She was definitely avoiding him. He could tell himself otherwise, once or twice but not anymore. At the end of two weeks, Ash had met everyone, even Arabelle, Akiye and Dwera, who had no chances of meeting her. Vance, she avoided like the plague. Well, not like the plague. If they were to cross, paths, she's give him a nod and keep walking. From a distance, he witnessed her turning around and walking away from him. As days went by, the complex feeling in his chest got clearer. The heaviness was a clear distinct set of want and reluctance wrapped into one. And as much as they were in his own thoughts and feelings, they were intensified in the presence of Ash. She was feeling the same or he hoped he was deciphering it right. He wanted her to feel the same. In that way, it wouldn't be a one way channel.
"If we have to organize this election, we need to start preparing over the weekend. Today is the last day to respond to the chancellor's proposal." Vance thanked the chancellor quietly. The man had removed his dilemma by using the proper channels to offer them this activity instead of asking Ash to suggest it.
Vance wanted to use this opportunity to bring back the princess to the council room again. If he didn't change something now, she would keep avoiding him. They couldn't go on like this forever. The conflict had to be resolved. It had to fall on one side or the other. Though he wanted her to want him back the same way but his rationale knew it shouldn't be; couldn't be so. He should be reluctant but every time he passed her by, his heart soared with emotions.
Perhaps, as mates, he would always feel what she was feeling and that was one reason he couldn't be as ignorant of her as she was of him.
"Then we should ask all the members to drop in tomorrow and begin prep. Some of the other representatives have not shown their faces since the beginning of the year."
Drew said, "we will also have the welcoming party to organize right after the election."
Akiye asked Karn, "can you partner up with me? I am not in the mood to bring anyone this year."
Karn hesitated. Akiye smiled slightly, "someone caught your fancy?"
Vance focus zeroed in on Karn. It couldn't be Ash. It shouldn't be Ash. Karn has told him his connection to Ash, but he had never said anything about pursuing her. Vance did not want it to be the princess. Karn only smiled in response.
The high priestess lay on the floor, breathing heavily, eyes bloodshot red and color drained from her face. The light on the candle had been snuffled out as if the darkness she had summoned squeezed the life out of it. In that small moment, she felt uneasy. She never saw the darkness as cold except in moments like these. It worried her because deep down, it reflected something about herself. Something she wasn't willing to accept and acknowledge.
She said, "I want to go again, without you trying to keep the light."
The priestess looked at Ash, dropped a trickle of blood on the circle and sat back up, barely regaining her energy.
"Like shadows are an essential part of light magic, some kind of light is essential part of dark magic. Then again, what you have isn't essentially dark magic."
Ash frowned. She was just beginning to think she had great control over darkness. But if that wasn't dark magic, what it was?
The high priestess answered. "apart from the darkness what else can you do?"
Ash shook her head slowly then remembered the clouds, "block out the moon."
"Is that part of the dark magic?"
"It could be wind or something else."
The high priestess nodded. "good. Now what do you want to do with the light?"
"I want to keep the light alive while calling the darkness." She said.
"Good. That's part of honing you control. Very good." The high priestess pushed herself and redrew the smudged parts of the circle again with labored breaths. Then she sat to one side and let her go.
Ash called to darkness again but this time, she called to it from her own shadow, from the priestess' shadow and from under the lamp, letting it spread everywhere but to the candlelight. She kept her eyes open, on the light of the candle. As the shadows expanded its tendrils, none of them moved towards the light, wrapping round it, instead of going over it. Relief and happiness settled in her heart. This was the darkness she knew and loved.
"Excellent." she heard the high priestess.
Slowly and slowly, the shadows diluted into thin air. Ash looked at the priestess and was happy to see her recovering normally.
"Not only did you control the darkness in a concentrated area, your stopped it from coming close to me. You control is exceptional and your abilities obvious. I am surprised the trainers on Kalai didn't come close to training you even of the most basic things."
Ash smiled uneasily. "The trainers on Kalai, witches, warlocks or others are more trained towards the art of fighting, both human and supernatural creatures. Since I did not exhibit anything that could be used as offensive skill while my defensive skills were well developed, they didn't know what to do with me."
The high priestess gave a disapproving look. "that's no excuse. No wonder you don't know the extent of your own powers. Come here."
