Sisters

by Laurence Dahners

  Jadyn could sense people out to about twenty-five meters, but Seri could do it out to seventy-five meters.

  “So,” Eva said, “that’s good, but I’ll bet both of you’ll be a lot better in a month or so. You exercise your ghirit’s ability to sense things by constantly trying to find people farther and farther away from you. A good place to do that’s in town where there are a lot of people at all different distances. Most of us have been able to approximately double the initial distance we could initially sense people by working at it. Be aware you can sense things that aren’t as warm as people, you just can’t do it as far away. So, in the dark, you can find your way around your room and the tavern without lighting a candle. You can sense really hot things like fires quite a bit farther away. You need to practice sensing those kinds of things as well.”

  “Okay,” Seri said, “but once I sense someone, how would I protect myself from them?”

  “One more thing on sensing. It won’t warn you someone’s sneaking up if you don’t have your ghirit out. So when you think you’re in a situation where you might be in danger, you’ve got to expand your ghirit out in all directions and think about what’s happening around you.” When they’d nodded, Eva continued, addressing herself to Seri, “The best tool you’ll have at your disposal will be what Tarc did to Argun when he was causing trouble. You swirl the fluid in your assailant’s semicircular canals.”

  “His whats?” Seri asked, frowning.

  “Both of you send your ghirits inside your own head and into the bone, deep to your ears. You should find three tiny circular tubes buried in the bone. They have fluid inside them. They’re at different angles from each other.” Eva put up her hand to Seri, “Do not try to move the fluid in those tubes right now.”

  After a moment, Seri found the canals. Eva apparently recognized she had just by the slight widening of her eyes. Seri saw Jadyn’s eyes widen just after that.

  Eva said, “When you turn or tilt your head, the fluid swirls around in those canals. This creates a signal to your brain that tells you you’re moving one way or the other. That way you can react to keep your balance. Probably when you were a kid, you spun around for a bit, then when you stopped you got so dizzy you fell down, right?”

  They both nodded.

  “So what happened was that everything worked fine to tell your brain what was going on until you stopped spinning. At that point, the fluid kept swirling around the horizontal canal even though your eyes told your brain you’d stopped moving. The swirling fluid gave you a signal that you were moving, the eyes said you weren’t, and the contrast between the two signals confused your sense of balance so badly you went boom.” Eva gave Seri an intent look, “You can use your ghirit to swirl the fluid in your own ears, but I’d urge you not to do it until you’re lying down. And, do it very gently.”

  “Okaay,” Seri said, stretching the word thoughtfully. “So, you’re saying I can defend myself with this?”

  “Yeah, it’s so useful because it takes so little force. Because of that, your ghirit can do it at quite a distance, as long as you can find the person’s canals. I think Tarc says you don’t even have to find the canals, just the ear region. Then you can just put a gentle twist on everything in that area and the fluid’s the only thing that moves. Essentially no one can stay on their feet when it happens to them.” She shrugged, “Alternatively, you could do something drastic like using your telekinesis to guide a knife or arrow to hit your assailant in a deadly location. That’s an irreversible tactic though.”

  “Isn’t there something I could do that’s part way between those two extremes?”

  Eva nodded, “You could stop blood flow in the arteries of the brain. That makes your opponent pass out, and if you keep stopping the flow, they stroke and die. The problem is, you have to be close to the person to be able to generate enough force to stop blood flow.”

  “Oh…” Seri said, thinking she needed some time to digest these things. And, obviously a lot of time to explore her own body and the bodies of people nearby so she’d know how to do these things if she had to.

  Before Seri could ask any more questions, Jadyn asked quietly, “Can my telepathy protect me? Or… do I need to rely on others?”

  “Well, one of your best protections, because it works out to a moderate distance, is to just make people ignore you. Kazy can do that out to about six meters (19.5 feet), but I can only do it when people are within two meters (6.5 feet). If you work at it, I’ll bet you’ll be better at it than I am.”

