Shadow

17

A knock resonates from Teval's right and he looks up from writing a letter to see Ista leaning on the door frame. "Need something?"

"Happy birthday," she says, smiling.

Teval laughs. At least someone was here to remember. "My parents wrote me a lovely birthday letter congratulating me for leaving the academy to be with the team. I was just writing to tell them everything that's happened since then. They'll be worried, but I think they'll also be proud to hear about Orem and Taka, right?"

"If I was your mom, I would definitely be proud." She then steps forward and holds out a book to him. "I got you something."

Teval takes the book and frowns. It's the book for his attribute that he saw at the small book shop in Middling. "How did you find this?"

"Risol told me about the book you found for Lexton and asked if I'd like to hunt down some obscure healing texts." She shrugs. "While you were being held, I got the feeling that maybe you'd like to be able to knock Jiyo on his ass the next time you see him, so I started poking around in that district."

Teval smirks. "You know, I've been wanting to work toward Level 4 exams, and this is just what I needed. Thank you."

Ista steps closer to give him a hug around his shoulders, and he squeezes her waist. "At least this will take your mind off things."

"Yeah." Teval sighs as he turns the book over in his hands. Orem and Taka will still serve out another month before they get out, so outside of work, Teval will have a lot of free time on his hands. "I guess I can show Lexton everything I've learned once they contact us."

"When do you think they'll get in touch?"

Teval's eyes roll toward the ceiling as he thinks. "I don't know, I'd say at least a couple months? Maybe up to six if they have trouble locating the right tribe."

"I suppose that's if anyone even knows who his father is."

"We also can't tell them that the bounties have ended, so we won't know if they've found anything until they choose to contact us."

Ista wanders over to sit on his bed. "I'm usually really good about waiting since injuries can take a long time to heal, but it always feels wrong in the house and it's only been a few weeks. It's like they're going to walk in the door any second."

Teval pages through the book, pausing at the list of chapters. "Everyone knocks a little differently when they come to my room, but when Lexton would come in, if nobody was around, his hand would touch my shoulder and he'd lean down to kiss my cheek. I get this weird feeling sometimes like he's going to walk in, but he doesn't."

"It sounds like we're talking about dead people. I don't like it." Ista shivers.

"Me neither." Teval tilts his head at the heading of one of the later chapters, paging to that spot. "Casting with drain items," he reads aloud, intrigued.

"What's that?" Ista gets up to join him, reading over his shoulder. "A vibration attribute has the unique ability to cancel out drain items at certain frequencies? Am I reading this right?"

Teval chuckles. "Somehow I'm not surprised I wasn't taught this in the academy."

"This seems incredibly useful, though." Her finger follows the sentences as she reads, "Drain cuffs and other items are often set to a common power level that helps cancel out a user's attribute. The tags on them can be easily overpowered by higher level users of any attribute when at full power. Well, we knew that."

"Wait, here," Teval taps the page. "'Vibration users can help alter the frequency of the tag if bracelets or cuffs must be worn by users, such as individuals serving out prison sentences. This can improve power efficiency as well as how effectively the tag works on a particular individual and their attribute.' Huh. I wonder if any of the ones at the prisons are actually altered, or if they use generic ones that are all set the same."