It took me twelve years. Twelve years to find a single boy. The memory of that night, the place I had found myself in, was so engraved into my mind I didn’t realize it at first when I walked into the village. It seemed so… normal. Was it here that perhaps the most powerful man to ever walk the realm lived? One hour after I first entered the village I found the house he had been born in. There were some adjustments that had been made, but it was the same one. And as I made for the door, it swung open revealing to me a fourteen year old boy.

----------------------------------------

“Hold still.”

Samos chuckled internally at the command, having been still for the past hour or so. Serifé had allowed Yara to conduct her Healing experiments during his Absorption training and she had not wasted any time, starting as soon as she was rested from her morning training.

He could feel the tingle in his mind as her seals carved their way into his brain, looking for something to fix. It made concentrating on the Absorption techniques that much more difficult, but he forced himself to shut out the distraction.

The exercises came easier each passing hour, he had little trouble now with draining everything away from his fingers. The largest hurdle he faced now was letting the power flow away without using the makran trees. For some odd reason it refused to seep away into the earth at times, forcing Samos to distribute it to other parts of his body. That on its own was an interesting skill, he had come to find out. That way, he could Enhance those parts without drawing on extra power, only repurposing power already present in his body.

A flash of pain raced through his head and he lost focus, the overflow he had just drawn suddenly surging randomly through his body before he could draw it back to his finger.

“Sorry!” Yara cried out. “Oh Samos, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he grunted rubbing his neck. “What did you do?”

“I tried the same seal I used on the ceramic,” she answered apologetically. “But I think I made two lines touch each other by accident instead.”

“Accidents happen,” he muttered. “But do be careful please, I only have one mind and it’s quite precious to me.”

“Look at it on the bright side,” she responded, a half smirk of her face. “That’s one less thing I know I don’t have to try.”

He gave her a half-hearted smile, the soreness in his neck slowly retracting. She gave him a thoughtful look. “What?”

Her eyes gazed into his for a second before she answered. “Can you train me in Enhancement?”

Samos stared at her. Somehow he had completely disregarded the fact that Yara had manifested Enhancement and she would be in need of training. “I’m just a student myself,” he answered. “Why don’t you ask Serifé to help you, or the other Enhancers here in Dadendam?”

Yara frowned, giving Samos the feeling he had just said something completely oblivious. “I don’t know Serifé, Samos,” she answered, “nor do I know any of the other Enhancers here. I know you. And if there is one person who I believe can train me, it’s either you or Ralph. And since Ralph’s far in the north with Rey…”

She froze, mouth agape as she stopped mid-sentence.

“How do you…” Ralph whispered.

“How do I what?” she rushed before he could continue. “You mean Ralph? It’s only logical he would still be up north.” She gave an unconvincing smile.

“How do you know he’s with Rey?” Samos pressured.

“I… I mean…” she fumbled over her words for a moment before straightening out. “Hold on, are you saying you know he’s with Rey?”

“I heard them,” he admitted and Yara gasped, leaning backwards to sit down from her kneeling position.

“You heard the voices as well?” she asked and Samos nodded.

“There were hundreds of them, I couldn’t make them out at first. They came so suddenly I didn’t know what to do. And then I…”

“…heard Ralph’s voice,” Yara completed. Her shock had turned into abashment. “How did we hear them?”

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“I don’t know,” Samos admitted. “All I know is that I haven’t heard them again since then.”

“It was so strange,” Yara continued, “somehow it felt similar to the visions while being completely different.”

Now it was Samos’ turn to gape at her. “What visions?”

She sighed deeply. “Do you remember the time in Sandos when Ralph had us sent messages halfway across the realm?” Samos nodded. “When I reached a city, it suddenly transformed into a small village. There were people making port and then suddenly it was gone and the city back. It happened again on the day we arrived here. I saw how the city was heaved up into the air for the first time, saw the hundreds of Sealers responsible for it. I don’t know what it was, but I think I saw glimmers of the past.”

She looked surprised at Samos’ dumbfounded gaze. Was this what he thought it was? Was it even possible?

“Samos, what is it?” Yara asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

Samos realized the stare he was giving her couldn’t be a comfortable one to look at. He closed his mouth and took her hands in his. “What I’m about to tell you should be kept between the two of us.” He spoke softly, not wanting Eder, who sat about seven trees further down, to overhear.

“What’s going on, Samos?” Yara asked again, the fear now more prominent.

