"Clearly," he repeated in a lighter tone. Now he just seemed to be rubbing salt into her wounds. "Your gifts have always been centred on the mind, not the elements."Kelsey wanted to bring up the fact that she had been able to create a short spout of burning heat in her hand, but there was no use debating with Kiyo.
"You have very close friends, bonds that when magic interferes with, can surpass the verbal capacity." Kelsey made an unintelligible noise back at him.
"Telepathic," Feya explained without moving her lips. "Like Odin and Finn?" The brothers who held very clear instincts on what the other was planning to do, but they could not hear each other's thoughts.
"Connections are unique. Impossible to learn, connected by magic, controlled by emotion. Usually..."
Then, like tuning in a radio, Kelsey began to pick up another frequency. It was different from the connection with Feya. Instead of a clear cut voice fed straight to her head, it felt like a ball of tightly woven emotions; excitement, anticipation, longing, all being willed across the stuffy air of the upper floor training room. Kelsey turned to face the culprit, but Tristan wasn't looking at her. Still, with all Kelsey's willing for another magical gift, she seemed to have opened up her mind up to a sixth sense. One that Feya was with no doubt, unready to open up to Tristan with.
Even after Feya told him being with an Ember was suicide, his world still seemed to revolve around her. If he wasn't so selfless, Kelsey would have had to call him pathetic. Maybe that would help him move on and out into the human world, although relationships weren't exactly Kelsey's forte. In fact, without Feya and Tristan, she would have been a loner.
"Corkboard?" Feya asked through their connection with her face scrunched up tightly. Kelsey gave a small nod, the telepathic connection already giving her a headache. "New month's lessons are being put up."
"Alright, Feya," Kelsey snapped, unable to control the tiny curve on her lips. "I can hear you, but doesn't mean I have to hear you all the time."
They left Kiyo's class feeling awkwardly closer. It was clear that Feya could not get enough of the new gift and was adamant of giving Kelsey a headache. She soon learned how to block the constant stream of information, while Tristan tried desperately for Feya to listen to him, unknowing that Kelsey could feel what was supposed to be for Feya.
"Give up," she thought at him, although there was no way to know how much of her transmission he could pick up. Perhaps just the feeling of being annoyed. When they reached the corkboard, Kelsey noticed how Tristan's attention was now aimed at her. She stared back, with the same emotionless expression while an oblivious Feya tore her sheet from the wall. Kelsey snatched hers down and led the way into the common room, trying not to feel too concerned with whatever emotional ride Tristan was putting himself through. After all, it was his fault.
"Not bad," Feya muttered, taking one last glance before shoving it into her pocket. "No Latin, finally. Just channelling, ancient witchcraft and mythology... Oh look, basic skills with Larissa. Finally we'll learn how to fight - that will be weird."
"What exactly is Ancient Witchcraft?" Tristan asked. They sighed back at him, remember how perfectly human he still was. Still, he decided to take the class called 'Ember's in society' so that he could stay in the Velvet Bunker. You didn't have to be magical to be a teacher; you just had to hold back the Aversion.
Feya answered with a flat voice. It was a too strong reminder why he should get as far away from the bunker as possible. "It's potions and spells, rituals and learning the magic behind why they work, and why they sometimes don't."
"Group channelling!" Kelsey burst out in a loud moan. "Great. An hour of pearl making. What about the good old-one-on-one channelling that's going to make me a flamethrower?"
Ashes to Embers - Chapter 6
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