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The midday sunlight was everywhere, filling up the entire space of Sister Nayala's meeting chamber. Shaine knew that not much time had truly passed, that it had been only this morning when he and Anton stood on that terrace and argued over traveling methods. It seemed like much longer than that.
Sister Nayala was looking out of one of the large open windows that ran the length of her circular chamber. She had a small desk that was undoubtedly used for correspondence, although as a Soryan warrior, Shaine doubted Nayala spent much time behind that desk.
Now she had her back to him, and hadn't spoken for many moments. Shaine was beginning to feel somewhat nervous. There was very little in the world that Shaine was afraid of, and he knew he needn't fear any physical reprisal from her or any Soryan.
The only thing he was afraid of was disappointing her.
She was a hero of the war, and Shaine aspired to one day reach her level of power, of mastery of the power. She had taught him much, but now she did not appear to be as pleased as he had hoped.
Nayala turned, and Shaine straightened up, trying to look taller than he was.
She looked him in the eye from across the room.
"Shaine. I must tell you...you disappoint me." The words she spoke were like an iron rod striking him in the chest.
Shaine surged forward. "Sister, is this about the girl I brought..?!" Nayala raised her hand. This motion stopped Shaine in his tracks.
"Yes and no.", she spoke. Again she paused. "What I have seen in your mind has troubled me. You do realize you were not supposed to engage the dragon, correct?"
Shaine did not answer, but only looked down at the stone flooring. Just moments earlier, after he had told his story to her, Shaine had agreed to allow Nayala access to his mind so she might see the events in his memories.
He had no reservations, as his trust in Nayala was complete. Her mental touch was soft and soothing. Whenever she had done this, Shaine had secretly hoped that some aspect of her own memory might leak into his mind. He knew she was an expert, though, and was unlikely to make a mistake such as that.
After reliving the incident, she had sharply withdrawn, and when she turned her back on him Shaine had known then that something was wrong.
"Shaine." She spoke again. "Shaine, you should have summoned us. You had time, you should have called us."
"But we survived the dragon! We helped the Bly-nnar and we warded off the dragon! I should think this would be a celebration!?" Shaine's voice was rising and echoing off the stone walls.
Nayala put her hands out palms-forward in an attempt to calm the boy. "Many Bly-nnar lost their lives unnecessarily. I must share some of this responsibility. I fear there would have been less loss of life if I would never have sent you.
"Anton was the one who alerted the dragon to our presence, it wasn't me." Shaine tried to keep the petulance out of his voice, but he knew he did not succeed.
"I know, but you should have called to us. Shaine, I see your thoughts. Many of us have worried that all you care about is glory, your own glory. You are powerful, and you have a natural instinct for the power, but you need to think."
She stepped forward, very close to him. Shaine was still growing, but for now Nayala was the taller of the two. She pressed two fingers to his forehead. "I need you to think," then she pressed those two fingers to his chest, "and I need you to feel."
Shaine was confused. "I don't understand...", he trailed off.
Nayala took two steps back from Shaine. "Let's talk about the girl."
"I saved her, you can't be mad about that?!"
Again, Nayala raised her palms to him. "No. I'm very proud that you thought to save the girl, but did you even notice the state she was in when she arrived. The girl is hysterical and non-responsive. She's in incredible shock."
"You didn't empathize with her. You flew her here and she was terrified. You wanted to display your power, but you never thought how it might affect her. She had already been severely traumatized."
Nayala shook her head. "Brother Talus has healed her physical wounds and we've put her to sleep for now. Hopefully her mental well-being is recoverable. You should have called us to teleport you, or at least put the girl to sleep before flying across the ocean with someone who probably hasn't been above sea level in her life."
Now Shaine felt terrible. He truly had not thought of those things. Flying was fun for him, and he thought he might give the girl something good on such a terrible night. Of course, he had heard her screams but had blocked them out, thinking it was all in fun. He felt worse than terrible.
"We'll have to determine what she wants when she becomes more stable.", Nayala said.
"What she wants?"
"Yes, if she wishes to remain here." Nayala responded.
"But she can't go back. They'll kill her, especially after seeing me fly away with her."
