Broken Veil (on hold till late fall)

Hasty

In the Classroom, Teryn and Gandli were sitting by the wall, talking quietly. "I thought you said the whole class was here," I said to Mabri. Teryn heard my voice and looked quickly at me and then right away, as if I weren't here. Gandli sent me a questioning look, and I held up a finger to her. "One second," I mouthed.

"The other two are with the Seers right now."

"Seers?"

"Yes, dear; the ones that can occasionally see into one's future?"

"I know what they are, but why are they are here?"

"For your seventeenth year, the Chief assigns some counselors from the Seers that can try and speed along your Gift."

"Hmm."

"There were three of them for us, so you, Teryn, and Gandli will go for your next appointment."

"Okay." Mabri walked to Teryn and started talking to him, so I followed and sat next to Gandli. Teryn was completely ignoring me, but I was almost okay with that. He didn't act like this was pointless at all. Unusual. He was a Prince, soon to be given his Gift. Why did he need to be counseled about it? And Jyndal? Why did she need to go discover a Gift she already had?

A counselor with long, straight hair came and asked for Gandli, and they went out of the classroom to some unknown place, where Gandli could be counseled in peace. I waited invisibly next to Teryn, who was still deep in conversation with Mabri. She was asking him about Princehood, and what he thought his natural Gift might be.

So that was why he was being counseled. Out of curiosity.

I imagined Jyndal was going in to learn more about her Gift. It was probably exciting, getting to use some supernatural power like that. I wonder how it felt... Would it hurt to receive a Gift? Would I know, before it surfaced, or would it be a complete surprise?

Jyndal came back with a lady whose hair was balled up on top of her head in a frizzy, fuzzy bun that leaked out in random strands. I had seen her before, probably at the Coming of Age. I knew I had never met her before.

She called out. "I have Fylin next?" She said it like a question, calling me toward her without even knowing who I was.

"That's me," I said, and she squinched her eyes at me as if she couldn't see that far ahead. Of course, she very well might have bad eyesight. Her hair showed strands of grey. She needed glasses, then.

"Well? Come on then - we don't have time to waste."

We kind of did, but I didn't tell her that.

She pulled me down a familiar tunnel - one I had walked just earlier. We passed my cave with the abstract still fresh in the dirt. The Seer peered over at it with a passing glance. "What a mess," she sneered.

I pulled back slightly, as an immediate reaction. "I like to think of it as an... An abstract work."

"Abstract? You must be confused. Only children do abstract. Real artists draw things that people understand, can look at." She grunted. "Unless that was drawn by a two year old, I'd imagine somebody threw a fit in there. It's the ugliest mess I've ever seen."

I blushed. She hit it, right on the dot. And I knew exactly what she meant. The drawing, contrary to what I had seemed to find earlier, was a whole new kind of ugly. Revolting.

The woman led me into a cave, a few over from my drawing cave. She sat me down on the floor and sat cross-legged in front of me, immediately grasping my palm. "Fylin, you said?"

"Yes."

"Yes," she repeated. She spoke slowly now, in stark contrast to her hasty attitude getting here. "It fits you. Though - my dear, what a short span you have..."

My stomach dropped. Span?

This story is coming up on 200 reads - yayyy! I really love it, and I hope you do too. Keep sharing it and voting and commenting, and... I'll keep posting, I guess?

Well, I am getting really excited and really close to finishing ANOTHER story for you guys. It's called Enjoying the Ride (ETR for short) and I have 29ish chapters written of it. It's going to have around 35-40, so I'm almost done; be watching for it when I put up a description or something, because I'm so excited just writing it...!

Anyway. Happy Thursday :)))

-Allysonita