Broken Veil (on hold till late fall)

Blossom

"Span?"

"Your span of life, dear. It's very short, riskily short indeed. Ooh." She moved on, stroking different parts of my hand. "Tell me, Fylin, which Gift would you most prefer to have?"

"Ah - I don't know, there are a lot of cool ones... I would kind of like - "

"No. Tell me the first Gift that comes to mind."

"I - uh - " I blushed again, looking at our hands. "Nature?"

"Specific."

"Earth," I lied.

"You're lying." She was staring intensely at her fingers clutching my hand. It was almost as if she were looking right through my palm. I twitched.

"Water," I admitted.

I hadn't really cared about what Gift I got before then. All of them seemed cool; why pick a favorite and be disappointed? And then Jyndal had shown us her gift, and immediately - that was the one I wanted to have.

She seemed to agree with me, her voice solemn. "Jealousy. A dangerous trait."

It was true, I'd guessed. My temper had a way of getting ahead of me, towards something that others had. At one time, I'd tried outdoing every single person in the class for an entire week, trying to have the best lives of all of them. I took toys, I made meals, I served everyone I knew, and I drew SO many pictures. I got twelve hours of sleep every day and helped Mabri with her lessons.

That had been the most exhausting week of my life.

My mind was getting off topic, so I pushed it back and stared at my palm. I couldn't see through it - could Seers see through things? It seemed like this one could.

"Talk about yourself to me, Fylin."

"I... Love to draw. I love my talent so much."

"Yes.

"I, uh, wish that there were a Gift for it or something."

"What about your Class? Or your Birthing Parents?"

I decided I needed to open up if this "seeing" thing was actually going to work. I took a deep breath. "You know, I don't really care for some pieces of Aerix life - there are things I would change."

"Really?" She smiled, amused.

"For instance, we wouldn't have classes. We'd have nightly discussions, but no lessons. And everyone would be altogether, no matter what your age or who you came from." Why was I telling her this, again? "I've gotten kind of tired of my Class. People are really good at getting annoying after seventeen years of living with them."

"Understandable." She nodded, and I caught a glimpse of a smile in her cheeks. She could relate!

She nodded and kept asking me things. I started to get comfortable; this was just like an interview. Towards the end of the counseling, she nodded like she had determined something.

"My dear," she said, "You are going to have to be very careful with your future."

"Don't we all?"

"Well, yes, but you especially, child. Your Gift, I'm almost certain, can be very dangerous if you aren't loyal to the Clan."

"So..." It reminded me of something that Mabri had said, earlier today. My fingertips got cold, all of a sudden. "So my Gift is a forbidden one?"

"I believe it is."

And she stood up and walked out.

Just like that? It was over, and she knew that my Gift was going to be Forbidden? I mean, my loyalty to the Clan wasn't a problem, not at all, but... Forbidden Gift. That sounded a little bit scary.