Druidess Found (Druidess Trilogy Book 1) Machelle Hanleigh (best ebook reader under 100 .TXT) 📖

handed him the cup with the packet inside it. "When she wakes, mix the packet with warm water and have her drink all of it. It will help with the aftereffects of," Shimani stopped, "it will help," he said.

Moto suspected it was the look he gave Shimani that altered what he was going to say. He chided himself for lack of control over his emotions, and his inability to keep them from showing.

Shimani handed him a small jar. "This is salve for her injury." Shimani looked from the jar and back to Moto. "You can figure out what to do with that." He set a cloth in Moto's hand with the jar.

Moto would have smiled at Shimani's obvious embarrassment, if the situation wasn't so grim.

"I put some more water in the pot," Shimani pointed to the one he took off the hook and placed next to the other one. "I mixed some porridge in the smaller one that should be ready when you wake. It shouldn't upset Kaily's stomach. Make sure she eats something after drinking that."

Moto nodded. He set the cup next to bowls placed on a flat rock that doubled for a small table near the fire pit, not the same flat surface the pots were on to keep them warm. There was a larger table with cushions placed around it for sitting and eating. Moto didn't see Shimani place the cushions, but his attention was focused elsewhere.

"This is for you," Shimani handed him a cup with warm liquid in it.

Moto accepted the offering and sipped the contents. It wasn't bad, and he suspected Shimani put something in it. He wasn't certain for what purpose, and neither was he in the mood to ask.

Shimani set up another pallet and blanket near Kaily's. He set a few other things up, that Moto didn't quite pay attention to, and then Shimani joined him near the fire. "Back there," Shimani said pointing to an opening in the back-corner Moto hadn't noticed "is a room that will be good for training Kaily to control her abilities."

"What makes you think I'm going to train her?" Moto asked. He couldn't keep the anger from his tone. He was angry, angry at himself, angry at Kaily, angry at everything and everyone. A part of him knew he didn't have a right to be so angry, yet he was.

"You have no choice." Sari sat on the other side of Shimani and accepted the cup he handed to her.

Moto glanced at Kaily, "I wouldn't know where to begin." He turned back to Shimani and Sari, "If she did," he took a breath, "if she destroyed the clearing, she is more powerful than I have seen, more powerful than I am. How am I supposed to train her to control that much power?"

"You only need to teach her control," Sari said. "As long as you keep her talisman, and it remains in that pouch, she can't access it to pull energy from Ki. She shouldn't be able to hold so much energy within her being without her talisman, at least not yet." Sari glanced at Shimani.

Moto narrowed his eyes on the two of them. "Why do I suspect you both know more than you are sharing with me?"

"Because we do," Shimani said. "Ow!"

Sari smacked him hard. She pulled out her own talisman and handed it to Moto.

Moto turned it over in his hand. The multiple colors swirling inside gathered in equal portions similar to Kaily's and there was silver webbing overlaying the talisman. He turned startled eyes to her as he handed it back. "I was with you when you pulled your talisman from Crystal Lake and it did not look like that."

Sari smiled. "No, it didn't. Things changed since then."

"So, I see." Moto said. He waited. He tried to push his anger down.

"After you were named a Chosen and left our village, I was called back to Crystal Lake. I won't bore you with the exact details, suffice it to say that I entered Crystal Lake again and when I emerged my talisman looked like this." Sari held her talisman up to the light.

"And your eyes?" Moto asked.

Sari nodded. "And my eyes changed at the time as well."

"Why haven't you come forward?" Moto asked.

Sari looked to Shimani and back to Moto. "It isn't time." She held a hand up to stay Moto's protests. "I am not at liberty to give the full details at this time. Please understand, Moto, there are events in motion that go beyond our own small existence in the villages. Trust me as you always have. I will reveal my destiny when the time is right, but until that time, you must keep my secret. Please."

Moto looked away and shook his head.

"Moto." Sari said drawing his attention back to her.

"Fine, I'll keep your secret." Moto looked at Shimani and then back to Sari. "So, have I been training Shimani or him me?" There was disdain in his tone. He didn't like being made a fool of, and he felt like he had been the fool. He felt like he didn't know the only two individuals he trusted for so long and the only two he let get close to him. He kept others at a distance, never quite letting them see him for himself. That he kept hidden behind closed doors. He let Shimani and Sari see the person he showed to no one else.

Sari smiled. It was a smile that held a measure of something that Moto could not quite make sense of nor could he decipher the emotions he felt emanating from her for a brief moment . "Both. This one," she thumped Shimani on the side of the head "is still too impetuous."

Shimani shrugged. "What can I say? I'm young."

Sari shook her head at Shimani. "Moto, are you still having your night terrors?"

"Not since Kaily came to Ki. Why?" Moto asked.

"Curiosity," Sari said.

"Curiosity?" Moto raised an eyebrow. "That's all you're going to say?"

Sari's smile widened. "Fine, it's more than that.