Chapter 42
I missed two questions on the quiz but overall, I still did well enough for an A-. But that was only one of my tests.
“Again!” Erika said. “Candles four and twelve.”
I lit the wicks as quick as I could identify each candle.
“Now out.”
I snuffed them.
“Six, seven, and one.”
A slight lag as I added the additional flame.
“Snuff.”
The candles went out.
“Hmm, just a slight improvement,” Erika said. “The flames are definitely stronger but not overly so. Possible it’s just improvement from repetition and practice.”
“I don’t feel anything from the tattoo,” I said. “Only when I apport.”
“How is it linked to just the Apport protocol?” Mehitable wondered.
“Is it possible that some portion of the tattoo references the Apport protocol?” Hepzibah asked.
“We’ve never heard of an Apport protocol, and it doesn’t appear in any known occult records,” Mehitable replied.
“Let’s check his fire progress against the other elements,” Erika said. “Wind tests, water ball formation, and earth sensing.”
Two long hours later, she called a halt.
“Okay. Improvement across the board, but mostly in Fire,” she said. “I would expect it in Air or Earth, as those are his inherited affinities.”
“So association with the Fire elemental was perhaps a small help,” Vesta suggested. She had shown up after her last class and observed my torture without comment till now. “Dad has told me that he thinks working with elementals is beneficial to any witch.”
“We should have you introduce him to your earth and air elementals,” Mehitable suggested.
“Dad said not to. They are both linked heavily with my family, and he thinks this power lending thing is more likely with an unknown elemental.”
“How do we expose him, or should we?” Sharalyn, our fourth teacher, asked. “Maybe it should be unstaged… organic.”
“I think Craig needs to master more of his basics first,” Erika said, studying me carefully. “Like his shielding.”
Vesta turned to me with a sharp intake of breath. “We should test that,” she said. “Something else Dad says. The pressure of dealing with even a small elemental hardens a witch’s shields.”
Hepzibah slammed a blast of fire in my direction and only my advanced Intent warning kept me from yelping. I slammed every bit of my power into a shield and the flame parted like water on a canoe’s bow. But I felt the heat. A lot of heat.
“Not bad,” Hepzibah said. “Kid didn’t have any shield in September.”
“Yes, it has improved,” Erika noted. “Not where it needs to be yet, but definite improvement.”
“Maybe… crazy I know, but maybe we should ask Craig what he thinks,” a new voice said. Male, slightly rough, and thoroughly recognizable to everyone in the room.
“Dad!” Vesta said, surprised.
“Hello, daughter mine. Well, Craig? Any thoughts?” Declan asked, leaning against the wall. He must have portaled into the spell chamber, as I had felt his intent only as he spoke.
“I don’t know about training this skill or anything about elementals, but I felt bad that I never thanked Flint for her… its… gift.”
“Oh, excellent instinct,” he said, nodding. “Build your rapport with the fire elemental before trying to collect others. What Flint has given, Flint can take away.”
“How do I do it now that I’m a couple thousand miles away?” I asked.
“You know, I have an idea. Let’s take a little trip, you and me,” he said.
“Dad?” Vesta asked, a note of warning in her voice.
“You can come too but you’ve already heard The Words that come before all else,” he said to her.
“Oh. Oh, that’s a great idea,” she said with a surprised smile.
“I still have them on occasion,” he said before turning to my teachers.
“Hmm. The real fundamentals,” Erika said.
“What are these words?” Mehitable asked.
“Perhaps everyone should come along,” Declan said. And then we were somewhere else.
“Most indigenous people have a very different view of life and what is important,” Declan said as we surveyed our surroundings.
We were standing outside a rather standard-looking building that had the look of a school.
Then again, the words over the doors pretty much nailed down that impression. Akwesasne Middle School.
“We are on Akwesasne, the Mohawk reservation in upstate New York and southern Canada,” he said.
“This school is sixth through eighth grade. They start and end their day with a thanksgiving address that we should all pay attention too. Partly because it is almost a basic primer for dealing with elementals but also because it is a beautiful way to balance your mind and realize what’s important. ”
“And we’re just going to walk into a secure school?” Mehitable asked.
“They know me here. And it’s just a case of visiting educators here to experience something new.”
We walked through the front doors and the guard on duty greeted him with admirable calm, smiling as he called the school office. We were then allowed in with visitor passes.
Apparently, Declan and Stacia had been benefactors of the school, as the principal was quick to greet us and quick to let us attend the end of day address.
“You want to hear the Ohen:ton Karihwatehkwen?” Principal Bennon asked, looking a bit surprised. “You are… teachers at the school for witches?” she asked.
“Witches have a very similar outlook about the natural world as indigenous peoples,” Declan said. “I think the words of the Greetings to the Natural World will be very illuminating for their curriculum.”
“He’s right,” Erika said. “I have heard an opening address at a powwow and to my shame never thought to introduce it to my students.”
“And you brought a particular set of witches with you?” she asked, looking at Vesta and me with clear recognition but also clearly not freaking out. Very cool.
“Vesta is a skilled young witch at Arcane, and this young man is part of an exchange program we are piloting,” Erika said without hesitation. “His mother was one of our students.”
“Oh, I know who they are,” Principal Bennon noted, smiling at Vesta and eyeing me critically. “I don’t want to disrupt the students who are giving the address, so perhaps we can just watch and listen from the back of the assembly.”
“That would be perfect,” Declan said. “Thank you.”
In short order, we found ourselves at the rear of an auditorium filled with adolescent humans and, of course, noise.
