Shadow

6

That first lesson pays off when Teval arrives at the team's home a few days later after his shift at Iggi's with the books he picked up. He immediately puts Lexton to work practicing what he learned before, and the younger man is doing much better. Teval now stands behind Lexton with a hand on his shoulder to monitor him and notes there aren't any more fluxes of power, just gentle control as he runs through the exercises.

"Perfect, now the shield," he tells Lexton, who starts on the next task.

"This book is so nice!" Seran chirps from where she sits off to the side. "I have a book based mostly on forge work, but these shields are pretty creative."

"I knew you'd like them." Teval gives her a grin. "Once Lexton is up to speed, you two could battle one another."

"Remember when we met and I tried to get you to battle with me?" Seran asks, then puts a hand over her mouth. "Oh, maybe I shouldn't disturb him."

"It's fine. I remember," Lexton replies.

"What happened?" Teval asks.

"I refused because I had no formal training," Lexton tells him simply.

"That's all?" Teval looks at Seran who shrugs.

"We all have our reasons."

Teval tilts his head as Lexton's shield has a minor flux that disappears as quickly as it appeared, and it seems like there's more to this story than they're telling.

"I was practicing out by one of the creeks on the west side and I saw Lexton trying to do the same over by some trees. I used to go out there because when I came into my power, my sister and I were having a fight and I, uh, kind of lit the place on fire." Seran sits up to point at the discoloration on her neck Teval had noticed before. "I have this scar that goes over my shoulder and down my back a bit. My sister has one too on her side."

"Shit, that sounds like me and my sister," Teval says.

"Wait, really?" she asks as Lexton glances back at him over his shoulder.

"Yeah, same thing happened with us, we were fighting and shook the second floor landing apart," he tells them.

"Did you fall?" Lexton asks.

"Riyan landed on the first floor, but I fell into the basement." Teval nods.

"Oh, that makes so much sense," Seran mutters to herself, then startles. "Sorry, I don't mean to be rude."

Teval smiles. "Nah, you told me yours, so I told you mine. And now you know why you'll never see me sitting on a rooftop with Lexton."

Seran laughs as Lexton snorts, and Teval is starting to realize how much he enjoys their company. He wishes he'd given the team a chance when he was younger so they could have been friends sooner.

Once Lexton is done with what Teval decides are warm up exercises, he gives them both a few tips for power manipulation, pointing them out in the book he brought for Lexton.

"Can you tell me the difference between a cast and a tag?"

"Casting is when you're manipulating the power currently, but a tagging is when you place power in a tag to run without you manipulating it?" Lexton looks at him expectantly.

"Correct. And your casting is getting much better since we went over the basics. Do you place many tags?"

Lexton shakes his head. "I only tried a few before, but not recently."

"Why not?" Teval glances at Seran, who just smiles.

"Can't you guess?"

"Too much power?"