“What you have experienced so far is access to fragments of Fate’s threads,” Laerune continued. “The closer you are to someone, the easier it becomes to glimpse their path. There are many reasons these visions surface. If you are not actively seeking them, then the Sight has chosen to be heard. It finds its own avenues, through dreams, through thought, through instinct. Sometimes even through a perfect sketch drawn with a skill you do not consciously possess. With practice, one learns to recognise its voice, to listen more clearly.
“As your ability matures, the visions will intensify. In time, you could become an invaluable counsellor to Mountheim. It is a rare and coveted gift, and rarer still for it to manifest without guidance, but it can be taxing.” She said this as a warning. “I understand you once wore a nullifying relic, except at night, when you seemed to tap the gift. Now that you have discarded it, you should expect communications to grow more frequent. Have you experienced anything beyond sleep?”
My nails pressed crescents into my palms. “No. Only dreams. But they’re frequent. Some replay events that have already happened, and others make no sense at all.”
“Describe them,” she said.
With a deep breath, I recounted the disjointed images that tore me from sleep recently, though even as I did, I heard how befuddling they sounded. Bright lights, feathered wings, colours bleeding into one another.
“I saw a sign that said,Goldsworth. Do you know what this means?”
Laerune shook her head. “No. I’m not familiar with this term.”
There was something comforting about Laerune Xanthos that encouraged me to speak, to want to find the answers to some of the questions surging lately.
“After our first session with Kellan,” I said, “I wondered if the wings I keep seeing might belong to a familiar. I don’t know if I’m just thinking about wings or if they’re coming to my mind for a reason.”
Laerune smoothed a finger along her brow. “Foresight rarely speaks plainly. But for every diviner I have known, their familiar serves as a guide through the Sight, whether it is perceived consciously or not.”
A sudden sensation brushed the edges of my thoughts then, like the beat of wings passing close, and I almost gasped at the immediacy of it.
“I think it’s an eagle,” I murmured, noticing the quick glint in her almond eyes.
“Appropriate,” she said. “Your gift will develop swiftly, and practice must come first. Today, I want to guide you through a simple exercise. Follow your familiar. It will lead you to your mana. See, and do not flee. Many inexperienced diviners recoil from the Sight when it overwhelms them, but doing so will keep you from getting accustomed to your gift. In time, attend towhat you feel, hear, taste when you are in touch with it. You will learn to notice even the smallest shift in the threads, because true foresight allows one to see through hidden planes. It’s a privilege.”
My lack of sleep would argue otherwise.
“We will begin,” she continued, “with how you access the Sight. It is often similar to how you may draw upon mana.”
That was unfortunate. “I haven’t,” I admitted. “Not yet.”
“But you can visualise your familiar?” she asked.
“I suppose,” I said, hearing the hesitation in the words.
“Then let us begin there,” Laerune said. “Close your eyes and picture your eagle.”
Nodding, I let my lids fall as I summoned the image of white and brown feathers and the curve of a golden beak.
It came easily. I imagined the eagle gliding over a canopy of pines, soaring between mountains. Yet, I was unsure how this was supposed to help me divine.
Laerune was silent for the better part of a minute before she said, “Perhaps you need some help for your first time. Keep your eyes closed. I will siphon to you.”
Her thin fingers closed around my wrist and stayed there until heat bloomed against my cheeks. Just as I was about to open my eyes again, the image darkened within my mind, sudden and swift, deepening into a gloomy abyss.
My pulse raced. Part of me expected to be drawn into my own memories, or a dream. But this was barely anything.
Faint, vein-like lines rippled beneath the darkness, spreading until they swallowed the mountains whole. Heat flushed across my face, creeping down my neck and curling around my eyes. When I opened them, I saw nothing but that same black void now occupying my vision.
I gasped and tried to open my eyes again, but I couldn’t see the chamber, couldn’t see the tutor anymore.
My chest lurched into a panicked sprint.
“Do not be afraid.” Laerune’s voice echoed distantly, as though carried from above. “Follow the eagle.”
“I can’t see,” I whispered into the dark.
“You can,” the darkness answered softly. “You are.”
