[emma] - Shadow Binding 1

     "Emma, here." Momma held a ring out to me. When I first glanced at the offered jewelry it was a plain, very simple band. A few spots glittered and shined like gem stones do, and gold does not, but other than that it looked like a plain round band. Smooth. It wasn't until I looked again that I saw the intricate inlay pattern.

     The band itself was simple and round and polished to a high shine. Gold, of course, it was the best metal for bindings. This one was a series of slightly-off yellow-gold slivers carefully woven and smoothed with shaved gem stones placed inside each symbol. The mixtures of the colors were so subtle and so carefully designed that most people would miss it even under close scrutiny. It was the color-enhanced eye sight of my eyes that picked out the details. "I need you to test this before we use it on Maira.” 

     "What is it?" I held out my hand for what could only be my fathers handiwork. She dropped the ring into my palm and it felt both too light and heavier than it looked. This close I could see that the symbols were as intentional as the subtlety of color change. Each one was a rune of binding and, if I took the time to read the band, would name a spell. 

     "A shadow binding. I want to stop the passive walking and I need to know if his spell will work at all on active walking first.” I sighed. It made sense, too much sense. Mai had a nasty habit of simply popping around. One second she could be standing and talking to you and the next she’d be popping up elsewhere still talking. We had long ago discovered that this problem was entirely passive and that Mai had very little active control of her shadow walking. Since the only one outside of our family who used shadows today was still, technically, blood related and very much hated we had no one to ask about it and I didn’t think mom was willing to dig through Mimi’s memories to find out.

     "This is not Mai's ring size.” I told my mother instead of bringing up the dozen and one questions I really wanted to ask. She didn’t even blink at me.

     “No, it is not. It was made for you. The spell itself is just the binding, the gems define what is being bound and once we get this tested your father will change out the gems for binding your Telepathy until we can get it under control.” 

     I wish my heart could have stopped just then. I really do. That was… eight months ago I would have leapt at the chance to bind my Telepathy and escape it and I would have done that and never looked back to it again; but I’d learned a lot in eight months. Starting with why not to bind it and what happens when I do, or i ignore it. I’d already been in contact with a powerful Telepath who had bound my Telepathy.

     The results had not been pretty. Aside from the agonizing pain I had bled from my eyes and ears and the Telepathy had lashed out in entirely new ways until my acquaintance had lifted the binding- which took entirely too long because I’d been unable to sit still. Apparently I hadn’t been too far off from a true seizure at the time. Mother didn’t need to know that, no one did, but I couldn’t say ‘no thank you’ without explaining and i couldn’t lie.

     “You don’t look happy, Emma.” No, I imagine I didn’t. Hell if ‘not happy’ was the worse I looked after remembering that nightmare then I was doing damn good.

     “Natty’s been teaching me-"

     “How to meditate, yes, and you were complaining about the progress just last night.” Momma interrupted me. The look in her grim face bothered me. She didn’t get to looking so distressed about us very often and when she did she had nightmares that night. Vivid, horrid nightmares. I sank in my chair and pinned my ears back.

     “I was complaining about the headache, momma, not the progress.” or lack there of. I really was trying, I was taking it seriously but Nathaniels instructions were just so confusing. I couldn’t get my mind to wrap around half of the things he said and I knew if Envy tried it would be even worse. ‘in one ear and out the other’ would not be just a phrase with me. I came away perfectly relaxed, physically, from our lessons but my mind would be a whole new mess. The Telepathy seemed content to remain passive for now, since I’d stopped trying to block it, which helped but still. I couldn’t control it.

     I slid the ring onto my right ring finger before mother could keep arguing with me. “Thank you momma, I’ll let you know how it does.” She started to say something and stopped. She looked so sad. Finally she nodded to me and gave me a weak smile. Whatever I had done, I’d upset her. Maybe I’d let too much show and given too few answers at the same time. Or maybe it was just mother Intuition.

     Telepathy really sucked but it wasn’t the end of the world. Not really. I gave mom a smile and stepped out of the office. The muting spells she used to give her clients privacy left a slight, inaudible ‘pop’ in my head as I stepped past the thresh hold and the thoughts around me redoubled their strength.

     Okay…. maybe I did need better control...