Chapter 71 Kailin #2
"Have you told your friends about it?"
"Yes," I admitted. "It's hard to hide, even under my clothes.
Someone was bound to notice eventually. I told them you gave it to me as part of my special training, to see if it had any effect, but I didn't explain why or what exactly it was supposed to do.
I said I couldn't share those details, and they accepted that. "
"Good." The shaman seemed pleased. "Are you wearing it at all times?"
"Almost. I take it off during conditioning because I'm afraid it might fall out or get damaged. And during showers, of course." I hesitated, then added reluctantly, "and when I'm with Alar at night, so it doesn't get in the way."
I wanted to sink through the floor from embarrassment, but Saphir's expression remained professionally neutral as if I'd been talking about polishing my boots.
"I understand," he said. "However, I would recommend putting it back on once your nightly activities are concluded. It's important that you wear it while sleeping."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "The truth is that I don't have an empirical explanation.
Just observation and speculation. I suspect that something in this medallion resonates with certain mental frequencies, particularly while the conscious mind is at rest and when other aspects of consciousness become more active. "
That still didn't explain what it was supposed to do.
"It might enhance your natural abilities and your intuition."
I tilted my head. "Did it help you?"
He chuckled. "You are a smart young lady, Kailin. No, it did not, but it had supposedly helped some of my predecessors. I thought it was worth a try to let you wear it."
That explained why he was willing to part with it.
"I assume that it is very valuable."
"It's a relic from a different era, and as such, it is irreplaceable and incalculably valuable."
I swallowed. "Thank you for entrusting me with such a treasure, but I have nowhere to hide it, and when I leave to take a shower or for conditioning, I hide it under the wardrobe wrapped in a pair of socks.
That's not really a secure place to keep a sacred artifact.
" I reached inside my shirt and pulled it out. "I should give it back to you."
He lifted a hand to stop me. "Keep it. No one is going to steal it in here." He smiled. "I've been into each cadet's mind, and I know what each one is about. I would not have allowed dishonest people to enter the academy."
I tucked the medallion back under my shirt. "That's reassuring. I'll make sure to wear it at night."
Moki, who had been quiet for some time, suddenly stirred in my lap, lifting his head and looking at me with those huge eyes of his that seemed to say goodbye.
"Oh, yes. He senses that our meeting is drawing to an end." Saphir rose to his feet, and Moki immediately leaped out of my lap, bounced off the desk, and jumped onto Saphir's shoulder, wrapping his long tail around the shaman's neck. "We'll meet again in two weeks."
Saphir stroked Moki's tail in a similar fashion to how he stroked his own beard, and I wondered whether he'd gotten confused and thought that the tail was his beard.
"Thank you for your guidance, Shaman." I dipped my head.
"Before you go, I have something for you." Saphir opened a drawer and withdrew a white bag that looked a lot like the kind Gran used for her herbs. "This is a special tea that might help the medallion do its work."
I looked suspiciously at the bag and narrowed my eyes at him. "Is it the tea we were given in the Circle of Fate?"
Hopefully, the tea he'd just poured for us wasn't that kind either.
"No, my dear. It's a much weaker version of it that will not make you groggy or disoriented in the morning. In fact, I drink it every night before going to bed. I brew it ahead of time and then place a full glass by my bed and drink it before turning off the lights."
As I took the bag from him and sniffed it, Moki projected into my mind an image of Saphir sleeping in his bed with a blissful expression on his face. The tea didn't smell as potent as the brew we'd been given in the Circle of Fate.
Saphir reached into his drawer again and pulled out a small leather-bound journal that was much nicer than the simple ones I used for my sketches and notes.
"This is for recording your dreams in the morning, provided that you have anything interesting to note.
Keep it private." He chuckled. "You can hide it inside another pair of socks and stick it under your wardrobe as well. "
I stifled the urge to roll my eyes. I was so full of secrets that I was going to burst.
"Either Alar or my roommate is bound to notice that I'm writing in it and ask me about it."
"Oh, yes. The lovely Shovia. Such a spirited girl. She won't touch it if you tell her it's off limits, and Alar would never betray your trust."
That was good to know.
I took the journal and put it in one of the pockets of my uniform jacket. "What about the tea? What should I tell my friends about that?"
I hoped he wouldn't ask me to lie.
Saphir shrugged. "Same as with the journal, you can say that I'm interested in your dreams, but you can't say why. The tea is supposed to make your dreams more vivid. Every word is true, so you don't need to worry about straying from the Precepts of Truth."
By now, my friends were used to me keeping secrets, so adding two more to the list was not a big deal, but I wished I didn't have to hide things from them, and I wasn't looking forward to drinking the tea and dreaming vividly. Somehow, I had a feeling that those dreams wouldn't be pleasant.