The Mantis Corruption - Book Three - 21. Chapter 21 - The Gathering

“Where’s Tisa?” Harakin whined. The strange connection between their powers fascinated her, and she was quite taken with Tisa.

“I’m sure she’ll be along shortly,” the mystic said in a cheery voice. “Besides, I’m not finished cooking yet. I’d much prefer that she and her friend arrive when the food’s close to ready.”

“I wonder what she’s like,” Harakin said in a wistful tone. “I mean, the other girl from Xin.”

“Knock, knock!” Auntie Peg called from the front door of the mystic’s house. She added a singsongy, “We’re here!” She was in a flowing dress and stylish jacket. Her wig was black with red and white stripes running through it, and her makeup was vibrant shades of red and silver.

“Tisa?!” Harakin called out.

“No, sorry, dear,” Dotty Marbles replied. “It’s just little ol’ us.” Her makeup was in shades of purple and she donned a matching wig. Her pink poodle skirt was polka dotted in yet more hues of vivid violet. “If she’s not here yet, I’m sure she’ll be along shortly,” Dotty Marbles added. “We brought dessert!” She held up a pastry box.

“What a coincidence,” Theolan said as he came down from upstairs, “Lahari and I also picked up some dessert for today.”

“I’m not mad that there’s extra dessert,” the mystic cooed at them.

Sumi and Lahari came in from the back garden with a basket of fresh herbs that they harvested from a tiny garden box.

“Those are beautiful, daughter!” the mystic proclaimed. He kissed Lahari on her spiny blue-skinned cheek.

She grinned and her yellow eyes sparkled at him.

Ninyani came in behind the two queens. “Where’s Tchama?” he asked the group at large. He was wearing a spaghetti strap tank top with a robin’s-egg blue cardigan over it and a pleated tartan skirt. His hair was coifed up and he was sparkling with a little glittery lip shimmer and blush.

Tchama’s voice came from upstairs. “I’ll be down in a minute! You can come up if you want!”

Ninyani knew she was talking to him, and he skipped up the stairs to find her.

“There’s not enough room for all of us at the table,” the mystic said to his husband, “so let’s set it with as many plates as we can fit, and we’ll put a few place settings here on the counter. Or if anyone would like to sit over in the lounging chairs that will work also.”

There was another knock at the door.

“Tisa?” Harakin said again hopefully. She opened the front door, and sure enough, it was Tisa.

“Hi, everyone,” Tisa said in a more timid voice than she intended. “This is Olona.” Tisa stepped aside and Olona entered behind her.

“Welcome to our home!” Theolan declared. “You are most welcome here and we are so thrilled to meet you. Won’t you come in and make yourselves at home?”

“That’s very kind of you,” Olona replied.

Harakin took Tisa’s hand. “I’m so glad you came back.” There was an awkward pause where Harakin did not know what else to say.

Tisa blushed and responded, “Oh, erm, thanks.”

Then Harakin turned and focused on Olona. “You’re not old.”

Tisa scoffed and playfully smacked the back of Harakin’s hand. “Are you saying I am?”

“What? No!” Harakin blurted out. “But, you know, she’s like my age,” she added with a shrug.

“Yes, indeed, I am 19. My name is Olona, and I come from the land of Xin. Are you one of the others Tisa mentioned who are also from the south?”

“Yeah,” Harakin replied, “me and Sumi both are.” She turned back and Sumi gave Olona a little wave.

“Hello!” Olona said with a smile. Then she saw Lahari and her eyes widened. “You must be,” and she looked at Tisa for confirmation, “Lahari?”

Tisa nodded.

“How’d you guess?” Lahari asked. She caused her quills to ripple across her skin in mesmerizing patterns.

“Wow,” Olona said, “you’re incredible!”

“That she is,” her father said. He stepped up to Olona, said, “You can just call me mystic,” and he wrapped his arms around her in a warm embrace.

Olona laughed out loud and hugged him back. She looked at Tisa again. “You were right,” she conceded. “I already very much like this group of friends that you’ve made.”

“Come into the kitchen,” Theolan urged. “Let’s seat ourselves and have some of this lovely meal that my gracious husband has prepared for all of us.”

