take in,” Cha-Lee said seriously. “I think you need more experience before you learn to cut yourself off.” “What if it acts as a distraction, my not being able to block things out, when its most important?” “When it is most important you do block outside influences out automatically.” “I passed out for days when the Death Stars exploded and Alderaan,” she pointed out. “That’s not likely to happen again. Give it a year, if you advance sufficiently in your training in that year I will teach you what you ask.” Katrina walked away semi-satisfied with the agreement. In the back of her mind she wondered about the man buried under layers of Tatooine sand and the woman caring for him. Somehow she felt that those 2 individuals would play an important part in her future. |
