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//A new ?//
//Not now, Melissa. As soon as you can resume your lessons we will discuss
it. Go in and eat breakfast now. You have a full day's work.// And he stopped
Reading.
Melissa survived the next two days in a ferment of curiosity but every time
she met Jason's mind he gave her a curt reply and shut her out. Finally, the
third day, she was scheduled to resume her lessons with him.
It was weeks since she had left her body she wasn't sure she could do it.
When it worked, she decided she must be nearly well, as a Reader's powers were
directly related to his or her health. Savage Adepts, she had been told,
weakened their bodies when they used their powers the only reason the empire
had any hope at all against them.
Since she had been thinking about the savage attack, the first thing Melissa
blurted out when she met Jason's mind that morning was, //I must tell you what
Alethia's been telling me. All kinds of wild rumors are coming down the Path
of the Dark Moon. What did you learn in Tiberium?//
//We are not here to gossip,// Jason chided her. //Have you mastered the move
to the plane of privacy?//
//I haven't even tried since you left,// she told him. //First I was hurt,
and then I was too busy. Didn't Master Florian tell you?//
//You've had no lessons at all?//
//No. There hasn't been time.//
Despite their bodiless state, something like a sigh of exasperation came from
Jason. Was he angry at her?
He caught the thought she had meant to keep private, and replied, //No, I am
not angry with you, Melissa. I am& concerned about your progress. However,
your experience may have worked to ease your anxiety. You were badly hurt. You
passed out but you didn't die.//
//What has that to do with moving to another plane of existence?//
//When you Read that you could not get out of the building by yourself, why
did you not leave your body and direct one of the other Readers to it? You
stayed, passed out, and could have died. The smoke damage to your throat and
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lungs, the days of pain, were unnecessary. Because of your fear of leaving
your body, you caused it harm. Never would you leave your surgeon's tools in
the rain to rust yet you left the most important implement of your skills,
your physical self, for others to rescue. You became a liability,' a patient
instead of a healer. I commend you for working so hard as soon as you were
able but you would never have been hurt in the first place if you had used
your skills to save yourself!//
Melissa was stunned. The last thing she had expected was a scolding for being
hurt! Guilt stabbed, for Jason was right; she should have been willing to let
go of her physical being before it overclouded her mind and made her unable to
function. //I& didn't think,// she said contritely.
//Nor did the other teachers expect you to,// Jason told her. //Do you
realize what their unwavering praise for you means? They didn'texpect any
better of you! I expect more, Melissa. Can you give it?//
For Jason? //I can give it.//
//Then make certain that your body is safe& and know thatyou are something
separate from it. You know where your body is. We are going only to a plane of
privacy for a lesson you are safe with me, Melissa. Perhaps one day you will
feel secure enough to make the twists and turns a Master Reader must know but
there will be none of that today. No way to get lost. A simple move //
Adrift on the hypnotic flow of Jason's reassurances, Melissa for the first
time released her attention from the physical world to concentrateonly on his
essence and together they& moved& to another plane.
Suddenly the entire universe consisted of nothing but Jason and Melissa!
As far as she could Read, Melissa perceived nothing nothing as an actual
entity, it seemed, rather than as the absence of something. It pulled at her,
wanting her to spread to fill the void. Jason was there, allowing her to
experience without interference but she knew that if she did not resist the
pull he would draw her back. With that reassurance, she was not afraid.
When Melissa had more or less settled into equilibrium, she asked, //Does
anything else happen?//
//No and that is the danger here, the desire tomake something happen. Never
seek this plane alone, Melissa; without another mind as an anchor, the desire
to find the something youthink must be beyond the emptiness can become too
strong to resist.//
//Something beyond the emptiness? I don't sense anything like that.//
The essence of a tolerant smile warmed her. //That is my impression. You
perceive it another way?//
//Avoid, wanting me to fill it.//
//Aye equally dangerous. On one hand, you must become accustomed to the
sensation, so you can ignore it and do the work you came here for, but on the
other you must not get so used to it that you allow it to slip up on you and
draw you away, unaware. Another reason never to come here alone.//
//Why would anyone come here alone? A Reader alone can have privacy just by
not Reading.//
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//There are& other uses for the plane of privacy. However, they are not a
part of your lessons for Magister rank. Congratulations, Melissa. You have
just passed the crucial test you will do with the Masters exactly what you
have just done with me. Your continued role as a healer will be assured.//
She had not even been thinking of that! Perhaps that was why she had finally
been able to do it? It didn't matter; she was here, alone with Jason. //What
do I do now, Magister? Or& are you Master Jason now? No one has told me.//
//No, I am not a Master,// he replied. //All we are going to do today is
remain on this plane for a brief time, and then return. Each time you will be
able to stay a bit longer without fear of being seduced into remaining here.
But today we have only a little time, and thereare things I must tell you,
lest you destroy your life as a healer.//
//What?//
//I will be going away soon, Melissa. That is good, for otherwise, as my
student, you might come under suspicion just as Master Lenardo's student,
Torio, came under suspicion when his teacher and close friend defected to the
enemies of the empire.//
//Suspicion of what? You haven't done anything wrong!//
//I asked the wrong questions. I asked about Lenardo, because of the things
you told me but I kept the Council of Masters from finding out that you were
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