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Hye-jun had spoken with Gage for only a short while thereafter, dragging more details out of him of his experiences so far. When he had asked her more about the paths, she told him to hush up and to start… meditating. He exchanged a glance with Ma’tuk and got the very distinct impression of the orb ‘shrugging its shoulders’. “Hy-” Gage started and stopped himself as she raised a brow. “Daja Hye-jun!” He corrected quickly. “Did you say, ‘meditation’? Not ‘mediation’?”
Hye-jun cocked her head, looking puzzled. “Mediation? Who are you mediating with?”
Gage held back from glancing at Ma’tuk again, “That is just the term I had heard before.” He said as innocently as he could.
“Oh! Go mediate yourself!” Ma’tuk huffed, glaring at both of them despite its lack of eyes. Then it spun itself about and plopped down into the sand, twisting back and forth to bury itself, muttering the entire time.
Gage chuckled softly and got himself comfortable and closed his eyes. In and out. He began to Breathe. Gage could hear her footsteps as she walked around him, slow and steady. Her footsteps were a soft, constant rhythm. He began to match his breathing to the pacing. He quickly fell into himself, and he found his power. The constant thrumming pulse beat inside him. The pink light that was his Breath matched his breathing. Strong and steady.
As he observed it, he couldn’t help but notice that it seemed larger, more stable. It didn’t crash around his body like a whirling tide pool. No, now it was more of a calm pond rippling through him. In and out. He let it grow and spread out through his body. It filled him up, pushing to reach every single bit of himself. It did not pass his skin, instead staying comfortably in place.
The warmth of his power filled him. As it did so, he heard Hye-jun speak to him. “Gage’kin. I want you to listen carefully now. You are doing very well. You have good form. Good control. Now we are going to do a little exercise, okay?”
Very subtly, Gage nodded, and she continued. “Okay then. We are not going to focus on any of the paths right now. Instead, I just want you to focus on your Breath. Keep it nice and even. Good. Just like that.”
There was a shift in the air, it was small, but he noticed it nonetheless. Something pressed against his forehead. It stuck in place but draped down over his face. While it didn’t cover his entire face, it was wide enough to cover his nose and long enough to reach his chin. “Keep breathing. Now what I want you to do is to move your Breath inside you. Right now, just move it to your hands. Don’t force it. Just move it.”
Gage focused on his hands and then his breath. He began to push, but no, that wasn’t right. He began to guide his Breath. It was painfully slow and if he was not used to mediating, it could even be called torturous. Instead, it was kind of like guiding water, moving it around by swirling your hands in it. The water doesn’t all go where you want it, but it starts a current and pulls itself along.
The thought of likening his Breath to water reminded him of his Haven. It wasn’t exactly the same thing. There, his power was literally represented by water, or was that metaphorically? It was a different type of power there. Dependent on others believing in him. Here. This. This was all his. He could feel himself in it, and it in him. Before he knew it, his breath was concentrated in his hands.
“Very good.” Hye-jun’s voice was soft, barely more than a whisper, yet he could hear her clearly. “Now the hard part. Lift your hands before you, palms facing each other. Right, just like that.” Her hands touched his, repositioning them so they were about shoulder length apart. His elbows were bent so that his arms weren’t sticking straight out in front of him. “Now take your Breath and make a ball in between your hands.”
He licked his lips, wetting them. Or he tried to. He was getting thirsty. With a mental push, he brushed the feeling aside. He focused on his hands and the space between them. A ball of pink light is what he decided on. Like the flame in Hye-jun’s hand earlier. He imagined a spark of light between his palms. The warmth growing and feeding the ball to grow bigger.
Gage frowned. He felt nothing. His Breath was still sitting in his hands, in his body. He cracked an eyelid to glance between his fingers. His mind hitched and he blanched. Gasping for breath he broke out of his mediation. Hye-jun was at his side in a second, Ma’tuk on his other side.
She pressed a hand to the small of his back. The other went to his chest and she held him steady in that position. Ma’tuk zoomed in front of his face, catching his attention. Its light began to pulse softly, rhythmically, and Gage’s eyes fixated on it. His breathing slowly came back under control. His gasps for air becoming steadier.
“There we go.” Hye-jun started softly. Gage didn’t even feel her hand move, just the sudden, soft, thwack to the back of his head. “You lost concentration. You tried to make it physical, and your mind wasn’t ready for that.” She sat back and watched him for a moment before reaching and plucking the paper from his forehead.
He got a proper look at it now and saw that it looked like a paper talisman. A strip of white paper with characters written on it. He had practiced some Chinese in university, and he watched enough anime to recognize Japanese, though not enough to actually read it. Korean was easy to spot. This was something else, though oddly it also looked like all three.
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“Daja Hye-jun, what is that?” Gage pointed to the talisman while blinking the light spots from his eyes.
Hye-jun didn’t even glance at it before slipping it into her sleeve. “A measuring tool. A spellwork to let me see your control in a more practical way than simply trying to feel it with my own.” She looked him over before continuing, “Now, every day, when you first wake and before you rest, I want you to do that exercise.”
Gage frowned, his brow furrowing.
“Now, now. Don’t be like that. It’s a good exercise that will help you develop your control.” She stood and offered a hand to him. Gage took it and was pulled to his feet.
