Emblems

Chapter 14: Walking on eggshells

Leone smiled approvingly. "That's right. Your title is Famine and your avatar, or creature, is the Black Warrior."

Blinking, he went back to his dad's stories in his head and exclaimed, "Wait, isn't that the turtle and the snake? Why am I a turtle?"

She spread her hands, like she couldn't do anything about it. "You're meant to be wise, calm and determined." Looking at his expression, she laughed. "If it makes you feel better, your colour is black."

"Better," he gave a satisfied nod. "Black is much better."

"It doesn’t matter that much, though. Your title and creature are merely symbols that people recognise you by, not anything that defines your position as an Emblem. Moving on then, this is Felix," she gestured towards the man next to her and the suit-clad Delegate inclined his head. "He's part of the group of Mind Adepts working with the Delegates. He and I will be tutoring you. Today, you will be showing us what you can do." She pulled an empty bowl out from under the table. "Fill it," she said. 

He stood up and raised his hands before clenching his fingers into fists. The water droplets oozed out of nowhere and dripped slowly into the bowl, increasing in speed with every second that passed. Seeing that the bowl was almost full, he loosened his hold on his magic and let it drift away. One last droplet fell in and the water surface rippled, just shy of spilling over. The air in the meeting room suddenly felt drier. "Good. Now don't move, but catch this." Leone threw something blue-colored at him. 

Reflexively, he shut his eyes and jerked away, raising his arms to try and catch it. What am I-- the thing flew past his outstretched hands, hit his face, made a squishy sound, then exploded. Water splattered everywhere. He took off his glasses and wiped the lenses on his shirt as he squinted at her through the strands of hair plastered to his forehead. "What was that?"

"A ball of water," Leone informed him. "It is interesting to know that you do not reach for your Water powers on instinct, even though you have almost excellent control over it."

Daniel put his glasses back on the bridge of his nose and made the water in his hair evaporate into water vapour. "Okay, I guess. I'll work on that." His last statement came out more like a question than anything, even though Leone's tone hadn't been accusatory at all. 

She smiled at him. "That's good to know," she said, then checked her watch. "Oh, I've got another meeting to attend. I’m sorry that this meeting was so rushed; I hope we can get to know each other better soon. Felix, please take over." The man nodded and with a wave and one last smile, Leone disappeared through the doorway. 

The minute she left the room, an uncomfortable silence enveloped it. Felix looked at him with something between a stare and an unfocused look, and Daniel just looked at him. Is it just me, or do the Delegates really like looking at people? Finally, he lifted a hand and gave him his signature two-fingered wave. "Hi."

One of Felix's eyebrows rose up slowly. Daniel watched it meet his hairline, then waited. The next response he got from the Delegate was not in the form of a hello. Instead, something ghosted past the outskirts of his mind. He allowed it to come closer, as Felix seemed to stand straighter. Like a snake, it twisted around, feeling out crevices and barriers, and then suddenly grew sharper and tried to worm its way into his head. It felt like a drill, the kind of thing that got into your mind and gave you a sharp migraine. Like recalling a Justin Bieber song.