Storm Hawks Chapter 42: The Bond

In the past several chapters, we witnessed the first Awakenings.

Mindspeaking

Ashlon speaks telepathically to Isobel, urging her to jump from the ledge. The mindgift he sought to awaken with his vow of silence bursts free in the crucible of danger. Ashlon is the first mindspeaker chronicled in the Rootstock Saga.

Mindspeakers are free telepaths. They are able to project their words into almost anyone’s mind, not only those with whom they have a bond. Mindspeakers are not mindriders. Their telepathy can convey a message, but not an imposition of will. Their mindgift is limited by proximity, but not by physical touch.

Empathy

Isobel senses the collie’s internal injuries with a touch of her hands. The “laying on of hands” Nigel referenced in Chapter 6 was a hint of this mindgift.

Empaths are intuitive healers, able to perceive what lies beneath the skin. Their mindgift allows them to “see” inside a living creature, to perceive pain as heat, to traverse veins, bones, and sinew to diagnose ailments. Their skill increase with practice, and the strongest empaths learn to affect changes in the bodies under their care. Knit a wound. Cool a fever. Calm a racing heart.

Empaths are also acutely sensitive to emotion. They perceive the emotions of those around them as tastes or smells.

Mindriding

Seth, knowingly or not, again shows confidence in his mindriding ability. He has yet to name or acknowledge his mindgift, but he is so certain he can summon the horses back to the glen, he dismisses the problem offhand.

Bonding

Isobel and Seth form a bond in the glen. Adversity awakens gifts, and the bear attack was adversity of the most unexpected and intense sort.

The mindgifted are drawn to one another like lodestones. When like minds bond, their bond is unbreakable. And can be unsettling.

Bonded gifted are bonded telepaths. They can speak freely to each other’s minds, and can communicate with free telepaths, but beyond that their telepathy is limited.

Bonded telepaths are initially limited by both proximity and physical touch in order to communicate. Over time, both constraints lessen.