Ninyani and Tchama descended and joined the group.

They all chatted and laughed, asking and answering questions of each other. Tisa and Olona even shared a Xinetian song with the group before the mystic broke out dessert.

Lahari and Theolan began to clear the plates as pastries were distributed.

Olona hopped up from her seat and planted herself in the one next to Harakin. “Tisa tells me you can manipulate light. Is it possible for you to show me?” she asked.

“Yeah, okay,” Harakin confirmed, “I can make knives from light.”

“Is it safe for you to demonstrate?” Olona asked her. “I’ve become pretty familiar with Tisa’s shadow energy in the time that we’ve known each other. It sounds to me like your light powers might be related to her shadows. She can make her shadow disks appear and hover in midair,” Olona continued. “Can you do the same thing with your light?”

“Like this?” Harakin asked in reply, and she held up her hand. A blade blinked into existence and floated above her fingertips. It glowed, but the light was not intense.

“Can I touch it? Will it hurt me?” she asked.

Harakin looked over at Sumi and said, “I don’t know.”

Sumi offered nothing but a shrug.

Olona picked up a spoon from the table with everyone watching her, and she poked the light dagger with it. The spoon clinked against the blade, but nothing happened; there was no reaction, and Olona chanced to touch it. She brought her fingertip to the blade.

“It’s solid!” she said, and she looked into Harakin’s eyes. “This is amazing!”

Harakin blushed. “Thanks,” she mumbled.

Olona turned to Sumi. “And you can do something, also, right? You’re a Shift, too?”

“Yes, I am. I can make doorways that lead from where I am into other places.”

Olona furrowed her brow. “Is it a form of teleportation?”

Sumi looked around at the others in the room, only a few of whom had ever seen her power in action. “I guess so,” she replied.

“Fascinating,” Olona said, “and when Harakin,” she paused and looked at her fellow teenager without a hint of judgment, “when you attacked Tisa, then Sumi, you did something and it stopped their fight?” she asked.

Sumi looked uncertain. “I don’t know. I opened one of my doorways to try and take away their energies, and I guess that’s what happened.”

“This is all so interesting,” Olona declared. She then looked over at Tchama. “And you’ve been enhanced, is that correct?”

Tchama fiddled with the beige and burgundy scarf that was draped over her scarred shoulder. “Yes,” she said, and she then quickly added, “but I’m not a messiah and I don’t want to be called one,” and she frowned.

Olona put up her hands in a peaceful gesture. “I won’t call you that! We don’t even use that term where we’re from.” She indicated herself and Tisa. “I’m more curious about what changed for you. I’d love to test how strong you are now.”

“How strong my one arm is,” Tchama replied in a cynical tone.

“Yes,” Olona responded, “I’m sorry you lost your arm, but Tisa told me that your remaining arm is so much stronger now. Would you allow me to test the increase to your strength?”

Tchama looked taken aback. “You’re serious?” she asked. “Why do you want to do that?”

Olona made an uncertain expression. “I guess I’m just curious. I’ve never met anyone like you, or Auntie Peg,” and she added, “and I think that I comprehend how different both of your empowerments happened. Really, I only want to see what you can do, if you’re comfortable with that,” she concluded.

“I don’t know,” Tchama replied. “How would you do it?”

“Well,” Olona said, digging in her bag, “let me fashion a pressure gauge and a recorder, and we can test the strength of some of the muscles in your arm. Is that okay with you?”

Auntie Peg was paying close attention. She seemed very interested in the information that Olona was hoping to determine.

Tchama looked around at the others. “I guess so,” she said, turning back to Olona.

The group ate their pastries while Olona worked, and before they were finished with their sweets, she said, “Almost done.” Then she held out her hand with a strange mechanical device.

“Tchama, just start by squeezing that in your hand,” Olona instructed. “It’ll register and track the pressure you can exert. I’ve already calibrated it to my normal hand’s squeezing pressure.”

Olona placed it in Tchama’s palm.

“Okay,” Tchama said. She gave the contraption an uncertain look, closed her fist, and crushed it.

