Chapter Eighteen - Part Two - Therapy Talk

"Are you alright dear?"

This time, Leta actually shrieked a little bit when Eriene brought a plate of small lemon cookies to the table.

"Oh my… you scared me." she exhaled, one hand on her heart to feel that it wasn't about to burst from her chest.

Leta realized she'd responded in Old Curonian when the older woman smiled.

"It is so good to hear my native tongue." Eriene answered in kind, "I had not spoken it to anyone in so long that I was beginning to forget the meaning of some words."

Leta awkwardly took a cookie. What could you say to comfort someone who was literally the only relic left of an entire culture?

"Tea?" Eriene inquired.

When Leta answered in the negative, the older woman beamed as she poured herself a cup.

'I guess, if she's the last of her culture then the least I can do is give her some comfort of home.'

"You seem to have many troublesome thoughts about something." Eriene pointed out, "You're eyes were that of someone whose mind was closer to the stars than those around them. If you are in need of someone to confide in, I am hear to listen. Much of being a Healer is being a good listener."

Leta gave her an apologetic grin and spoke in Old Curonian, "Sorry if I worried you. You're right, there is a lot on my mind."

The old woman nodded, "You have stumbled into a very dangerous game, my dear, where winners see another sunrise, and those that lose, die."

Eriene sat up straight in her chair. "How about this, yes? I will ask you a question, and you will give me the first, surface thought as your answer. It doesn't have to be the most important or the most extreme, but the first thing that your mind supplies. Yes?"

Leta ran a hand through her hair and sighed, "Okay, sure."

Eriene nodded. "After everything that you have experienced in the last day, what is the first emotion that you are experiencing? That first layer."

Licking her lips, Leta answered. "Fear. Fear is that first layer. Everything wants me dead. Someone I'd looked up to tried to murder me last night, and a few hours before that I was being chewed on by a werewolf. I've still got a damaged rib from what was just supposed to be a test to gauge my physical strength. I wish I could wake up and everything would have been a fever dream from spending too many days at sea digging through the mud. Why would anyone want to be in danger every hour?"

Eriene's lips went tight. She didn't have anything to argue against the dangers that they faced. As the oldest in the Sect, she'd had several lifetimes of being in constant peril. Sometimes feeling that she was more at risk now than fifty years ago. At least during the Great War she didn't have to worry about Blessed hackers using video surveillance to track the Sect.

She patted Leta's hand. "And what is the second layer."

Leta took her time to answer, thinking it over. There was so much anxiety in her about the situation that it was hard to pinpoint what else she could feel other than panic.

She took a slip of tea before she spoke.

"Wonder? Fascination? I'm not sure how to describe it. Ancient cultures has always been one of my greatest loves. I've been living and breathing history since I could first remember." She smirked as a memory fluttered past her minds eye like a feather in the wind. "I read every book in the local library on Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Greece, and the first peoples of North America by the time I was eight. The librarians were exasperated with me because I would cry to my dad that there was nothing for me to read."

Leta took another bite of cookie. "Now I'm here, and I'm learning so much about the ancient world that I loved so dear. Not only from the dig sites, but from you, and Allister. You all have been witnesses to history and that is absolutely amazing. There's this little germ of awe in me that's strangely giddy that I'm going to get to learn more about these civilizations I've spent my whole life learning about."

Eriene smiled warmly, pouring Leta another cup of tea. "It is terrifying, as you say. And yes, it is wonderful. Many times I have said this to myself is that being Chosen is to know that there are wonderful people in this world that are in mortal danger from forces far crueler and more evil than any corporate greed or government averse. There are monsters that skulk about with devilish smiles ready to warp the innocents into twisted monsters themselves. What we do is protect people from the monsters that would steal the one thing that is unique to each of us - our identity. Our souls. Without, we are nothing but puppets on strings, mindless to the whims of others. To protect others, we must stand between them and the jaws of evil, many times quite literally. Every single time, the people we save will not know that their very existence was nearly snuffed out, but they honor us by living their lives as they are with no knowledge of the battles we face. That is what it means to be a Chosen. You may not have been given the option to be Arisen, but you make the choice to do something good with what you have been given."

Eriene gave Leta's hand a squeeze and picked up the pate of cookies and tea cups.

"Now, get your shoes and bag. I think it best that Allister take you to see Simon."

Confused, Leta stuttered, "Uh… Okay. May I ask why?"

The older woman gave her wide, almost mischievous grin that was an odd expression for someone so elegant. "As we said last night, we do not spend our days twiddling our thumbs waiting for signs of the Blessed. As Afra would say, we have day jobs, and I think you will very much like the kind of day jobs that we have available."