She’s begging me again. Begging me to fuck her.

  File name: Untold Stories

  Passcode: 8675309

  Six billion—six BILLION views!

  I stared bug-eyed at the summary numbers Peydran sent me.

  Jasen and Alen’s launch was blowing up as they had hoped, and Peydran was fielding calls for potential clients. He was so busy that he'd asked if we could schedule our next video for 3 weeks from now, but wanted me to keep transmitting articles on my site.

  Fine with me! We were rocking.

  There were 19 Chaludra graphics stacked near me, and I turned to them, “Chaludra, my queen! You angel! You have propelled us all into greatness, but I am afraid that it is time to return you to your home. Thank you, dear sister.”

  As I slid Chaludra onto her library shelf, I heard behind me, “Sunshine Ryst. Nice to see you in clothes!”

  “Ha, ha, Sorchen,” I replied as she pulled me into a hug. “You saw, then?”

  “I saw, they saw, there was a lot to see,” she leered at me. “You’ve come a long way from the quiet gal who sat outside by herself.”

  “Yeah, my inner crazy had to take a back seat for a bit, but she’s back. What’re you doing in the library?”

  “I thought I’d find you in the erotica section, giving wardrobe ideas to fair maidens, but, alas, your heart only beats for Chaludra, I see.”

  I snickered. “Chaludra is a fount of wisdom, don’t insult my muse. And how did you know I was in the library? And, you know, how did you know back those months ago when I was asking about the Siblin Lone Warrior Nun? Do you have another sense like me? Are you Talented, Sorchen, ‘cuz I could really use some help figuring things out.”

  “Hmmm, what is Talented, really Ryst? Just a word. A label. I don’t like boxes that people can tick off to describe me and define me.”

  “So cryptic, Sorchen,” I said rolling my eye exaggeratedly. “Are you really not going to help me with this and leave me guessing?”

  “I am helping, in my own way. Let’s walk and talk on our way to lunch.”

  I followed her out of the library as she asked, “What does it mean to ‘have a Talent,’ Ryst? Was Michelangelo less talented than you? Are you so different from him? And what of the child who didn’t speak until he was five and then was a virtuoso poet? Is he talented?"

  "We want to say some people are ‘normal' while others are ‘Talented,’" she continued. "We like to define things into categories; and I concede that we need to, otherwise we couldn't communicate at all."

  "But at what point do our classifications become limitations?” Sorchen gestured to the dining commons, and we headed that direction.

  "We start thinking of people or cultures as one thing,” she went on. "And then they go and put on a sexy costume and shock unflappable comedians. So, thank you, Ryst Nova, for proving me right! Putting you in a box in my mind and then watching you break out of it was an excellent confirmation that labels can lead us to false assumptions about identities. We only look like fools in the end!”

  “You’re sort of turning my head upside down right now.” There was some sort of bewildered and honored “Hunh!” bursting out of my lips that wasn’t quite a snort or a giggle.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “Returning the favor, Ryst Nova!” she said sardonically.

  My eyebrows rose. “So, are you saying that when I zapped your mind at that dinner a few months ago—yes, I saw you turn your head, Sorchen. You and three other people. You heard me, didn’t you? Are you saying that isn’t a Talent? That Talents aren’t real, because you were there, and I saw it!” I said, incredulous.

  She shook her head, “I’m not saying that it wasn’t real. I’m only asking questions, Ryst. About how we define ourselves. If Michelangelo were here right now, would you be asking him if he has a Talent? Maybe what we call Talent is just who people naturally are.”

  My face twisted up in a confused grimace. I could see what she was saying, but my brain couldn't compute such an abrupt shift in how I thought about myself.

  “But, Sorchen, I thought I was going mad when I came to Shurwinn. I really thought I’d been so traumatized and stressed that my brain was breaking down. I kept hearing people’s thoughts, and feeling their anxiety. That didn’t happen to me before my coma!” I objected.

