again.
Rei-kika watched her. “There is much you do not know. Your abilities are completely untrained. I can help you.”
The mantorean shifted closer. Selena was fascinated by her bone-like carapace, so hard, like stone, yet somehow Rei-kika had a face that could be expressive.
“If you train your mind, the pain will lessen,” Rei-kika said. “The more powerful the mystic, the worse the pain can be. Among my race, the pain is a sign that one must be taught control.”
“You can make it go away?” Selena asked.
Rei-kika took Selena’s hands in her insect-like claws so that they faced each other cross-legged. “Concentrate on my voice,” the mantorean said. “Try to clear your mind.”
“I can’t. It hurts too much.”
“Think of a symbol. Something you consider pure, unchangeable . . . solid.”
An image appeared in Selena’s mind: a pale sphere on a field of black. She remembered a time when she had been on her back with a padded blanket underneath her and a warm body beside her, staring up at the glowing disc in the sky.
“Like the moon?” she asked.
“The moon is good,” Rei-kika said. “Create an image of the moon in your mind, but rather than picture it in the sky, put it in your mind. Make your mind large enough to have space for the moon inside of it, and at the same time make the moon small enough to contain.”
Selena tried to do as Rei-kika instructed. The moon she pictured had no craters, but it still glowed, a white orb shining in her mind’s eye. Rather than being seen against a haze of sky and a backdrop of twinkling stars, this moon sat against pure black.
“How do you feel?” Rei-kika asked.
“Fine,” Selena said. “I’m having difficulty thinking of the moon as both small and large, though.”
“Is that all?”
Only then did Selena realize. “My headache. It’s gone.”
“Good. Do you wish to continue?”
“Is that all I need to do? Picture a moon and the headaches will go?”
“No, I am afraid it is not that simple. Your ability is yearning to be used, so it pushes through to the forefront of your mind. However, even as you access it, you will have to work harder to find the source of your power. Do you understand what I am saying?”
“I’m not sure I do.”
“It will not always be so easy. The headaches will persist until you learn control.”
Selena examined the moon inside her mind. She imagined herself rubbing it, cupping it with tendrils like fingers, and all of a sudden it sparkled, shining for a moment as bright as the golden sun.
“What was that?” she asked.
“I felt it. You were touching your power. Try something for me. How big is the moon?”
“Big.”
“Is it bigger than you?”
“Yes.”
“Make it smaller, until it is the size of your hand, and then smaller still.”
Against the darkness of her mind’s eye, the moon changed, shifting until it was no bigger than a child’s fist. “What then?”
“Hold your symbol in your palm.”
It didn’t make sense, yet somehow Selena knew exactly what to do. She picked up the glowing orb and inspected it, mesmerized by its radiance.
“Now imagine that the symbol is light, so light that it wants to float into the air. The only thing preventing it from rising is you. It is pulling you even so, and you are feeling yourself lifted up.”
Selena felt a great change.
Something became unstuck, freed from confinement. She experienced a sensation like floating, and giddiness nearly overwhelmed her. Whatever had happened, she was no longer connected to her body. She rose up, apart from it, and looked down.
For the second time she saw herself, a young woman with long black hair, from above. Yet she was somehow separate from the woman who sat opposite a mantorean, their knees touching, neither of them speaking. She was in a cave, and she was worried she would hit the ceiling if she kept floating upward. What would happen when she drifted into the solid rock?
Be calm, a voice said beside her. She was aware of Rei-kika’s soothing presence. There are two forms of casting, and you are only familiar with the first. Mystics with little power or those without training only know they can sense things out of view. Your great power has enabled you to gain impressions from very far away, much farther than I could see. But with the exception of the time when I forced it upon you, you have never known the clarity of true farcasting.
Is this really happening? Am I looking down