For that entire hour, Tiergan tried different phrases over and over, trying to penetrate Savi's blocking. Emery did as well, but so far, they couldn't even hear her thoughts. And her emotions were just as clouded. As an Empath and a Telepath, she had been working on hiding her emotion from detection. As an Empath, she could access other people's emotional centers, and apparently hers as well, and she worked telepathically to shroud them away the same way she would memories.
Soon, there were only ten minutes left and Savi was due to go for Inflicting any moment. Emery's face was scrunched up in concentration, but he didn't look like he'd expected anything anyway. After all, he couldn't even penetrate Sophie's blocking. Neither could Tiergan, but they were determined to try anyway. Tiergan even suggested that they call in Mr Forkle to try and get through Savi's blocking.
Tiergan and Emery stopped at the last five minutes. "Is there anyone you trust?" Tiergan asked finally.
"Completely?" Savi asked. "No."
"Any friends you trust even a tiny bit? Do you trust Sophie or Keefe, or Serena?" Tiergan pressed.
"I don't trust Seri, definitely not. I'm honestly not sure about Mom and Dad. I kind of trust Cerulean from school, but he's not a Telepath, he's a Hydrokinetic."
"You trust a Tsynis?" Emery demanded.
Since he was a Councilor, Savi decided to close one eye, but she wasn't going to allow him to keep making fun of her friend. "As a Councilor, I thought you would have a better understanding of unnecessary prejudice," she said, in the most formal tone she could manage, her eyes locked onto Emery's.
Emery stiffened. "I do understand bad matches, or Talentless, but I'm not sure if you know about-"
"Brant?" Savi interrupted coldly. "I hope you'll pardon my interruption. But I do know about Brant. And what does it matter? Cerulean is not Brant. They may come from the same family, but that's like saying I don't belong in the Lost Cities because my mother was raised by humans."
"That's different. Sophie was also raised by Grady and Edaline," Emery snapped.
"Yet the first twelve years of her life, she knew nothing more than human culture. Is Cerulean any different? I'm sure you've pressed his grandmother, Theodora, and know she has nothing to do with the Neverseen. Yet we are prejudiced against his family anyway," Savi stated boldly.
Emery chewed his lip, clearly trying to find some way to counter what Savi had said while still staying courteous. He looked over to Tiergan for help, but Savi's Telepathy Mentor looked like he wasn't sure whether to agree with Savi or Emery, which wasn't good exactly, but it was better than if he was immediately siding with Emery.
"I think," said Tiergan, "that Cerulean and any prejudices have nothing to do with Telepathy or Inflicting, so I really think you should get on to your next session, Miss Sencen."
"Oh. Um, sure. And you can just call me Savannah – or Savi."
Tiergan smiled a little. "We'll see."
"Miss Sencen?" Emery asked tentatively. "Be careful of Bronte. He's not exactly seeing you in the best light right now."
"I know that," Savi said. "I was there when he was yelling at my parents about an adequate punishment. I'll deal with B- Councilor Bronte. Anyway, I know his weakness."
"Weakness?" Emery asked, looking surprised. "What?"
Savi smirked. "Happiness."
She made her way down to Inflicting and Councilor Bronte was already there, his arm crossed as he sat on a very uncomfortable-looking chair. Savi had never questioned his taste in furniture, even though it was definitely questionable.
Bronte watched her carefully as she made her way to the seat opposite to him and sat down. "Hello, Councilor Bronte," she said, keeping her tone flat and cool.
He sighed. "Good morning, Miss Sencen."
She didn't correct him on that, because she didn't want her calling her Savannah, and most definitely not Savi.
"Anything in particular we're doing today?" she asked carefully, trying to avoid offending him in any possible way.
"Inflicting happy emotions."
She couldn't stop herself. "Isn't that the cause of your almost shattered sanity?"
Bronte pursed his lips. "Yes, that's true. But I thought I can handle it, especially since you're incredibly untrained."
"Just to let you know," Savi said quietly, "I have never healed a mind before. If I shatter your sanity, I can't do anything about it. Mom almost killed you, remember? And she managed to bring you back because she can heal minds."
Bronte smirked. "You almost sound like you even care what happens to me."
"You're a Councilor," Savi said simply. "And one that seems to be supportive of my mother and my family. I'll disregard what you said a few days ago. I know you meant it, but I think it was once-off."
Bronte looked... surprised. "Very well, then. I'll hail your mother."
"I'm not so sure about that," Savi said.
"Are you threatening me?"
"No, as in, if you hail my mother, it might end up being answered by a six-year-old instead."
"Your younger sister? Believe me, Miss Sencen, Serena should not have access to your mother's Imparter."
Savi had to restrain herself from giggling as Bronte hailed Sophie and Seri's face filled the screen. Seri looked extraordinarily like Sophie, with her honey blonde hair and deep brown eyes, so Bronte seemed to have actually mistaken her for Savi's mother.
"Sophie, I'll need you in Foxfire," he said.
"Ugh," said Seri, wrinkling her nose. "MOM! There's some weird-looking guy with super-pointy ears and he looks REALLY grumpy!"
Bronte looked at Savi in alarm. "I warned you," she said, rolling her eyes. It was definitely Seri on the other end, and she was probably going to give Bronte a hard time.
"Oh. I thought Sophie would keep her Imparter out of the toddler's reach."
"Seri's not a toddler, she's six. But she acts like one, so, great analysis."
Bronte looked a little shocked that Savi was talking to him like an equal, but if he was offended, he hid it. "Right. Now, Inflicting positive emo"
"Without Sophie?" Savi interrupted.
