Eva blinked her eyes at him, giving him a dumb look that said she didn't know what he was talking about. "Do what?"
Chirron's look turned chiding. "Are you playing coy with me?"
Eva lifted a shoulder, not believing for a second that he would act any differently in her place. For people like them, it wasn't always wise to be upfront with their abilities. Acceptance wasn't guaranteed. Eva didn't think that changed just because they both weremyein. Better to be cautious than dead.
"Most people when confronted with something different than them tend to fear it," Chirron prodded.
Eva let out a huff. "Who said I wasn't afraid of them?"
Only an idiot would forget who the mythologicals were. There was a reason the history between them and humans was contentious. She might have made friends among their ranks but there were many who'd like nothing more than to see her gone. Take either species for granted for a single instant and she'd lose everything.
Eva was walking a tight rope where a single misstep could send her crashing to the ground far below. Funny thing was, it wasn't the first time she'd had to walk it. Learning to fit in with the Trateri had carried many of the same trials. Perhaps that was why she was uniquely qualified for the task at hand. She'd done this before.
"You don't seem it."
And he would know, Eva imagined. As a healer he would have seen all types of fear. The terror that came with the knowledge that death was imminent. The despair of watching one you cared for fight that battle and lose. The dread of surviving but not being whole. All the shades of an emotion the Trateri hated more than any other.
"I've lived my life afraid. The thought of letting it control me or my actions terrifies me more than anything else," Eva confessed.
When you faced what she had, you had two choices. Allow your fear to dictate your course or rise despite it. Eva had chosen the second. She couldn't change the way she'd grown up or the betrayals that had threatened to take her life, but she didn't want to live her life under their shadow either. She refused to be someone who built impenetrable walls no one could breach.
Fear was like any emotion. Too much or too little of it would destroy your potential. It could keep you sharp and prevent complacency. Conversely, it could also become an anchor, binding you in place.
Eva wouldn't let the second happen. Caden and the rest had already proven how much she'd miss if she did. Yes, the mythologicals sometimes terrified her on a primal level, but so did flying.
"Where are we?" Eva asked.
Wherever it was, it wasn't the valley. That much she was sure of. It was in the air and land, a subtle difference that she might not have noticed if not for her run in with the cicadas.
There were also the brief flashes of memory of her on a horse with Caden holding her.
Chirron didn't protest the change in subject, going with her flow. "Caden evacuated the valley almost as soon as you lost conscious."
Damn. She'd really hoped she could talk to the Kyren before they set out. They wouldn’t take this unexpected move well. They'd been very clear in their desires. The Trateri were to remain in the valley.
Given the circumstances, she could only hope the Kyren would understand why Caden had made the decision he did.
There was also the issue of what Mist had revealed. Another subject she'd have to address later. Maybe when she wasn't laid out flat on her back and lacking the strength to stand on her own two feet.
"Interesting foe we've found for ourselves," Chirron said, sliding a look toward a flat board lying next to him. Cicadas were pinned in neat little rows. Some wiggled where they were impaled, sparks of conscious lighting up Eva's senses.
She flinched from the sight, unable to help her feeling of repulsion.
Both at their plight and the possibility of having her mind invaded again. Unlike last time, however, those sparks remained as faint flickers, brushing against Eva's tattered defenses and bouncing off again.
Chirron didn't show any indication he'd noticed her discomfort as he brushed a finger along the cicada shells. Most were dead, Eva saw. As she watched, the movements of the few who remained alive got slower and slower.
"Where did you get those?"
Chirron's lips twisted. "Funny thing about pathfinders—their curiosity to understand often overtakes their good sense. Our resident troublemaker caught a few of these to study."
Eva nodded in understanding. The pathfinders—or rather all the ones Eva knew—were notorious for allowing their pursuit of knowledge to occasionally circumvent their better judgment.
What was more surprising to Eva was the fact Chirron had managed to score a few for his own study. Reece didn't strike her as the sharing type. Only when he'd learnt everything he could would he hand them off to others.
Seeing her skepticism, Chirron smirked. "Don't believe me?"
Eva chose not to speak, knowing anything she said would come off as insulting or obsequious.
