The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

48. Swift Moon pt. 1

I simply rolled my eyes in return, a dance of communication we'd expertized by now.

"But on a serious note, while any Wise Moon might still be able to claw around in your mind, you can definitely make it a lot harder for us."

"Is that so?" I asked, my tone intrigued.

"Yes, but we'll get to that later," he said, waving his hand in the air. "Anyways, back to how my gift works. As I explained once, we can hear someone's thoughts. There's some sort of ruse on it - that's the best way I can explain it. Because of this, it's hard for us to recognize whose thoughts belong to who, so we also rely a lot on facial expressions and body language. Most of the time, those will match with what someone's thinking. We pay attention to the smallest of things, the things someone else wouldn't even see."

I was now entirely confused. Jerr seemed to understand and paused, giving me room to interrupt him. "How... Why can't you recognize the thoughts of someone? Don't you hear their voice?"

Jerr squinted his eyes in response, pondering how best to answer this question. "No, the sound of your thoughts, it doesn't sound like a voice? I don't really know how best to explain it. But think about it. Your voice in your head, can you describe it to me? What does it sound like? Do you hear your thoughts talking, or do you actually hear yourself, with a recognizable voice?"

"I-" I was perplexed. The more I tried describing this voice in my mind, the harder it got. But I could hear it, I heard it loud and clearly. But I didn't at the same time?

"Exactly," Jerr said. "My power just lets me follow along in your mind. So what you hear, I hear. I've never come across a recognizable voice that way, but I suppose they could exist. But it would be more of a rarity."

"Then, how do you recognize my thoughts all the time? If you're just accidentally peeking in?" I challenged him.

"As I said, I also look at the non-verbal signs in people. And you're not really that skilled at hiding those," he explained. "Yet."

"So, what you're saying, is that you're staring at me all the time?"

Jerr laughed, the sound warm and mellow. "So what if I am?" His tone was playful, but I felt my cheeks redden all the same.

By the Moons, I cursed my non-verbal cues Jerr was apparently expertly analyzing.

I deigned a reply, but my sarcastic glare applied as an answer all the same.

"Also, not a lot of people in Death Moon have traumatized thoughts about some of the horrors you've been through. It's not the hardest to set your thoughts apart from others in the room," he continued, jokes aside. "Hearing a lot of different thoughts about a lot of the same things in a room full of comparable people, that's where it gets tricky to identify them all."

"I can only imagine," I sympathized.

"Yeah," he sighed. "Generally speaking, the Wise Moon gift is one of the least draining gifts out there. Aven, for example, his power in battle is limited. He can't just vanquish an entire army, everything is limited. My power is too, but I can stay alert for an entire day. But at the end of the day, I do tire. As do others who share my gift. And that's when possible mistakes can happen."

"Mistakes?" I asked.

"Yeah. Well, not with me," he clarified. "I'm too good. But say another Wise Moon, a less bloody one, they'll have more trouble correctly hearing thoughts, or even hearing them at all."

"But not you," I teased.

Jerr hunched his eyebrows. "No, I'm too good at what I do. I always strive to be the best," he confirmed. "At everything. I'm quite competitive."