When I woke, it seemed the room was still red and I bolted upright, but it was only the rising sun tinting the world a scarlet hue. I withdrew Kearse’s medallion from beneath my pillow; it was still gold. I took a deep breath and quietly swung my legs out of the bed and managed to put on my pants one handed.

Karan woke up as I was struggling to button my shirt, she helped me get dressed and then we woke Isaac and finished getting ready for the day.

Emerging from our cabin a few minutes later, fully dressed, with the book tucked under my arm I asked, “Shall we see what Eldarion has planned?”

There was a small amphitheater carved out in the shallow depression between two roots underneath the treetop village. It was in the center of the amphitheater I found Eldarion and Risha sitting cross-legged, apparently already deep in meditation. As we approached Eldarion’s eyes slowly opened and the corners of his mouth twitched up into a smile.

“Please, place the book here,” he said, indicating a small wooden lectern that sat at the back of the theater, near the trunk of the large tree.

I did so and he then gestured for us to sit on the ground in front of him.

“Risha, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“I enjoy meditation and I can offer assistance to anyone who struggles achieving the trance,” she answered.

“While we wait for the others,” Eldarion began, “You can all begin practicing clearing your minds in preparation for our meditation. Have a seat here and cross your legs. Take deep breaths and let the air slowly out of your lungs. It can help if you imagine your thoughts leaving with your breath.”

As he was explaining this Jacob, Bethany and Ezra arrived and joined us on the cold earth beneath the tree. I listened to the others breathe slowly and I tried to do what Eldarion described, but my thoughts would not leave with my breath. My shoulder and leg were throbbing and made sitting cross-legged nearly impossible.

“If you are still having trouble clearing your thoughts,” Eldarion continued, as if reading my mind, “there is another technique you can try. Imagine a flame in your mind. Push whatever is on your mind into the flame and then, finally, extinguish it.”

I could feel this technique start to work immediately. As I fed the flames, the noises of the forest dropped away into silence and my awareness of my surroundings slowly vanished. The pain in my limbs faded. It was just me, my thoughts and the flame; and the more I fed the flame, the closer I felt to the presence inside me. As I visualized the flame going out, I heard a long hiss and, in the darkness of my mind, two yellow eyes slowly opened.

Startled out of my reverie, I looked up to see Eldarion staring at me, “Well done,” he said, “but know that early success can often be a sign of later trouble connecting.”

I looked around at my squadmates, Isaac’s brow was furrowed with concentration and Karan’s face was as still as a placid pond. Ezra, Bethany and Jacob had all found their way into meditation as well. While I had been connecting with my inner Avatar, Richard and Jason had joined in and were settling into seated postures. A passing rebel caught my eye as he walked past the amphitheater, it was one of the Wolves Nicolas had been talking to when we first arrived at the forest camp. He and two of his cronies were staring daggers at me.

Frowning, I turned my attention back to Eldarion. I could see another soldier, a mage by the blue robes he wore, approaching from the direction of the cabins. Eldarion looked up as the mage, Andrew, neared the amphitheater and said, “I believe that’s everyone who will be joining us today. Give me a few moments to catch him up and then we can really get into today’s lesson.”

He briefly walked Andrew through the two meditation styles he had showed us and then returned to his place in the center of the amphitheater.

“Now,” he began, placing his hands on his bent knees, “once you have achieved proper meditative state, I want you to imagine you are reaching out a mental hand into the void within. Seek out the presence within and offer it a path to connect with you. Give that a try now.”

I closed my eyes and summoned up the flame again. This time I started by feeding my grief, my fears and my doubts into the fire first and I found the meditative state even faster. This time a darkened sky spotted with twinkling stars appeared. I heard the flapping of wings and the eyes appeared again in the firmament above. I extended a mental hand to them. At first they only stared at me, but as I pushed closer they began to flutter away, an indistinct form blotting out stars. When I stopped reaching, they came close again, so I just stared into them for a moment. Just like that I felt a connection. It was a small thing, the thinnest of threads, but I could feel it. Moving along that thread was a cooling, healing energy. Then, the eyes winked out and I woke.

The others were standing around a wheeled, wooden cart piled high with food and drinks. They talked animatedly about what their meditations had revealed. As I struggled to my feet, it felt as though the pain in my limbs had eased. It sounded like I was the only one who had made an actual connection with the Avatar within me. The others had caught glimpses of something within, a few had briefly seen their Avatar’s habitats, Karan had seen a vast forest from the top branches of a tall pine tree and Isaac saw a dense rainforest.

