Chapter 5- Questions without answers
As exciting as the journey sounded when he started out, Ethan soon realized that boredom was a more accurate description. Each day included miles travelled, general camp duties, endless questions and answers about the gifts and some sparring. Unfortunately, after long hours on the road as well as making and breaking camp, the time spent sparring was usually short. James was currently questioning Ethan yet again on his knowledge of the giftings.
“What are the nine giftings?” asked James
“Healing, arms, seeing, mending, knowing, calling, breath, crafting and…I forget the other.”
“You forgot the other two. Mending is not a gifting, it’s just another word for healing.”
“I don’t see why I need to know all of them. Just as long as I know my gifting, the gift of arms.”
“First off, I’m not yet sure arms is your gifting. Your sparring doesn’t seem to prove that. And second, the gifts tend to work together. It may not seem like it but knowing the gifts will help you in your unique gift,” James explained.
“But you said you don’t even know the gift of healing,” Ethan protested.
“I said I couldn’t teach the gift of healing, but I know all about it. Now try again. All nine gifts and list them in their schools.”
“School of body: arms, hands and breath. School of mind: seeing, knowing, speaking. School of heart: healing, calling and holding,” droned Ethan. “There. Are you happy now?”
“I’ll be happy if you explain them.”
“Again? How many times do I have to go through this?”
“If you were still at the school they would go through it for six months. Be happy we’ve only spent a few weeks on it. Now, explain the gifts.”
“Fine. The school of the body manifests gifts of the physical body. Arms is a gifting in arms and armor also known as the warrior’s gift. Hands is a gifting in working with the hands in various ways, also known as the crafter’s gift. Breath is a gifting of great endurance useful for prolonged feats of endurance such as running long distances also known as the messenger’s gift.”
“Good. Next school?”
“The school of the mind manifests gifts that work in harmony with the mind. Seeing is the gift of discerning some current event without being physically present at the event. Useful for advisors and strategists. Knowing is the gift of receiving knowledge that you have not previously known and did not receive except by the divine Gift. Useful for advisors, elders and especially Watchers. Wait, do you have the gift of knowing?”
“I do. It is required as a Watcher to have either the gift of seeing or knowing. I have the gift of knowing.”
“Do you know what I’m thinking right now?” joked Ethan.
“You’re thinking you’d better hurry and finish explaining the gifts before James makes me recite the first three pages of ‘A Treatise on Gifting’ from memory.”
“Ha, very funny.”
“Please continue,” said James.
“The gift of speaking is the gift of persuading others to your viewpoint through the spoken word. Doesn’t seem very strong a gift if you ask me. After all, anyone can argue.”
“True, anyone can argue, but not everyone can sway the masses of people using their spoken words. This is one of the most dangerous gifts if used incorrectly. The Mandate declares that the gift of speaking only be used to sway people to truth. Dishonest people with the gift of speaking have been the greatest source of evil Esterria has ever faced, including the Nine. The Berrand Deception, the Great Falling, the Advocacy Wars. All these were the result of individuals with the gift of speaking who used their gift selfishly.”
“I haven’t heard of all of those. What was the Berrand Deception?” asked Ethan.
“The short of it is this, about four hundred years ago, it was argued by some with the gift of speaking that the Gifted were the Giver’s chosen rulers by right of the gift. Only they should hold land and govern Esterria. All ungifted people were peasants meant to be ruled by the Gifted.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I agree, but remember what those bullies at school used to call you?”
“Goatboy?” asked Ethan.
“No, the other one.”
“Peasant. Yeah, I remember,” said Ethan.
“You see, the Gifted already struggle with a feeling of superiority. It didn’t take much to fan those flames into a caste system like what happened during the Berrand Deception,” explained James. “Now continue your explanation of the gifts.”
“The last school, the school of the heart, deals with the gifts that can only come from deep within a person’s heart or soul. Great emotional investment is required to access the gifts of the heart. The gift of healing can heal the body or mind. The other gifts of calling and holding are in the school of the heart, but I’m still not sure I know what they are.”
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“An honest answer and closer to the truth than many of us would like to claim. The gifts of calling and holding are exceedingly rare. There are very few with those gifts at any time and only four or five people alive today that I know have the gift of calling, and they rarely it.”
“Why don’t they use it?” asked Ethan.
“It is too dangerous,” said James. “The gift of calling can call people into obedience, but not by persuasion, but by something deeper. It’s not well understood as it is rarely seen in history. It has also been speculated that the gift of calling can call something into being that was not there previously.”
“Like Fargas on the Devil’s Backbone?” asked Ethan.
“I suppose that makes the most sense of that part of the story. As Fargas travelled through the desolate mountains he ran out of provisions. It is said he prayed to the Giver and was compelled to call forth a fruit tree from the stony ground. The tree grew before his eyes and bore enough fruit to replenish his supplies for the remainder of the journey.”
“I always thought that part of the story was just made up to make the story better,” said Ethan.
“It may be or then again, it may be one of the few recorded instances where the gift of calling was used to call something into being. Either way, don’t worry too much if you don’t understand, not many people do.”
“And the gift of holding?” asked Ethan.
