TCO: Chapter Four

"This lost warrior must have forgotten the path home," said a quiet voice near Gyan's ear.

Gyan stirred. "I'm waiting," he mumbled sleepily.

He felt something cool tickle the side of his face. As his awareness slowly sharpened, he turned and touched his face where the grass had been. He realized he was still lying on the ground beneath the tree he had sat under just hours before.

"Waiting?" The voice laughed lightly. "Waiting for directions?"

"Huh?" replied Gyan. He opened his eyes with difficulty.

A dark silhouetted person surrounded by light stooped down in front of him.

He lifted a hand to shield his eyes. "Jalena?"

"I apologize for being late, San Gyan. We just finished our meeting." She was still in her ceremonial attire. Strands of hair that had fallen beneath her browband shifted lightly with the breeze.

"It doesn't matter—you're here." He pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"I can't believe you waited," she responded.

"Of course," He smiled lazily.

Jalena returned his smile. "Come." She stood and extended her hand to Gyan. "Let me walk you back, and you can tell me anything noteworthy I missed about the celebration."

Gyan took her hand and hurriedly stood. He self-consciously ran a hand through his hair, realizing that this was the first time he had ever been alone with Jalena. His stomach gave a small jolt as he moved closer to her.

"Are you alright?"

"Eh, yeah," Gyan cleared his throat. "Just a little shocked that you're here, I guess."

Jalena smiled. "It's beautiful here," she said as they started walking down the path that wound through the large boulders and trees along the edge of the fall cliffs. "My nán used to bring me here a lot when I was a child."

"Did she tell you the story behind the magic of the falls?"

"Yes. But her version may differ than what others have said," Jalena replied. "I have heard many claim that if you make a wish during the Aléise a Estel the magic of the falls grants your heart's desire as long as it is within the bounds of free will for all involved. However, I'm unsure if it is the magic of the falls alone that manifests a wish, or if the wish is granted simply because people believe that the falls contain magic."

Gyan nodded. "Many swear by the claim, but I've never experienced it."

Jalena continued, "If you think more about it though, then if the belief is what contains the magic, however, and not the Tran Ceiabré, it would be irrelevant whether or not the falls are magical in that particular way…only that people believe they are."

Gyan raised an eyebrow. "Have you had a wish come true after swimming in the pool then?"

"I think, yes. The only time I have ever wished upon their magic was once when I was a young girl. I wished that my nán would come to me in a dream and repeat the same story she had read to me almost every night up until I was six years old."

"So, out of all the wishes you could have made, you wish to hear a story?"

"At the time there was nothing else I desired more than to hear than my mother's voice. Why? Do you think it's strange?"

"No…I mean, yes, but in a good way," Gyan replied. "Your nán, she is…"

"Yes. You could say, as some do, that she joined those in the stars when I was six. She and my father fought alongside each other as light warriors. After she died, a year later my father petitioned to become an elder master, uneager to go back into the field unless duty demanded it. It was not easy for him to continue in the field without her at his side."

Jalena stopped at the edge of the falls. Gyan, captivated by Jalena's voice, remained silent as she continued. "The story my nán used to tell me was about two young girls who were the best of friends. One girl, Timae, was crippled but exceptionally intelligent. Despite her physical pain, she felt nothing but love for all things. Her best friend, Leyse, a healthy and beautiful girl, used to push Timae everywhere in her medical chair, often protecting her from others when needed. As a team, they spent much of their time together and went on many adventures. Any issue encountered was solved by combining their strengths: Timae's intelligence and Leyse's physical health—one's strength compensating for the other's weakness. Everyone in Yevani knew the two were inseparable. Timae soon discovered that she was terminally ill. Before she died, she confessed to Leyse that she would have given anything to be like Leyse, as Leyse confessed to being envious of Timae's intelligence and selflessness. Leyse said she wished it was her time to go too so they could remain united as a team, but Timae reassured Leyse that she would still be a part of her, no matter if Leyse could not see her. She told Leyse that the bond of a true team could never be broken, even in death, and Timae would protect her even if she forgot that she was around. After Timae died, any time Leyse could not understand something or was in need of guidance, Timae appeared in her mind with the solution."

"This was your favorite story as a child?"

"Yes. I realized later that my nán was not only teaching me about true bonds, but indirectly about perception," Jalena replied. "About how we often do not see our own beauty, but our inadequacy, where others who do not share our full perceptions see our attributes easily. The story also taught me that energy remains when it is no longer bound in physical form. I think that the reason Timae always appeared when Leyse needed her was because she believed that Timae had the solution and expected her to reveal it. Her belief made it possible."

"Like the belief in the magic of the falls?"

Jalena nodded. "However, the magic seems to work even for those that are skeptical at times so there must be something else occurring."

"I take it that your nán returned to tell the story?" Gyan asked.

"Yes, the same night after I swam in the pool, she came to me in a vision. My mother also added to the story, reminding me that the strengths we perceive in another but feel we lack, just as the two girls did, are simply qualities that have only remained undiscovered within ourselves. I think this is because we are limited in how we define things, and, as a result, we often fail to look at the variety an attribute can take."

