Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

«Yes,» Zorian agreed. «Aranea are all empathic as part of their innate nature. Thanks to them, I now have more or less gained control over my empathic abilities, though it will take years of practice to truly refine them into something reliable. Follow me so far?»

«What am I feeling right now?» Kirielle asked.

«I actually don’t know,» Zorian admitted. «People’s feelings are rarely very simple, and unless they are feeling one emotion very strongly I’m reduced to educated guesses based on my previous interactions with the person. The more time I spend around someone the easier I can read them.»

«But isn’t she your sister?» Imaya asked. «You’d think that if anyone was familiar enough for your ability to work it would be family.»

«Our family is…» Zorian hesitated, searching for a proper word. «Slightly dysfunctional, I guess. I try to stay away from them most of the time, so I haven’t interacted with Kirielle all that often. And I’m not the only one keeping secrets around here — Kirielle is also keeping a lot of things close to her chest. I guess we don’t really know each other all that well, sibling bonds notwithstanding.»

There was a brief silence as everyone involved digested that admission, but the awkward atmosphere was quickly broken by Imaya clearing her throat.

«Well,» she said. «I guess it’s a good thing you’re both here now to reconnect.»

«Yeah!» Kirielle immediately agreed. «Hey, do you think I could be an empath too?»

«Sorry, Kiri, but I’m pretty sure you aren’t,» Zorian said. «I would have been able to sense it if you were.»

«You can sense other empaths?» Taiven asked.

«I can sense all minds around me, empath or otherwise,» Zorian said. «I also get some basic information about each mind — how complex their thoughts are, their species, their gender, stuff like that. Empaths light up like little suns on my mind sense, so… sorry, Kiri.»

«It’s fine,» she said dejectedly.

«You can sense people all around you, regardless of obstacles?» Taiven asked. Zorian nodded. «And the range on that ability is…?»

«If I’m busy with something else and just running my mind sense in the background? About ten meters,» said Zorian. «If I’m specifically concentrating on scanning the environment? Easily ten times that. However, if there are a lot of minds around me I have trouble processing the information and they all sort of start to blend together in a confusing, headache-inducing mass. I mostly just shut my empathy off when I’m around big crowds.»

«Roach, I am so recruiting you for my team,» Taiven said. «I’ve been trying to find a tracker for my team for a while now! Now all we need is to teach you some divination spells and—»

«Already done, thank you,» Zorian said. «I am quite proficient in divination.»

«Even better!» Taiven said. «You’re hired.»

«We’ll see,» Zorian sighed.

«Fascinating,» Imaya said. «I’ve never heard of that aspect of empathy, though I guess it makes sense that someone who can sense emotions can locate other people through it. But that’s not what you wanted to talk about, is it?»

«No it’s not,» Zorian nodded. «It’s not common knowledge, but empathy is just an initial expression of a much more… dangerous ability. A sufficiently skilled empath can bridge the gap between minds and connect with any person in range in order to talk to them telepathically, read their thoughts, fool their senses or mess with their memories. And aranea have been teaching me how to do that.»

He paused to gauge their reactions. Well, none of them were quietly panicking or burning with outrage, so that was encouraging.

«I have no intention of doing that to any of you without permission,» Zorian said. «But at the same time I need someone to practice on. The aranea aren’t very suitable for this — their minds are too alien for a beginner like me to understand. I need a human volunteer, and I’m hoping for you to help me out, oh sister of mine.»

«You want to read my mind?» Kirielle asked.

«To put it bluntly, yes,» Zorian said.

«And if I say no, will you still teach me magic?»

«Absolutely,» Zorian said. «It’s a request, not blackmail. I’ll just have to find someone else to help me if you refuse.»

«Well, okay,» she said. «I guess I’ll help you. But you can’t talk to anyone… about the stuff in my head. And you have to tell me all about your secrets in exchange!»

«Sure,» Zorian smiled. «Sounds like a fair deal to me.»

The whole confrontation went off surprisingly well, Zorian reflected. Sure, Imaya had been avoiding him ever since and Kirielle was giving him these weird looks, but none of them were terrified of him or anything — just mildly uncomfortable. They were taking the revelation much better than he had predicted they would.

And then, of course, was Taiven, who was apparently not bothered at all by his admission that he was learning how to read people’s thoughts.

«You ready, Roach?» she asked, twirling her combat staff in her hand.

«I’m ready, yeah,» Zorian said, gripping his spell rod tighter.