“Take everything we know about the gift of calling and cut it down a hundred times. That’s all we know about the gift of holding. Some people don’t even believe in the gift of holding. If it wasn’t in the Mandate, then we wouldn’t be talking about it at all.”
“So what do you think it is?” asked Ethan.
“Well,” replied James, “I think the answer is in the name. It is a gift to hold something. What is being held or where it is being held is beyond me.”
“So, do I pass the test?”
“At school they would want much more precise answers but, strip away the formality, and your answers are good enough. Now, let’s make camp and see how your sparring is coming along.”
~
After thirty minutes of struggle, Ethan was lying on his back again. James hardly seemed to be trying and yet every attempt Ethan made to get past his guard failed. And it usually ended with Ethan on the ground. He tried everything he could think of, finesse, trickery and brute force. Nothing worked. He was frustrated, and he could tell James was frustrated as well.
“Let’s go again. This time put your heart into it,” barked James.
“I’m doing the best I can,” countered Ethan. “I only had a few months practice with swords before Jarod had us put them away. I’m not as good as you are with the sword!”
“Nonsense. I’ve seen what you can do. Stop trying to be skillful and draw upon your gift. This practice is not as much about learning the art of the sword as it is about learning how to use your gift of arms.”
“I don’t know how! The last time it just happened. I wasn’t trying to use it. I didn’t even know I was using it!”
“Alright, let’s take a break and get something to eat,” sighed James.
Ethan was exhausted as he ate. The meal was cold smoked beef, hard bread and some dried fruit. Again. No one ever mentioned how bad the food was on an adventure. Maybe he was starting to see the difference between the allure of an adventure and the real thing. He was almost too tired to chew.
James was relentless. From the time they got up until the time they turned in, he was always asking questions and critiquing every answer Ethan made. And the pace was grueling as well. They walked twenty to thirty miles every day. And when they would take a break from walking, James would break out the practice swords and teach Ethan how to take a beating. And always the questions. At least this evening he was able to eat is silence.
“Tell me what you were thinking when we fought with swords at Jarod’s,” James broke into his thoughts. Ethan groaned inside before he answered.
“I wasn’t thinking anything. I was just happy to see you and happy to show you what I learned.”
“I remember that fight and something changed,” James said stubbornly. “About half-way through something changed in you. You stopped flailing around like a boy and started hitting hard. What were you thinking of?”
“I wanted to show you I could take care of myself!” snapped Ethan. After a moment he continued more calmly, “At first I was happy to see you and wanted you to see how much I’d learned. I also wanted you to see that I could take care of myself. But you were just standing there swatting away my blows with a goofy grin on your face like someone entertaining a child. With all I’d learned and with all I could do, it was still as if I were just some little kid that couldn’t even make you work to spar with me. And with Jarod laughing at me, well, I guess I just got a little angry,” Ethan finished quietly.
James didn’t speak. He just looked into the fire, but Ethan could see he was thinking deeply about what Ethan had said. It was as if something he said had troubled James in some way. After a few minutes he started in on his invariable questioning again.
“Why do we place the gifts in their various schools?” he questioned.
“I...I’m not sure. No one ever mentioned that in the classes I went to. I guess I just thought that it was written that way in the Mandate or something,” Ethan answered.
“It is in the Giver’s Mandate. It’s found in a few passages actually, but never together. A couple of passages mentioned the schools of gifts, and then there are other passages that discuss certain gifts, but never together with the schools. We are the ones that have looked at the different gifts and placed them into the various schools. But can you figure out why?”
“Well, I guess it kind of makes sense. The gifts of arms, hands and breath all have to do with the body. They all require you to do something. The gifts of mind are seeing, knowing and speaking which all require thought. I’m not sure about the gifts of heart, but I’d guess they all involve feeling it in some way.”
“Simple answer, but very accurate. The gifts of body are the most common and the easiest to cultivate. They just require practice, practice, practice. The sheer repetition of working with weapons teaches us to release our gift in our arms and armor. There are many crafters that excel in their art that don’t even know they are gifted. They think repetition has made them proficient and can’t even see the gift they are using. The gift of breath is the easiest of the three, simply run until you can’t run anymore, and the gift empowers you to continue. The gifts of the body don’t require any real thought. We just have to quit thinking and get out of the way.
“Why do you think I question you so incessantly throughout the day? Do you think I enjoy long, repetitive conversations going over the basics of gifting again and again? Heavens no, boy. Those conversations have been as painful to me as they have to you. It is part of the training process for gifts of the body. Exhaust the mind and it will get out of the way of the body. Then the gift will flow.”
“Then why haven’t I been able to call up the gift of arms when we practice?” asked Ethan.
“That is the question, isn’t it? I’ll have to think on it some more. Let’s not worry about it, we’ll figure it out. Until then, let’s get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll make it into New Dallia and we can pick up some horses to speed us along in our journey.”
“Horses? I’ve never ridden a horse. Is it hard?” Ethan suddenly looked panicked.
“I’ll say a prayer tonight for you that the Giver will give you a special gift of beast mastery,” James laughed. “Now, off to bed!”