  Seri’d lost interest in their conversation and was back to worrying about her own safety. She’d sent her ghirit into one of the dogs lying at their feet and found similar canals in the bone near their ears. Looking up, she realized Jadyn had gone back inside the tavern. Since Eva was still sitting next to her, Seri said, “Eva, I notice these dogs have semicircular canals in their ears. Would it be okay if I moved the fluid in the ears of this dog that’s lying down here? Just a tiny bit for practice?”

  Eva didn’t say anything, so Seri turned to look at her. Seri blinked. Jadyn was sitting right next to Eva looking surprised. I thought she went inside, Seri thought. Eva was grinning at her. “What?” Seri asked.

  Eva said, “Jadyn hid herself from you. Thanks for confirming to her it works.” She nodded at the dog, “Go ahead, but be kind to the dog by being very gentle about moving the fluid.”

  Seri found herself staring at Jadyn. “That’s creepy!”

  Jadyn laughed, “Making rocks float through the air. That’s what’s creepy.”

  Chapter Four

  Daussie stepped into the dining room, her eyes going to the area where patients typically waited. Mr. Geller was sitting there with three women, one of which Daussie recognized to be Geller’s friend Sandra Lee. Daussie’d ported out one of Lee’s cataracts. The other two women looked like they were blind. Though… Daussie thought as she walked toward them, there’s something different about the tall one.

  She wasn’t sure what it was. The woman looked blind, but… somehow didn’t act blind?

  Arriving at their table, Daussie said, “Hello Mr. Geller, Ms. Lee. It looks like you’ve brought some more people who might like to have their cataracts treated?”

  “Yes,” Geller answered, then indicated the two new women. “Let me introduce Celia Williams and Harriet Rainey.” Turning back to the two women, he said, “Daussie’s a young woman, standing just in front of you. As you’ll soon see for yourself she’s very pretty.”

  Embarrassed, Daussie ignored the compliment and led the four of them upstairs, she kept wanting to glance back at Harriet Rainey, the tall one she thought was somehow different from the usual blind person. However, she wouldn’t have been able to see anything since Rainey was at the end of their little line, being led up the stairs by Geller.

  Once they were up in the clinic and the two blind women had been seated, Daussie said, “I’m sure Mr. Geller’s told you quite a bit about what it’s like getting your cataracts removed. You may not have many questions. Nonetheless, I need to be sure you understand this is a very new treatment. We can’t be sure it’s going to work for everyone, nor whether some people might not have problems from it.”

  “Problems?” Ms. Williams asked nervously.

  Daussie shrugged, remembering after she’d done it that they wouldn’t be able to see it. “Yes, problems. We haven’t had any patients have a problem yet, but we’ve treated less than twenty eyes so far and we’ve only been doing it a little longer than a month. If there were rare problems, or problems that came on after a delay, we might not know about them yet.”

  Rainey said, “Problems that could do us harm? Beyond,” she snorted, “damaging our blind, useless eyes?”

  “Um, no. Well, I should say, we can’t imagine how the treatment could cause any problems with the rest of your health.”

  “Well then, I’m ready to do it,” Rainey said with assurance.

  After a moment, and with a lot less certainty, William
s said the same.

  “Okay,” Daussie said, turning to Sandra Lee. “Ms. Lee, are you wanting to have your left eye treated today?”

  “Oh my, yes.”

  “How’s your vision in the right eye we already treated?”

  “It’s wonderful!” Lee said enthusiastically.

  “Um, we’d expect that it’d be somewhat blurry, either up close, or far away.”

  “Oh, it is. It’s a little blurry both close and far. But I can see things perfectly when they’re about halfway across a room.”

  Daussie said, “We usually try to fix it so one eye can see perfectly at a distance and the other one can see perfectly up close. That way you can read with the close eye. Would you like us to adjust your right eye to make it work a little better at a distance while we’re doing your left eye?”

  Lee looked hesitant, “How much would adjusting the right eye cost?”

  Daussie said slowly, “We don’t charge for adjusting your eye. And, I hope you remember that for any of the treatments we do, we only charge you what it’s worth to you. If you’re having financial trouble, you don’t have to pay us anything for either eye today. Or ever. We rely on your conscience to pay us fairly.”

