The Talented (19 page)

Adrienne shrugged. “Here
is fine.” She studied the space around her, judging how far she
could move in any one direction before she would bump into a chair,
the wall, or one of the many stacks of books. Then she closed her
eyes.

Her breaths came slowly in
and out through her nose. She inhaled as she raised her arms,
exhaled as she lowered them and bent at the waist, and then her
mind was clear, her thoughts of why she was doing this gone as she
moved automatically, adjusting her moves to fit the smaller space
without conscious thought, never deviating from the smooth, fluid
transitions.

As she began to bend and
raise an arm over her head, some instinct told her to change the
motion, and she did. More obstacles appeared, felt instead of seen,
and her body adapted, twisting and turning but never breaking from
the essence of the routine. Adrienne’s eyes remained closed through
it all.

“
That was amazing!” Ben
said when Adrienne finally stopped and opened her eyes. “I’ve never
seen anything like it.”

Adrienne shifted
uncomfortably. She was more used to apathy than admiration when
someone saw her run through her routine. “Thank you,” she said
uneasily. Although she had taught her meditative routine to Jeral
and the other Yearlings, it was not widely accepted amongst the
soldiering community. Even Ricco had occasionally teased her about
the strange habit, and it was unlikely he had kept that part of the
program going after she had left Kyrog.

Ben still looked amazed by
what she had done. “I kept putting things in your way: my arms,
books, rolls of parchment. You just moved around them like you
could see them there, but your eyes were closed the whole time.
Weren’t they?” He seemed suspicious again.

“
They were closed. I could
sense that something was in the way,” Adrienne said. “Not
consciously, and I couldn’t say what it was, but my body knew and
avoided it.”

“
That’s really fantastic,”
Ben said. “It took me nearly five months to gain that much
awareness of my surroundings, and that was after having been able
to clear my mind for a month.” His excitement was back, and his
smile was full of pride for his student.

“
I started learning those
moves when I was four,” Adrienne told him, a small smile capturing
her lips as she remembered those days. “An old soldier took me
under his wing for a couple of years, and he taught me. He was the
one who taught me Old Samaroan as well.”

“
A soldier taught you all
of that?”

Adrienne didn’t appreciate
the obvious surprise in Ben’s voice. She wished there was at least
one person in the city who didn’t consider soldiers dumb brutes.
“I’m a soldier,” she reminded him.

“
Yes, I know, but you
seem…different.”

“
Different than what?”
Adrienne asked, her temper spiking. “Different than all the other
soldiers you have met and gotten to know?” Ben wisely said nothing.
“How many other soldiers have you spoken to? Seen? Have you ever
looked past their weapons and seen them as people?”

Ben’s face took on a
belligerent look. “I’ve heard stories. I read a lot about soldiers
before you arrived so that I would be prepared.”

“
You heard the same stories
you heard as a child,” she said. “You read books that confirmed
that bias.”

“
I didn’t.”

“
So the library here
contains a lot of books that supports soldiers? I—” Adrienne
clenched her jaw. She didn’t speak until she was sure she could
control the anger in her voice. “I started training to be a soldier
when I was four. I have no family, no friends, except other
soldiers. I’ve never been anything but a soldier,” she said, every
word a staccato note. “If you don’t see me as a soldier, then your
view of soldiers is wrong, because I am more a soldier than
anything or anyone else.”

Adrienne left him standing
alone in his room, stunned.

Despite the argument with
Ben, Adrienne followed his advice and began entering her morning
routines with more purpose than simply balancing her mind and body.
The meditation was no longer just for her peace of mind and to keep
her body limber, it was the first step in a search for something
deeper, a conscious connection to her surroundings. Sometimes it
was as simple as closing her eyes; other days she could try for
hours without being able to sense anything about her surroundings
that she had not seen when her eyes were open. It was frustrating,
and she wanted to move on to whatever came after
Oneness.

“
This training is less
exciting than I thought it would be,” Adrienne told Strider as she
combed out the warhorse’s mane. She had taken him out for the first
time in days, and she had decided to groom him herself rather than
hand him off to Thom. It felt good to do something so easy and
uncomplicated, where there were no expectations except the
occasional scratching behind Strider’s ears. “I just do the same
thing day after day,” she told the muscular destrier. He might not
be able to understand her, but directing her words at the horse
made her feel more stable than simply talking to
herself.

Strider turned and blew
warm air in her face, making her laugh and relieving some of her
tension.

“
That’s a nice sound,” a
female voice said, and Adrienne turned to see a young,
round-cheeked woman standing in the stable doorway.

“
May I help you?” Adrienne
asked, wondering who the strange woman was and what she was doing
there. It was possible that she was one of the inn’s patrons, but
Adrienne did not think so. Most of the people staying at the inn
left the care of their horses to the stableboy, and none of them
talked to her.

“
You’re good to that
horse,” the woman said, ignoring Adrienne’s question. “I didn’t
expect that.”

“
Who are you?” Adrienne
asked suspiciously.

“
Maureen Cassin. A healer.
Why are you good to the horse?”

Adrienne took in Maureen’s
age and the self-assured way she held herself and determined that
she was not just any healer. She was Talented. “A horse that is
treated well will respond because it wants to please its rider. A
horse that knows only the whip will obey out of fear, but he will
not put his heart into it, or want what his rider
wants.”

“
So you have found that you
get better results with kindness,” Maureen said.

“
Yes,” Adrienne replied,
growing impatient with the banal conversation. “Are you planning to
tell me that you are not a normal healer, or is that supposed to be
a secret?”

“
There are not many
‘normal’ healers left in Kessering,” Maureen said, showing no sign
that she was disturbed by the change of topic. “You don’t mention
that you are a soldier, but then, that is obvious.” She made a
point of studying Adrienne’s sword, which hung ever-ready at her
hip.