But mere minutes after we got in place, the teachers in the room established order and then three of the older students, two girls and a boy, stood up and arranged themselves in front of the rest. One of the girls began to speak.
She was very composed and her voice just loud enough to carry across the open space.
She started in Mohawk, speaking for a moment, and then she repeated it in English.
“We have gathered together as people. We have been given the duty to live with all living things in balance and peace. We bring our minds together as we give greetings and thanks to each other. And our minds are as one.”
The next kid took over, the boy. His voice was mostly deep but occasionally jumped an octave as he too spoke Mohawk, then English.
“We give thanks to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us everything that we need to live. She provides the ground we stand on, and we are joyful that she cares for us as she always has. To our Mother Earth, we send greetings and thanks. Our minds are as one.”
The second girl spoke the next part.
“We give thanks to all the water because we cannot live without it. Water is life. Water is powerful in all of its forms and with one mind, we send greetings and thanks to the spirit of water. Our minds are as one.”
Then back to the first girl who thanked the waters of the world for slaking our thirst, letting us live, and growing our plants.
The boy thanked the plants for providing our oxygen, our food, and shade.
The last student thanked all the animals of the forest and plains, for giving us food, skins to wear, and even bones for tools.
Back to the first who thanked the four winds. East, North, West, and South, each for ushering a different season, each for freshening our air to breathe.
The boy thanked the thunder and lightning for bringing the storms we need to replenish our water and for teaching us about fire.
The second girl thanked the sun for warming our world, feeding our plants, and lighting the darkness each day.
Then they thanked the stars, the moon and finally the creator, or Great Spirit, for making life possible at all, for the gifts we received of air, food, water, skill, knowledge, and love.
The first girl finished it out with, “If we have forgotten something, it was not our intention and we give thanks and greetings to any we have missed. Our minds are as one.”
“Thank you Waneek, Sawahtis, and Kateri,” the teacher in front said and the kids turned and sat down at the front of the assembly. “Well done.”
Principal Bennon turned to us and ushered us out into the hallway as the teacher covered some final housekeeping.
“They are usually a bit more thorough,” she said thoughtfully. “Perhaps they were distracted. But what do you think?” she asked Vesta.
“It’s simple yet complex and very beautiful,” Vesta said.
“And you, Craig? What are your thoughts?” Principal Bennon asked.
“Impactful. As Vee said, it seems simple, but you are really sending out a message, as a group. If you are listening, then you can’t really disagree, because disagreeing means you don’t want life. And if everyone listening agrees, then the emotion and intent being projected is really powerful.”
“You could sense the intention line up?” Declan asked me.
“Absolutely. Listening seemed to crowd out almost all other intents and reset all the energy, momentarily, to a really nice calm feeling,” I said.
The principal’s eyebrows went up. “Is that a thing of witches, this sensing?” she asked Declan and the teachers.
“Craig has a special sense which is linked to Air,” Erika answered.
“And this special sense reads intention?” Bennon pressed.
“It does,” Declan confirmed.
“What an absolutely powerful gift you have received from our Mother,” Bennon said.
“Yes ma’am, as She has reminded me from time to time,” I said.
Her brows went even higher, but she didn’t comment.
The doors to the auditorium opened and kids streamed out, most slowing as they noticed us but unable to stop due to the crowd behind them.
The three speakers were the last to leave, along with a male and female teacher, and Bennon called to them.
She introduced us to the kids and staff without any fanfare.
We could have been any group of interested educators.
Despite the casual intro, the kids certainly got a bit wide-eyed and although the adults had awesome poker faces, I still detected a bit of shock that flashed across their features.
“We all found your words to be of great impact,” Erika said.
“I wonder, Principal Bennon, if you and your school would entertain the idea of speaking a thanksgiving address to our students in Burlington? As Craig here has mentioned, this practice is a very powerful way to bring calm and positive intentions to any group of people. Young witches and werewolves can certainly use that kind of balance.”
“Such a visit could have risks,” Bennon said slowly. “It is easy to speak blithely of those who wear two skins or weave the powers of the elements, but for those of us who lack protection, there could be danger, could there not?”
“Not,” Declan said. “I would personally guarantee it, as would my daughter, the teachers here before you, and Craig. Right, Craig?”
My attention had split off for a second and I snapped back to the conversation.
“Sorry, I was sending greetings and thanks to the fire elemental that helped us warm that town out West. But, ah, yes. They would be safe. I doubt anyone in the school would be disrespectful, but we would be monitoring and I bet Cora would also want to keep an eye on things.”
“And your sense helps detect such things?” Bennon asked.
“Yes ma’am.”
“How useful that would be to an educator,” she mused.
“Right?” Erika agreed instantly. “It’s a rare talent.”
“I can bring the idea to our superintendent and the other principals,” Bennon allowed cautiously. “It would depend on any of the staff and students being interested in going.”
“Well, certainly,” Declan said. “Just a thought. Might be a nice visit to the college to acquaint any students who might be thinking of the scholarships we set up.”
“Well, it is rare that anyone ever gets to see inside Arcane,” Mehitable noted. “Perhaps it is a bit too scary for—”
“I would go,” one of the students, the first girl, Waneek, said instantly.
“Oh yes,” and “Sure would,” the other girl and boy chimed in.
“Hmm. Well, I will bring the idea to our leadership,” Bennon said, ending the conversation.
The part of my back that held the tattoo, the one with Flint’s name in it warmed suddenly before cooling back to normal. Hmm. Was dealing with elementals really so… elemental?