TERRA: Age Of Terror

~4~

.RUTH.

~Dictum~

I open my door and direct Leona to the small armchair isolated in the corner of the living room. "There you go." I say and my gaze moves towards her frozen leg. "I... um, I don't know exactly how to... Uhm unfreeze your leg." I continue, still not able to comprehend how her leg had frozen in the first place. I move closer to the limb; to inspect it. Even if I manage to unfreeze this, she would definitely suffer from frostbite. I let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding, straighten up, and got ready to tell her what I think about her puzzling injury. All of a sudden, I feel the atmosphere change. I look at Leona as bright purple swirls around us indicating she's surprised. Of course, only I can see this.

A bit disoriented, I ponder a bit on what could have startled her.

"Y-you have a star?" Leona asks, as her pupils begin to dilate. I subconsciously touch the hardly visible mark under my eye.

"Uh yeah, it's a birthmark. I-" My lips freeze as Leona lifts up her right hand and I see the small star in the centre of her palm; an exact replica of mine.

"You're an Eternal?" I ask flabbergasted.

"I am. I alter the enthalpy values of certain matter; to an extent."

"You control temperature?"

"Something like that."

I watch as Leona proceeds to place her hands on her frozen leg, fascinated as her leg unfreezes. "Whoa... that was... wow". I mumble and stare transfixed at her leg, my brain trying to process what just happened.

"Uh Jinx?" Leona says gripping her injured leg tightly, and the doctor and the. "Oh sorry," I rush to the cupboard and carry the utensils I need. As I clean, and dress her wound, I feel the uncertainty and thoughts running through her mind. I feel Leona's scrutiny and I try to reassure her.

"I'm a trained physician" I say and finish up. "You don't look like one." Looking up at her I smile. "I get that a lot". I glance down at my long floral bohemian skirt and I touch the flowers entangled in my coils. "I like to think I'm special."

"What's your power?" She finally blurts out. "You do have one, right?"

"I can sense emotion, and read minds." I say.

"So you can tell why I'm here?"

"I can, but I'd rather not."

"Why?"

"I can't control my powers and I respect privacy. If you let me read your mind, I may end up reading every one of your secrets. The more emotional turmoil the secret costs you, the less control I have over myself." I tell her as her mouth curves into a frown.

"Well I guess I have to tell you then."

I frown, "It really doesn't concern me in any way-"

"That's just it, Jinx. If that star is legit, then what I'm about to say concerns you... in every way."

.LEONA.

I watch as her face pulls into a frown at my words. She reaches out and places her hand over her chest. She does that a lot.

She's different. If I were to judge her by her looks, I would definitely say she is a bit careless and laid back, but then, I saw her dressing my wound; she was precise and careful; It was like she was a different person altogether.

"Tell me." She says quietly.

"I was a lieutenant in the Lex Imperium army. My parents are the current commanders, and my sister, Anelie is a lieutenant as well. My sister and I are the 6th and 7th Eternals in my family history. Our parents taught us to keep our powers under control, and we were never to tell anyone.