  “That’s the problem,” Lee said plaintively, “being able to see was worth the world to me and I paid all I could afford when you did my right eye. Being able to see a little better by getting my left eye fixed and getting the right one improved… I can’t afford to pay as much as I did for the first one.”

  Daussie said, “Then don’t pay at all this time. Or, only pay a little bit—whatever it’s worth to you to see a little better.”

  “Okay, do both,” Lee said, looking immensely grateful. “And, thank you!”

  Before doing anything else, Daussie tested Lee’s eye for their records. She was trying to find out whether people’s vision changed from what it was right after she first put lenses in their eyes. Since the most likely thing that would change is the focal length of their natural-artificial lens combination, what we really need to know is how much of a corrective lens it takes to let them see perfectly, she thought. Instead, they’d been recording how well their patients could see at six meters (20 feet) and at arm’s length.

  This time she also recorded the amount of correction it took to let Lee see the two distances without blurring.

  While Daussie was doing the testing, she kept looking at the mysterious Harriet Rainey. Suddenly she realized what was different about the woman. Celia Williams, the other blind lady, was turning her head towards each sound, as if to perceive it better. Daussie had the feeling that a lot of blind patients did this but realized she didn’t know if that was always true.

  Rainey’s head just faced straight ahead.

  Daussie couldn’t imagine why.

  When Daussie was done, she said, “Okay, I’m ready. But I have to go down and get Kazy to help me.”

  Geller frowned, “Wait. Eva’s not going to do their treatments?”

  Daussie blinked. I can’t very well tell him I’ve done them all, including his, can I? That Eva’s never done even a single lens replacement. She said. “Um, I’ve done more of the lens treatments than anyone else, even Eva.”

  Geller gazed at her for a moment, then said, “I’d still rather Eva did the ones on my friends.”

  Daussie wondered what to say for a moment, then ventured, “Mom just found out her sister has cancer. She’s completely swamped getting ready to go take care of her.”

  Geller looked like he’d been punched, “I’m so sorry to hear that.” He stood shakily, “We’ll come back later… When your mother’s… After your aunt…” He stumbled to a stop obviously unable to work out what he should say.

  Daussie said quietly, “Eva asked me to take care of you folks. We don’t know how long we’ll be gone and we’d hate to leave you untreated.”

  Geller stood, looking like he felt that he painted himself into a corner by implying that Daussie wasn’t good enough, but now having no other option. Hesitantly, he said, “Could Vyrda Soh do the treatments?”

  Daussie slowly shook her head, then remembered the two blind women wouldn’t know what she’d done. She said, “Ms. Soh’s not here today, and she hasn’t learned to treat cataracts.” Then she felt bad about the lie inherent in her insinuation that Vyrda could someday learn to treat cataracts.

  “Um, how far away does your aunt live?” Geller asked.

  “Cooperstown.”

  “You don’t think there’s any chance Eva could do it in the next couple of weeks? I’m pretty sure there aren’t any caravans going that way anytime soon.”

  Daussie shook her head. “We’re leaving tomorrow. We won’t be able to wait to travel with a caravan.”

  “What?!” Geller exclaimed, aghast.

  Daussie saw appalled expressions on the faces of the three women as well. She tried to speak reassuringly, “We’ve traveled alone before.”

  “But… but, the road to Cooperstown’s notorious! Are you hiring guards?”

  Daussie shook her head, wondering whether the Cooperstown road really was too dangerous, even for them.

  Harriet Rainey said acerbically, “You’d have to be crazy not to hire some. Guards may be expensive, but they’re a lot cheaper than dying.”

  Daussie stared at the woman. I only shook my head. How’d she know we weren’t hiring guards? She said, “I’ll mention your thoughts to my parents. Now, if we’re not going to treat your cataracts, I really need to get back to preparing for the trip.”

  “You’re going with her?!” Geller asked, looking horrified, apparently not having taken in what she meant by “we” when she’d said it before.

