Chapter 2.03

For the first time in two weeks, it wasn’t discomfort that woke Flint from his slumber. Instead, Winona stood over him with an eyebrow raised, gently prodding him with her boot. He scanned the shelter. Only he and the dogs were still present.

“How the hell do you sleep under a pile of dogs?” She asked. “I can feel the heat radiating off them from here.”

Flint chuckled carefully, easing himself out from under Maya. She liked sleeping across him while Bjorn had claimed his right side. The bloodhounds slept by his feet, and it was for the best. Their coarse, curly fur wasn’t as comfortable as Maya’s or Bjorn’s. All pack members cracked their eyes open and watched Flint as he got up, but he encouraged them to go back to sleep with a gentle push of warmth and comfort. None of the dogs fought him and let themselves drift off once again.

Like always, Flint wore little more than his shorts. Winona glanced at his body’s usual morning rigidity but her expression didn’t change. He didn’t ask for privacy while getting dressed, and she didn’t look away. Flint wondered whether it was normal to her due to life as a soldier or the fae were more comfortable with nudity than humans. Most pucks didn’t wear any clothing and relied on their fur to hide their privates.

Meanwhile, most brownies—male or female—only wore bottoms. Both brownie genders had similar looking chests. It was the facial features and hair that helped him differentiate between them.

“Would you like breakfast?” Flint asked after relieving himself and washing up. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to see you until later in the day.”

“Essence training is best when your body is light and stomach empty,” Winona replied, directing him downhill. “It’s for the best if we do this on an empty stomach. The target range should be empty right now.”

“Why don’t we just stay right here?” Flint asked, stretching. “The builders were up late celebrating last night. They won’t be up for ages. Meanwhile, there’s a chance we might run into someone down there. Ed wasn’t in bed. It’s likely the boy is off practising already.”

“Whatever works.” She plopped down on the ground, adopting a cross-legged position. Flint mirrored her. “I reckon we tried it all wrong the last couple of times. Most people look within themselves to find their essence, but perhaps you are different. Empaths aren’t common, you see. When I asked Alais about your fae roots, he told me the results were inconclusive, whatever that means. He’s been on edge the last couple of days, so I don’t know what’s going on with him. Given how desperately he hides a vial of your blood, I bet there is something unusual about it.”

“Do you think my empathy is getting in the way of my essence sense or manipulation?”

“That’s unlikely,” Winona replied. “All other mystic senses have to come from somewhere. For example, my far sight comes from my essence circulating through my eyes. Perhaps your empathy comes from your essence passively flowing through some part of your brain. If you tell me more about everything you can do, perhaps we can get to the bottom of your essence problems.”

“Well, I can just feel the emotions of everyone around me. It doesn’t seem to work on humans or most Wyldbloods, but otherwise—I’ve never tried describing it, to be honest.” Flint fell silent for a moment, trying to get his thoughts together. “It’s like all creatures are broadcasting a constant stream of swirling of colours and temperatures. I feel it strongest with dogs, of course, and I can sense most other beasts to a lesser extent. As for fae, I can sense pucks and brownies the best. But with the more human-looking fae, my senes are weaker—” Flint paused. “Except you. I don’t know why but I feel you pretty well.”

“Strange.” Winona’s brows furrowed. She broke eye contact, watching the stream that fed the pool instead of him. “I’ve heard of other empaths, but their powers didn’t vary as much as yours. Is that it? Can you influence others’ emotions?”

“I wouldn’t call it influencing,” Flint replied. “When one of the dogs is panicking, I push cooling...temperature…feelings and they calm down. I’ve tried it on pack horses and mules too, but their minds are too dull.”

“What about people? Have you tried it on anyone else?”

“I’d rather not lie. When we first captured you, I tried pushing and pulling on your emotions too. I’m not sure whether it worked or not.”