Since arriving in
Kessering, Adrienne’s sword had either been studiously ignored or
watched as though it was a cobra poised to strike. Maureen’s study
of the sword was different. There was no fear in her gaze, just the
calm, steady look of a woman who was not easily
unsettled.

“
It is also obvious that
you did not come here to ask me about my horse,” Adrienne said. She
appreciated the self-assured nature of the woman, but there was
something…uncomfortable about the way the woman was questioning
her.

“
You’re smart,” Maureen
said approvingly. “I said you must be, to have lasted a month, but
not everyone agreed.”

Adrienne wanted to ask who
‘everyone’ was and what right any of them had to judge her, but she
had learned from Captain Garrett that staying quiet could often
gain more answers than speaking up. As a lieutenant she had
practiced that, and found that few people could stand sustained
silence for long before they tried to fill it
themselves.

Maureen was no exception.
“The others with abilities are curious about you, but some of them
are nervous.”

“
Because I’m a soldier,”
Adrienne said. She accepted the prejudice now—accepted that the
crowd would tense when she walked through the market and the common
room of the inn grow quiet if she decided to eat there.

“
We are not used to
soldiers here,” Maureen said without apology. “This is a peaceful
city. However, if you do develop an ability, it is inevitable that
you will associate with others of us with abilities. Therefore, I
decided to come and meet you now.”

Adrienne studied the woman
more carefully. She could detect the nerves now, though they were
still kept tightly under control, and she was impressed. Maureen
was afraid, but she had come today in spite of her fear. “I am
Lieutenant Adrienne Rydaeg,” she said, extending her
hand.

Maureen took the proffered
hand and shook it. Her grip was firm and the underlying strength
apparent. This was a woman who was used to using her hands and
body. “Perhaps when you are done here, you would like to see what
the rest of us do?”

Adrienne nodded and called
the stableboy over to finish grooming Strider. Thom was delighted
as always to handle the big stallion and waved the two women off
happily, assuring Adrienne that the horse would be well taken care
of.

“
That boy seems to like
you,” Maureen commented as they left the stables and began heading
down a street in the opposite direction of the library. Adrienne
had rarely ventured that way before.

“
Thom is good with horses,”
Adrienne told Maureen, “and he doesn’t have the same problem with
soldiers that many in Kessering do. It’s nice to spend time with
someone who doesn’t think I’m a monster.” She pursed her lips,
displeased that she had said so much. Maureen was an unknown
entity, one that Adrienne was not yet sure she could
trust.

“
Maybe if you didn’t insist
on wearing your sword around, people would be more comfortable
around you,” Maureen said in a stern, disapproving tone that
Adrienne was sure worked well with her patients.

Adrienne took exception to
the tone. She was neither Maureen’s patient nor doing something
wrong or foolish. “Maybe if I wore silk dresses and walked like a
lady, mothers would stop dragging their children out of my path and
men would stop treating me as though I lacked intelligence. I am
what I am, no matter what I wear.”

“
Then surely putting your
sword away wouldn’t change that,” Maureen pointed out. “Kessering
is not a dangerous place; it isn’t necessary to be armed
here.”

Maureen’s disapproval and
naiveté helped Adrienne distance herself from the woman and regard
her with more objectivity. Maureen might believe that there was no
reason to be armed in Kessering, but Adrienne disagreed. For one,
she knew how easy it was for a potentially dangerous person to
enter Kessering. She had done so herself barely a month ago with no
questions asked. And she knew that people could be stupid, and that
her presence had frightened and angered a lot of people. Going
without her sword now might cause some to view it as an opportunity
to show her that they weren’t afraid. She wasn’t worried that she
would be hurt, but rather that she would be forced to hurt someone
else in self-defense. “I will take that under
advisement.”

Maureen gave a half-laugh.
“No, you won’t. Keep the sword if that is what you wish, but do not
be upset with people’s reactions to you when you do nothing to
counter them. You are the visitor here; if change needs to be made,
it is you who should make it.” She made a gesture that seemed to
suggest she didn’t care one way or the other. “The healer I’m
taking you to meet will probably be so absorbed in what she is
doing that she wouldn’t notice if you walked in wearing full armor.
Or naked.”

They came to the door of a
small building with herbs hanging in the window to denote that it
was a healer’s shop, and Maureen ushered Adrienne in before
entering herself. “Louella? It’s Maureen,” she called, glancing
around the empty front room.

“
Back here!”

The voice was low and
throaty, which was even more shocking when Adrienne caught sight of
Louella. The woman was a few years older than Maureen, in her late
twenties, with light skin, golden hair, and sky blue eyes, so rare
in this part of Samaro that Adrienne was not sure the last time she
had seen the delicate combination. Lieutenant Nissen had pale skin,
but his skin was not as pale as this woman’s creamy complexion. The
woman was also small—nearly as short as Adrienne, and very slender.
With the exception of her height, she was the picture of
Almet.

“
I’ve just made the most
amazing discovery,” Louella said in that earthy voice, and she held
up a bowl of liquid that, although it looked like it might be wine,
Adrienne recognized immediately as blood.

“
Did you now?” Maureen
asked in a patronizing voice, turning her nose up at the bowl. “I
will have to hear about it later. Louella, this is Adrienne Rydaeg,
the new trainee.”

“
The soldier,” Louella
said, inspecting Adrienne as she might inspect a patient, looking
her up and down in a way that was clearly and unapologetically
assessing, and no doubt very like the way Adrienne was looking at
her. “You must have quite a bit of experience with blood.” She
didn’t seem at all suspicious or accusatory, but more as though she
was sizing Adrienne up for something.