Psychic

7. Acceptance

Rai and Lestat finished renovating the old caravan three days later and Kiyo had not yet left Korrik. He clearly had no desire to do so and had even become attached to their family. He even told Cliff that he was a former General and explained why he had been unable to return to Laridion. Cliff had held a meeting and explained this to the heads of families in the camp. Contrary to what Rai and Lestat expected, they were happy to have a talented fighter living in their camp even if he was a former General.

Since Kiyo was now a permanent resident in Korrik, he had to make himself useful to the camp. He was mostly assigned to assist with the manual labor associated with rebuilding caravans. This put him in constant contact with Rai, who was always trying to ignore him. Being the stronger of the two telekinetic psychics in the camp, manual labor for Rai meant sitting down and moving things with a quick wave of the hand. Kiyo was often seen standing next to Rai or he would follow her when she went to check on something.

One day Rai was overseeing the roofing on one of the caravans. She was passing tiles up to her cousin Dane while Lestat was working on the other side and Kiyo was standing by her. "You know," Dane said as he affixed one of the tiles, "there are four angles to this roof."

"What's your point?" Rai sighed.

"If you sent your bitch up here to help, we could finish a lot faster. Unless he's too busy keeping an eye on that ass."

"How about you worry about yourself and not what anyone else is doing?" Rai told him. She punched Kiyo in the gut, whispering to him, "and you get your ass up there."

*  *  *

On another occasion, Rai and Lestat took Kiyo fishing with them. They had also taken Rai's twin brothers, Isaac and Aaron. Rai was very much a friend to her youngest brothers. They found her powers impressive and always wanted to see her use them. They often encouraged her to entertain them with what they thought of as magic.

Rai and Lestat were using their powers to pull fish out of the water, while Kiyo, Isaac and Aaron were pole fishing and largely being unsuccessful.

"Look at this fish," Aaron said, picking a fish up from the floor of the boat and taking it to Kiyo. "Doesn't he look like he's making a kiss face?"

"Maybe to you," Kiyo said.

"No, to you. Here, kiss the fish." He stuck it in his face and Kiyo grabbed his arm to hold it back, cringing.

"That's a keeper, Kiyoshi," Isaac told him.

Though he was not a fan of his full name, Kiyo allowed the gypsies to refer to him by it. He wanted to treat them the way he would his own family. Rai and Lestat were the only ones who continued to call him Kiyo. It was not going to be so easy for them to accept that he had left his old life behind. They knew him as a man who once tried to kill them and that was still in the back of their minds.

"We should just marry you now," Isaac continued.

"Yeah, man, kiss the bride," Lestat scoffed. "You're never going to do any better."

"I love you," Aaron faked a high-pitched voice while trying to shove the fish into Kiyo's face.

"I'd rather die a virgin."

"Oh no," Aaron took the fish to the edge of the boat. "Now this fish must seek out new love." He dropped it over the side of the boat. "Find love, fish."

"Idiot," Rai said punching Kiyo's arm. "We lost a fish because of you."

"Yeah, idiot," Isaac copied her.

"So... you're a virgin, huh?" Lestat teased him with a smirk. "How old are you anyway? Like thirty?"

Kiyo blushed slightly but could not stop smiling. "I'm twenty-four."

"I thought Generals get all the bitches."

"There are women that pretty much anyone can use but it just felt weird to me. Maybe because I wasn't raised there."

"But you tried?"

"Kind of but they'd end up talking to me and they always had plenty to say so I'd just let them talk. I don't know. I guess it just never felt okay to me."

*  *  *

Another night Rai was standing behind the bonfire while Kiyo told a story of a fight he had with another General when he was in the military. Rai was bringing his story to life, molding the flames into the situations Kiyo was describing. The kids were seated around the fire as they ate some dried meats while some of the adults stood behind them.

"You did really good," Kiyo told Rai as she put out the flames with a bucket of dirt after everyone had left. "I liked the way you molded the flames."

She turned to him slowly, unsure how to respond at first. "I guess. It's really not that hard to do."

"Really?" Kiyo scoffed, dropping himself to sit on one of the logs around the fire pit. "So I could do it if I just tried hard enough?" She smiled weakly as she dropped the empty bucket in the sand but made no effort to respond. "So how does it work exactly?"

"It's a lot easier than it seems. I just think it and then it is. So I have an image in my head and I build that image. It's like the process of drawing only a thousand times faster. It might be harder for someone who's not artistically inclined to create an image from a substance."

"Lestat can't do it."

"He's different. Everything is a little harder for him. I don't know why. He's had his powers longer than I have. He has to work harder to do something that's very easy for me to do."

"Maybe it's a bit like art. Some people just have a natural talent for it and others have to work harder."

"Maybe."

"Hey, Rai," her cousin Zaki called her from a distance. She tilted her head slightly to see him. He was standing with his girlfriend and Dane. Zaki asked her, "what are you waiting for?" Both cousins made circles with one hand, sticking a finger in it. Rai kicked the sand at her feet and the sand at their feet flew up into their faces.