Koldis the Green (DRAGONWALL SERIES 4)

CHAPTER 13: LEARNING FOCUS

Esterpine

Claire sighed and her shoulders fell. Maybe the pressure was just too great. Maybe she wasn't cut out for this—for whatever she was supposed to be capable of. Maybe Taylynn was wrong. Maybe she wasn't as important as Taylynn supposed. Maybe Saffra's visions never showed her surviving Kane. Maybe she wouldn't. Maybe the Promise would claim her before she managed to fulfill it.

"As usual, you're too distracted." Pelwyn's open palm remained empty. The jasmine blossom he'd given her had long since wilted, so they'd collected another to work with. That one had wilted too. And a third. Now she was staring at a fourth. Three days had passed since their initial exercise. She hadn't done what he'd expected her to do on their first day back. She hadn't summoned a replica copy using only her mind.

Pelwyn had been so certain that she would.

"I don't understand why I can't just sing a few words," she grumbled. She knew exactly which words she'd use, too. She'd practiced in secret the night before, after hours of frustration. Just a few words hummed to a lilting tune and she'd summoned a perfect blossom replica in her hands. There was no mark to accompany the action, probably because it was meant to be something simple.

"Singing a few words is not the point, Elam." Pelwyn's eyebrows lowered. "The point is to hone your focus. Without words," he added.

"Taylynn still sings plenty of her magic. I saw her—"

"And you will too. But not yet," he said.

She opened her mouth to protest—

"How many times have you tried singing something into existence, only to fail?" He arched an eyebrow.

She'd already told him about her water summoning experience, how she'd quenched the dry riverbed the day she earned another mark. The day she ran straight into a sick part of the forest. She'd told him about that too, and noticed the frown that had formed on his features. But like Taylynn, he didn't formulate much of an explanation on the matter.

She'd also told Koldis all about her water mark. An upside down triangle with a line that connected it to a hollow circle, with two lines that cut straight through the connector, all sprinkled with dots like confetti. It took up a solid three inches in length along her spine.

Pelwyn slumped against the garden bench. "You will never conjure magic on the first try, Elam. Not when your focus is lacking. You got lucky with the creek bed because you were thirsty and desperate. Even then, it wasn't your first try that day, was it? Is that how you wish to learn? To wait until desperation drives you?" She hook her head. That was absolutely not what she wanted. "To be as Isabella once was, as Taylynn is now, you must tap into the energy all around you. At will. Your mind must learn focus. You must see and feel magic's energy."

"The white glow?"

"Exactly."

She was getting better at spotting it. Pelwyn had done several exercises where he'd instructed her to focus her mind on the blossom—because it was the simplest thing to focus on. Then he would do magic for her. She'd seen him access the energy, seen it warp and flow around him like light. But it was hard to maintain focus with her eyes open, watching him. And most times her worrisome thoughts wormed their way in, dispelling anything that might have been close to success.

"Perhaps we should try another approach," Pelwyn said at last, a deep scowl adding to his lined face. She couldn't help but notice the disappointment in his voice. Taylynn had said she was important, but was she? If she couldn't even complete a simple exercise when Pelwyn expected it.