Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (27 page)

Suddenly he
felt Mar
k’s
firm
hand on the back of
his
head and h
e forced
his friend’s
head down into a
deep
bow.
Connor
didn’t struggle
, but felt humiliated
.
Once he let go Connor
looked
over at him and
noticed
he too
had
bowed
down
.
T
o
the
other side
revealed that
Sarah and her parents
were
also
bow
ing
.
Connor
raised
him
self up and annoyingly asked
Mark
“What did you do that for?”

He pointed at the woman behind the counter and spoke in a lectur
ing tone
. “Connor, she is one of the ten Elders on the Balancer’s council. Her robe is like a crown
or beacon
. Didn’t anyone tell you that the Elders always wear robes with a symbol of their
banner?”

He
looked down at the Elder
in a new light
.
He
bowed again and then raised
himself back up. Connor then
spoke apologetically “Please forgive my ignorance, Elder. It seems like my companions like to play games with me.”

The Elder’s expression softened. Her voice was soft and somewhat
rich
and strangely he had
never heard
such an
accent, probably because it was
from
an ancient language
that is
long forgotten
. “You’re forgiven, Child. I am
known as
Elder
Adela
and my mate is Elder
Alexander. Remember our names
next time.
It will help
lessen
further misunderstandings.
” She smiled softly. “How old are you
, Child
?”

“I’m nineteen.”
He
smiled down at her. “But I’ll be twenty
in two weeks
from today
.”

Instantly she said “Ah, so on January tenth it will be your birthday.
I will personally make you a birthday cake.
” Her smile
suddenly
and strangely
altered into
a grin. “That means this is your first meeting.” She looked over and
her eyes
sat upon his
left. Her eyes widened. “Sarah? Is that you
my dear
?”

Sarah released his
hand and stepped forward. She bowed politely. “Yes, Elder Adela… or should I say Twenty Seventh Great Grandmother?”

Elder Adela jumped over the front table with ease.
She hit the
floor
and barely made a sound
upon landing
.
Sh
e walked right up to Sarah and Connor
stepped back to give them some room. She was about
three or four
inches shorter than even Sarah and then
s
he gently grabbed Sarah’s forearms.
T
he
only jewelry the Elder wore was
two
solid
gold bracelets with fine engravings. “My Dear, so you have finally chosen a mate?” The black eyed Elder looked
back
at
him
.

“Yes. That is my new mate, Connor May.” Sarah spoke with pride.

The elder released her hold on Sara
h. She walked up to him
and had to stretch her neck back as she look
ed up. “My… you’re a
big
one.” S
he looked back at Sarah. “He looks
to be
a fine mate
and will bring large babies to our house
. I’m glad you finally chose. As my youngest descendant I’m glad that you have found
your
love.”

“Thank you for your kind words.” Sarah said timidly
while her face beamed bright red
.

“Elder Adela?” She
turned to look at Jillian. “Have
Amber and Ben arrived
here
yet?” The small elder shook her head slowly.

Elder Adela then jumped back over the table and asked “What would you like to have
for supper
, Connor?”

He
simply said “Whatever will fill me up.
”

“Good answer.” She looked back at Sarah
with a smile
. “What would you like?”

She placed a hand on Connor’s
forearm. “Whatever he’s having plus fifteen apples.”

“Coming
right up!” A
nd she
then literally skipped
back
into the kitchen
. She spoke in a language which
Connor learned to
be French
thanks to Sarah allowing him to enter her mind to learn the language
.
Adela gave an order that sounded mouthwatering.
She came back out and grabbed two large
and
clear plastic mugs. She asked “We have
only
water or Honeyed Mead
in stock s
o far
.
We’ll have a wider variety when the next shipment comes.
Which would you like?”

At the same time they
said “Water.”

The elder smiled and walked over to an ice chest and scooped in some ice before filling the mugs
full
with water. She handed
them the mugs and he
was thirst
ier tha
n
he originally
thought
. Connor
downed the entire mug
in seconds
. To
his
surprise
again,
so
too
did Sarah. The elder smiled
brightly
and refilled
the
glasses. “You two must have just gotten here.”

