Both Willian and Valentina were impressed with how Elder Debbon handled Gevena’s fear of him. Within a few minutes, the girl was demonstrating the first six skills with the ease of someone who had been doing them for anons. Even Gevena was shocked and pleased to find she was able to do them.
By the time they needed to leave, Gevena was laughing with Elder Debbon as she moved objects from one location to another. With his expert instruction, Gevena had advanced another three levels in one sitting; an almost unheard of feat.
“I think we’ve done enough for today, Gevena. You are an excellent student and a joy to work with,” Debbon said with a genuine smile for the gentle girl. While she had been concentrating on her lessons, he had gently prodded her memories to find out what was blocking her from accessing her full capabilities. It was a simple matter of untangling her fear of failure to allow her to feel success instead.
“Thank you, Elder Debbon. I really enjoyed learning from you. I had no idea it could be so much fun. Why I don’t even feel tired, and we got so much accomplished!” Gevena grinned more confidently than any in the room had ever seen her.
“It was my pleasure, Gevena. It’s been anons since I’ve taught these lessons and it was a good refresher for me as well.” He slapped his palms on his thighs and rose to his feet. He turned to Willian and asked, “Are you ready?”
“Almost,” Willian answered. “Valentina wanted to change for dinner first.” He looked through several of the bags before he came to the one he wanted. He handed it to Valentina and winked.
She wanted to say something snide back to him, but she managed to hold her tongue and reached for the bag. “May I use your bedroom for a minute, Gevena?”
“Sure. I’ll come with you. I’d like to see what you bought as well.” Gevena came up beside Valentina and accompanied her into the room. She sat on the bed and watched while Valentina dug through the bag and pulled out the clothes.
“What are these?” she asked in confusion.
Gevena giggled at her friend’s frustration and said, “Here, let me help you.” She sorted out an appropriate outfit and helped her get dressed as swiftly as possible. “There! You look amazing.”
“I do? I feel foolish. Are you sure this is what it’s supposed to look like?”
“Yes, trust me; it’s perfect for dinner at the Elder’s house. You’re so lucky, Valentina. Elder Debbon is such a nice man. At first, I was scared of him, but he is a really great teacher, better than any I’ve ever had before. I can’t wait until I go to school tomorrow and show them how far I’ve progressed. Maybe now they won’t laugh at me so much.”
“Yes, Elder Debbon did say you were an excellent student. Maybe you should tell the other kids about how you were tutored by an Elder; it might shut them up.”
“He’s not just ‘an’ Elder; he’s First Elder. I might just happen to mention it, or maybe not.” She shrugged as she thought of all of her different options. It might be more satisfying to have them wonder at her new skills and let them stew over it.
“Okay, I guess I don’t have any other reason to stay in here much longer. Will I see you tomorrow? Oh, my brother wanted to know if you’d mind if he tagged along to get extra lessons with us.”
“No, I think it’d be fun to have a bigger group. Since I’m not so far behind, it’ll be easier for all of us to practice, don’t you think?”
“I do!” She reached over and gave Gevena a quick hug before she dumped her Earth clothes into the bag and hauled it all out of the bedroom. “I’m ready,” she announced as she entered the sitting room.
“Great, we can take the Gate back to our Residence,” Debbon announced. He never even noticed Valentina’s alarmed expression since he was so eager to get his son home. Debbon walked out of the room, expecting the others to follow him.
Willian once again reached for Valentina’s hand to offer whatever comfort he could. This was not how he had planned for his parents to meet her, but she looked amazing, and he told her so. They were moving ahead with their lives, and it was starting with dinner with his folks.
Debbon had them stand in the depression of the Gate while he fiddled with the controls a few feet away. Valentina’s eyes were wide as she took in her first glimpse of the fabled Gates and hoped she would not disgrace herself during the transfer. It was one thing to have a telepod surrounding her between locations; it was quite another to have nothing to keep her safe. She felt dangerously exposed and wished she were anywhere but where she was at the moment.
Satisfied with his changes, Debbon joined the two kids in the center of the Gate’s depression in the ground. He concentrated on their destination and used a small amount of elemy to activate the transfer. Within three seconds they were moved over three thousand gania southwest to Debbon’s Residence. They marched up the stairs, out the side hallway door, and across the lawn to Debbon’s personal telepod. One more short telepod trip and they were parked outside of Debbon’s personal estate.
“This is my home,” Willian announced the obvious.
“I’m glad you still recognize that, Willian,” Debbon said sarcastically as he opened the telepod door and left the aircraft ahead of them.
“I’m sorry my father’s being so rude, Val. He’s normally really nice.”
“I know, I saw how he was with Gevena. Trust me; it’s the only thing which has kept me from running scared!” She looked around and admired the grandeur of the home. It was bigger than any other house she had seen in Tuala but smaller than Jena’s home back on Earth.
Willian, once again, took Valentina’s hand in his own and led her into the house. He knew she was nervous, mostly because he shared the same sentiment. This was probably the most significant meeting to ever take place for him, and it had to go perfectly. They walked through the foyer and to the first set of doors. Willian knew his parents would seat themselves in the meeting room; it’s where they held all important discussions.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked, gulping down his own anxiety.
