The Talented (24 page)

“
I won’t deny that I can be
dangerous,” Adrienne said. “I am a highly trained soldier, but that
is why you brought me here. I didn’t hurt Master Ruthford the other
night, though I could have. Even before I discovered my ability
with fire, harming Master Ruthford would have been laughably easy.”
Several of the commissioners shifted uncomfortably, but Adrienne
didn’t give them a chance to speak. Her temper was up, and she had
no interest in subduing it. “Despite that, I haven’t hurt him, or
anyone. I have done what you wanted. I have developed an ability
that can be used against Almet.” Her words rang with authority, and
Ben looked uncertainly between her and Elder Rynn, as though
wondering if there was a play for power taking place that he was
not aware of.

And Adrienne realized in a
moment of clarity that it was not only her power that was in
question. She saw that Ben, the youngest commissioner, had not been
informed of the final decision. He, too, had been left out of the
decision making process. Was it because of his youth, or because of
how much time he spent with her?

“
The other commissioners
and I have discussed this situation at length over the past three
days,” Elder Rynn said. “Although it is undeniable that you are now
infinitely more dangerous than you were before the development of
your ability, it is also true that you have developed one of the
abilities we were hoping for.” The creases in his cheeks looked
deeper, the bags under his eyes larger, and he did not seem
gratified that the hope of the commission had been
realized.

Adrienne wanted to ask
what their ruling was, but she stayed quiet, wondering what she
actually wanted their decision to be. She did not like Kessering
with its crowds of civilians and the strong prejudice against
soldiers; being sent back to Kyrog would almost be a relief. She
had discovered her Talent. Surely she could continue to develop it
after she was back in Kyrog.

She thought back to the
conversations she had had with Louella. Each Talent was different.
Even between the healers who had developed similar Talents there
had been enough differences that no two healers could do the exact
same things. But Louella had told her that working with Maureen and
the others had helped her find the strengths and weaknesses of her
own Talent. Even Pieter, with a completely different Talent than
Louella, had been able to help her explore what she could do. If
she left Kessering now, there was a chance she would never be able
to reach her full potential. She needed more training before facing
Almet.

“
It has been decided that
you will remain here in Kessering,” Elder Rynn said what seemed a
lifetime later. “You will resume your training and learn to control
your temper as well as your Talent. It is also hoped that you will
learn to obey our orders.”

Adrienne lowered her head,
an expression of humility that did not come easily to her. “I will
try my best.”

“
See that you do,” Elder
Rynn said.

“
What about her association
with the healers and that blacksmith?” Lady Chessing asked, her
voice shrill. “What about that horrible sword she
carries?”

Adrienne‘s head snapped
up. It took everything she had to keep her voice even and
deferential rather than snapping at the woman. “Louella and Pieter
are my friends,” she said, wondering if she should mention that
Pieter had forged her sword using his Talent. She thought that Ben
knew, or at least suspected, but she decided against adding more
fuel to the fire. She did not want to risk getting Pieter in
trouble as well as herself.

Elder Rynn sighed. “Much
as I would like to do something about that, the damage is done,
Lady Chessing. It would hardly be advisable to keep Adrienne in
confinement. We must hope that the common sense of the others
prevails.”

Lady Chessing huffed out a
displeased breath but did not argue.

“
Adrienne, I will meet you
at the inn in two hours,” Ben told her, speaking for the first time
since Adrienne had entered the room. “I have things to do before we
resume your lessons.”

Adrienne bowed slightly.
“Thank you,” she said and quickly took her leave before anything
more could be said or done.

She had two hours, and
instead of going directly to the inn, she headed in the direction
of Louella’s shop. She knew that Louella was concerned for her and
would want to know that Adrienne was all right.

“
Adrienne!” Louella
exclaimed as they almost bumped into each other in the doorway. “I
was just going to your inn. I was going to insist that you saw me
this time, and not leave until you agreed.” She clasped Adrienne’s
hands in hers with a surprisingly firm grip. “I’ve been worried.”
Her blue eyes were big and sincere, and she gave Adrienne’s hands
an extra squeeze before dropping them.

“
I’m sorry I worried you,”
Adrienne said. “I wasn’t supposed to speak with anyone.”

Louella frowned and all
but dragged Adrienne inside before closing and locking the door
behind them. “Sit down while I put on some tea, and then you can
tell me the whole story.”

Adrienne had not planned
to tell Louella everything, but watching Louella as she moved
around her small kitchen preparing tea, she felt an urge to tell
her all that had happened in the last few days. “I discovered my
Talent.”

Louella snapped her head
around and she abandoned the teacup she had been filling to give
Adrienne an excited hug. “That’s wonderful! When?”

“
Three days
ago.”

“
What?” She let go and took
a step back. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“
Ben told me not to. I
wasn’t supposed to develop a Talent so quickly.”

“
I don’t understand.
Shouldn’t he be happy?”

Adrienne shrugged. “He
wasn’t. The commission wasn’t.”

Louella shook her head and
turned to fetch the tea and arrange sweets on a plate that she set
between them on the table. “They were happy when I developed my
Talent,” Louella said. “Perhaps a bit disappointed that it was
healing and not something more fantastic, but—I never asked! You
said you discovered your Talent, but I never asked what you could
do.”

“
Fire,” Adrienne answered.
“I can control fire.” She told Louella about the confrontation with
Ben, and what had happened with the candles. Saying it seemed so
unreal, and as if she was setting down a burden she had been
carrying for days. The only other person she had ever been able to
confide in so absolutely was Ricco, and she had missed him terribly
during her days of confinement. She had thought that Louella could
never be the same sort of friend to her that Ricco was, but she had
not been altogether correct.

