The Gifts We Have

JP with Omni and Cindy

Berus met Islana’s inquiry with a thoughtful expression, “Certainly. What do you wish to know?”

"As you know, I recently received the Sisters and their wisdom. I must admit it is still a little new to me. However, I've always had another ability. I have a deep connections with animals. I communicate with them. Its the reason the falcon and the Skelep are with me. We were drawn to each other." Islana almost instinctively lightly touched the knife made from the Skara's stinger. Her ability was directly related to that as well. "I was wondering if you have always had your gift or did you somehow aquire it?”

Berus listened intently to Islana, nodding slightly as she shared her own experiences and abilities. The mention of her connection with animals, and the significance of the falcon and the Skelep, drew a smile of understanding from him. When she inquired about the origins of his gift, he took a moment to reflect before responding.

"Ah, my gift," he began, "has been with me for as long as I can remember. That was many... many years ago. It was not something I acquired but rather something that was discovered within me. My connection to the realm of possibility manifested early, through dreams and visions that were beyond the ordinary experiences of a child."

He paused, his gaze drifting momentarily as if recalling those early days. "It was nurtured, of course. I was guided by elders--The Blood of Erewhon and the casters of bones--taught me how to promote, to force, to listen, and to see the possibility; how to interpret it and how to respect the gift I had been given. There were rituals, teachings, but the core of the gift was always a part of me, as your connection to animals is a part of you.”

Islana had thought for a while now that if her ability with animals had been nurtured, if she had anyone to teach her how to use it when she was younger it would have progressed further much earlier. As it was it had grown a great deal since arriving in Arcadia. Still she hadn't really had anyone help her advance it, it had been more though use.

She nodded to his words. "I sometimes wonder how different my life would have been, if I had been raised in a society that accepted such gifts." Islana wasn't sure why she shared that, except it was nice to speak to someone, at least, a little more like herself. Her advisors had magik but it was sand or water, always sand or water. It just wasn't the same. "Do you ever feel your age? Or always older?" She was now wondering how close, in common, their gifts were but this had more to do with the few millenniums of Sisters and knowledge now within her.

Berus considered Islana’s self-reflection with a gentle, understanding nod. “Our paths are shaped by the worlds we are born into,” he mused softly, acknowledging the shared sentiment of what could have been. His eyes then met Islana’s with a thoughtful gaze.

"Though I appear to others that I have basked in the dawn of perhaps only forty seasons, my spirit has embraced the cycle of many more. Yet, here I am, my body relearning what my mind has known for a lifetime.."

He paused, a faint smile playing on his lips, hinting at the profound journey his soul had undertaken.

"Time," he said, his young voice carrying an uncharacteristic depth, "is indeed a peculiar thing... is it not? It stretches and compresses, filled with moments that linger like eternity and those that vanish like a breath in the wind.“

Berus's words offered a glimpse into his unique journey, embodying both the innocence of a child and the insight of an elder.

“So, do I feel my age? In truth, Sister Locust, I feel beyond it, caught in a dance between what was and what is. And my gift allows me a glimpse of what may be.”