“Just don’t let me go,” she whispered back with a nod of her head.
“Never.” Squeezing her hand, he opened the door to find both of his parents staring at them, their expressions mirrors of disapproval. Willian squared his shoulders, fully prepared to defend his relationship regardless of their opinions in the matter of his personal life.
They entered the room together and remained standing in the awkward silence. Chelesa was the first to make any move as she stood up and moved directly in front of her son. She never even looked over at Valentina; her focus was solely on her son and his best interest.
“Willian, why have you been so hasty? Didn’t you consider what this would mean for your father’s standing with the other Elders? I’ve never been so heart-sick as when your father told me about Jena dissolving your betrothal.” She had to stop talking as a strange feeling came over her. The hairs raised all over her body, and she absently brushed her hand over her forearm.
“I don’t know what happened to you while you were on Earth, but it’s obvious something has changed you, Willian, and I’m not sure it’s been for the good.” She lifted her hand and touched Willian’s cheek in concern. “Oh!” she exclaimed as her eyes grew wide and she remained frozen in her place.
“Chelesa! What’s wrong? Willian, what are you doing to your mother?” Debbon raced forward to grab his wife away from their son.
At the same time, Willian released Valentina’s hand to hold his mother’s shoulders to keep her from collapsing. The moment his bond was broken with his soul-mate, his mother’s senses returned. “Mom! Are you okay? What happened?” he asked even as he began to realize exactly what she had experienced.
Chelesa’s eyes darted over to Valentina, wonder still evident in her expression. Staring at Valentina, Chelesa spoke to her husband behind her, “Debbon, I need to speak with you privately. NOW!”
Debbon was shocked at his wife’s tone since she was usually soft-spoken and never raised her voice to hi
m, not even in private. “Of course, Chelesa. We can go to your office.”
She nodded curtly, stepped around her son, and left the room without looking back.
Chapter Forty
DEBBON GLARED ONCE at his son before he also left the room. When he reached the office, he was surprised at his wife’s animated expression and her pacing across the room. “What is it? What happened?”
“At first, I was scared, but then I had a flash of memory come to me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That girl, Debbon! Pay attention.”
“I would if you were making more sense.”
“Fine, remember when we were called to meet with Jehoban?”
“I could hardly forget. What does this girl have to do with the meeting?”
“Nothing directly. Okay, so after the meeting, the same group of people met again, and Amanda gave us the history she remembered and asked us to review it.”
“Yes, I still don’t understand. Chelesa, please get to the point.”
“I’m working on it. Do you remember anons ago when Willian was little how you had the strange episode like you were glimpsing the future.”
“Yes, we’ve talked about this before when we agreed to betroth Jena to Willian. She was the one I had seen.”
“No, I don’t think so. Let’s go through that time again and compare it to the version of it which Amanda wrote down in her journal.”
Debbon did as he was asked, still slightly unnerved by Amanda’s ability to know things she had not even been present for in the first place. “So, I had the vision right after I read Petre’s mind after I found out he had held Jinya hostage. In Amanda’s journal, she had herself in the place of Jinya, so that part was different.”
“Keep going.”
“So in my vision, I had received a child from Petre who was in danger, which also happened, but it was anons after Willian and Jena were already betrothed.”
“We kept the child long enough for her mother to come and get her from us. We knew Petre’s story was a lie when he said she was his child,” Chelesa reminded him.
Debbon shook his head, still trying to figure out where Chelesa was going with this. “Yes, Jinya came and got her from us before we could adopt her because we wanted to keep the child away from Petre.”
“Do you remember feeling that child’s energy?”
“Yes, it was hard to forget. Yet, if you recall, I felt the same thing when I was around Jena when she was a child. It’s what made me know she was the girl for our son’s future.”
“Yes, you felt the energy, but Willian never did! Well, I just got the same feeling when I touched Willian’s cheek back there,” she stated as she pointed behind her to where they had left the kids.
“So…I don’t understand how the one relates to the other, Chelesa.”
Chelesa’s excitement dimmed slightly because she was hoping Debbon would see the correlation which was eluding her as well. There was something special about this girl Willian had brought home, but it still did not make sense. “I think we should hear these two out before we begin making any accusations. Maybe we were wrong about Jena and Willian being a good match, this girl might be better suited, based on what I just felt.”
“So you want us to make nice and get answers from them before we tell them it’s not going to work out?”
“Something like that. Can you do it, Debbon?”
“I will because you asked, but I still don’t see how it’ll ever work out for those two. We don’t even know anything about her or how they met. Willian’s going to be in a position of power one day, and we can’t have some interloper coming along and ruining his future.”
“I know, Debbon. Let’s just see.” She led the way back to the meeting room and announced to the kids, “Dinner is served. Shall we go in and eat?”
Willian and Valentina had been sitting on the couch, heads almost touching as they were discussing what could possibly be happening with his parents. They both sprang up instantly and hurried over to where his parents were waiting. As a group, they silently entered the formal dining room, and all congregated around one end of the twenty-person table.