"I know, but we don't hold people captive. If she expresses a desire to return we will transport her back there."
Shaine was dumbfounded. "I can't believe I'm hearing this..?"
"We can't and won't keep someone against their will. Once we are able to communicate with her, we'll ask her what she wants."
Shaine nodded. He knew what to do. "I will teach her telepathically. I can do it tonight."
"No." Nayala said. "We'll have Brother Edmun teach her in the traditional manner."
Again, Shaine was confused. "But that will take months, if not longer?"
Now Nayala nodded. "Yes, it will. It is my hope that after we extend our hospitality to her, show her how she can live here, show her she is safe...hopefully she will not want to return to Baradia."
Shaine smiled. He should have known. "Of course! You are indeed wise, Sister." He turned to leave. "I'll be on my way, just let me know if..."
Nayala cut him off. "Shaine. We need to talk about the dragon."
Now with his back to Nayala, Shaine again looked down at the floor. As important as this was, he had been hoping to avoid this.
"I know why you had to reveal the knowledge of the dragon's aura, but this was still a bit earlier than we had meant to do so."
Shaine turned around but still kept his head down.
"Do you see that your actions have consequences, Shaine? All we needed was for you to surreptitiously discover if the Holy Brother could see the dragon aura. Instead, the Holy Order has gained knowledge of us at a time not of our choosing.
"I'm very sorry, but what does it matter? The Holy Order is on the decline, they cannot harm us." Shaine's tone was dismissive.
Nayala paused, then spoke. "Of course. Of course they can't.", then she smiled at him.
Shaine had noticed the pause. Then the forced smile. When Nayala truly smiled at him, her eyes were lit up and sparkling. Not like they were now.
There was a short, but uncomfortable silence, then Shaine spoke. "If that is all, Sister, I suppose I should go see to the repair of my sword."
Nayala shook her head. "No, Shaine. That is not all. There is the matter of your punishment."
"Punishment? What for?!" Shaine's voice grew petulant again.
Nayala's face was covered in surprise. "Were you not just listening to me? For the Bly-nnar lives lost, for the girl you needlessly traumatized, and for the information you revealed which all could have been avoided if you had spared one moment for a simple telepathic call!"
"Really, Shaine. When I send you out into the world I expect you to act responsibly. You are the acting representative of the Soryan Order wherever you go outside of this nation. You displayed unfortunately bad judgement this day."
"You punishment is as such - you will spend the next three lunar cycles here at the compound, helping the Builders with whatever projects they need you for. After which, I will reevaluate you and determine if I can use you again."
Shaine exploded. "The BUILDERS?!" His fists clenched and his face contorted with derision. "You expect me to waste my abilities helping to stack stones and plant gardens? I'll be bored to tears!"
Nayala smiled, and this time it did reach her eyes. "Yes, I expect you will. Use your down-time wisely. Think hard on what you have done. If you can learn the lesson from this, you may once again earn my trust."
Shaine was literally speechless. He knew his mouth was open, and he forced himself to clamp it shut.
"Go now, see to your sword. Once it is reformed, take it to the armory, where it will remain until you earn it back."
Shaine was furious, but as angry as he was, he was also upset that he had lost Nayala's respect.
"Thank you, Sister.", Shaine could not bring himself to look Nayala in the eyes, and so he turned and walked out of the chamber, with none of his customary swagger in evidence.
Nayala watched the boy leave. She hated being hard on Shaine. He was almost like a son to her. He was like a son to her. She was the one who had found him, healed him, taught him the power, watched as he grew strong. She was almost as much a mother to him as his real mother.
Thinking of Shaine's parents, Nayala thought she would not reveal this day's misdeeds to them. If Shaine decided to, that was his business. Nayala's duties rarely took her to the other side of the compound where families were quartered, so she knew there was little chance of running into them anyway.
Turning, she looked out the window into the midday sky. She couldn't see it from here, but she knew the city of Aeremandt lay off in the distance.
She could only wonder how the Most High Holy Brother Matthias Duraine was reacting to this tale.
Click to read Chapter 8 - THE CONSEQUENCES, PT. 2 |