"Such as?" asked Gyan. He had become so intrigued by their conversation that his nervousness faded. He had often attempted to spark philosophical conversations with the other warriors, especially about training methods, but none of the others seemed to share his interest except for Valora, so Jalena's in-depth view on perception impressed him.

"Well, for example, intelligence and beauty can both take many forms, but because we personally define it in a specific way, we often fail to see alternative forms of these qualities. But nán also said that for us to be able to recognize a gift or quality in others there must be some evidence of the quality within our own being."

"So, the thought that we lack something another has is an illusion?"

Jalena nodded. "Exactly. We must possess the same attributes we see in others or we would not be able to recognize them."

"And yet," Gyan said, "if we always feel we are lacking a quality to a degree, like the two girls in the story, could we ever really fully experience what it feels like to have what we think we lack, despite another's reassurance that we do actually possess that quality?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, take something like intelligence, for instance. If one never has an encounter in which they actually feel intelligent, one cannot understand what it is like to beintelligent, even though they observe intelligence in others and are reassured that they possess it."

"Yes…perhaps you're right," said Jalena.

"It is the same with love."

"Love?" Jalena raised her eyebrows.

Gyan nodded. "I mean, can we really understand the capacity of true love without experiencing the whole? Can we really feel the magnitude of love as a whole if it is never returned in the manner or strength in which it is given? Until then, you are simply one side of a greater piece and therefore incapable of judging or viewing the whole perspective accurately until it is experienced, despite even when others tell you that you are loved."

A small smile appeared on Jalena's face as she watched Gyan intently. "Go on."

"If we are unable to experience feeling whole without another and do not understand that our perceived lack is only an illusion, then it is logical that we would seek a connection to another we feel has the attributes we think we need in order to feel complete," he continued. "As with the two girls in your nán's story, they had experienced as a team what the other perceived to be lacking, which is why they made a good team. In their friendship, they completely complemented each other."

"I had no idea you were this philosophical, Gyan."

"Or you." He grinned and walked over to the edge of the large pool of water, thinking about Jalena's wish to hear her mother's story.

"What was your mother's name, Jalena?"

"Leyse," Jalena said quietly after a short silence.

Gyan turned to Jalena in surprise as affection overcame him. He reached out to touch her arm but immediately pulled his hand back as he noticed a blue light forming in the middle of his hand. It extended to the outer rim of his fingers.

He gasped and shook his hand as if to try to rid his hand of the light.

Jalena laughed and stepped closer to him, placing a hand on Gyan's upper arm. "It's alright, Gyan. When your power is triggered from a greater level, that will happen when a warrior feels a moment of sympathy or compassion for another. The light produces a calming effect through touch. It occurs automatically in response to immediate emotion. We can also direct or will it to appear."

"How come it's never happened before?" he asked, holding up his hand to examine it.

"Most of our light abilities are triggered at specific points in time, usually in a moment of affection, a feeling of protection, or in the midst of danger.

"You have reached san level so your development will accelerate now. The training that awaits you and your team will help trigger more development also. She paused as she moved her gaze to the falls. "Thank you…by the way."

Gyan gave a short nod, pleased with the adrenaline that shot through him at seeing light emerge from his hand, but embarrassed that Jalena knew the intensity of what he was feeling for her in that moment.

Jalena knelt by the edge of the fall pool. "Perhaps there is magic that influences all things, Gyan, even for experiencing the complete feeling of love that you inquire about. If one is capable of imagining the experience or believing in it, then it should exist on some level, yes?" She glanced back at him. "It only need reveal itself someday."

Jalena quietened as she concentrated on the water cascading into the pool before them. She took a deep breath as she knelt and held her arm out over the water, palm up, staring intensely at her hand for several moments. Blue-white light flashed through her gaze. A stream of white light began to formulate the head of a white monarosia in the palm of her hand, as if the light was drawing a sketch of the flower. The light faded and a real flower sat in her hand.

She studied the flower for a moment before gently laying the monarosia in the pool. Then she stood slowly and watched the gentle ripple of the current carry the flower away.

"Nán always liked the white ones, but the blue ones are prettier don't you think?"

"How did you do that?" Gyan whispered, staring at the flower in surprise.

"Hmm?" Jalena continued to watch the flower.

"The flower, Jalena…. How did you make it?"

"Oh!" she said, turning back to Gyan. "I forgot you didn't know yet… It's Alchemy."

Gyan did not reply, but continued to stare at the floating flower, a look of astonishment on his face.

"Don't worry, you will learn it easily," said Jalena with a casual wave of her hand. "I sometimes forget that you have only just been initiated as a San. Your energy seems to be more than that somehow. You will learn many things about your abilities now though.

"Alchemy is something you learn in master training. I am not allowed to elaborate much on what you are to study next, but you'll be surprised at how fast you'll learn everything."

"There is more than this?" Gyan asked, as he gestured to the monarosia.

"Of course there is." Jalena gave him an incredulous look. "So much more that even the masters are unaware of, I'm sure."

"It just feels as if we have come such a long way after all these years of training, and it's hard to think of what else there is. That is until I saw you create the flower from…nothing." Gyan waved his hand in the air.

Jalena laughed. "It only appears as if it's from nothing."

"You will soon see, San philosopher," Jalena said as they made their way together down the forest trail, "that no matter what level of understanding you're at, there is always something more for even us light warriors to learn."