Louella was not the same
sort of friend that Ricco had been, but the difference did not make
the friendship bad. She could tell Louella everything that had
happened, and the Talented healer would listen in a way that Ricco
wouldn’t. Louella was empathetic, even passionate, but unlike
Ricco, Louella did not try to jump in and solve the problems
Adrienne placed before her. She let Adrienne talk, listened as
Adrienne unburdened herself, and said nothing.

When Adrienne had finished
with her story, Louella shoved herself away from the table with
enough force to send the chair toppling to the floor. “I can’t
believe it. You develop one of the Talents that they have wanted
from the start, and when they find out you’ve accomplished what
they have been trying to get the rest of us to do for years they
treat you like a criminal. It’s disgraceful.” She stalked around
the small room, scowling at the implements of her profession. Her
reaction surprised Adrienne all the more because of the calm way
she had listened to the story. “I have half a mind to march over
there and tell that commission what I think of their
actions.”

“
Please don’t,” Adrienne
said. “I don’t want you to get in trouble, too.”

Louella stopped her pacing
and gave Adrienne a wry smile. “Don’t worry, that is only one half
of my mind. The other half of my mind knows doing that will do no
one any good.”

Adrienne began to breathe
easier. “I have to meet with Ben in just over an hour,” she
said.

“
Well, that gives you
enough time to show me what it is you can do.”

Adrienne raised her
eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

Louella sat back down
across from Adrienne at the table. “This controlling fire thing. I
want to see it.”

“
I don’t know if I can just
do it,” Adrienne told her friend. “It only happened the other
night, and I wasn’t trying at the time.”

“
Have you tried since?”
Louella asked.

“
No. I didn’t think I
should.”

Louella rolled her eyes.
“And they say you don’t follow orders,” she scoffed. “I would have
spent the last three days trying everything I could think of,
whether they liked it or not.”

Adrienne had no doubt of
that. Despite her small size and fair coloring, Louella was
anything but the fragile, docile waif she seemed. Adrienne wondered
if the commission knew about Louella’s fiercer traits, and if they
worried about the possibility of the healer being dangerous.
Probably not. They had placed all of their fear and mistrust in
soldiers, and doubtless never considered what danger a maverick
healer could pose.

“
I’ll try it, but I’m not
promising anything,” Adrienne said. She breathed deeply and the
Oneness, the connection to everything, the connection which had
once eluded her, came into her as naturally as air. “Can you move
the candle closer?” she asked, looking over at Louella.

Louella grabbed the candle
that had been burning on the shelf and set it in front of Adrienne.
At first nothing happened. Adrienne could feel the flame, but
nothing she did could affect it. She took another calming breath
and tried again, visualizing what she wanted.

The flame leapt up a foot,
shooting up multi-colored sparks. Adrienne smiled and Louella
clapped her hands in delight.

“
That was wonderful. What
else can you do?”

Adrienne concentrated
again, and the flame began to move in distinctive patterns,
twirling and gyrating on the wick, occasionally sending tendrils of
flame out like arms. It was hard for Adrienne to maneuver the flame
in such intricate ways, but she felt that she was nowhere near the
limits of her Talent. “Do you still have a fire going in your
oven?” she asked.

“
A low one,” Louella told
her, “for boiling tea and such. Why?”

“
I want to try controlling
a bigger flame.”

The hearth fire, while by
no means roaring, was much harder to control than the candle flame.
It did not act like one flame, but instead Adrienne discovered it
was many flames, originating from the different logs and embers
that were the source of its fuel. It was difficult for her to force
the multiple flames to act as one, or to control several separate
flames at a time. Sweat beaded on her temples and dripped down the
sides of her face.

“
I think this is like the
particles you can feel in blood,” Adrienne said, her voice strained
from the effort of controlling so many separate fires at once. “A
fire this size has many separate parts, even though you can’t see
them when looking.”

Adrienne tried a few more
tricks before sitting back, feeling both drained and elated. It had
been like learning to use a new weapon, exhilarating despite the
difficulty. “Wow,” she said, unable to describe her feelings more
coherently.

“
I’ll say,” Louella agreed,
her husky voice sounding strained, as if she too had been hard at
work. “It isn’t as useful as healing, of course, but the show is
quite impressive.”

Adrienne
laughed.

“
Do you think you could
create a new fire?” Louella asked. “Like the balls of fire in the
stories?”

Adrienne thought about the
dream she had had before arriving in Kessering and the man in them
who had been throwing balls of fire. She imagined herself doing the
same and smiled.

“
Not today,” she told her
friend, rising to her feet with some regret. “I have to go meet
with Ben.” Although she was not looking forward to the meeting, her
practice with controlling the fire had left her with a feeling of
accomplishment. No matter what Ben said or did, she knew she could
take it.

She was a
soldier.

“
Good luck,” Louella said,
pulling Adrienne in for a tight hug. It lasted only a few short
seconds, and Adrienne headed back to the inn, mulling all the while
about the events of the last few days.

Adrienne beat Ben to her
room by only ten minutes, and when he got there he started in with
explanations on the commission’s decision without bothering to say
hello.

“
They still believe it was
unacceptable that you moved ahead without my consent,” he told her,
pulling himself up straight so that he could stare down at her from
his advantageous full height. In Adrienne’s opinion, the fact that
he was skinny and appeared slightly off-balance now that he was
standing instead of slouching ruined the attempt at
intimidation.