******
Alex could get two of the camp chairs inside his small tent since he hadn’t set up his cot or desk yet. Maggie and Jade took the chairs, he sat on the floor, long legs folded, leaning back against his unopened camp-cot. Tally settled beside Alex, golden eyes glowing in the light from the little tent lamp. They looked at Maggie expectantly.
“Sometimes,” she began quietly, “when an esa manifests, things can go wrong.” she paused and took a deep breath. “Bastian was only a year older than I was. He died when he was fifteen, killed by his esa.”
Jade gasped in shock.
Alex, in a horrified voice barely above a whisper, said, “But how could that happen? What was his esa?” Neither of them had ever heard of anyone dying from their esa.
Maggie, eyes on Jade, said in a cracking voice, “He had the ability to find anyone. It’s called “psychic-location.”
Jade, eyes wide, stared at her mother. “But that’s what I do, Mom! I’ve been doing it all my life! How in Earth’s name can that kill you?” Her mind whirled. “I don’t understand.”
“How long after his esa showed up did he…pass away?” asked Alex.
“Six months. He spent the last six months of his life in agony.” She shifted in her chair.
“Let me explain how his esa came. He woke up with a terrible headache one morning. He was nauseated and feverish. My mother thought he had picked up some type of virus and rushed him to the village Healer. The Healer couldn’t find the problem but suspected he was having trouble because of an esa and sent for an Elvwist expert. Lark, the young Elvwist Healer, was surprised at the esa Bastian was exhibiting. It wasn’t one that Humans have, it’s not even common among the Elvwist, anymore. It managed to get Bastian stabilized - for a while.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks. She didn’t seem to notice as she continued.
“Lark practically lived at our house during that time. So did Bell.”
“Uncle Morgan’s Bell?” interjected Jade. Bell had been Morgan’s vow-mate and had died in the farm accident that had injured him.
“Yes,” said Maggie sadly, “they were soul-bonded and were planning to take vows in a few years. Bell had just become a predult and Bastian had only been one for a year. They wanted to wait until they were older.” She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering, then went on with her story.
“Bastian would be all right for a while, then he would awaken screaming with awful nightmares, the headaches and nausea coming back with a vengeance. Once, during one of his more lucid days, I asked him how it felt. He said it was as if everyone in the world was in his head, as if he knew where they all were at once. To him, it was like being all those places at the same time, and it was tearing his mind apart.
“He began to have hallucinations and forgetting things. He couldn’t sleep or keep any food down and started losing weight. He had been preparing to move out on his own but most days, he couldn’t even get out of his bed. My mother and father would send me to stay with Rachel or Bell when it got really bad.
“One day, Rachel, Bell, and I, were in town shopping, when I got the message to come home quickly. They went with me. We went in and Lark was there. It told us there was nothing else it could do for Bastian. It said he had lapsed into a coma. His end was near and we should all say goodbye to him. The esa was like a cancer of his mind, and was eating him alive.
“We went to his room and we all - my mother and father, Rachel, Bell, Lark, and myself - held him as he died.” She stopped, remembering how her mother - and Bell - had wailed, how they all had cried. The Elvwist don’t produce tears so Lark couldn’t cry but it had changed colors very rapidly - a sign of distress for the Elvwist - while making a low, mournful noise, like an oboe.
It had been devastated that it was unable to save her brother. Bell had collapsed and Lark had calmed itself enough to help her.
Jade reached out and hugged her mother and dried her tears on her shirt. She had to dry her own too. Alex, on his knees, hugged her from the other side, and they both had to move over to allow Tally in. He did a very old fashioned, very Cat thing.
He was a very large Cat but he crawled into Maggie’s lap and huddled there, purring softly. Maggie unconsciously began stroking his fur. They remained that way for a few minutes, then Jade released her mother, looked at her tenderly, and said, “Um, Mom? I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”
Alex coughed and sputtered, trying to stifle a laugh bent on escaping. Tally opened his eyes and rolled them at Jade, shaking his head. Maggie looked at her youngest child, and burst out laughing.
She hugged her tightly before letting her go.
Jade, blushing, took off out of the tent, muttering she would be right back, and headed for the facilities next to her tent.
Gods! She hadn’t known Aunt Bell had been soul-mated! And to her poor dead uncle at that. How had she ever managed to get over that? And take vows with Uncle Morgan? She knew now wasn’t the time to ask all those questions though.
Maggie was still sitting in the camp chair, Tally still on her lap, when she returned. Alex was sitting next to her chair, reluctant to move away from her yet.
Jade sat down. “Mom, you don’t have to be afraid for me, you know,” she said, earnestly. “I’m not having the same kinds of problems our uncle had. I’m fine. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been this way, perhaps I was born with it.” She shrugged. “I guess my mind adjusted to it long ago.”
But now she thought she understood why her mother had been crying after she’d scanned her for verification after she and Tally found the door and she’d gotten so violently ill. It had to have brought back awful memories of her poor brother.
“She’s right, Mom,” agreed Alex. “The only times she ever gets sick is when she’s psyscanned and she gets over it. Other than that, she’s never had anything other than regular headaches - although,” he grinned, “she can sometimes be a big headache.” He dodged as Jade threw a mock punch at him.
Maggie looked at them thoughtfully. She nodded. “Okay, you’re probably right. It’s just that Lark had warned my parents that it could crop up in my children. That’s why I always insisted all of you get esa tested early, and in your case Jade, often. I was so afraid of one of you waking up one morning…” she trailed off, shaking her head.
“Lark said it might have been different if we had known Bastian had that potential. It might have been able to help ease him through it.” Tally jumped down off her lap and she started to get up.
“I know you kids are hungry by now --” she started.
“Ah, Mom,” said Jade interrupting, “before we go, there’s something else I have to tell you.” She didn’t want her mother to be any more upset than she already was but felt if she didn’t drop that other shoe now, she’d be even more upset later. Especially if she heard it from someone else. So she told her about the levitation.
Maggie gazed silently at her, absorbing this latest information. Alex exchanged an anxious glance with Jade.
“Mom? Are you all right?” he asked with concern.
She blinked and shook herself. “Girl, you are, without doubt, a gods blessed child!” she said emphatically. She got up and stood there for a moment, just looking at her daughter, an unreadable expression on her face. “Well, come on, let’s go find something to eat. We need to get to bed early, we have a big day tomorrow.”
She exited the tent.