he worried about what this is? Is it dangerous?” She nodded to the chatar who led them down the hallway to his workroom. She saw a wall of shelves, a long table, lanterns and another smaller table in the corner loaded with books.
“I don’t know what it is, and yes, that draws a little concern from me.” The chatar went to the tall bookcase and began pulling books off the shelf. He had a huge stack of books when he turned around. “We’ll start with these. As to the question about danger, I don’t know, but since you were totally unaware of it, I’d guess that it’s not going to cause you any problems.”
Which still left the threat to others. Her shoulders slumped. She looked down at the floor. This was just what she didn’t need. She’d begun to feel comfortable with the magic within her only recently and now there was something new to learn to control or have it hurt someone completely innocent. Was it ever going to be safe to be around people again without someone there to make sure she didn’t get too angry or have the magic flare out of control?
“Don’t worry. We don’t know what it is, but so far the manifestation is rather benign. We’ll deal with whatever this brings.” Colm stepped up just in front of her and put his hand on her shoulder.
The weight felt reassuring and he didn’t get any closer, although from the look in his eyes, he wanted to do more than that. He released her and turned to the table. Cami looked at the chatar. Why couldn’t he be all-knowing now? He seemed so aware and knowledgeable about everything else. Why should he have to go hunting through books to find out what was happening with her eyes?
“You seem to be aware of almost everything that goes on around here and you know things about me that I certainly didn’t tell you. Why don’t you have an answer for this?” Cami stalked over to the table and dropped into one of the chairs. She scowled at the chatar as he carried his load of books.
“It doesn’t work that way. I don’t know everything. I get flashes about the important things and I have to consciously delve for information about that, but if it’s not important or a threat, then I might not even know about it. So I’d guess that you’re not going to pose a threat to the Thent.” The chatar dropped the books on the table. They made a loud thud, but stayed in the neat stack.
That could be taken one or two ways. Either she wasn’t going to be around to be a threat or the power wasn’t the type that would cause hurt. Cami grimaced. She had to admit that leaving after they caught Laed and Kynar was looking as if it was one of the only options, but not because she thought they’d reject her. From their attitudes, it was exactly the opposite. If her powers kept growing, she might have to leave for other people’s safety.
“Let’s see if we can find anything in these books and then we’ll go for that run.” Linc took the seat beside her.
“What are we looking for?” She took one of the thick tomes from the stack and pulled it in front of her.
“There are subject headings in the books, but you’ll have to do a quick look through to see if they might mention something about glowing eyes in the passage.” The chatar sat down on the other side of the table.
Colm took the seat on the other side, but his seat and Linc’s were far enough away that she didn’t feel trapped. That didn’t mean that she was unaware of them. The mere fact that they were close enough to touch was a temptation that she almost couldn’t resist. She wanted to reach out and put her hands on their legs as she’d dreamed.
This was going to take an eternity. She didn’t fool herself. Once they got started, they’d probably lose track of time and she wouldn’t get to go for a run today. She gave herself a mental shake. This wasn’t the time to be griping or whining about the small things. The glowing eyes thing was new and might be an important change. She needed to know about it. If that meant reading through a book or two, then she’d have to do it.