Andrew, the mage, was the other success story, he had made contact with the elemental power of ice within himself. His affinity for Ice Magic was even stronger now and his eyes had gone from a chestnut brown to an icy grey-blue. He said he would need some time to learn to harness these new powers and tossed me an apple frozen over with ice.

“I think the other mages will be joining us tomorrow,” Andrew grinned.

Looking at the apple, magnified by the sheet of ice, I realized that the meditation had left me drained and starving as well. I tossed aside a frozen banana and an icy pear and took a huge bite off of a chicken wing.

“How long was I under?” I asked around a second mouthful of chicken.

“About five hours,” Isaac answered.

My eyes widened and I looked for the sun. Sure enough, it had moved high up into the sky since we had started near dawn. It had felt like moments rather than hours I had been traveling in my mind.

“Try some of this, Drake,” Eldarion said, handing me a steaming mug of dark liquid, “It’s an herbal blend specifically designed to counter the aftereffects of the trance.”

“It tastes great too,” said Jason, lifting his own cup, a huge grin on his face.

I lifted the mug to my mouth and drew a sip of the liquid between my lips. It tasted like tree bark but it started working fairly quickly, any remaining sluggishness dissipated and I felt energized. I narrowed my eyes at Jason and his grin grew.

“Delicious, right?”

“Oh ya,” I said, draining my mug and wincing, “S’great.”

“I have a council meeting to prepare for,” said Eldarion, “You are all welcome to remain here to continue your meditations, also feel free to wander the village to find a spot that speaks to you. If you do find your way into the tree village, I urge you to use caution.”

“Thank you elder,” Karan said, curtsying.

“Could I sit in on this meeting?” I asked.

“I was going to ask you to join us, Drake,” Eldarion said, “The meeting will start soon in the large cabin.”

“I’ll be there shortly,” I said, “I’d like to speak to Risha for a moment.”

“Certainly,” he bowed and walked away.

Risha and I walked a little ways from the food cart.

“How much of all this Avatar stuff did you know when we first met?” I asked, keeping any anger I felt out of my voice.

“All of Gran’s children know what she is and where our power comes from.”

“Why didn’t you just tell us what was going on?” A little bit of my anger slipped out must have slipped out because I saw a glint of fear in her dark brown eyes before she answered. She looked down at my hand, clamped onto her arm just below where her black silk sleeve ended and her pale flesh began, then looked up into my face and waited.

I released her arm and took a deep, calming breath, “My apologies,” I deferred, “Will you please answer my question Risha?”

She took a moment to straighten her sleeve and brush her dark hair out of her eyes, tucking a lock of it into her red cloak, taking her time before she answered, “Just because I know about my powers, that does not mean that I know about the powers of others. Gran herself was not sure of anything until she met you in person, or as near as she could get, anyway.”

“Why didn’t she explain everything?”

“Gran did what she could for you, had she done any more it would have given you both away to the the dark powers. She put herself at great risk to help you!” Now it was her turn to show a flash of anger. “The Avatars may not all be on the same side but they are all connected. Had Gran tried to open everything to you it would have called Grimtooth and his hunters right to us. I’m still not sure she managed to escape afterwards,” Tears glistened in the corners of her eyes, “I have faith that she did, but I have not heard from her since..and I fear...”

“I haven’t forgotten that she was a great help to us,” I said softly, “this has just been a lot to take in, you know. I apologize again for being cross with you. I think Gran escaped,” with a gentle hand on her shoulder I continued, “Do you know what she said to me just before she helped us escape?”

A tear ran down her cheek as she shook her head.

“She said ‘Long has the Wolf chased the Fox. Never has he caught her.’” I smiled, “In fact, I’m sure that she eluded him. You’ll be hearing from her soon.”

Risha sniffed and smiled up at me, “Thank you for that.”

“Have I thanked you yet? You have done a lot for us without asking for much in return. I won’t forget that either,” I pulled her to me and hugged her.

After a moments stiffness, she put her arms around me as well and gave me a peck on the cheek, “You should get to that meeting,” she told me with a sad smile, “and I should do some more meditating.”

I left her there, sitting cross-legged, tears drying on her cheeks, reaching out inside herself.

Next Chapter: Chapter 20