Winona smirked, looking into Flint’s eyes. “I know. That’s when I guessed you were an empath. My order didn’t just teach us how to resist telepathic and empathic influence. We were trained to steal information too. I felt your disgust, Flint. You hated yourself for trying to influence my emotions, and I understood what kind of person you are in that moment.” Winona scooted closer to Flint. It was the first time he had gotten so close to her since taking the iron bands off her wrists and ankles—without the urgency of patching her up, at least. Her deep blue eyes irises housed swimming silver flecks. It was a detail he had missed before. “I think your method of using essence is closer to a beast’s than a human’s. You’re not using spells, runes or abilities. You act on instinct.”

Soft fingers traced his collarbone and then traced his sternum. Winona’s touch sent a shiver down his spine, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on their ends. “It needs to come from in here,” Winona said, stopping where his rib cage ended. “Don’t overthink things and listen to your heartbeat. Block everything out and just let yourself feel the world around you in the same way you do your emotions. Instead of looking for the essence inside yourself, try to feel it in me the same way you feel others’ emotions.”

The instructions didn’t help. He reached out to the world around him, and he felt the dogs sleeping in the shelter. They radiate warmth, comfort, and an inkling of joy—probably a dream involving chasing a juicy rabbit through the Verdant Plains. It was the most dominant presence when he focused on his empathic sense. Flint tried something he rarely considered.

Over the last couple of weeks, when surrounded by fae, he’d erect a mental barrier to block them out. It wasn’t just that he felt uncomfortable peeking in on their emotions when they didn’t want him to, but at times it got uncomfortable too. He didn’t want to know who they envied, or which she-brownie wanted to steal another’s mate. He had never considered blocking his link to dogs, though. It felt like an unnatural thing to do. Flint erected a mental barrier between him and the pack, so they wouldn’t overwhelm everything else he felt.

Suddenly, the muted emotions coming from Winona got sharper. Curiosity—range streaked with pink with warmer undercurrents—dominated as the most prominent emotion radiating from her. Then came excitement, but no matter how much Flint probed, he couldn’t figure out its source. He furrowed his brow and pushed harder, but an invisible wall rose, pushing him back.

“You’re focusing on the wrong thing, Flint,” Winona said. “Stop trying to look inside my head and just feel what I’m feeling.”

“I’m trying,” Flint said, watching the silver flecks in her eyes sparkle and dance around. They were like tiny slivers of moonlight and appeared smaller than when they first started their exercise.

“You’re still thinking and trying to figure things out. Just feel!” Annoyance flared from Winona, overcoming the curiosity.

“I only know how to do that with dogs!”

“I’m circulating the last of the moonlight essence through my body right now before it disappears with the sunrise,” Winona whispered, taking his hands. “Don’t try to sense my emotions or figure them out. Try feeling them instead as I do it.”

Flint furrowed his brows, staring into her eyes as they sparkled. There was something there that he was missing. He just knew it. All Flint needed to do was get past the little barrier, and then everything would become clear to him.

You can do this!

“That’s not going to work.” Winona sighed. “Close your eyes.”

“Why—”

“Just do as I say.”

“Fine.” Flint closed his eyes and pushed all images of the outside world away. Instead, he focused on the colours radiating from Winona and tried emanating the same hues as her.

The slim fingers caressing his hands moved. They traced his knuckles and then his palms. The same shiver from before ran down Flint’s spine. Winona’s fingertips pressed against his before their fingers intertwined. Their palms met, and they both radiated the same warmth. Then he felt Winona’s mouth against his, and Flint’s lips parted on reflex.

Red.

As their tongues caressed one another, the heat radiating off Winona intensified, and Flint felt himself matching the temperature. He pulled her closer, and she responded to her touch. Winona’s hands released his, and found a place in his dark hair. Flint’s arms slipped around his waist as he pulled her more aggressively. Winona moved with him, wrapping her legs around him.

Red.

