Free Davin's Quest by Bianca D'Arc

bridge the gap between her empathic soul and the lonely man who had given her the means to make contact.
    “I don’t think our parents could object to that,” she hedged, palming the crystal more strongly. “I don’t think they’d mind if I made friends with him.”
    Harry felt the energies sliding toward completion with some satisfaction. He’d given her the nudge and now she would see it through. He knew he’d done the right thing, but he still didn’t know exactly how it would all play out. His powers were growing stronger as he grew, but there was still so much he didn’t quite understand.
    “No, they wouldn’t object to your making friends, Cal. You should call him.”
    “But how?”
    He spent just a few moments telling her how to work the crystal as he’d seen similar crystals work in the city, then left her to it. He’d planted the seed and as he walked away, the flower blossomed.
     
    “Davin?”
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    Callie’s voice was hesitant, but it was music to his ears, half a world away.
    “Is that you, Callie?”
    “Yes. It’s me. Harry showed me how to work the crystal. I hope you don’t mind.”
    Mind? She had to be joking! He was ecstatic that she’d initiated contact. He quickly secured his chamber and lay back on his couch, ready to hear whatever she would choose to share with him. He hoped he could keep her talking, but he wasn’t much of a conversationalist.
    “I don’t mind, Callie. I’m actually very happy to speak with you.”
     
    She could feel that, even over the distance that separated them. Her empathic gift was an odd creature.
    Sometimes she felt resonances of feeling from people just by hearing their voice. It was that way with Davin, and it was that which had made her sneak around Papa Mick’s office when Davin had been staying there, hoping to hear the deep rumble of his voice and experience the shivers it sent down her spine and through her empathic senses. She didn’t quite understand it all, but she knew his voice, his raw emotion, made her feel good in a way that was entirely different than what she’d experienced with her family members.
    “I was hoping…” She took a breath for courage. “I was hoping we could be friends. I know my parents didn’t want you talking with us kids while you were here, but Harry says you might be lonely, and you might want a friend to talk to once in a while.”
    Davin was silent and she was afraid she’d said too much. But when he sighed, she felt it down in her bones.
    “Harry sounds like a very wise man.”
    Callie laughed, liking the respect she could feel in his voice. “Harry’s the best. But he’s going back to the city today. Maybe you’ll see him there.”
    “I doubt it. I imagine he’s going to the northern settlement. I live in the Southern Engineering Facility, which, if I’m reading the old human maps correctly, is roughly in an area that used to be called Brazil, though the coastline is much changed now.”
    “Wow, you mean in South America? Mom taught us the old geography, but warned us it was probably all different since the cataclysm. I didn’t realize your people had more than one city, but I guess that would make sense.”
    “We have several cities, settlements and facilities all over this globe. I’m in the largest engineering facility.”
    “Because you’re the Chief Engineer, right? Harry told me about that.”
    “Yes. I’m working on the crystal deposits here and will be for many years to come, so I don’t know if my path will ever cross your brother’s, but I’d like to meet him someday.”
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    “I think he’d like that too. He has a hard time sometimes, being half-Alvian. I know the city life is hard on him, but Papa Caleb is there, so he’s not completely alone.”
    They talked for a bit longer and she promised to call him back in a few days. After that, they set a time each week when she would call him. Eventually their calls became more frequent. Davin admitted to being