Water (12 page)

"Well, what kind of sound did that one make?"  I asked, tapping my foot.

He shrugged, "Honestly, I don’t know.  I’ll have to research it.  Not to mention the fact I have no idea what the symbolism is when an owl kills a butterfly."

"That was very unhelpful, Cato," I said, looking back out at the lake.  "It would have been better to never have seen that at all."

"Well said, Kaitlyn.  That is often the case with signs."

I wanted to shake him.

"Anyway," Cato brushed his hands on his pants as if it would brush off the entire incident, "let’s get down to business.  Sit down with me."  I followed his lead, sitting right next to the edge of the water and removing my shoes.  A silky layer of bright green moss served as a soft blanket.  We settled in, enjoying the small comfort nature had to offer.  Wary of what else nature had to offer, I scanned the skies for more owls.

"We are going to work on the command of your powers, and how to restrain them through careful self-control."

"Wouldn’t this be safer with Micah here?"  I asked.

"Don’t worry," Cato said.  "Micah is nearby in case we need him."

I looked at the tree line around us, wondering just how close.

Cato continued, "Besides, much as the moon affects waves, it seems to also have an effect on powers.  A full moon like tonight allows us better control over them."

"I’ll take your word for it," I said.

"First of all, I want to tell you how it is possible to prevent land outside of the Chakra
draining energy from you, in order to prevent, well, disasters."

I narrowed my eyes at him.

If he noticed my glare he didn’t acknowledge it.  "Practicing here would be futile; there would be no way to tell if you are doing it correctly.  But what you will have to do is use your own energy to build a wall around yourself, essentially blocking the earth from taking your energy.  Now I know what you are thinking."  Cato chuckled.

Please, do tell,
I thought
.

"You are thinking ‘What good does it do if I have to use energy anyway to make the wall?’  Well, it is a balance you will have to find on your own.  Different places on the earth will take different amounts of energy from you.  Locations that are highly active in one way or another will take more.  Be mindful of how you feel, of your energy levels, and decide on your own what needs to be done.  It will take some time, but you will learn."

"Is it something you do, away from the Chakra?"  I asked.

"Yes, when I venture out.  I’ve found it gets more and more difficult with age, so I try not to leave unless absolutely necessary."

I nodded my head.  Hopefully, I wasn’t destined to such confinement.  "Sounds pretty horrible, honestly."

Cato gave me his best smile, but there was a sense of futility behind it.  "Perhaps you can have Shawn help you with this one.  Building walls is essentially what he does to control other’s powers."

I shook my head.  "I’m not sure Shawn would be too eager to help me do anything."

"Don’t be silly, Kaitlyn.  He is part of the team."  Cato brushed my fears aside.  "All right, let’s begin."

I mimicked him as he put his bare feet in the water. 

"It helps to be in direct contact with natural elements," Cato explained.  "First off, I want you to try to sense what I am doing.  Sit as comfortably as you can, and relax your breathing.  Close your eyes, keep your mind empty except for the task of sensing my energy."

I slowed my breathing and concentrated, searching the frequencies around me for a disturbance.  After several minutes, I focused in on a spot to the right of us in the lake.  The water molecules were slowing, causing the water to grow colder by the second.  I could follow the energy waves back to Cato.

He coached me further, "You found it.  Now see if you can figure out what I am doing."

I targeted in, and almost immediately sensed movement underneath the water.  "Fish!  You’re grouping them all together."

"Keep going," Cato said.  "There is more."

I focused in again, and exclaimed, "You are trapping them!"

He had set up an underwater cage.  I could feel the fish panic as their movement was suddenly limited.

"Very good!  Now pay attention to how I end the session."

He stopped sending out the energy but it didn’t disappear immediately.  Instead of retracting the threads back into him, they fizzled away.

"An abrupt stop of powers can cause too much of a commotion."  Cato explained.  "We don’t want to agitate the ecosystem more than we already have."

I nodded my head.

"Now, I want you to try," he said.

"Try what?"

He sighed.  "Trap some more fish."

"How did you do it, exactly?"  I asked.

"I cannot tell you how to use your own powers.  Everyone would have a different way of doing it.  Knowing how I did it won’t help you figure out how to do it on your own."

Wow, could the man be any more helpful?
  It didn't matter.  I already knew how he did it, and furthermore – I knew I could do the same. I already had.  Something told me to find a different way.  The less I shared my powers, the better.

Cato was looking at me expectantly.

I stifled a sigh and attempted to focus.  I didn’t want to force the fish; at least not with more cold.  At some point it would become too much for them.  Perhaps the communication thing.  I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and concentrated.  I imagined filling a balloon in my stomach with energy absorbed from the ground.  The sounds of the forest distracted me a few times and I had to start over.  Each time it got easier and easier, and once I thought there was enough energy stored, I let it go.  I sent it out from my throat.  It only felt natural – I was communicating, after all.  I wasn’t sure I was actually doing anything until the energy stream hit the water.  It didn’t slow down, but it did become diluted.  It felt good, using my powers for a productive task, no matter how small.  Pride got the best of me and I opened my eyes and looked at Cato with a wide smile on my face.  I let out a giggle I haven’t heard since the first grade.

Cato frowned.  "Concentrate, Kaitlyn, before you lose it."

"Oh, right."  I focused back to the water.  The energy was still there, but the balloon was emptying quickly.  Finally, it completely deflated and my streams fizzled out.

"Don’t imagine yourself as having a finite amount of energy.  It is always within you and all around you.  Use the energy from the land, from the air, or the water if you have to."

