Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (32 page)

Clarein picked up one of her pigs and smiled before she bit through
half of the meat. Connor then started laughing.

While
they
resumed eating
Sarah
finished
the
eggs and sausages.
She
took a bite of
the
pancakes when Firon ate an enti
re leg of his cow. By the time she
finished everything except
the
apples
,
Connor ate everything on his tray except for an apple
that
he handed over with a smile.

Sarah
finished the last of
her
food an
d took a drink of the last of her
juice.
She
looked at Clarein and caught her staring at something.
F
ollow
ing
her
sight
revealed
how she stated
at Veronica’s egg,
with
longing in her amethyst
irises
. Sarah
sat
her
cup down and said “You want one don’t you, Clarein?”

Clarein
immediately
looked to
Sarah
with her eyes only.
“What do you mean?”
T
here was
a hint of shock in her mental voice. Sarah
waited
quietly and
patiently
until
Clarein
knew
she had been caught
.
She looke
d down at her empty tray and admitted
“Yes
,
I do.”

Sarah
asked “How long have you been waiting for a child of your own.”

“Close to
two thousand years.” Connor said absently.

The entire table was stunned into silence. Suddenly Firon looked at Connor with a flame of danger
burning in his eyes
. His lips drew back to reveal his
menacing
teeth and a deep rumbling
emanated warningly
in his chest.
“How do you know of this,
Child? Who told you? A Keeper
hold onto
their age as
one of
their most guarded secret
s
.
Answer me.
”

Connor leaned forward and set his piercing hazel eyes on the angry Keeper. His voice took on a calm, cold and
threatening
tone.
He was
the perfect
predator that shook everyone to their core.
Connor radiated power and authority to which Firon just realized
wasn’t an act
. “I will answer your questions. First though, stop baring your teeth at me or else I will rip them out
one at a time
and force them down your throat
.” Everyone gasped
,
and
that
mean
t
everyone
,
except Connor as he didn’t even flinch or blink. “I will not say it again. Put
.
Y
our
.
T
eeth
. A
way.
Now.
” Firon’s eyes lost their fire under Connor’s
intense
glare
. His leathery lips drew back down over his teeth
in a tense submission
. Connor’s tone became much lighter
and filled with positive emotion
. “Now isn’t that much more pleasant. Conversations are much more
enjoyable
than threatening each other
like mindless beasts
.” Connor smiled
and placed a calming hand on Sarah’s
lap. “Now back to your question. I can roughly tell how
old
someone is
simply
by looking into your eyes.
” Connor looked around to see that no one
else
was paying attention to
their
conversation.
“
What I say will not leave this table.” Connor’s hazel
e
yes looked calmly at everyone a
nd softened when he looked at his love
.
“Sorry for scaring you
like that, P
rincess.”
H
e said in a private part of her
m
ind
that didn’t echo where the Keepers listened
. He looked back to the largely muscled
Keeper. “
I have estimated the ages
by
the depths of someone’s eyes from studying my friends and family. Your eyes are no exception, Firon. I can even tell that you are about five to six thousand years old.”

The atmosphere changed as Veronica made a rumbling and hissing laugh.
Sarah’s
eyes shifted up to her and her jaw tucked
itself
to her chest. Her eyelids were tightly closed and her teeth were showing as she laughed. When her eye
lids
finally opened her gold eyes looked
over
Sarah’s
head and
at Connor.
“You got it right, Connor. Firon is
indeed
within that age range.”

“Mother, how can you tell him such things?
He is not one of us, our secrets must
b
e kept.
”
Firon’s scaly brow furrowed
and his
jaw dropped slightly
.

“Can’t you see how different these two
Hatchlings
are?
Or have you reached the point in your life where you cannot accept certain truths
in change
. Have you already forgotten what your father told you when you finally left your nest? He said; Never close off your mind to new possibilities else you will find yourself on the brink of death.
”
Then things became awkwardly silent.

