Things had changed for us, between us, between Daru and I. We couldn't have secrets from each other, it was
virtually impossible. There was nothing we didn't share. And when we crept into our beds that night, in the loft of the
farmhouse, and we lay under the beams of the full moon that shown almost knowingly down on us both, we turned to face each
other at the same time. And we spoke. What was it like?
I can't really use words…
Show me how it felt…
And we showed each other, with images, with feelings, with thoughts. I knew the feel of power over another person, and Daru knew it too.
We learned from each other every aspect of this that we could glean.
Magick was manifest inside us, we had been taught that by the ever-so-wise Elzbeth. It was more in us than in most things in the world we knew of.
But Elzbeth had never told us about this. About how magick could twist people, could mold them to whatever you desired.
To whatever we desired.
Tikki was vulnerable. She was hungry for love, and in her desperation for security and constancy, to fall into my arms was as natural as anything.
Wasn't it?
But Elzbeth, to move so upon a mere boy, to treat him so much like a man, a desired lover.
That was a very different thing.
I opened my eyes after tasting all of the memories Daru had shared. I could see by the look on his face that he was still sampling
Tikki, through what I had given him out of my memories. But I had questions. Elzbeth listened to you, without you even saying a word. She was a puppet in your hands, a moldable mound of clay controlled by
her own appetites. You did this to her, Daru.
Yes, I think I did.
Could you do it again, if you wanted?
He looked at me, then, and my brother's dark eyes gleamed in the moonlight. His mouth curled in a smile, and he nodded. I bet I could…why?
Well…I dunno…it could be useful, some day…
Daru looked at me curiously then, but I merely rolled onto my back, and folded my hands behind my head. From where I lay, I could tilt my
head back slightly and look right out the slanted roof's open window, staring at the stars. It was the way I loved to fall asleep.
I had plans, schemes, dreams. Ones I knew right then and there that Daru didn't share.
He didn't seem to think beyond today. He was ready to revel in the things that had happened to us both, to fall asleep wrapped in the
memories of the new sensations.
But I wanted more.
The future could be bright, if we both kept learning as we were. And the stars twinkled for me, as if reflecting that future.
There were other places to be, other worlds, other existences.
I wanted them all.
"Now, there is much
about magick a future mage must learn before they think themselves worthy of learning the next step.
"The first step is about limits."
Elzbeth looked at her two pupils, both sitting enraptured at her feet in the large room of her shack. Their dark eyes were intent on her face,
and their auras showed they were soaking up every word.
And oddly, she wanted to give them satisfaction. Feed their hunger to learn what she knew.
"Limits…."
She licked a drop of sweat from her upper lip and looked at the children, her eyes squinting.
"There are none."
Maru'El and Daru'El were taken aback. First they looked at each other, then back to her. Elzbeth could see they were ready to pounce on her
with queries, but she raised a finger to silence them.
"Know this, and know it well, wee ones. Know it, breathe it, live it…"
She paced infront of them, back and forth, as she spoke, avoiding their eyes to avoid pausing in her speech.
"Magick is eternal, and limitless. And we who wield it are only limited by ourselves. By the limitations we put upon our own minds, and the
constraints we allow others to put upon us."
Here she looked at them again. Their gaze was so deep, open, and unnerving.
"When you were young, your mother or father or sister or brother told you, 'don't do this, chil', don't do that, chil', ye will hurt yeself'. And those
kinds of things are the only limitations you have ever known. You have set your lives by them, from when you heard them until now.
"And now is the time to let them go."
Maru's dark brow furrowed, and Daru tilted his head, his generous mouth dropping open to speak, then closing while he thought harder about
whatever his question was.
Elzbeth pointed a long finger at the children.
"You can and should push those limitations aside. You must let them go, see them as the foolish barriers to the true power of the mind that they
are. Anything, and I do mean anything, my dears, is possible."
"Anything?"
At last, Maru had spoken, her voice bright and crisp.
"Anything."