I nodded once.  Communicating with the fish was obviously the wrong way to go about it.  Since my body already knew how to take energy from the land, maybe I could do the same with the water.  I wiggled my bare feet, deciding to use them as a focal point.

I started again, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths until I was nearly in a hypnotic state.  I tapped into the resonance of the water, and began absorbing its energy, like breathing through my feet.  Working first at the shoreline, then moving deeper into the lake, the fish instinctively swam away from the energy loss.  All I had to do was close in on them, keeping them headed for the trap.  The circle slowly closed.  Fish began to swim into the trap, several at a time.

"Good!  That’s good, Kaitlyn!"

I smiled at his praise and continued to close the circle.

His mood turned from excitement to caution.  "Ok, stop now, or the trap will burst."

I nodded my head, but kept my eyes closed in concentration.  I had to release the energy back into the water slowly.  It was tough to do – I was riding a high, a better high than any drug could give me.

"Kaitlyn," Cato warned, "you need to release it now."

"I am, just give me some time."  I let it out painfully slow, aware of the depression that set in as I did. 

Once I was done, Cato patted my shoulder.  "It gets easier, letting go."  He stood, brushed himself off, and walked a few yards along the shoreline.  He started pulling in a rope that was mostly submerged underwater.  Soon enough a large fish cage came into view and he yanked it up onto shore.

I ran over to help the struggling old man, feeling foolish it took me that long to offer assistance.  "This will feed everyone at the Chakra for the next couple of nights.  We pride ourselves on being self-sufficient."

I picked up the trap, shaking the fish into a burlap sack Cato held it open.

"You will have to excuse my gloating."  He lowered his eyes, focusing on the sack.  "It is normally the younger men that bring home the bacon, or fish."

"One of their many jobs here?"

"Oh, yes.  Shawn, Micah, and Alex come here on Sundays and spend hours fishing.  They do it the old fashioned way – a waste of time if you ask me."

"It is a good time for guys to talk, without exactly calling it a social event."  I thought about how many hours Micah and Shawn had logged in their relationship.  No wonder Micah didn't want to listen to my fears about Shawn.

"Ah," Cato said.  "I suppose I don't partake then because I need to lead them, not socialize with them."

"Cato," I paused, placing my hand on his arm, "alienating your workers is not exactly the most effective way to lead them."

He clicked his tongue at me, "Thank you for the advice, dear.  But we follow a very strict doctrine here that hasn't yet led us astray."

He began walking again and I followed him back toward the building.  He took a different route than Shawn.  This one actually had a groomed path.

I offered to carry the sack.  Cato didn’t argue so I threw it over my shoulder.  "Those three are pretty good friends, then?"

"Shawn and Micah are, yes.  They’ve been here together for a long time.  Alex came only a few years ago.  He doesn’t have any powers, you know.  In the past it was unheard of to include someone that doesn’t have powers on the team, but Alex is good at what he does.  He takes care of the all the logistics involved, letting us concentrate on our specialties.  Besides, he keeps the team as a whole down to earth, so to speak."

"What do you mean?"  I shifted the sack from one shoulder to another.  I was starting to regret my offer to carry it.

"Sometimes we tend to get a little big-headed, having abilities that most others don’t.  When we get like that, he is quick to bring us right back down.  It is good for us – especially for Shawn and Micah who have been around this most of their lives.  Besides, we all love having Alex around, he reminds us why we do what we do."

I let that sink in, continuing our walk in silence. 

Though certain parts of this lifestyle are appealing, it seems they get little in return for their efforts.  They live in poverty, are secluded, and they are constantly working.

Lost for an answer, I asked Cato outright, "Why do you do what you do?"

Cato smiled.  "We each have our reasons."

Cryptic, as usual
.  I sighed.

The lights from the building slowly came into view through the clearing. 

Cato stopped me, gently laying a hand on my shoulder.  "I fear, Kaitlyn my dear, that it will get much harder for you with us.  You took the first step of commitment, but you must discover on your own why it is you choose to stay every day.  That is something only you can do."

I gave him a reassuring smile, though it didn’t seem to ease his concern.  "I understand, Cato.  I won’t let you down.  Now, let’s get these fish inside before I start to smell like them."

I felt a cold trickle of water down my back.  My nose wrinkled.  The burlap sack was leaking all over the back of my shirt.

"I believe it’s too late for that."  Cato laughed.

"Not helpful!  You could have told me it was leaking."  I hurried for the kitchen, flopping the bag on the counter as soon as I could.

"Why do you think I let you carry it?  Ahh, Micah – why don’t you help our newest member with the fish?"

Micah paused, a bottle of beer halfway to his mouth. 

"I must see about this owl," Cato said, conveniently, turning away from the fish.

"I’m so glad to see you!"  Micah set his beer down, sweeping me up in a bear hug.

"Whoa!"  I struggled to maintain my balance.  "Curb that enthusiasm, big guy."

Micah only set me down after Cato cleared his throat for the second time in the doorway.

"Oh, right."  Micah seemed to get the clear warning.  "I’m just happy to see you, is all."

Cato shook his head, "Your training, Kaitlyn, will become more intense.  It will take well over a year before you may prove ready for missions.  That is, unless your Ardwyad can work miracles."  The entire time, Cato kept a chiding, raised eyebrow at Micah. 

I looked at Micah, confused.  Cato turned and disappeared into the hallway.

Micah didn't elaborate.  Looking for a distraction, his eyes settled on the sack.  "He took you fishing?"

"Kind of.  We cheated."  I helped him empty the sack onto the counter.

"I also see he did a saining for you."  Micah used a small, damp kitchen towel to wipe the dirt off my forehead.