Aspen
"While I talk, if anything stirs a memory, let me know. I'll be monitoring your mental, emotional, and physical states. When I link with you psychically in conjunction with the sensors, if you feel like someone's poking around inside, that is just me." I wait for acknowledgment and get a curious nod in response.
Right now, all I can sense on the surface is interested curiosity from her. Like she thinks this will be her first time psychically linking with someone. Her amnesia is appearing to be as serious as Nimra mentioned.
There is hope her memories will return organically, but I will look into alternative methods to be safe. When I scanned her personally and through the sensors, her soul-to-body sync rate is barely stable at 45%. If we don't get Nyxara realigned within the next three to four months, she risks permanent misalignment and essence-tier stagnation. The very thought of my sister being permanently stunted is unacceptable.
As rulers in this region, our position is forever precarious. We must always be the example and ever-moving goal to those watching us. We have to be the elite of the elite, or else those predators will use this as an excuse to chip away at our power. Our enclave was founded by Malcolm Ajei—our Korran—who convinced the Glyph Witch, the Chaos Demon, and the Red Doctor to help him establish a new enclave in this once-corrupt region. What they created since then has made us one of the four rulers of Solhara.
I breathe deep, trying to center myself—my link has to be stable. The cost of our complacency weighs on me. We thought she was safe. Yet she was dying right under our roof for two years, and none of us saw it. She died. Even though she is alive now, the fact is she was dead for almost a minute.
I close my eyes trying to get my emotions under control. One hand drapes over my face as I shift onto my back, letting grief wash through me when I could no longer hold it back. It is truly by the grace of the ancestors that moderate memory loss and other curable conditions are the biggest issues she has gained. She can still live her life to the fullest. I barely acknowledge the warmth of her body as she shuffled slowly closer.
She didn't touch me, but she did make me aware that she was nearby and that she was safe. When in the world did she learn how to hold space for someone? Especially someone like me with psychic abilities? My clairsentience makes me have to always keep my guard up so I don't get overwhelmed with all the emotions, energy, and impressions always being released into the world by the untrained.
What she is doing right now without any essence-based assistance is innovative. By keeping her energy calm, she is giving me a mental and emotional anchor as I let myself be an emotional storm. The nearby warmth of her body is a physical anchor that is just right to make me feel safe and seen. It is normally very hard for those untrained to assist psychics in anchoring our intense emotions and abilities.
Nyxara observes me as I psychically observe her back. Her energy beneath the calm is tender wonder tinged with caution. She is as surprised by our sudden dynamic shift as I am, but she isn't scared. I can feel that she just doesn't want either of us to get hurt by whatever is happening right now. With a sense of glee, I let myself anchor in her tender caution while I let everything else just flow through me.
We lay there, me silently crying and her simply resting with closed eyes. I could sense she was still very aware of our surroundings, and it was pulling me out of my sorrow. My curiosity is piqued.If I didn't know psychic abilities were not in her wheelhouse, I would swear that her awareness was psychic in nature. We should test her essence type for any hidden changes her death may have triggered that our previous tests didn't pick up on now that she is awake. I make a mental note to add that to her tests. Purged and hollow, I turned to face her. Her silver eyes opened slowly, calmly, waiting for me to speak.
With an intrigued smile, I extended my powers to envelop her, but before I connected us, I gave her the usual pre-link talk. "If at any time you feel the link is making you uncomfortable, let me know, and I'll disconnect. Be aware, I will not be reading your mind. What I will be doing is monitoring your mental, emotional, physical, and essence states. Do you understand what I've said, and are you okay with me completing the connection?" She took a few moments to think about it before giving her consent.
I completed the link, and as I reached through it, I felt the subtle pull of her essence—fractured, fogged, but intact. Like dipping my fingers into still water only to find its glass, not liquid. A deeper scan showed multiple knots in areas close to her cores that would need to be undone over multiple therapy sessions. Her essence network will require extensive reshaping before we can even touch those knots. For now, through the link, I placed essence casts around the weakest areas to stabilize the network temporarily.
Pulling back to the physical and emotional, I sense how she sees her own tired body. She does not like how weak she feels. It would appear that she is also feeling very determined not to stay feeling weak for long. I approve of this strong, proactive mindset. It is much better than the reactive behavior she had developed over the years.
Seeing that we are both as calm as we are going to get, I begin telling Moonbeam about her history. "Your full name is Nyxara Grey Ajei. Youngest of four heirs, twenty-one years old. You were born in the southern sector—near the ocean, at the mountain estate where the salt wind curled through the cliffs and the nights smelled of cypress and sea moss. You decided to arrive early—before Mom could make it back to the capital." I outwardly grinned at her attentiveness, but internally I am holding back my sadness that this is all new to her.
"You lived in the southern sector of the capital until you were 11 because you were a frail child, and we could not determine the cause of your weakness. You didn't let your frail nature stop you from living your best life, despite our constant worry for you. It was after a visit from a healing specialist that you eventually caught up to the standard of your peers. This is also when your designation revealed you as a beta like Mom and me. Soon after, we had your Rite of Becoming and you awakened as a witch."
"With so many changes, it was agreed one more year at the seaside mountain estate would be beneficial for you to consolidate everything so you would be ready to face those who resided in the capital." I paused when lunch arrived. While she adjusted her tray, I settled into the chair with my smoothie and picked up where I left off.
"Soon after you arrived in the capital, you were introduced to the influential families of the region at the Litha celebration dinner. You handled your introduction with grace and dignity befitting your status. You were especially excited that you would no longer have to wait for your friends to come visit on weekends and holidays. You had built friendships with a select few from the capital during your years in the southern sector. Two of those friends were the young master and young lady of the Dillard enclave, Koba and Minette Dillard." What the fuck? The sheer width and depth of the impressions through the link took me by surprise.
If I hadn't been connected to her, I would have never known she felt so antagonistic towards them. Internally, her essence recoiled—like touching something too cold. A sour, copper tang hit the back of my throat from her simmering rage. A sharp pain echoed in my chest from impressions of unresolved grief and betrayal. Her aura snapped and sparked from her holding it all in.
Externally, she never stopped eating or sipping the tonic Korran left behind for her. Like clockwork. Her chewing was slow, methodical, and precise. She was grounding herself in the present—a good way to stabilize her mental and essence states.
I make note on my tablet that Koba and Minette are triggers for her on multiple levels, so we will need to talk about them in therapy, but for now, we will tread carefully. Privately, I'll ask Rakesh to investigate what could have happened over these years to make her react so strongly. What else don't we know? Will we finally discover the true reason she shifted from a bright, confident girl with ambition to change the world into a meek, submissive young woman begging for the attention of the Dillard siblings?
"Minette became your best friend, and Koba became the person you wanted to bond with. When you turned 16, you informed us of your intentions. You were determined to bond with him. We disagreed—but eventually compromised on a long engagement. You were set to bond at twenty-two." I played with my cup, keeping my eyes down when I felt her gaze land upon me. As if she could sense that what I'm about to say is unhappy news.