The World in Flower

35. A Taste of Talent

"So how does this work?" Tim asked Tirwah as they walked into the school. "Do we just ask the kids if they feel anything?"

"Part of my Communication Resonance is that I see... hmmm... interactions between people and Songs. While we will ask the children to tell us if they experience unusual sensations with the Songs, most of the testing is based on observation."

"Do you ever get false results?" Chance inquired. "Someone appears to have a Resonance and doesn't, or vice versa?"

"Most people who have Resonances have very weak ones that don't do much more than make them sensitive to certain Workings. Those are easily overlooked, but because they are weak, it is not usually an issue. Also, children often show no signs of their Resonances until they reach puberty, so just because a child shows no talent at eight or eleven doesn't mean they won't at twelve or thirteen."

"What do you do about rare ones like Skinchanging or Rohunah's life draining?"

"They are usually not tested for. However, if a child were to have one of those, there are often ways to see based on their responses to closely related Resonances. For instance, a child with energy draining may react to Motion and Healing, but not have those Resonances directly, but only entangled."

"I hope there's a better solution to a dangerous one than locking the kid up."

"Training is almost always the best answer. Anything that pushes a child with a dangerous Resonance to the brink of despair is far riskier."

They paused to knock on the door to the upper class classroom.

"Come in!" The teacher smiled as they entered the room. "Chance and Sami, right?"

"You got it," Chance replied. "This is Adam Rupp, our crazy talented wizard, and his husband-to-be, Tim Foust. And this is Tirwah, our local guide to everything Verlest."

"Blaine Alexander, good to meet you all," the teacher responded, shaking hands. "So how does this testing work?"

"We'll be pulling groups of six to ten kids into a separate room where we'll perform a few Songs -- which have magical components to them -- and observe their responses," Adam explained.

"Will you be touching the kids at all?"

"No. This doesn't require any physical contact."

"I'd like to observe, if that's okay."

"That's fine."

"All right. I guess it would make the most sense to just have a couple tables at a time go."

Tim glanced over the arrangement of students. "You separated the fiancés?"

"What?"

"Asa and Nalah. You have them at separate tables."

"Did you call them fiancés?"

"Yeah, they're engaged and getting married in a couple months' time. It's a complicated story."

"I see. Well, they didn't complain. I put Nalah with Sophie because they're both language-challenged, and DeJames there because he signs. Then Asa with his sister Lexi, since he's presumably used to helping her, along with the other two kids near their grade."

"It makes sense. If they didn't complain, I guess it's not an issue."

"Okay, students, we're going to have some of you go down the hall to the conference room. I'll be accompanying you while Ms Sylvia remains in the classroom. Mx Cabrera, Ms Barron, Ms Evans, Mr Holmwood, Mr Deniaud, and Mr Ortega, you're up first."

***

"Well, that was surprising." Blaine leaned against the door frame, watching that the first set of kids made it back into the classroom.