Ash went to the priestess and the priestess pointed to the three signs Ash did not recognise. "that's the ancient language. Combined with blood, it can give you an instant ability to do a certain things for a certain period of time. It is like wordless magic and incantations. Incantations are powerful because words have power but it also tells you intentions to the other person which is why we need wordless magic like elements. Ancient language worked on circles and signs and infused with incantations or elements they can be powerful but if they are infused with something that comes from within you, it can be formidable."
Ash knew all of this except the part about blood magic. the high priestess shook her head, "all sorts of things can be infused with the ancient language. Unspeakable horrors have be committed with it. So blood magic is banned. But you are far too powerful for me to handle the pressure of your abilities. The first time, I would have passed out if not for blood magic. Since you have learned to control it well, I won't have to use it anymore."
Ash couldn't wrap her head around it. "But you said it's not dark magic, then what is it and why does it manifest in the form of darkness?"
"Because that's what you envision it as and the blessing of the night goddess has made darkness much more easier and accesible."
"Think about it like this. Some warlocks and witches are born of one magic but with great effort and work they develop another and another element. I was born to a seer but worked hard on my light magic."
"My brother was born of earth magic, wood magic but he worked day and night to cultivate healing magic. If I work on my other magic besides darkness, could I develop whatever pushed me to control the weather."
The high priestess gave her a complicated look. "you might not have to. When you did not want the moonlight, the moon was gone, when you worked your darkness, the light was gone, when you focused on the light, the darkness didn't touch it and when old Madame looked into your future, by you unwillingness you pulled her light out."
Ash swallowed thickly. "What does it mean?"
"Try to do what I tell you next."
Ash sat in rapt attention. "Think about all the electricity running in this building. Wires and wires upon wires. Switches, electricity boards. Can you pull everything and pool it into that lamp?
Ash thought of the electricity. all the wiring in her home was laiden with charms and protection to save it from breaking under powerful magic. The temple did not have any electrical things because it wouldn't work. The electricity was buzzing in the veins of the building like blood flowed though a body. Ash could feel the buzz behind the lamp, as if a static zing rang in the wall. It rang through the walls and outside. She thought about pulling it, like a rope, buzzing under he fingertips.
"Use your body, your words, if it is too hard."
Ash felt the buzz in her fingers as she raised her hands and wrapped around thin air as if wrapping them around ropes and wires. Then she pulled in one sharp motion. The lamp blasted and electricity buzzed out of the broken lamp, crackling in the air once, running straight for her. The high priestess swipped her arms and the electricity buzzed back inside the lamp.
Above in the stands, a section of the viewer benches were drowsed in darkness.
Ash looked at her hands that still buzzed under the skin. "what does this mean?"
"The night goddess has blessed you with something far more powerful than you can imagine."
"Why?"
The high priestess looked up for a moment before she looked down. "Only the night goddess can answer that question."
Ash opened her mouth but she had no words for what she felt.
"You are overwhelmed. We are done for the day. Take a rest and don't try to do something on your own. I will inform your classes that you will not be coming in today."
Ash looked at her hands again. "I don't understand."
The high priestess patted her, "which part?"
"this... What exactly is my ability?"
"I have some ideas. We will test them out."
"Give me a hint." Ash asked, insistant. She couldn't move from here without knowing what she was dealing with.
"One possibility is that you might have some ability over all magic. Another possibility is that you might have control over other people's magic. Not the tangible kind, like transformation and such, more of the non tangible kind. It could also be that non tangible things become tangiable in your hands. Each of those possibility is big in itself."
If it was explainable, if it could be put into words, it was manageable, controllable, workable. Yet, the immense pressure on her chest did not relent.
the high priestess took her hands, "do not worry so much. Your control over darkness might be exceptional but over other things," she looked at the broken light and the darkned viewer section, "still needs a lot of work. And this time I was able to handle it well. You can measure by that, how well you are doing on other parts."
Ash smiled a little. The high priestess was putting her down but it was also a comfort. The vastness of what she could do was still to much for her though.
"Thank you." she told the high priestess. "I will take that rest perhaps."
The high priestess warned, "don't try to do something on your own."
Ash nodded quickly, "wouldn't dream of it."
The high priestess watched Ash walk away with overwhelming sense of doom on her shoulder. While most others would break down and dry under the the feeling, Ash mere settled into a daze. The high priestess began cleaning the floor and spoke softly, "thank you for your high prai..."
The priestess stood up straighter and looked back at where Ash had disappeared, "I have intervened already. This should set her on the path to discovery."
"Thank you. I will do my best to guide her."
Light flickered back on in the viewer section and the high priestess stiffened. A moment later she sagged and went back to scrubbing the sign on the floor.