Free Arbiter (The Arbiter Chronicles Book 1) by Elisa A. Bonnin

now.”
    Cathel’s voice broke through her thoughts, and she nodded once, taking a deep breath and slowly letting herself sink into her mind. This time, she didn’t reach for her Source. Instead, she hovered there above it, studying it, measuring its ebb and flow as it pulsed slowly, hesitantly, within her. She waited, watching as it regarded her.
    And then she cautiously held out a hand towards it, extending an invitation. She didn’t reach for it, she didn’t rush in after it. She simply waited there, feeling it pulse and coil inside of her.
    And slowly, it responded, a tiny tendril of power reaching out towards her. She felt herself grasp it slowly, felt her heart soar as the power rushed through her, filling her. Again, she saw light from behind her eyelids. It wasn’t as strong this time, but she felt the wind around her begin to pick up. She heard Cathel’s intake of breath. It sounded so close to her then.
    “Good…” he said. “Good, you’ve got it. Now slowly direct it to your hand. Slow,” he repeated as the flow got away from her. She nodded, furrowing her brow in concentration as she allowed just the tiniest sliver of it to slip through to her hands.
    “...Now let it go,” said Cathel, his voice soft.
    She felt the power leave her. It felt like a breath, a whisper. Cathel’s grip tightened on her hands only briefly, and she heard him exhale. “…Okay,” he said. “Open your eyes.”
    She did, opening her eyes slowly. Rae stared down at her hands, her eyes widening. Cathel was seated in front of her, his hands cupping hers gently. She held her hands together in the space between them, and resting in the center of her palms was a small orb of light. It hovered gently there, brushing lightly against her skin. She flexed her fingers, and the light moved gently, rising up to hover in the space between her and him.
    “…I did it,” she said breathlessly, watching the light.
    “You did,” said Cathel. “You’re…fairly talented. I didn’t think you could get it right on the first time.” His eyes met hers, as if he was seeing her for the first time. She quickly looked away.
    “Second,” she corrected.
    “Second,” he said with a nod. “But still…” His hands lingered on hers for a moment, before he slowly pulled away. “Good job. Now…practice that a few more times, and then we’ll call it a night. I should go tend to the fire.”
    Rae watched as he stood up, slowly walking back to camp. She rubbed her hands as she watched his retreating back, the orb of light hovering just at eye level. She flexed her fingers, watching as the orb of light followed the motions, adjusting itself according to her thoughts.
    She stared down at the hands in her lap, slowly curling them into fists.
    They felt cold, somehow, now that he had pulled away.
    She heard the fire crackle as Cathel placed another branch onto it. Rae bit her lip, extinguishing the orb with a wave of her hand and closing her eyes as she tried it again.
    #
    Rae sat outside the stone dome, resting her arm across her knee as she listened to the soft sound of Cathel breathing quietly in the makeshift shelter behind her. She held her hand out in front of her, her slender fingers moving and twisting in different directions. Light moved between her fingers, a small orb of light twisting and turning around the digits. After Cathel had showed her the trick earlier, it seemed to come easy to her, like she had been doing it her whole life. 
    She considered her traveling companion, her eyes fixed on the light as it elongated, coiling gracefully around her hand. She had seen a completely different side of him back then, when he had been teaching her. She wondered how many sides Cathel had. As observant as she was, she had never taken the time to get to know anyone before. Not since she was very young…
    It seemed like learning about people and getting closer to them always led to pain.
    She sighed, letting her hand fall to her side. The light