Chapter 32

  The Comfort of Stability

  Annette worked with quiet purpose.

  Her Stability Affinity worked overtime, pushing, trying to settle the rising anxiety crawling through the camp.

  Jimmy and Chris had hunted a couple of boars.

  The two men were locked in the initial stages of cultivating the raw Qi.

  Annette moved toward the center of the fort, where she found Jaime, shivering near the burning coals.

  "The quiet is worse than the noise," Jaime whispered, her eyes flickering toward the motionless figures of Jimmy and Chris. "It feels like we're just waiting for the next bad thing.”

  Annette sat, calmly looking into the fire.

  Jaime felt the vibrations in the air seem to slow down around her.

  The constant weight bearing down on her lightened.

  "We all feel it," Annette said gently. "The fear. The shame of what we had to do to survive."

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  She closed her eyes for a moment.

  "My ability, I think, is about feeling and grounding that chaos. I sense the frantic movement in your heart, Jaime, and I try to simply... still it."

  Jaime sighed, the tightness around her ribs easing.

  "Mine is so simple, so self-focused," she admitted.

  "When I get cold or too scared, I focus, and my Qi makes a layer of warmth. It only works for me, like a safety blanket against the outside."

  George paused from rubbing his knee. "Your abilities are much more defined than mine."

  He flexed his joints, which no longer screamed with the agony of his old injuries.

  "I just know I don't get tired as fast, and my shoulder works almost like it used to. I think my power is just simple Restoration. It uses the Qi to mend the wear and tear."

  "Maybe you will fully heal and get younger George," Annette laughed. "You mend, Jaime defends, I calm, and the others attack. We are all pieces of the same puzzle."

  Jaime looked up, a glimmer of resolve replacing the fear in her eyes.

  "You're right. I need to stop thinking of it as a weakness and start thinking of it as my contribution."

  Rising, folding her blanket neatly, the anxiety replaced by focus.

  “Thank you.”

  “No problem dear,” Annette’s smile didn't reach her eyes.

  Her attention moved back to the twitching forms of Jimmy and Chris

  Chris, face a mask of burning pain.

  Jimmy's blood dripped from his nose.

  Annette tasted iron as she bit her tongue, pushing harder.