I was more involved with my thoughts than with what the Queen was talking about. My mind kept thinking back, to many events, trying to point out if there had been a time when I had shown an indication that I had a magic trait. But no matter how much I tried, nothing came up. There was no pointer. There had been no event to indicate it.
The only time I had felt different was during and after sex with Adam, after he had marked me. That had been when my sensors had gotten sharper and keener. But that’s all.
Could it be that sex with Adam had triggered something that had laid hidden with me?
“Maya, you should listen to the queen before she calls you out. She knows that you are distracted.” Laura said, shocking me for the third time since we entered this hall.
The queen knew I wasn’t listening? Could she read my thoughts too? I wondered, hoping it was not so. I might die if that was so. Okay, an exaggeration. But I wouldn’t be happy.
Maya, focus still, unless you want to be called out in front of this large congregation.
I advised myself, refocusing on the queen.
But just a minute in, after hearing her talk about the unity of the community and how to lend aid to other friendly communities, my mind wandered off, this time to the nature of her hair.
It was white. Not milky white or off white. No. It was plain white. Like white white. It flowed down to her waist. It was beautiful. It was glorious. She was the only one with that unique hair color in the whole gathering. She stood out.
Did she dye it, or was it her natural hair?
A tap on my thighs had me looking at Peter. “We will talk about your questions when we get home. For now, listen. She is looking at you again.” He whispered, and I shuddered, partly from the fact that the woman’s eyes were boring holes in mine, and partly from the fact that Peter might have an idea of what I was thinking. Or was he just reading the expressions off my face?
I remembered that Diana was eerie as this too. She could answer my thoughts without me voicing them.
Sure, when we get home. I have to listen. I chanted inwardly, rewiring my mind to focus. The queen was talking about some training now.
“Our training commences next three weeks. Our young ones have already begun, merging it with their school work. That we are enjoying peace now doesn’t mean that we won’t prepare for war. Remember, we have to be prepared at all times. We had taken a break of course in honor of one of ours who had to go to rest in peace, and by the order of the oracle, it’s okay for us to move on with our lives. Our elder has rested in peace….” She was saying, and I watched people shut their eyes and mutter thanks to the creator, including Peter and Laura.
Training? What training? Was that what Diana was doing now? Training for war? Isn’t she too young for that? I wondered, watching the smiles that cloaked the lips of the people around me, noting their nods in agreement to what the queen was saying.
Well, I won’t make any judgments till I spoke to Laura and Peter.
Was I even in the position to judge? I who had sex with my tormentor? Puhleese, I had no right. If not for these people, if not Laura and Peter, I would have been dead. So no, I won’t judge them. I owed them my life.
“Doctor Laura, where are we with the experiment process?” I heard the queen ask suddenly, and jerked in nervousness.
For a minute when I had heard Laura’s name being called, I had thought that it was because of me, the newcomer, to pay attention when she was talking.
So Laura was a doctor? I watched her with wide eyes as she spewed science from her mouth. I didn’t understand half of what she was saying.
I looked at Peter, and he shrugged. “Don’t look at me. I have no idea what she’s talking about. She is the doctor.”
Laura was the doctor.
All this while, I had thought that it was Peter who had been incharge of my treatment but it was Laura?
“I only found you when I had gone to pick some vegetables, or rather herbs for some medicine she was making for a patient. I had seen you lifeless at our border with a neighboring community. At first, I had thought of leaving you, thinking that if your community had ousted you, then you were a bad person. I had actually left you there for dead, but your bloodied face kept turning up in my hand, such that I couldn’t go further. So, I did what my wife would have done. I returned and took you home. She had been mad that I had left you at first. You know doctors, they care about saving lives first, then worry about the repercussions later. We had decided to let you leave when you have recovered .. but seeing as you have lost your memory, we would have to hold on to that thought for now.” Peter spoke, again answering my thought.
I wanted to ask him how he could speak so loudly, without fearing that we would be heard.
“I used a masking scent, and no, I can’t read your mind, just your mannerisms. It’s a gift we all have here, although some have in larger amounts than the others.” He pointed out.
I nodded, understanding what he was saying. That would explain a lot. It also informed me that I had to learn how to control my mannerisms; I couldn’t be too predictable all the time.
“Thank you Dr. Laura. See me with your family right after this meeting.” I heard the queen say, and then my attention was riveted to the happenings around me.
Laura sat down, a contented look on her face. Whatever she had said, the queen must have found it satisfactory. Good for her.
Well, when the queen had mentioned that Laura should see her after the meeting with her family, what did she mean though?