PotS I: Kindred Soul

Chapter Two

We can never truly be ready, so the best we can be is prepared.

-Morgan Hilete

The morning air was crisp, wafting through my open window, the warm sunlight on my eyelids. I lightly tossed my threadbare blanket to the side, swinging my legs to the side and sitting up. I stretched my arms up to the sky, letting the window's light shine unto my bare back as I rolled my shoulders back, ready for the day ahead. Dane.

I pulled on a loose mustard colored shirt and tied the sleeves halfway up my biceps, allowing for maximum range of movement. I pulled on my only pair of Jin'ranji, or "Naoqi nimble pants", that still had no holes. I wrapped the cloth attatched to the back around my midsection and tucking in my shirt, before looping the long end under and over, securing it all. I slipped my Jin'wajes onto my feet and laced the ends of the ranji unto the wajes as to seal the joint. Next came the calf ties, which wrapped around my shins and calves multiple times to secure both the pants and the shoes.

Grabbing a djang slice out of my sink, I left the house. The sun was nearly halfway risen, Dane would – should – arrive soon. I walked to the side of the house where I'd easier see him coming, chewing on the djang. To my surprise, Dane sat leaning against the house, watching the sunset, his plum-colored face awash with morning orange, entranced with the rising sun.

It could be seen as a violation of privacy, but I did it anyways, curiosity overcoming my morals. I placed a hand on the wall, and mentally reached out through the mutual contact with the surface, looking for his mind.

Beautiful. The black sky turns to blue, fades to red, to orange, to yellow, to the white at the center of it all. Shining through the universe, touching every soul, every being. To think, that someone out there, that I will never meet, never affect, never hear, never touch, is looking at the same star rising across their horizon as I am now. I wish I could've shown Wahilo this. He would've loved it. He'd say he hates it, but we'll both know that he's in awe. Beautiful.

I let go of the wall and stumbled back, sudden tears welling in my eyes.

"Good morning Lourden. You've got one hell of a getup there." He looked me up and down. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

"Good morning to you as well. How about we start with how much you already know. Then we'll work from there." I leaned against the wall.

"Um, well, I can jump really high, make things move with my mind, heal, and occasionally I can make lightning. You know, the normal stuff."

His thoughts pressed through into my mind again. That girl at the hotel, she was hot. I like her. I forced myself to disconnect from his mind.

"An impressive array of skills indeed, but that's not what I meant. How much do you know about teva?"

"Absolutely nothing. I know we are tevasi, but I have no idea what a teva is."

"Some people call it our soul, or soullight, but the term is teva. It's an invisible glue that exists in everything, holding our world together, atoms, cells, tissues, and so on. Without teva, everything would crumble to its bare quarks. Does that make sense?"

"A little bit. Go on."

I sat down next to him. "Tevasi are beings that developed an extra nerve ending in our brain that allows us to tap into and manipulate the extra teva that our bodies produce. Teva is meant to be a glue, but it can do so much more when manipulated by a tevasi. You can send it to your legs to jump great distances, or a specific part of your brain to move things with your mind. The possibilities are endless."