  Daussie nodded.

  Suddenly Harriet Rainey said, “I’d like it if you’d fix my eyes before you go.”

  Geller gave Rainey a shocked look and Daussie realized Geller and Rainey fully expected Daussie to die on the trip. Rainey wanted her sight back before her chance for it was lost forever. I guess I would too, Daussie thought. Whether or not it was rude and insensitive to ask for it.

  “Wait,” Geller said almost pleadingly. “Let me talk to Eva. She really should not travel that road without a caravan.”

  “I think that’d be nice,” Rainey said, “but I still want my eyes fixed today. I got my hopes up and came all the way out here. I don’t want to go home blind.”

  “Me either,” Ms. Williams said.

  Lee said, “I’ll have my other eye done too.”

  “Alright,” Daussie said, getting up. “Let me get Kazy.”

  As Daussie went down the stairs, Keller trailed behind her. “Do you know where your mother is?”

  “Last time I saw her she was going out back with some of her new students,” Daussie replied, unable to keep from checking with her ghirit to see if Eva was still out on the steps. Eva wasn’t there anymore, but Daussie wasn’t supposed to know that. So, when she started across the dining room to the kitchen, she pointed out back and said, “That way.”

  ~~~

  Back upstairs, Kazy put Ms. Lee to sleep and Daussie swapped the lens in her right eye for one that was a little weaker. Then she ported out the cataract in the center of the natural lens in Lee’s left eye while porting in a stronger glass lens to give her a reading eye. To Daussie’s relief, when Kazy woke Lee up the woman’s vision was good at both distances.

  She did Ms. Williams eyes next. Williams wanted both eyes done, even though Eva’d been pushing all their patients to only have one eye done at first and only come back for the second when they were sure they were happy with the first one. If anything went wrong Eva didn’t want it to happen in both eyes. However, Daussie understood the woman didn’t think she’d ever get the chance to have the second eye fixed if she didn’t do it now. So, per Williams’ request, Daussie did both eyes, somewhat against her better judgment.

  Williams was ecstatic about her new eyesight, but had to hold the reading sample pretty close to her face for it to be in focus. She saw well w
hile holding a -2 concave lens in front of the eye. Daussie asked her if she wanted the eye adjusted and she did. Kazy put Williams to sleep and Daussie swapped the lens out for one with a little less magnification.

  Finally, only Ms. Rainey was left. “Ms. Rainey,” Daussie said, “can you get on the bed just to your right?”

  Rainey nodded and got up, Daussie watched carefully as the woman moved from the chair to the bed. When Kazy moved to help the woman, Daussie thought at her cousin in what she considered a shouting mental voice, Stop! I want to see how she gets on the stretcher without help. Kazy gave Daussie a puzzled look, but stopped and watched Rainey with Daussie.

  As Rainey moved toward the bed, she put out a hand to feel for it, but didn’t do so until just before she arrived. When she did it her hand was exactly at the level of the gurney’s mattress. She didn’t bend and stretch a hand before her to feel for the bed at the standard low level of most beds. Rainey sat, then pivoted to lie in a supine position, just as Daussie had positioned Lee and Williams, but something that Rainey supposedly hadn’t been able to see them doing.

  Daussie leaned over and peered into Rainey’s eyes. They were thickly clouded with dense cataracts. There’s no way she can see! Daussie thought, wondering how the woman was doing it. Then suddenly she realized, “Rainey’s talented! She’s using her ghirit to move around. Daussie turned to Kazy, “Can you stay with Ms. Rainey for a moment? I need to check something with Eva.”

  Kazy nodded and Daussie ran down the stairs to find her mother. As she burst out of the stairwell, Geller asked in an alarmed voice, “Did something go wrong?!”

  “Everything’s fine,” Daussie called back over her shoulder. “I just have to check something with my mom.”

  Daussie was correct in her assumption that the three people her ghirit detected at the wagon were Eva, Tarc, and Hareh. Eva was already looking up when Daussie entered the stable. Probably because my excitement’s “shouting” at her, Daussie thought.