He
said “Not just us.”
and
took a sip. “They also just arrived.”
Connor
pointed behind
himself
to show everyone
else
.

“Well then you must all be a
s
thirsty as they are.” She spoke behind
him
. “What would you all like to drink?”

Mark and Jack each got a mug of mead and had it refilled
twice
. Kara and Jillian both took the option of water and they too received a refill.

Kara said “Thank you for the water Elder Adela. It was refreshing.”

The el
der’s black eyes zeroed in on his
little sister. “I’ve never seen you before
either
. Are you a newcomer?”

“Yes, ma’am
. Is there some kind of problem?”

Connor
felt a chill
creep
his
spine
suddenly
when Sarah said “Oh man… I
t completely slipped my mind.” He
turned to look at
his
mate. Her
expression
sho
w
n worry
. As she looked back up at
him
she said “I forgot that Elder Adela
has this thing and
makes all newcomers show what they can do in exchange for their first meal.
That’s her rule
she’s enforced for thousands of years..
.
”

Suddenly Connor
heard the loud, piercing chime
of a bell. It was too loud for
him
and it dropped
him to his
knees.
He
held
his
ears
to diffuse the next strike
, but it didn’t help all that much. It rang
another
three more times and quit. The room became
eerily
silent as he
pulled
his
hands away. There wasn’t any more music or people chatting. Sarah stood over
him
with a worried expression. She entered
his
mind.
“Connor, what happened?
!
”

He
stood back up saying
“It was the noise. It was too much for me to handle
so suddenly
. The same thing happened when I went to your dad’s garage.”

Their
mental conversation
cut short when the elder yelled for everyone in the room t
o hear her. “Listen up everyone!
”
A pin dripping could have been heard falling on the other side of the room
. “We have two new
members for this meeting!
You know my rule!”

Every person in the room yelled boisterously “Trick
! Trick! Trick! Trick!...
” The sound echoed repeatedly within the room
and fists slamming on the table made the floor vibrate
.

Connor
looked at Sarah
imploringly
. “Huh?”

“You will need to give a small demonstration of your powers and
only
then you
’ll
get to eat.” She explained worriedly. She entered
his
mind again
for privacy’s sake
.
“Connor, what are we going to do?
We can
’
t show them just yet.
”

He
smiled
disarmingly
and she blinked repeatedly.
“Don’t worry.
I have an idea
about that
, Princess.”

A musician walked across the stage
holding a violin and a bow
, but he too wore the same robe that Elder Adela had. The man
had
barely
entered
middle age
before bonding
and
also had
caramel
dark skin
, eyes
and
long
hair.
He had a high ridged forehead and deep set eyes along with a strong jaw. He was also clean shaven.
And he was at most an
four
inch
es
taller
than Elder Adela
.
Connor
bowed as he said
in a similar accent
to his mate
“I’m Elder Alexander. Please
,
will the newcomers follow me
up
on stage
?”

He looked over at his
sister and she shrugged
with a wry smile
. Sarah nodded for
him
to go
on ahead
, but to exercise caution
. Kara stepped forward first and
he
followed close behind with
a
mug of water.
They
each used the steps to ascend up to the stone
stage
. When
he
stood at the top of t
he platform Connor
saw that it was
all
polished marble.
What is with all the marble?
It must have cost a fortune
to bring
here for
this mountain is mostly granite
.
He
thought to
him
self
absently
. Each platform was a cubed surface of white stone that has been polished to perfection.
If not for the natural veins in the stone it nearly looked to be painted white.

The elder stopped in the center of the stage. “This is their first time so give
them some
support
if they need it!
”
Alexander
looked at
Kara
with his ageless black
irises
.
It
seemed
strange because Connor
began
learning
with greater accuracy just how old someone i
s just by looking into their eyes.
“Go ahead, child
”
The ancient man
stepped back and allowed
Kara
to look
out
at the crowd. Being a cheerleader gave her an edge over
him
because
he
do
es
n’t like large crow
d
s
.
She loved showing off
at any time
.