“Oh, wow!” Olona said in delighted surprise before Tchama could apologize. “You’re exceptionally strong!” She started assembling another device.

“How much stuff do you have in that bag?” Dotty Marbles asked.

Olona looked up and around at the group, a little guilty. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve got a tendency to completely take over conversations. Sorry about that.” She turned towards Tisa, but Olona was surprised to see that she was beaming at her.

“Well, I,” Auntie Peg said, “am very much enjoying watching you buzz around us like a busy bumble bee,” she finished with a chuckle.

Tisa answered Dotty Marbles’ question. “Olona always has a bag full of gear.”

Olona grinned. Then she looked at Tchama and said, “This one will be much sturdier.” Olona gave the second device a squeeze to calibrate it, and she extended it to Tchama. “Let’s try that again,” she said in a positive tone.

Tchama’s brow furrowed, as she took the device and squeezed. She did not break it this time. Then she opened her hand and extended it to Olona.

“Thank you!” she said. To everyone’s surprise, Olona rolled up her sleeve and removed a rectangle of skin from her forearm that turned out to be a false covering. It protected and concealed a device that was held within her flesh. Olona pulled a small silver cable that uncoiled, and she attached it to the device in Tchama’s hand.

There was a pause.

Olona chuckled to herself, shook her head, and told the group, “Her strength is literally off the scale that I’ve been able to program. Tchama didn’t destroy my second device,” Olona explained, “but it came back with an error message, and I don’t have the proper equipment to make a gauge that will register her strength. Wow,” she whispered again. “That’s really impressive.”

Tchama was again caught off guard by Olona’s complementary words and tone. It was not that everyone with whom she was now friends was not kind or sweet, but this quirky new individual was the first person to display awe and wonder at her change, a change that Tchama spent the past several months resenting in her mind. There were moments of frustration where Tchama considered that it would have been better for her to have died on that grimy street during the battle of Gate Town. Olona made Tchama feel, for the first time, like consuming the photonova gland was in fact the right decision.

“How do you not know about Messiahs down in, what is it, Zin?” Thcama asked Olona.

“Xin,” she corrected with a smile. “I don’t think we have them down there, at least, I’ve never heard of Messiahs before, but Xinitians also act like Shifts don’t exist. We don’t even have a word for them that isn’t derogatory,” Olona continued. “Shifts aren’t really talked about; their whole existence is just sort of ignored. I think everyone knows that there’s a group of weird…” she caught herself and threw her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry! That’s not what I meant!” she backtracked. “Not weird, just, people who can do something different from everyone else, it’s not a subject that is discussed.”

Tisa said, “I don’t think most people in Xin know that it’s possible to become a Messiah.”

“I have my doubts,” Auntie Peg commented, “that there are no Messiahs in Xin. I suspect there are little fringe groups, people who have become Messiahs and now congregate together or use their strength to take advantage of people.”

“You know, now that you mention it,” Olona replied, “the commander of the Tuilii la Ru city guard is exceptionally strong, but I never really thought much about it. I have no idea what made her so strong.”

Olona turned back to Tchama, who fidgeted with the sash that hid the stump of her shoulder. “Also, I know that you’re not one of them. I’m just curious about your enhancement, so if you’re willing, I’d love for you to come to my shop sometime so I can get proper readings on your incredible strength.”

Tchama agreed as the final dirty dishes from everyone’s dessert were collected, and the large group split up. Lahari and Sumi went outside into the back garden and Olona asked if she could join them. Tisa and Harakin headed with the queens into the sitting room with Ninyani and Tchama. The groups chatted and mingled, switching members, as conversations merged. Olona shared more than one of her joints with the others, and the large group stayed together laughing and talking until almost midnight.

When they were all finally ready to head out, Dotty Marbles made a request of the group. “If any of you are available tomorrow, please feel free to join me in Gate Town. I’ve been helping to orchestrate repairs from the battle a few months ago. We’ve done a lot, but there’s much more to be done, and we can always use extra hands.” She turned to her partner. “Auntie Peg and Ninyani will be at the clinic as usual, but whoever else is available would be greatly appreciated.”

They all agreed and offered their help the following day, before heading out into the darkness and going their separate ways★