S
he
placed her clawed hand behind Sarah’s
back with careful gentleness.
A feeling of safety blossomed
.
“Go ahead and just
look
at them.”

Sarah
interjected
into
her conversation
by
looking at
her son
. “Firon?” H
is yellow eyes cautiously looked
over
at
her
.
“B
efore you look at our aura, you must never say anything to anyone about what you will see
; without our expressed permission
.”
She
said
,
using telepathy.

At this time
,
only five beings were linked by minds; the three Keepe
rs,
Sarah
and Connor.
Sarah
could see
that much
because
her
parents looked suddenly confused and left out
of the conversation
.
She
felt
even more
afraid to see Kara’s annoyed expression.

Firon’s eyes went wide.
“What do you know about Aura?”

She focused
energy into
her
eyes and looked directly at him.
“I can tell that your energy is slightly larger than Veronica’s and your color is a dull yellow.”

He took a deep breath and sighed.
“How can I trust you with this secret
that
only we should know about?”

Her
eyes shifted to
her
mate
.
Connor
nodded
for
her
to continue
and
she
then
turned to look at him.
“How about we make a
small
deal?”
Firon put both arms up on the table and laced his
four
black clawed
fingers together. He studied the two
for a moment with his large yellow eyes and then he seriously nodded
once
with his
large
head.
“Here is the deal for
both
you and Clarein.”
Sarah
smiled when
she
looked
up
at Veronica.
“I already know I can trust you
,
so you’re safe from this deal.”
Veron
ica smiled and winked
. It went right over the others heads.
“When you look at our aura, you may never tell another soul
without our permission
. If you tell even a single person I’ll tell every single Balancer we come across abo
ut this skill. Do you accept my
terms?”

Clarein placed a hand
on his forearm and looked at Sarah
.
“We can accept those terms if it is necessary.”

Sarah’s
eyes zeroed in on her.
“Then look at
me
first and judge if we are
only
speaking halfheartedly
with you.”
They nodded and Sarah
felt their power rising and then they both looked directly at
her
.
Simultaneously
their eyes widened and shot up towards the ceiling
and their large jaws dropped
as far as they can go
.
Sarah
smiled
smugly
.
“Will this deal
work or wont it?”

With her mouth open Clarein said
“Just how is this possible? No being can have so much
…
it cannot be…
”

Connor chucked at their expressions.

Firon’s eyes looked to Conner and his eyes shot up to the ceiling for his energy as well
;
his breathing quickened
in his large chest
.
“So you weren’t bluffing when you said you could rip my teeth out
?
”
His thick throat swallowed
before he finally looked at
Sarah
.
“I will hold
to
the agreement
that
you have placed.”

Connor spoke aloud “Good.
Now everyone can join back in the
enjoyable
conversations.
”
Sarah
noticed that both of
her
parents were a little
perturbed
with being left out
, but they couldn’t learn about Aura for the terms to remain
.
Their minds are weaker and have no control to bar an intruder and it would be all too easy to learn if they know this skill. She
couldn’t see either Mark or Kara, but
Sarah
knew Kara would be getting anxious and a little
upset
by now
. She loves
being part of
conversations.

Veronica changed the subject.
“Connor, I have a question
for you
. Can you guess my age?”

Connor smiled playfully. “Of course. I can guess that you are just over nine hundred thousand years old.”

Veronica threw her head back and let out a laughing roar.
It ech
oed inside the cavern and
every head in the room turn
in their direction
.
She beat the top of the table with her free right hand and the entire
bench under
them all
bounce
d slightly
for every hit she made. Her lips drew back to show Connor a playful smile.
“You’re so
extremely
close, Connor. I am nine hundred thousand and t
wo
hundred years old.”
Veronica looked over at Clarein and calmed her expression.
“Child, just as Connor just revealed I ha
ve had
to go eggless for hundreds of thousands of years until I could finally conceive.
Do not worry about raising a child at so young an age, but if you would like I will let you watch over my child every now and then
,
while I raise it.
It will give you better practice when your day finally arrives.
”