"Has Kailin ever shown any prophetic abilities?" I asked.
Shovia started to shake her head, then stopped, her eyes widening. "Actually, maybe. She told me that the night her village was attacked by the Shedun, she had a strange feeling all day that something was going to happen, but she dismissed it as anxiety about being alone in the house for the first time. Her parents had escorted her brother to Skywatcher's Point for his pilgrimage that day, and she was worried about them making the journey. She'd forgotten about the premonition right before the attack until she read the journal entry she'd made that night a few months later."
A chill crawled up my spine.
Kailin had told me about the attack, but she'd only mentioned Chicha's part in raising the alarm and how her little dog had saved the village. She'd also talked about defending her home and about being glad that her family had been safely away, but she'd never mentioned having a premonition.
Shovia leaned against the wall. "Kailin also told me about the connection she felt to Commander Ravel and his dragon, but when he began her training, she never mentioned it again." She flipped her long ponytail forward and started twirling the ends. "What if the training was about developing her connection to Ravel, and the medallion and tea were about developing her premonitions?"
If Kailin could sense Shedun movements in advance, she would be the most valuable military asset in all of Elucia. No wonder they'd forbidden her to talk about it.
"Now I get all the secrecy," I said. "If word got out that a cadet could predict Shedun attacks, she'd become a prime target for assassination."
Shovia nodded. "Let's keep it between us. You can say that she's not feeling well, and it won't be a lie. Poor girl is probablydelirious, but she will be glad to learn that she saved a lot of lives last night."
I hoped Kailin had warned Ravel in time and that the Shedun attack had been repelled before it had started.
As we entered the mess hall, the conversations around us briefly halted, then resumed with increased intensity. I caught snippets as we moved toward the food line.
"Have you seen Morek or Codric?" I asked Shovia as we collected our breakfast trays.
"Codric's over there." She nodded toward a corner table where my cousin sat hunched over, engaged in intense conversation with several other cadets. "Haven't seen Morek yet."
We made our way over to Codric, who looked up as we approached. The usual mischievous glint in his eyes was absent, replaced by worry and stress.
"There you are," he said. "I was about to come looking for you. Have you heard what happened?"
"Shedun attack on Podana." I set down my tray. "We don't know much beyond that."
Codric glanced around, then leaned forward. "It was big, Alar. Many of us heard the dragons landing on the terraces on the upper floors and taking off. It seemed like an entire wing was mobilized. Maybe even more than one. Didn't you hear them?"
I shook my head. "I slept like a rock."
The smile returned to his lips. "Oh, I get it. You were busy." He frowned. "Where's Kailin?" He suddenly noticed her absence. "Still sleeping?"
I exchanged a glance with Shovia before answering carefully, "She's not feeling well, and Shaman Saphir gave instructions to let her sleep."
Understanding dawned in Codric's eyes. He'd always been quick to connect the dots. "Interesting timing," he murmured, too low for anyone but Shovia and me to hear.
There was no way he'd connected the dots like Shovia and I had done. He wasn't as close to Kailin as we were. Then again, solving mysteries was a hobby of his, so maybe he'd been collecting clues for a while now.
As I picked at my breakfast, my mind kept spinning through everything I knew about Kailin, everything she'd told me about herself and her experiences, and my logical brain rebelled against the conclusions I was drawing. There had to be a rational explanation that didn't involve prophetic dreams.
Perhaps she was naturally sensitive to seismic activity that preceded the worms.
Perhaps she had exceptional hearing that detected distant tunneling.
Perhaps...
But no matter how I tried to rationalize it, nothing else made sense.
Kailin possessed an ability that had likely just saved Podana from destruction, and since she was still dreaming, still under whatever spell that tea had cast, still connected to whatever mysterious force was allowing her to warn the Dragon Force of impending catastrophe, she might still be saving lives while the rest of us speculated about what was happening over breakfast.
For the first time since my arrival in Elucia, I found myself questioning whether my mission was truly the most important thing happening here. Perhaps I had been inserted into something far larger, far more significant than I had ever imagined.
I thought of Saphir's cryptic words during our meeting—"You don't have that information yet either, Prince Alar, so you can'tshare it with me. But you will, and then we will go looking for those missing eggs."
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