  "When I finally started talking about it to Denten, he told me about Talents. And it was a huge relief! For the first time, I wasn’t alone. So, I don’t want to go back to thinking that I don’t have a Talent. Because there’s something going on with me that isn’t normal,” I said decisively.

  Sorchen grabbed her lunch tray and filled a bowl with steaming curry while she answered. “I didn’t mean to suggest that what you’re experiencing isn’t real, Ryst. I know it is real. What I am saying is that you asked me if I am Talented.”

  "My answer is that I don’t like labels like ‘Talented' or ‘seelee' because I think they limit us. It’s as though, at some point in our history, we saw children who heard the animals and called them ‘seelee.' Then all the other children were 'non-seelee.' And we stopped there. We stopped asking questions,” she cautioned.

  "Could the sealees teach other children to do what they do? We don’t know,” she continued. "Can you teach me to do what— "

  I cut her off, “Do you WANT me to school you in the ways of the Sybils?” I challenged, spooning pineapple onto my plate.

  Her evasive laughter filled the dining hall and gave me the feeling there was a lot more to Sorchen than what I saw on the surface.

  I took another look at what she’d just said, and all of it gave me an odd, floaty feeling. Could there be more Sybils like me if I just taught them?

  “Hmmm,” I murmured, looking around the dining hall. “I see what you’re saying. Maybe there are others who could learn? Some people have it naturally, and some can be taught?”

  I shook my head, “No, Sorchen. I don’t want to teach this to anyone. First of all, it’s really overwhelming. Secondly, what if someone unscrupulous found out and wanted to use the Talented? Like a corporation, or a research institute? I mean, they’d want to use me as a spy or something, and that would ruin me. I’d rather have died in that coma than be used.”

  “Yes, and I agree with you Ryst,” she nodded, setting her tray down on the table.

  I took a sip of smoothie and motioned for her to continue.

  "That’s one of the things that IS helpful about us having labels like ‘seelee' and ‘Talented.' Because our whole sphere knows about it, and we're all in agreement that we protect our vulnerable. The seelees usually start communicating with animals, usually mirkas, but sometimes more, when they're very young, just toddlers,” she explained, filling in a detail I’d been wondering about.

  "And no one, no one on this sphere is going to allow our children to be used or studied. That’s part of the martial art of Tindin. We train and protect. We nurture a mystical connection. We watch for people who are demonstrating connections to mystical forces so we are ready for the challenges that could surface,” she told me.

  I nodded slowly, “Yeah, I’m seeing it. It’s starting to make more sense. So, do you know much about Talents and people like me?”

  “That’s what I mean about labels. We don’t know much because we assume it’s rare. Is this happening across the Known Cosmos? We don’t know because we haven't looked much further than Tindin. Which basically says, ‘Your path will take you where it takes you and Tindin and your Teacher is there as a witness, not a guide.' It’s self discovery, but it’s not mastery that comes from the outside. It’s very hands off,” she clarified.

  “And, oddly, it works,” I interrupted. “I’m proof of that!"

  “Right!” she agreed. “But most people here ignore Tindin because it makes more sense in their daily lives to say, ‘There are seelees out there, and there are things we don’t understand. Let’s go eat dinner.' You know?” she asked, dropping an apple core on her plate.

  “Yeah, I see what you mean,” I agreed. "There’s not a lot of help for someone like me, or at least, there’s no one to tell me what to do. No manual. I've already figured that out. Maybe it would helpful to try and teach other people, and I wouldn’t be trying to navigate this alone."

  I shrugged, unsure. "You say you’re not an expert, Sorchen, but you seem to have thought about this an awful lot.”

  “I have recently had a very good reason to think deeply,” she replied, looking pointedly at me. "And now, what’re you doing this afternoon? I’m gonna re-shelve library books. Wanna help?”

  “Absolutely!” I agreed. If I kept Sorchen talking, maybe she’d keep spilling Shurwinn’s secrets.