“No, it’s not that… exactly. When I was in school, I had to take a physical class, this was in high school, I think? I was kinda lazy at the time, so I took yoga. Figured it would be an easy class, and it was.” Gage lifted out a hand and Ma’tuk flew into it, hovering just above Gage’s palm. “One of the exercises we did a few times was fairly similar to what we just did. Some people would say they could feel the ball of energy, et cetera. So, for one, it makes me think I can do this. And second, it just seems a little on point? You know? That both worlds, had it?”
Hye-jun simply shrugged. “I am not entirely surprised. It is a fairly basic method of energy manipulation. It works well for both paths as a first step by working the Breath inside your body and then projecting it beyond your body.”
She clapped her hands together, “Now, let’s go check on our patient, yes? He should have rested well enough by now.” Hye-jun led Gage through the tent to the winged-teen’s room.
As Hye-jun entered the room, Gage felt a light tug on his shoulder. “My Lord? A quick word if you please.”
Gage stopped and stepped back. “Sure, what is it Ma’tuk?”
“I may have a teeny,” It swayed to the side, “Tiny,” It swayed to the other side, “Little,”
“Ma’tuk.”
“Confession to make.” Ma’tuk came to a standstill and Gage just looked at him. “I extended your translation spell. When I am near, the spell works to translate for you. I extended it to work for Elfric and the family when they are near as well. It wasn’t too hard, and the drain is a little larger than it was, but it is offset by their belief in you. Granted they don’t know about you being,” It looked around and whisper spelled the next word, “K-I-N. But they believe in you for what you have done so far. That is enough for now, it is not sustainable but for now it is fine.”
Gage rubbed his temples for a brief moment. “That is a lot, but it is okay Ma’tuk. I don’t have a problem with that. Do you think, for the time being, you could do that here for Hye-jun as well?” The orb bobbed in response. “Thank you, let’s go in then. We can talk more on this later.”
The teen was squatting in the middle of the room, testing his wings. As the trio entered, he started and grinned sheepishly. Hye-jun shook her head and without saying a word, simply walked over and began inspecting the wing. With a gesture she brought Gage over. “Now, all I want you to do is look. First with your normal senses and then with your Breath. Check for any damage and tell me what you see. Do not do anything else but look. Understood?”
“Yes Daja Hye-jun.” Gage moved over and started where the wing met the back. He was surprised to see that it was not as simple as a wing growing out of his back. There was more muscle and structure in place to support the wing and its movements.
“Hye-jun! When did you learn the Nad’da dialect? That is amazing! So much easier than each of us speaking in broken Bless.” The teen’s voice was deep and gruff. Far more so than Gage was expecting for one of his size. Gage continued to work his way down the wing, missing the look Hye-jun cast to him and Ma’tuk.
“Sorry Janu, but this is an effect provided by my apprentice here. He will have to be around if you want to hear your native tongue.” Hye-jun moved to be in front of Janu as she continued to speak with him. “Now, any new pains?”
Gage found a few points between the shoulder and the first elbow of the wing, not sure what they were actually called if anything, where Janu had winced when they were touched. He kept going, listening in as Hye-jun went over what happened and where he had been damaged. It seemed the twins had been carrying some small crates. One of them had stumbled as Janu was passing by and they dropped one of the crates. It had crashed into his wing from behind.
“Daja Hye-jun, I think I have found some bruises. I didn’t find any obvious breaks, loose or broken feathers, or anything like that.” Gage spoke up during a slight lull in the conversation.
Hye-jun nodded. “Alright, go ahead and use your Breath now. Tell me what you see.”
Gage closed his eyes and began to breathe. In and out. He moved his power through his hands and into the wing. Why was it so much easier to push it into someone else than it is to make a ball? In and out. He focused on the muscles beneath his hands. “I do see the bruises. They look a little deep into the muscle. The bone…” Looking deeper at the bone, he went very thoroughly. Surprisingly, they were not hollow like he had been expecting. “I don’t see any breaks or fractures. It looks fine.”
He pulled his power back into himself and opened his eyes. Janu was looking at Gage with a mix of relief and quizzical interest.
In a sort of side whisper, that was easily heard by Gage, “What is he?”
Hye-jun grinned. “He is a Terran. I thought he was anugrah like you at first, but, apparently, he is from a whole other world.” Janu just made a ‘huh’ sort of noise in reply.
“Where did you hear that word? And how did you confuse me with a people that have wings?” Gage raised a brow at the woman.
“Terran? It is the word you used for yourself.” Hye-jun looked to Janu, who nodded. Though he looked a little sad. “As for Janu, he is a little unique for an anugrah. Janu was devoted to the spirit of the High Winds, Saravayu.”
Janu spoke up, “My gift was these changes to my form so that I could be fly high in the sky with her.”
“I can’t say it would be the same, but I went hang gliding once. That was a thrill.” Both Hye-jun and Janu looked at Gage with confusion. “Hang gliding. You use a paraglider, which is a special cloth stretched between poles. Then jump off a cliff with it and you glide down to the ground with it.”
“You jumped off a cliff with a piece of cloth to fly?!” Hye-jun looked horrified while Janu got a glint in his eye. The rest of the afternoon was spent telling the two of them the various ways ‘Terrans’ would fly without magic.
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