Authors Note:
To those of you who have stuck with me so far, thank you. To those of you who have abandoned me - nothing at all! You're not reading this! To those of you who have just joined and have not read any earlier chapters, go back and read them; otherwise it will not make any sense - if it ever did.
Finally Dr Mark, my editor - who keeps me honest and hopefully enjoys the process too.
PS. It takes us both hours of work to create this; surely you can spare a minute to rate and comment.
Chapter 28 - Healing.
I was assaulted by a wealth of sights, sounds and smells. The sudden mayhem was overwhelming. I was at a wedding, in India. Everywhere there were bright colors, flowers, and people dressed in formal attire. There was a lot of red. I knew it wasn't my wedding - or rather that it wasn't Jeevan's, whose memories I was experiencing. In it, he was about ten years old. Why this was a memory he didn't want me to see became apparent when I saw he had continuously stuffed his face throughout the entire day and ended up vomiting all over the bride's father. As the nephew of the groom, he'd been sent home in disgrace.
I had asked to see his guilty secrets, and there were quite a few from when he'd been a child, including the time he'd inadvertently walked in on his eighteen-year-old sister in the bath and was accused of doing it deliberately. Nothing from his childhood stood out to me; I raced through the memories and didn't see or feel anything particularly sinister or malicious. Jeevan had not been a perfect angel as a child, but then again, I imagined that was true of nearly everyone.
I cringed again when I saw his wedding night, though not quite for the same reason. He and his very beautiful bride had both been virgins, and I witnessed their first time together through his eyes. I felt bad to have invaded his privacy in such a way. I did feel, however, somehow uplifted by the experience. It hadn't made me horny; it had been a moment filled with love, and I felt included in that love. There was no guilt whatsoever; rather, it was simply a deeply private memory that he didn't want me to see.
His argument with his parents when he had told them he was moving to the US had been vicious, and his father had died before they had reconciled. Jeevan had brought his mother to the US after her husband's death, though, and apparently they were very close.
Strangely, I saw that he'd known all along that he had power, or at least from the earliest memory I experienced. He used it to play pranks on his siblings and school friends. When he was twelve, his uncle took him on a trip out into the country, told him all about his powers, and started to train him in their use. Jeevan, like me, had had the epiphany when he'd realized he could use his powers to control women to do his bidding. His reaction had been very close to mine. He had been afraid to tell his uncle about it, but his uncle had picked the event out of his mind at their next meeting. He had actually praised him, and had reassured him that the thought had been a perfectly natural one, and that Jeevan's reaction to it had been very appropriate.
There were several memories of times with his wife, and I regretted over and over the way I had phrased my question. I thought I had been quite clever in asking him to show me what he wouldn't want me to see. I had thought it would give me access to his guilty secrets, not a POV porn show of all the times he had sex with his wife.
Watching his daughter being born was both amazing and revolting. I had no idea why any woman would want to go through that.
Jeevan had been about forty when he'd started his training as a Healer. He and his uncle had lost touch when Jeevan had come to the U.S. in his late twenties. Jeevan had found himself a job in sales. Knowing what the buyer is thinking during a sales process gives you an amazing advantage. I didn't find a single instance where he'd Compelled anyone to buy something they hadn't wanted or needed, but he'd been shameless in using his Telepathy. He hadn't invaded people's minds, but he had listened in to their surface thoughts, and that had made him a top salesman.
He'd been spotted by an old man, a Healer, when he'd gone with his mother to a hospital appointment. After a lot of talking and meetings, he'd convinced him to join their ranks. He'd been trained by that old man, who, sadly, had since died. He had been very old when they had met, although Jeevan had never found out his actual age.
I had no idea how long I was in Jeevan's mind, but I could find nothing to indicate that he was anything other than he had told me he was. I saw several of his Healings - some that worked and some that didn't. I saw his failures where the patient had either refused Healing or had died despite his best efforts. I saw his frustrations when he'd known that if he had only been stronger, he would have been able to save patients - sometimes a child, sometimes even a baby - but he just hadn't had the raw power.
One interesting fact I pulled out of Jeevan's head was that, despite him being an Empath, he had never had any kind of sex with anyone other than his wife. His wife had no powers. He felt the urge to 'share,' but he loved his wife so completely and knew it would destroy her if he did. He suppressed his need, and it was hurting him. I could see the damage it had done to him over the years. He had never told his wife. Jeevan knew his wife loved him so much that she would have been devastated to learn he was suffering on her behalf, and would have insisted, despite her own feelings.
I pulled my awareness out of his mind and looked at him guiltily.
"I am so sorry Jeevan," I said. "I never meant to see all those personal memories."
He smiled at me. "Caleb, my brother. All memories are personal. They are what make us who we are. It is of no matter if it is an intimate moment with a loved one or watching a man on the subway read his paper. Those experiences mold us, each in their own way. I hope that seeing who I am - how the Jeevan you see before you came to be - has eased your mind."
I looked at my watch. It was getting on for dinner time.
"Can I invite you to eat with us?" I asked.
He smiled. "Thank you, that would be welcome."
I went into the kitchen and introduced Jeevan to the rest of the household. They welcomed him, and they all sat chatting in the living room as I cooked. Since I had just spent a good amount of time in his memory, I had a good idea of the kinds of foods that he liked. Fortunately, he was quite happy with standard fare.
After dinner, the girls offered to clean up. Jeevan and I went back into the den; it was the moment of truth. I had to decide whether to trust him or to walk away. I considered what I had learned from him and could see no reason not to trust him. Once more, the feeling of being enveloped in the love Jeevan and his wife had shared on their wedding night washed over me, and I made my decision.
I dropped my shields.
I felt him enter my mind. It wasn't like before. Every time anyone other than Dianna had been in my mind, it had felt like an itch - something that was irritating and shouldn't be there. I'd had to consciously suppress the urge to fight with them and push them out.
When Dianna had taken my memories that first time, it had felt like being enveloped in warmth - almost a feeling of love. Jeevan's didn't feel like that. It did feel right, though - like whoever was in there was a friend.
An hour passed. After the first fifteen minutes, I started to meditate to pass the time. It was Jeevan's chuckle that roused me. I felt his mind withdraw from mine. Almost as a reflex, my shield was back up and I was cloaked again.
Jeevan was still chuckling. "I have never seen a cow dance before," he said.
I blushed. "I have absolutely no idea why I did that," I responded. "Judging by the look I got from her when it ended, she was not pleased with me either."
He smiled at me. "
Bhaiya
, I can see that you are a good man. I would be pleased to teach you, although I think you need some Healing first before we begin. Indeed, there are a couple of occasions when you have used the principles of Healing already. Firstly, you blocked pain. That is a primary principle. You have become adept at that, and so have a head start on where I was when I began. You gave a boy diarrhea on the first day of your powers. That is also a principle of Healing, although used in a negative way. You forced his body to do your will. You did no permanent harm, and nobody will hold that incident against you, but it is not something you should repeat without just cause.
"There were two points that I need to discuss with you. You had a meeting with Vincent Wragge."
