I immediately lifted my mental barrier, barring him from seeing my thoughts again.
"My apologies, Kailin," Saphir said. "I didn't mean to snoop in your head, and I didn't. Sometimes you just think very loudly. Moki does that too, even without meaning to communicate with me. He projects such vivid images into my head that I have a difficult time ignoring them even though I've seen the same green vistas countless times over the long years he's been my companion."
I looked down at Moki and realized that he must be at least over a thousand years old if Saphir had brought him from the world he'd been hiding in with the dragon eggs. "Is his kind long-lived naturally, or does his longevity have to do with you or Nyxath?"
"It doesn't work that way. The dragon-rider bond is unique in prolonging the lives of riders." Saphir smiled indulgently. "Moki's kind are naturally long-lived, assuming nothing eats them prematurely, that is."
Moki chittered angrily at Saphir, looking offended.
"It's the truth," Saphir said to him. "Your kind's only defense against predators is your intelligence. You are physically defenseless. You should be grateful I brought you here where you're safe or you would have been eaten a long time ago."
Moki cast Saphir another offended look and then turned his back on him, curling more firmly into my lap. I thought about the images Moki had shared with me of his family and his world. How many of them were still alive? How many had fallen to those predators Saphir mentioned so casually?
"Nature is cruel," I murmured.
"It is," Saphir agreed. "Dragons eat sheep and goats. Humans eat both, plus cattle, chickens, and fish. Every predator was once prey to something else. It's the way of all worlds."
"I suppose."
"Speaking of eating," he said, pushing another sandwich toward me, "you need to consume more calories. You're far too thin."
"I lost a lot of weight during the night I dreamt about Podana, and I don't seem able to recover it. I actually like being a little slimmer, but I don't like feeling tired all the time. It's slightly better today because I didn't have dreams last night, or at least I don't remember them, but I still couldn't complete conditioning. Even Captain Odinah took pity on me and told me to do some stretching exercises while she continued to torment the rest of the class."
"That concerns me." Saphir leaned forward, studying me. "Have you been drinking the tea since that night?"
I looked down at the half-eaten sandwich in my hand. "I resumed drinking the tea after returning to the Citadel, but I had these disturbing dreams even without the tea."
"What happened after you drank it?"
I shrugged. "Surprisingly, I didn't dream at all."
"Stop drinking it," Saphir said. "Don't resume until you're completely recovered."
That was what I'd hoped he would say, but it made me uneasy. "I feel like I'm neglecting my duties when I'm not drinking it. What if there's another attack?"
"There are other ways to gather intelligence. You're no use to Elucia if you waste away to nothing." He waved his hand dismissively. "No more conditioning either, not until you're fully restored."
I felt a guilty surge of relief. "If you think that's best."
"I do. Your abilities are unprecedented, Kailin. We don't know what toll they're taking on your body or mind. We must proceed with caution."
"Have you ever felt depleted from using your shamanic abilities?" I asked.
"Never to this extent," he said. "The ceremony at the end of the pilgrimage takes a lot out of me because I scan the minds of over a thousand people each time. It takes me several days to recover from that, but never more than a week. Perhaps you get so depleted because you are not immortal yet. The bond will strengthen you."
"It had occurred to me, but the Day of Volition is five weeks away. Do I stop drinking the tea until then?"
"Let me think about that. Don't drink it until I say you can. Let's see if you can get your strength back without the bond."
Moki chose that moment to crawl up my chest and pat my cheek with one tiny paw, as if in agreement.
Saphir smiled. "Even Moki thinks you need to take care of yourself. Finish your sandwich and take the rest for later. You didn't eat enough."
20
SAPHIR
"Prophecies do not dictate the future; they illuminate possibilities."
