plants . Unusuall y strong.
Knowing how sensitive Kathryn was about her gifts he didn’t mention it around her, instead, one night after Kathryn had gone to bed, he sought out Jasmine. He found her in the library. She smiled as he entered.
“It’s pretty late for you to still be up,” she commented as he sat down across from her. Jasse grimaced. Kathryn woke with the sun, something that he had not even done as a Guardian and for a person who preferred to wake at noon like Jasse did, it was torture to try and be cheerful at such an unearthly radian. By dusk he was ready to collapse in bed, Kathryn managed much better than he did but still began to flag after the first few radians of darkness.
“Someone has got to tell that girl that getting up at dawn is not required anymore.” He reached for the pitcher of wine sitting on the table and poured himself a glass.
Jasmine grinned. “You just don’t like dragging yourself out of bed before the noon meal.”
“No one should like getting up at such an absurd radian,” he returned downing his drink.
“How is Kathryn doing?”
Raising an amused eyebrow at her he replied, “As you know, she’s an extremely bright and a quick pupil and I’m having to do more and more research to keep up with her demand for information. ” Especially concerning her feathered frien d , he mused as he poured himself another glass. As he sipped his drink a sudden thought sprang into his head.
It couldn’t be! …Could it?
“Has she spoken yet?”
Jasmine’s question brought him back to their discussion. He shook his head. “No, but I still don’t believe she’s mute.” After the second month with Kathryn Jasse had come to the conclusion that the girl wasn’t mute, just that she had never had a need to talk. He wasn’t sure how he knew, he just knew. Jasmine and Mora didn’t completely believe him but respected his opinion.
“Has she used her gift yet for you?”
Here Jasse paused. “Yes, this morning I managed to convince her that I truly wanted to see her work with water. Still, she would only make the water ripple, nothing else. And afterwards her body tensed up, as if she was expecting me to beat her for using her gift.” He would never forget the memory of the stoic expression she’d plastered on her face as she’d turned her back to him for punishment. Her shoulders had hunched themselves, arms wrapping around her midsection, instinctively protecting her vital organs.
“Jasse if she’s still sensitive toward using her gift, what will enrolling her in school do to her?” Jasmine’s voice was pained and her gaze never left the flickering flames. “Time is fleeing before us. Surely her fears should have lessened by now.” Pausing, she went on, “what else are we to do?”
“We have another problem to worry about.”
The seriousness of his tone drew her gaze. “Problem? What problem?”
“I have reason to believe that both of Kathryn’s gifts are dominate.”
Jasmine stared at him for a long time, unable to say anything. Finally she asked, “How? Why? Isn’t that impossible?”
Jasse shook his head. “I don’t know how or why. And while it’s not impossible, the ways it is possible are almost unbelievable. All I can say is that Kathryn seems to have two dominate powers and that she can push aside the urge to use them.” He still hadn’t figured out how she had known to withdraw her emotions during that first meeting, but it wasn’t the last time she had done it. Perhaps she was just reacting to his own body language? He would have to test that theory later.
Jasmine was silent again for a long time. “What is the other gift?”
Jasse brought himself back to the conversation at hand. “She can work with plants.”
“How can she resist the urge to use them?” Jasmine exclaimed. “ I stil l can’t resist my urges and Kathryn is only ten!”
“Neither can any Guardian in the kingdom,” Jasse reminded her. “I don’t know how she
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