"I'm confident you won't be able to hurt me. Your Inflicting isn't at the same level as Sophie's."
Still, Savi could feel the fear radiating off him in waves. But she didn't mention it, since she didn't want to tell everyone she was an Empath and get a third ability training session. She was sure Keefe could train her just fine.
"Okay."
Savi thought about all the happiness she'd ever felt in her life and Inflicted it all into Bronte.
He staggered backwards, his eyeballs rolling into his head, and Savi let out a small scream before stopping.
His tongue rolled out of his mouth in some sort of trance, and he fell backwards out of his chair, laughing madly with terrified eyes. He mumbled something which came out as another girlish laugh, and Savi realized something was wrong. This was exactly what her mother had described when she mentioned Inflicting positive emotions on Councilor Bronte.
He was allergic to happiness? Ew.
She waited for a moment before Inflicting hate. That had to be the opposite of happiness that wasn't sadness, right?
Hate. Her hate for Savi, hate for her parents, hate for... well, him, actually, hate for a whole bunch of other people and...
He jerked awake, looking around wildly.
"I should've known it'd be a disaster," he grumbled.
Savi rolled her eyes. "I literally told you, why do you never listen?"
"You're an eleven-year-old! Why would I listen to you?"
"To stop me from killing you with happiness?" Savi snorted.
"You could never kill me, Savannah!"
"Well, I only didn't because I'm not a very happy child, and what about shattering your sanity, how about that?" Savi snapped. "There technically isn't anything I can't do, with training."
Bronte snorted. "Callous. Overconfident."
"So are you," Savi sneered.
"I," Bronte snarled, "am a Councilor. And you," He stood up and kicked a chair, "must obey me."
"Right. So, you're my superior and I'm all wowie because you're amazing?"
"Yes!" Bronte snapped.
"Well, guess what? You're not. You're an idiot Ancient with stupid pointy ears who happens to be allergic to happiness which is supposed to be a great emotion! So, why does hate bring you back when happiness makes you plunge under?"
Bronte didn't seem to notice that she'd called him an idiot and insulted his ears. He just watched her distantly, before saying, "Happiness is an emotion that I am unfamiliar with."
"Ooh, guess what? Pointyears had a difficult childhood!"
"Well, I did!" Bronte snarled. "Expectations upon expectations upon expectations! You feel nothing of that, Savannah Calla Sencen. Do not pretend you understand what it feels like to be"
"Ignored?" Savi asked quietly. "I know how that feels."
Bronte had become very quiet. Perhaps he knew that Savi was a neglected child and the twins had always received the attention. Maybe her reminder had struck home with him, and he finally understood they shared their pain.
But all he said was, "This is unrelated to Inflicting."
"Shouldn't we get to know our mentors better?" Savi asked innocently. "So, what was life like for you?"
Bronte shook his head. "You may get to know your mentors better, but Councilors must never reveal secrets."
"Would you rather I find it out from you, or I scavenge the database for all the information I can possibly get?"
Bronte snorted. "Search the database if you want, girl; you'll find nothing."
"Sure. So, another unproductive session, then? This is almost as bad as Telepathy, and it would be worse if you hadn't fallen out of your chair and totally drooled."
Bronte glared at her, but he seemed curious. "What happened in Telepathy?"
"Well, neither Tiergan nor Councilor Emery could penetrate my blocking. Oh, and by the way? Sophie – Mom – can't, either."
"Fascinating," Bronte breathed. "And you can penetrate hers?"
Savi looked him in the eye before replying, "Yes. Yes, I can."
"Perhaps there were more flaws in the Black Swan's genetic whirlpool than they thought," Bronte whispered, softly enough that he seemed to believe that Savi couldn't hear him. But she wasn't going to ignore what had already come out.
"Or perhaps the Black Swan's genetic experiments combined with Lady Gisela's produced a very powerful Telepath," she said easily.
"But then... perhaps the aftereffects of that were also what caused William to have an uncurable illness," Bronte whispered.
Savi flinched. She didn't like to be reminded of Will. She remembered the first time they'd brought him to the Healing Center and Elwin had basically fallen out of his chair as Bullhorn started screaming immediately. Every time Will had been brought there, Elwin's banshee had screamed. And Elwin had never pinpointed why, but he also knew he couldn't cure Will's disease.
"Too many mixed genes in the genetic whirlpool," Bronte said in a hushed voice. "Perhaps your mother and father weren't genetically compatible..."
"But that can't be right. They were on each other's match lists."
"That's... true," Bronte admitted. "But they were tracking the elven DNA. What if it was something else? What if Lady Gisela used alicorn DNA as well?"
Savi snorted. "Where would she even get it from?"
"We know the Neverseen had ways to get into the Sanctuary. They put a homing device on Silveny, after all. They could have extracted DNA from Greyfell earlier, maybe even before he came under the Sanctuary's care. Jurek said he never knew what happened before Greyfell was found."
"So, you think the Neverseen stole alicorn DNA? But my dad doesn't have brown eyes."
"But Serena does," Bronte reminded her.
"That could be from Mom, couldn't it? And my eyes are blue."
"Most of your DNA is for blue eyes. It's possible that Keefe just didn't get it. After all, he had Lady Gisela and Lord Cassius' DNA as well. So, they threw genes into the mix, but Keefe didn't get brown eyes."
"So, you're saying I'm like, half alicorn."
"I did not say that. It's not even confirmed that Keefe has alicorn DNA. Don't jump to conclusions."
"Why not? You seem to be," Savi retorted.
Bronte sighed. "We're going toneed a looooooong talk about this."