“Those visions you have,” he continued, “I’ve had them as well, also for the first time back in Sandos. I talked to Ralph about them. He told me they’re part of what the Wiser Talent encompasses.”

The silence was deafening.

“So that means…” Yara began whispering.

“It means you have the Wiser Talent,” he confirmed. “Which also means that you now have all four Talents manifested.”

“But… that’s impossible,” she retorted. “You can never have more than three, everyone knows that.”

“That’s what everyone says yes, but never has it been stated that it was impossible. It has just never happened before. Or maybe it has and nobody knows.”

“Wiser…” She mouthed the word slowly as if to taste what it meant. Then her eyes lit up as she came to a sudden realization. “But that means you have the Wiser Talent as well! You’re a Son’Sha.”

Samos nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” she asked incredulously.

He shrugged. “I didn’t think it important at the time for anyone else to know but Ralph.”

“But it is important, Samos!”

He gave a second shrug. “Maybe it was back then, but now not so much. I might become a Son’Sha, Yara, but Sevens be damned I have no idea what that makes you.”

She slumped where she sat, her eyes cast downwards. “I just wanted to get out of Ters,” Samos thought he heard her whisper.

He squeezed her hands in a way he hoped was comforting. “Whatever it is you are, Yara, I’m here for you. First thing tomorrow we’ll start your Enhancement training. I can give you some basic exercises to do while Serifé has me battering through my forms.”

The prospect of training seemed to elevate her spirits a bit. “Nothing to tiring though, I still have to be able to experiment with Faye and Ehli.”

Samos chuckled. “Not to worry, the initial stage of Enhancement is much like what I’m doing right now.”

She cocked an eyebrow. “You mean sitting around talking? Come on, time to focus. We still have a mind to heal.” She gave him a quick wink before moving back onto her knees, the piece of taen she had been holding all this time gripped tightly in her palm.

Samos relaxed and closed his eyes once more, ignoring the tingling sensation of her seals as he focused on draining the power from his fingers. He found it hard to concentrate. Yara had manifested all four Talents. And she had heard the voices as well… He felt like there was something he was missing, something obvious.

“You’re not concentrating,” Yara scolded him.

He opened his eyes again and saw that hers were closed, her hands resting in the air just above his head. “How can you tell?”

“The lines in your head,” she answered. “They’re… buzzing? I don’t know how to describe it. It feels like something is pulsing through them”

“You mean you can see me thinking?”

She gave a short nod. “Something like that… I think.” She was silent for a minute.

“Yara…?”

“Hush, I’m thinking. I… might have an idea. It’s a wild guess though.”

“If there ever was a time for wild guesses, this is one of them.”

“Alright then. Empty your mind of everything,” she instructed, “and think of something that happened in the past, something that you can clearly remember and visualize.”

Following the instructions, Samos thought of the first thing that sprang into mind. The night he met Ralph. The muddy alleys of Ters, Ralog threatening him and Ralph jumping down from the roof.

“Interesting,” Yara whispered, “only one part of your mind is feeling vibrant right now.”

“Which means…?”

“I’m… No, it’s gone now. They’re practically all buzzing again now.”

“Again, which means…?”

Yara sighed. “It’s only a theory for the moment, made up on the spot, but I suspect that only a small part of your mind is responsible for actually remembering something.”

He gave her a confused look. “I’m not sure I’m following…”

A comforting smile was her answer. “No matter, it only means we’ve made progress towards healing you.”

“And, any success?” The sudden voice of Eder made them both jump. With a start, Samos realized the sun was nearly all the way below the horizon. Had they really been sitting here for so long?

“Nothing yet,” Yara answered as she stood up, her face void of any emotion that could betray what they had discovered. “But we’re making progress.”

“What about you, Eder?” Samos fell in. “How’s your Absorption going?”

In response, Eder stomped his feet on the ground in succession without making a sound. His grin had a satisfying look to it. “I’d say I’m doing pretty well don’t you think?”

Yara gave an audible sigh, complimented by an overly dramatic turn, as she made towards the staircase leading into the building. He thought he heard her mumble something about airheaded boys.

Eder gave a chuckle. “What about you, Samos? Making any progress?”

“It’s not that simple when you have someone digging around in your head at the same time,” he answered truthfully. He hadn’t gotten as far as he had wished, Yara’s seals were distracting. And so was she for that matter. “Come on, let’s get something to eat.”