Come to think of it, why had he stopped? Sasha was sure that he was going to try and hurt Arkin, but as soon as she had touched him, he…
“I stopped him,” Sasha blurted out.
Legon smiled. “Sash no offense, but….”
Arkin nodded his head. “She did stop you. You felt her restraint, didn’t you?”
Legon was silent for a moment. His eyes widened. “How on earth…?”
“Magic users can communicate with their minds. Lay people can do this too, but it’s very hard to learn. The key is making the first connection. After that it will get easier.”
“So are you saying I can read minds, like Elves and Iumenta?” Legon asked.
“Yes. And Venefica can nudge people’s thoughts and emotions to an extent as well, but more on that later. You and Sasha are extremely close, so you already have this connection. Sasha’s episodes have always been better when you are around. This is an example of that.”
“You know what? That does seem right. Think about it Sash. When I’m with you they’re not as bad. You don’t get as hurt, and you’ve said before that you can feel me there.”
“Yes, I can sometimes, but you haven’t been able to use magic so…”
“Yes, he has,” Arkin corrected her, “But he hasn’t had the need of it, so it hasn’t presented itself. Ok, enough talk. I want you two to try and open your minds to each other.”
It was worth a shot. She tried to remember last night and pushed with her mind, or at least she thought she was pushing. After several minutes finally she thought she felt something graze her thoughts. Frustration, and then alarm, and then it was gone.
“Did you feel that?” she asked.
“Yes, I did,” Legon replied. “Wow. Arkin we did it!”
Arkin nodded his head. “Good. Now do it again.”
* * * * *
Arkin turned back to the road, satisfied. They were getting it fast. It was going to take about three months to get to the border towns on the route the army’s movement was forcing them to take. He felt drained. They were searching and searching hard. How long could he keep them hidden? Legon wouldn’t be ready to learn how to mask their presence any time soon, but if he learned fast he could be a source of energy. Right now he needed to help their connection grow stronger. But it had worked. They were linked, and soon their minds would be working together, and years of half-training for both of them would come together in a few short weeks.
Chapter Fourteen
Reprieve
“The adversities in life are there to teach us, but it is the space between them where we grasp at the meanings of the lessons.”
-Tales of the Traveler
The last two and a half months had been some of the most intense and wonderful in Legon’s life. He was growing stronger with magic. Now he could heal small wounds, light fires without shooting flames everywhere, and do a myriad of other things. Also, the connection between him and Sasha was stronger. They could communicate with their minds fully and had access to each other’s knowledge. To their amazement and Keither’s disappointment, they were able to handle all of Arkin’s questions now. When they asked why they could suddenly handle all his questions, Arkin explained to them that he’d been training them their whole lives with only half the pieces, and now that they were able to combine their knowledge, the training was made complete. Arkin called it mental networking, explaining that it was how most parts of the Elven and Iumenta governments were run—by literally putting their heads together.
Arkin would talk to them now in their minds, so their learning was progressing faster and faster. It was amazing what you learned when you saw exactly what the teacher was trying to tell you. With their increasing knowledge of the Mahann and Jezeer, Legon was able to use the Jezeer to target and affect his and other’s muscles or other biological things. Sasha’s development was similar. Legon and Sasha had gotten to the point where their minds never truly left each other. They may not have been able to see exactly what the other was thinking, but they were always aware of the other. This came in handy with Sasha’s episodes.
Legon and Sasha also found that not only could magic enhance the people and animals around them, but hinder them as well. When Sasha would slip into an episode Legon was able to