Krrinal

Krrinal

The lessons were going quite well, all things considered. As he’d instructed, Shiver was on one knee, right palm against a small block of granite, left hand resting on his left knee. Head down, eyes closed. Concentrating. Reading aloud.

“Verse twenty-seven. Mercy, great Mother! Thou knowest my infirmity of soul, and thou knowest that I have run in fear hither and thither, fleeing the demons that pollute thy forests and valleys, thy mountains and oceans! Long have I sought thee, Mother, for both my own sake and the sake of my children.”

Krrinal watched the book float in front of him, reading along with Shiver’s voice. This was an exercise in focus and precision. And finesse. Even purifying razor-thin layers of granite produced great quantities of power, making the simple act of turning pages (without destroying the book) difficult. Reading the pages meant discerning between ink-stained and clean paper, which was tough when the book faced away from you.

He let Shiver keep reading a couple pages further, finishing out the chapter. When he finally called a halt, Shiver was sweating and shaking from the effort of forcing his only-newly-trained mind to read without eyes. Krrinal caught the book as it tumbled from the air. He congratulated Shiver on a job well done, but all he got in return was a sense of exhaustion, which he supposed was fair.

Sitting down next to him, he asked Shiver if he came to any new understanding today. Shiver wiped some sweat from his brow and nodded slightly, gesturing at the handprint he’d left in the granite block. He said he’d discovered that he could use a larger amount of energy and dedicate it to holding the book aloft while he read. It made it much easier, since he didn’t have to split his attention between reading and holding. Krrinal nodded and sent praise. One of the greatest things Shiver could learn in life, and especially with these gifts, was the power of delegation.

For some reason, that triggered him. His aura went frigid, then vanished entirely as he closed himself off.

“I am familiar,” Shiver said, now using the Tongue, “with delegation.”