~*~ ~*~ ~*~
LeShana seethed as Vosthan guided her up the stairs and into the conference room, which just so happened, either by design or chance, to be the only room other than the work room with the heaviest shields. The heavy shielding meant that Vosthan and his conspirators did not want anyone listening in. LeShana remained quiet until they were joined by Destin and Solair, but once the door was closed behind them she exploded.
"What the hell is going on here??!!!" LeShana screamed, yet all of them remained frustratingly silent. "Well?!?"
"LeShana, calm down." Vosthan murmured, only adding to the building fury bubbling up inside of her.
"Why the hell should I calm down, when my own people are conspiring against me?!!!" LeShana countered, not about to let him try to talk her down or shut her up.
"I said calm down!!" Vosthan yelled, and despite herself LeShana could not do anything but follow that order. After three years being his student, her instinctive obedience was still too strong to ignore despite all the intervening years and shared events. "Sit down." Vosthan added in a calmer voice. LeShana bonelessly dropped into a nearby chair but still had enough fighting instinct to glare at the three of them. With his usual senseless grace, Vosthan sat across the table from her and took several deep calming breaths. Destin and Solair remained in the background trying to appear neutral, but she wasn't fooled for a second. "LeShana, I have known you for a very long time. I was the first person to get through your shell when you were brought to the Center, after your parents were killed in that bandit raid. I have watched you grow into womanhood and helped you along as you grew into your power. I have watched with pride as you became one of the most honored agents of the Center. I have considered myself blessed to have you as a part of my life. As a child you told me everything, and when you choose to confide in me, then and now, I was and still am honored." Vosthan paused to take another long breath. "As a child you once told me that you had a best friend, but that no one else could see him. I remember you telling me that the two of you sometimes talked for hours at a time. It is not unusual for gifted children to have imaginary friends, there is a certain isolation that comes from being gifted and the social awkwardness that comes with it, but something about the way you described him struck me as odd. When he failed to be forgotten as you grew older, I knew something was different about this friendship. So I thoroughly checked you for magic, and even went as far as calling in agents who specialized in other forms of magic, but they too were unable to find anything amiss. However I was not able to let matters settle like that, so I started researching. While that provided me with some ideas it failed to offer me anything like proof. In truth I never did find a real answer, but some time ago I come across a theory that ran parallel to my own. What Destin and Solair have told me has strengthened my resolve in this theory." Vosthan paused. LeShana was unable to see where he was going with his speech. "You have life-bonded, LeShana." She was about to start yelling over the absurdity of his idea, but Solair began to speak before LeShana could raise her voice.
"You're showing all the classic signs, LeShana." Solair began in the same soft calm voice she almost always used. "I was the first to recognize it yesterday. I shared my theory with Destin, and once he looked for the signs, he too could see them. So the two of us have been watching you closely to make sure that we were not mistaken."
"But we were not." Destin picked up, without pause, where his bonded had left off. "Bonding is not an easy experience, for either person. It stresses the emotions so that both people involved have trouble dealing with what is going on around them. And both of them will show drastic changes in personality until the bond strengthens." Destin looked a little guilty and fell silent.
"I am not bonded!" LeShana yelled, half ready to go down and kill the boy just to prove it to them. "I mean, how can I possibly be bonded to some untrained Earth mage. I never even met him until seven days ago!!"
"It took me all of five seconds to bond with Solair. We’ve had our hard times, but our situation was not as stressing as yours. At least not at first.." Destin told her, Solair placing a comforting hand on her beloved's shoulder. LeShana remembered how Destin and Solair had arrived at the Center, the story forcing its' way into her thoughts. After those stories bubbled back into her mind she could do little else but look away guiltily, since she would no more want to wish either of them recall those painful memories than she would want anyone to remind her of her own.
"LeShana," Vosthan whispered softly, his voice shaking her out of her dark thoughts. "I have known you a long time, so I can recognize the signs better than anyone else here. You are life-bonded." LeShana simply stared at him, trying to speak up and continue denying everything, but the truth had now been exposed to the light of day and there was no way to avoid it.
"Show her." Solair ordered her own bonded. Destin nodded gravely and pulled a small portable computer terminal from his pocket.
"When we first began to test our theory, I 'borrowed' a portable memory device Raven brought with him last night and I found this." Destin opened the terminal and activated a file. He set it on the table and slid it across to LeShana. All she could do was stare blankly at the journal entry, her mind refusing to read it at first. When she did read it, compelled beyond reason to focus on the words, she noticed that it described a troubled childhood and an unhappy past, until it started to describe the invisible girl that had befriended a lonely young boy. The mood seemed to lighten every time the name Sione was mentioned. When LeShana finished the journal entry, she found that she was unable to speak. Without warning, tears started to well up and she was unable to fight their influence. Vosthan circled the table to gather her in his arms, holding her as she cried.