As the dishes were being served, Debbon turned to Valentina and asked, “You said you were from the Roanoke Colony. Is that where you and Willian met?”
“No.” She turned and looked urgently at Willian to answer as he saw fit.
There was continued silence as Willian waited until the room had cleared of all of the house staff and they were left in privacy. “We met in the high school on Earth,” Willian rushed to answer.
Debbon set down his fork and turned his full attention on his son. “Why don’t you tell us the whole story because right now we are confused?”
Valentina looked questioningly at Willian and saw his slight nod to continue. “When I was eight, my mom sent my brothers and me to Earth to keep us safe from the leader of Roanoke. We were adopted by a family and have been living there for another eight years.”
“Anons,” Willian corrected automatically. “We call ‘years’ anons here.”
“How did your mother manage to do it?” Chelesa asked, suddenly interested in this new twist, and ignoring her son’s interruption.
“She had this thing, a crystal skull, which I found out later was a samara, which had been given to her by a wise-woman. She was told to use it in the event of an emergency. I just found out recently my mother sent us away the day before the leader was going to make me his wife.”
“But you said you were only eight!” Chelesa exclaimed.
“Where is the samara?” Debbon asked at the same time his wife spoke.
“Mrs. Stel went back to the Colony and recovered the samara already,” Valentina answered.
“I didn’t know about that, Val. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Maybe because I didn’t know it was important to you.”
“Why do you call her Val, Willian? Has she lost honor?” Chelesa asked suddenly.
“No, Mom, it’s just her nickname on Earth. I’ll have to remember to use her full name when we’re here.”
“Always, unless you want others to question her suitability,” Chelesa agreed. “How did Elder Debbon come to be involved in the breaking of your betrothal?”
“He was helping Valentina’s mom with the Roanoke Colony, and he brought Jena and Juila with him,” Willian replied vaguely.
Chelesa tried to puzzle it all together and finally turned back to Valentina and asked, “How come you spent so much time on Earth if you knew where your mom was?”
“We were so young when we went to Earth, we forgot about everything here. It wasn’t until we met Jena and Juila at school a few months ago when we even discovered we were from Tuala. There was always something which made us feel different, but we believed it was because we were triplets or because we were adopted. Never did we imagine it was because we were aliens.”
“Mesans,” Willian muttered under his breath, referring to Valentina’s use of the Earth term month.
“Don’t worry about semantics right now, Willian,” Chelesa admonished even as she was trying to figure out Valentina’s whole story. “So, the girls helped you to realize the three of you were from here. How did they know?”
Valentina pulled the pendant out from under her tunic and said, “Because of these. We each had one, and we saw they had them as well. We’d never seen any others before, so we asked them about where they got theirs. We…well, I was hoping it would give us a clue to finding our birth mother.”
“So did the girls take you back to Roanoke to reunite you with your mother?” Chelesa asked.
Debbon’s temper flared at his wife’s reminder of Daven’s involvement in his personal family affair yet he remained silent as he watched the people around him. He was starting to get a bigger picture of the events which had taken place. He wondered where his son had fit into the whole thing.
“No, before that could happen, the girls took us back to th
eir home on Earth to meet their parents. We were shocked when we saw Mrs. Stel because she looked so much like how we’d remembered our own mother looking eight ‘anons’ before.” She paused to give Willian a telling look for remembering to use the correct term. She grinned mischievously, and continued, “We even told her about the resemblance, and she got a strange look on her face. It was a while before we actually came to the conclusion we were from Tuala. Actually, our brother Behn was the first to know about it; then he convinced me when he showed me the crystal skills he’d learned from Juila.”
“You don’t know how to use your birth crystal?” Chelesa asked incredulously.
“I’m learning now,” she looked over to Willian and added, “With Willian’s help.”
“She’s a fast learner; I merely have to remind her of what her mother taught her before she sent them away.”
“Back to your story, Valentina…you were saying?” Chelesa prompted.
“Before I was reminded of my heritage, Behn and Mrs. Stel had made a trip to the place of our birth. When they got there, the colony was gone, the place was empty and had been for quite some time. I’m not sure of the circumstances behind it, but Mrs. Stel arranged a group of us to go back to the colony to retrieve my mother’s samara. I don’t know where she took it, but when she came back, she said she thought she might know where our mother was.
“Only there was a complication. Our mother’s children were only nine in her time, and Mrs. Stel knew we were sixteen. Yet she also knew there couldn’t possibly be two sets of triplets with the same names to a woman who also resembled Mrs. Stel, so she had to be our mother. It appeared when our mother sent us to Earth, she also sent us back in time, so we ended up reliving the same eight anons. When we were reunited with her, she had to come to terms with the idea we were almost adults rather than small children. It was hard on her, as you can well imagine.”
“Yes, I can imagine,” she said with a slight choking sound, her mind whirling with the possibilities. “Is…is your mother’s name, perhaps, is it Jinya?”
Ascension Vision- The Levels of Ascension Box Set Page 85