Elzbeth sat down cross-legged infront of the two children, resting the backs of her hands on her thighs, her back board-straight as she prepared for meditation.
"But if we can do 'anything', and there are no limits, how can we know what we can do? How can we ever say 'I can do this' or 'I can do that'? If
we have nothing to define it by?"
Daru's baffled voice was almost plaintive-sounding, as if pleading with Elzbeth to be more clear.
"How do you know, you ask? How do you know?"
She smiled and closed her eyes a moment, then opened one, looking at the twins through a slit.
"How do you know?
"You try."
Elzbeth closed her eyes and began her controlled breathing exercise. And within seconds, the children began to follow her movements as
they all relaxed into organized meditation.
Even though she had taught them this years ago, the older mage whispered instructions to the twins, guiding them with the sound of her sing-song
voice, drawing their minds down into the calm well that was serenity.
"Breathe in the world, through your nose…and release yourself, through your mouth…let go of Time…let go of Space…let go of Feeling and Awareness…and
as you breathe it all in to your soul…and let it all swirl effortlessly out of your body…become aware of everything that opens to you…"
As always, the twin children breathed in sync, an uncanny ability Elzbeth had never commented on but had always kept note of. These two lived almost
as one single being, placed in two bodies. The magickal portents of that were ominous, and no matter how hard she scryed, it was something she could
never pinpoint or decipher. A mystery. Elzbeth hated mysteries.
She watched now as the brother and sister breathed in through their noses, and out through their mouths, soft, whispering, child breaths.
"The Time you let go…feel it become the path you are walking on…the Space you let go…feel it become the tool in your hand…the Feeling you let go…feel it
become your guide in this place…the Awareness you let go…feel it become you…"
She waited a moment, allowing the children to adjust, taking the time to study them.
Maru's chin, almost pointed, held high and proud. Her eyebrows furrowed still…that girl could never seem to relax. But what she did in this state of tension,
that of itself was amazing to Elzbeth.
Daru, ah Daru. The boy with the body of a man. Elzbeth shuddered, remembering that day when she had found herself his willing lover. She had felt so
compelled to…do what she had done. And afterwards, she had felt such shame at her own helplessness. She had simply sent him home, anywhere, she
just wanted him to go away. There had been something in her that felt empty, as if part of a ritual had gone undone, like Daru had left something out. And
she did her best to push the memories out of her head. The half-smile on his lips now reminded her of the look of pleasure he had held, then, though. And
again, Elzbeth shivered.
"Now," she said, returning to the exercise. "Feel with your hands, use the Feelings you have, and push…"
Maru's small hands lifted up, and Daru's soon followed, fingertips outstretched. Their breathing continued, rhythmic and shallow.
"Where you are, you are the master. You are the ruler in that Time and in that Space. You have been to this place before. You thought you knew every
corner, you thought you had explored every crevice of your magick place.
"But you were wrong."
Maru's eyes squinted, closed as they were, and Elzbeth smiled. The twins were so aware of her, such apt pupils to all she had to teach them.
"I have taught you simple spells, the work of charlatans and wise women world-wide. I have no more magick to teach you. From this point on, all I can
do is guide you on your learning. And today, I wish you to show me you can indeed learn on your own."
Daru breathed in with an excited breath, and his sacred place rippled around him before he reined his feelings in and calmed his spirit. Elzbeth watched,
smiling. He had so much power that he had to learn to control. She hoped he was up to the task.
"Push those limits…as you float in your space," Elzbeth said, closing her eyes and lifting her own hands. "Explore that ground,
and expand it…make it larger…wider…deeper. Fill it with magick force and essence, and breathe into it Life."
Elzbeth breathed, a soft smile on her lips as she found her own space. She knew already that where the twins went was special, and her own
special retreat paled in comparison. They had more magick than she had ever imagined a mere human could have. But still, her place was comforting,
pure and white and beautiful.
There is no place like home, Elzbeth smiled to herself.
