And What I Found There - Book Two

23. Is It Killing You Like It's Killing Me?

"...talk about an instigator, I mean King Darious of Spades keeps poking and digging for a reaction out of like, everyone. No one is safe from this guy. He'll do anything to keep the pot of drama stirred. I have no idea how King Akio puts up with that guy." I've been happily jibberjabbering on and on about everything that has happened to me in Court for the past hour or more, Vyndren typically always has a scathing comment for the Royals and I so enjoy hearing his input.

"Well, Darious has always been a gossiping, arrogant jackass so what else is new? And don't be fooled by Akio's seemingly innocent act, he enjoys watching Darious get persons aggravated."

"Match made in heaven then," I laugh.

"Yeah, they're adorable," he scoffs and hops up on a rock to look around. He softly inhales the breeze. "Interesting..." He mutters under his breath.

"What?" I ask as I lean against the boulder, glad for a moment's rest from hiking.

"Nothing," he says dismissively. "Ghost Hills is just full of...entertaining shick."

"Oh?" I frown with concern as I look around. But the Dark Rider doesn't seem too worried and sits down on top of the rock, thoughtfully scanning our surroundings. We're still in a deep, dark thicket of a forest, it'll be nighttime soon but somehow the prospect of spending another night in Ghost Hills is less frightening when the Blood Prince is around. "So... um, how long did it take you to figure out that Healing is your Talent?"

"Not too long..."

"Oh yeah? Care to go into the details?"

He rolls his eyes. "I suppose I was...seven-ish when I first Healed."

"Anything to do with the fact that you were also seven when you wielded your first sword?"

"Short answer? Yeah..."

"And? What happened?"

"Lopped my finger off," he smirks faintly as he looks over his right hand, flexing his fingers.

I grimace. "Geesh, that's awful..."

"I had bigger problems than that at the time... Anyway, you mentioned having difficulty finding your Talent. What's up with that?"

"Yeah..." Damn, I regret mentioning that little detail to him. I kinda feel like a loser for not being able to figure out what my Talent is. Everyone else uses theirs all the time. I feel so left out and that's a feeling I've always hated and feared. "It's just that... nothing jumps out to me, you know? I thought maybe it was drawing, then maybe the guitar but now...?" I shrug helplessly. "I mean, I am good at those things but nothing magical happens when I do either of them. So...got any ideas?"

"I got nothing."

"Yeah right," I shoot him a look.

"You're probably overthinking it."

"Ugh. Leave it to you to put me on cloud nine." I cross my arms. "Is that all you got? How could I possibly be overthinking this? I'm obviously not thinking enough about this otherwise I'd have come up with something by now!"

He grumbles under his breath but now finally says. "You're not doing what makes you...you I suppose. Here in Raetri they have a saying that your Talent is the gift from the gods. It's what you're meant to be doing, it's what completes your soul. That is...if you believe in gods and divine powers and shick like you actually have a purpose in life," he snorts. I scowl. He shrugs. "Eh, I've seen too much shick to believe in one almighty force."