Flint felt Winona’s animalistic hunger and felt it stir within him too as his red mingled with hers. He’d never felt such an intense link with any woman before. Then, as the kissing continued and Flint accepted the swirling heat and colour, he felt something else. Something new. It felt like moonlight—cold, beautiful, and calming. It danced around Winona and slowly slipped away as if it were snow melting under the brightening light of day. Then Flint felt the same within him. Except the light didn’t reside in him and carried different hues.

The mixture of bright pink and baby blue flowed through and around him. Instinct told Flint that the colours didn’t belong to him. It was as much a part of the world as it was his. The colours wove into threads which wove into a rough twine, winding around and connecting the embracing couple.

The mental barrier melted as his inhibitions slipped and similarly, shaded ribbons linked him to the dogs in the hut too. Most of it floated freely, dancing through and around him. It didn’t fight the red radiating off the two but intermingled and intensified it, making the colour a deep crimson. Even though he was enjoying Winona’s embrace, he had to break away and tell her.

“I feel it!” Flint exclaimed.

Winona raised an eyebrow, breathing heavily for a moment. “Really?”

“I did just there. How did you know it would work?”

“I didn’t.” She chuckled, not letting go of his hair or loosening her muscled legs. “I was just trying to get you to get out of your head and feel my emotions.” The silver light around her flared. “There’s a chance I got a little carried away.”

“Well, I liked you getting carried away. It felt good.”

Winona grinned. “Honestly, I wasn’t expecting that,” she said. “That was a lot more intense than I thought it would be.”

“I’d very much like to explore that some more,” Flint said, pulling her in for a kiss again.

Gold accompanied the crimson this time. Flint identified the new colour as amusement. He felt the silver evaporate from Winona, replaced by an inky black. The new colour didn’t feel dark or scary. It was as much a part of Winona as the silver. Flint felt the accompanying cold for a second, but the crimson’s heat soon pulled the essence aside and contained it.

“Later,” Winona said, abruptly ending the kiss. Flint tried going in for one more, but her hold on his hair tightened, and she held his head in place. It stung slightly, but Flint liked it. The figurative warmth had spread into his trousers, and the hair-pulling intensified the sensation.

“What do you mean later?”

“I’m here to teach you how to feel and harness your essence, Flint,” Winona smirked, looking into his eyes. “It doesn’t set a good precedent for me as a teacher if I let a lesson devolve into... whatever this is. Hence, later. I, too, would like to explore what we’re feeling right now. However, this is neither the right place nor the right time.”

“When then?”

“I don’t know yet.” Winona started pulling away, but when Flint didn’t loosen his hold, she hesitated. Her eyes wandered down to his mouth, and she bit her lips. “Soon,” she stated, planting a soft peck on his cheek, and unwrapped herself from around him. “Tell me about your essence. What does it feel like?”

“It’s like a ribbon of intertwining pink and blue,” Flint answered. He felt Winona blocking out his empathic sense, and the twine connecting them snapped. “I can feel them connecting me to the dogs.” He smiled, looking into Winona’s eyes. “A second ago, it connected me to you.”

“Get us connecting out of your mind for a moment.” Winona picked a palm-sized rock off the ground and tossed it to Flint. “Channel one of your abilities while consciously driving your essence. Let’s see what happens.”

The stone felt no different from the rocks that created the ground and cliff walls around them. Flint had spent the last couple of weeks using [Change Density] and [Shape] on them. He knew how much each cast drained him and had a rough estimate of his stores. Now, when he channelled the former ability, he sensed a gush of essence pouring out of him. The rock shrunk in his hands as he compressed it, but most of the energy disappeared into the air around him. Unlike the essence circulating in and out of him, it dispersed into nothing.

“Did you just feel that?” Flint asked, amazed by how he had never sensed the energy dissipating before.

“No, but I can see how much essence you just wasted,” Winona replied. “It’s the same with Ed. Your lot aren’t efficient at all with your spells and abilities. It looks like it won’t just be the Wyldblood and fae that I teach. Everyone needs a lesson on how to be smart with their essence. The humans tired themselves out much too quickly against the giants.”

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