My breath caught in my throat like the bone of a fish- pointy, small and threatening to draw embarrassing prickling tears into the edges of my vision. I knew it wasn’t Mayforr’s bark that had done it—it was the coppery taste of failure that filled my mouth and rung in my ears like a clock striking midnight. Mayforr could sense my shame I’m sure—even without the powers that are my gift.
When I was young I asked Melanie why all the other Guards had abilities and Mayforr, who was in charge of them all even when I was that young, didn’t have anything at all. Melanie had smiled, I’m sure it was a question that she got from the flesh blood frequently. All of the people in my tier called Melanie: The Mom. We all shared her and she was the kindest, always understanding and tender—possibly attributed to the fact that she was a Nurse rather than a Guard. After Melanie had gone back to braiding my hair I had been certain that Mayforr had something that was powerful yet concealed like the legendary rock smashers that could use and summon the earth at their will or the lightning lords who could control the weather. These powers were deadly but necessary, especially in times such as these. Melanie though had forgotten that I was not one to drop a subject.
“Well then? What is it? Earth mover? It is isn’t it!” I had nearly begun my gloating at having guessed right when Melanie raised her eyebrows at me.
“No, sweet Clover, his gift is that of compassion.” She then refused to explain and we sat in silence until my unruly red hair was braided to my waist.
Now, however, I still don’t understand Mayforr’s abilities and I’m not sure that we’re meant to. The younger guards never understand the abilities of their elders, our abilities take time to grow and prosper and therefore we only see the finished ability. I do suspect that Melanie lied to me in part though, I’ve never heard of a gift like compassion.
Outside the main area the wall is cool against my bare shoulders, centering me as I close my eyes and begin to sort my own emotions. Disappointment to the back, along with resent and anger, then the satisfaction of the day’s work being complete clean and green in the foreground. I hear footsteps and look up, expecting to see Mayforr or Melanie to have followed me out but start at seeing Antoine.
“Clove, you did some impressive work today getting Katya here without your abilities to help you.” He said.
“Yes… Well I did score higher than you on all of our final ability tests anyways so I’m guessing they’re just trying to test me a little bit further.” My smile was false though and my breath was shaky. I hadn’t seen him since he was sent out a few weeks back to patrol the boarder- a duty all of the Guards must complete at least 6 times.
“Well I suppose they are. Aren’t you curious what I’m doing back?” He said, raising his eyebrow and leaning against the wall with me, causing my face to lift to accommodate his height.
Antoine is an outsider. He is one that they found that was gifted but untrained. It is the reason for his caramel skin and his dark eyes, no one from the Inside has black eyes like that anymore. The natives are mostly blue and green eyed and the darker the eyes get, the more people suspect you are not where you belong. My eyes are odd too, which was the reason that we became friends. While his are black, mine are a light shade of violet, a trademark of emotional abilities. We were constantly separated by eye color as youth and when Antoine arrived to training in our second year, I finally had someone to stand next to when the teacher announced for the blues and greens to separate.
We were always on separate teams but one day had brought us together, the day we were finally partnered together, the day we found Jaeda.
