Elodie’s tone took on the cadence of a teacher’s. She held up her hand, her forehead furrowed in concentration. “Kimoves through and over everything. It is raw power.”
Her hand lifted as the air stirred beneath it, ruffling Kira’s hair and tugging on her clothes.
“It comes from within and without. Some have vast stores of the soul’s breath waiting inside them. Others, a very small amount.”
The wind settled, and Elodie’s hands rose, sketching the rune for a shield. It popped into existence.
“However, the skill to manipulate it into different forms depends on a person’s affinities. This is my version of thekishield, one of the first things taught to initiates,” Elodie said, her forehead wrinkled in concentration. “Finn, would you care to demonstrate the difference.”
Finn’s lips quirked as he stepped forward. His hands flowed through the gestures impossibly fast. His gestures looked markedly different than Elodie’s to Kira’s untrained eye.
When his shield burst into existence, Kira thought she saw what Elodie had been speaking of.
Finn’s shield was larger than Elodie’s and carried with it a substance, whereas Elodie’s shield looked small next to it and almost fragile. Very little force would be needed to puncture it.
Of the two, Kira was willing to bet Finn’s would deflect a much stronger attack.
“The way we get to an outcome differs,” Quillon instructed. “Elodie used akattamore suited to her abilities. Finn, a different one.”
With a grunt, Elodie’s shield vanished, and her hands dropped. After a moment, Finn’s shield disappeared as well.
“Elodie’s affinity is more suited to precision and control. It’s why she’s a healer,” Quillon said. “Whereas Finn has devoted his life to protecting others. His affinities suit that drive.”
“I think I am beginning to understand,” Kira said slowly.
“A person’s affinity determines what skills they are most suited to learning,” Elodie said. “You can try to refine and perfect what you have, but trying to learn an opposing affinity would be like a blind person learning to see.”
“Not impossible, just very, very difficult,” Finn said.
“Why the gestures and symbols when using theki?” Kira asked. She had always been able to use the soul’s breath without them.
“They help ourkiflow into the form we want it to take,” Elodie explained.
“Visualization is the starting point of any use ofki.We’re taught thekattasto give us a form through which thekican flow.” Quillon’s fingers flicked and a shield formed around him. “It’s possible to force yoursoul’s breath into the form you want without it, but it’s much more difficult.”
“Thekattasmake things easier,” Finn said.
“How do they work and where do they come from?” Kira asked.
Elodie shrugged. “I’m sure the theorists could give you an explanation. Most of us simply learn the forms. As to where they came from, that’s a history lesson for another day.”
Kira stepped closer to the table. “And you think this will help me?”
Elodie lifted a shoulder. “I think it will give you more information. That’s what you’re here for, right?”
She wasn’t wrong.
Elodie gestured at the table. “Hold your hand over the stones.”
Kira complied, feeling a little foolish.
“Now, concentrate on which of these call to you,” Elodie said. “Feel the soul’s breath moving through you.”
There was only one problem with that. The inhibitor was supposed to prevent her from touching herki.
How could she feel it when there was a glass wall between it and her?
Kira held her hand above the table, but like at Luatha, she didn’t feel pulled in any one direction.
