Free Jeanne G'Fellers - Sisters Flight by Jeanne G'Fellers Page B

She traced the scar beneath my face
paint. It won't stop the memories, but keeping a reserve of energy set aside
will help you maintain control when they threaten to overwhelm you.
    Oh. I tried to contain the pain that
remained despite the unexpected elation over my own abilities, but it spilled
out in something between a small sob and a chuckle. I still need to
talk about Easton.
    Then
we shall. Evangeline let me go and I
sat back, rocking on my knees to dispel some of the remaining energy.
    When
she called his name I lost all control, I
mind blurted before I could slow myself. I couldn't speak without
risking throwing up. I gulped back another sob-chuckle. I couldn't
even tell her it was going to be all right, couldn't look her in the eye. I
ran. I failed her. The one person she ever reached out to failed her.
    Evangeline
shook her head. She doesn't feel that way.
    I
think you underestimate the situation.
    This
coming from someone who just learned she has underestimated herself, mused Evangeline. Misplaced sisters are difficult
for most to understand, but they do understand each other. Takes one to know
one as they say.
    How
would... ? To my amazement,
Evangeline winked at me. "You?"
    We
come from different walks, but we all know what rarely gets said.
    I've
always believed it doesn't need to be said.
    Evangeline
shook her head again. Sometimes it does. I was young when sisters found me,
but the damage had already been done. It influenced me to become Kimshee. No
one deserves such a fate, especially a child.
    I
was a teen, which Garrziko says Easton was, but I had Archell to support me, or
rather, we supported each other through the worst of it.
    And
good first raisers and Myrla's love from very early on, Evangeline relayed through our link.
    I
nodded. How'd you survive?
    I
am not sure. The memories were removed by a Yauld healer.
    Memories
can be removed? I lost my balance and
fell back. Why hasn't anyone told me?
    The
Tekkroon seem to have lost the skill, Evangeline
said as she pulled me upright again. But in all honesty, I cannot say
whether my missing memories have been good for me or not. It has left me with a
hole I can never fill. But I do still have the physical scars.
    The
ones on your back?
    Myrla
told you about them. They're from when I was around five. They let me retain
that much. That's when sisters found me. My grandfather left me for dead in a
pasture. That's what we share, you know, the pain of rejection. We feared it
more than any beating. Still do.
    It
was a constant, I said. Around us,
the camp had become restless, sleepers mumbling and stirring one or two at a
time.
    Evangeline
glanced at the fidgety sleepers and frowned before turning back to me. It
was the only constant we knew until we were found. We now sat face to face,
bare inches from each other. So we have our common ground?
    I
believe so.
    The
same ground we share with Easton. Evangeline
smiled lightly.
    Yes,
but I already knew she was misplaced.
    But
did you know you were providing her with a new constant?
    One
which I ruined.
    Evangeline's
smile faded a bit. You did?
    I
couldn't comfort her when she needed it most.
    You
were there. That was her constant. That is what she held on to, held on to so
hard she denied her instincts to let you touch her. She's still the same
wounded animal we all are when we're found. Her wounds simply never healed.
    I
still don't see —
    It's
called loyalty. A sudden ire crossed
Evangeline's face and she turned toward her apprentice. Laszlo Targus, will
you ever learn?
    Laszlo's
blanket fell from her as she sat bolt upright. Me, Master?
    Innocence
is lost on such a blatant cerebral invasion. Evangeline's eyes narrowed to match her thinned mouth.
    I'm
sorry, said Laszlo. Its just that,
well, they're just so interesting.
    It
is not their custom. I could
feel Evangeline lunge out with her energy to thump her apprentice on the ear.
It wasn't a hard blow, more to get attention than punish, but the effect
clearly rattled