Skarde took my hands and let me guide him to sit in a chair beside me.
“I am not accustomed to making myself vulnerable,” he said softly, squeezing my hand, whispering so that only I could hear.
“I know. But you can trust me. Can trust us.”
Skarde’s eyes wavered to Kajo. I gripped his hand tighter and placed them on my thighs. “Just hold on to me. Feel me. Focus on me.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to ask you to go into a meditative state, okay? Do you have experience with that?”
“Yes. I do that for some of my ceremonies as a Berserker. I believe you saw me last night.” His dark eyes danced an enigma at me. Zaya must have told him I was spying on his dancing and howling procession.
“Yes, I saw you and your Vailstor soldiers. That was really interesting. You shall have to tell me more about that sometime. Now, if you can focus on a place like that, a place of peace and hope and trust. A place where you find comfort and truth, like where you can connect to the base of it all, like perhaps what you sense when you are howling to nature, that is where you will find the mental connection. But, that is also where meditation lies. You will need to find the no-motion mind. The true sense of lack of restlessness. If you have a thought, recognize it, then let it pass. I shall be guiding your thoughts, so just accept them and let them move on. Don’t fight them, don’t question them. I will have to have total control for this to work. It will be like I am opening a gate for you that will allow a flood to happen. Once that flood is through, you will be able to build boats to navigate that river and soon, I am sure, you will become a competent sailor of mental pathways. But, you have to let me break that dam first… Okay? I will be pulsing my Will through you, but then your own Will will push back, you need to let me have the command here. Does that make sense? You have to trust me. Okay?”
Skarde stared hard at me, eyes narrowed.
“What are you going to ask me to do?”
“Simple things. Move around the room. Pick things up. I will not ask for secrets. I will not demand any more of your vulnerability than you are already giving us. You can trust me.”
“Ok, Ilisa. I will trust you.”
Skarde closed his eyes, breathed in deeply, slowly, then released a breath, getting deeper and deeper into his breathing.
“I’m going to begin,” I said, as much to him as to Kajo. My stomach roiled. I hated having to do this… Then, I also took a deep breath, and whispered a tendril of my own Will into Skarde’s mind… It was awkward, clumsy… After all, I had never done this before…
“You can trust me… You can open up your Will to me… The most important thing you are feeling is the need to trust me, to be here with me and believe that I will do you no harm…” As I pulsed my Will into Skarde’s mind, his own Will pushed back for a moment, his countenance clouded and he frowned, biting his lip, confusion brushed across his face, then it smoothed and he relaxed. He was giving in, he was letting me in, he was trusting me. His eyes glazed over and frosted. He looked at me with openness and honesty. He was trusting me.
It was bizarre and empty inside of his mind, like occupying a space outside myself that was welcoming but dangerous at the same time, knowing he could turn on me at any moment.
“Pick up the water near you and drink it. You feel thirsty. You need a drink. Pick up the water and drink it…” I said. The goal of this session was just to compel him to my Will, to get him to be accessible to my Will, so that he was having to obey me. Kajo and the other leaders had consulted with some of the most esteemed Readers in Farian as to how it might have been possible that Cartari’s mental control of Zaya had led to her being able to become a tele artist, since they were both from Vailstor. It seemed that him just giving her access to the tele arts through imploring her to do certain things was enough. That, and maybe the Destin connection. We really wouldn’t be able to know until we tried.
I sent the intention of thirst, the true desire of thirst through Skarde’s mind and imagined feeling thirsty and he reached for the bottle of water, his limb lifting heavily, his eyes flashing confusion for a moment, but then giving in. It was odd, to taste the water on his lips, as if I were connected to that sensation, too, through the imposition I was giving him.
He kept drinking it. He was downing the whole bottle. He wasn’t stopping.
“Okay, that’s enough… You are satiated.” Skarde stopped and set the bottle down. I swallowed deeply, stunned by the amount of control I had. I hadn’t realized how literal it would be. He would have taken down the whole bottle if I hadn’t said anything.
Skarde looked back at me, his eyes still clouded.
Kajo was in my mind, listening, watching.
“Trust me… Keep your mind open to my Will, put your hands back on my legs… Trust me, Skarde. I am your Chosen one… I am here for you…” I said, making sure to imprint myself on him, as I had been told to do. This was important not only for this lesson, but
