I had no clue that any of this would be happening, of course. It had all been a surprise.
Walking out into the lobby, I stopped to take in my ragtag group of family/friends. Rishiji, Randal, Mathias, Swati, Ronald, Vaishnavi, Senga, and Lisbet were all huddled together, in what seemed like a tense discussion. Auset and Rayka were laughing at something Sylvia had said, while Sneha was chatting with Mahala, doing her best to hide the fact that she had a serious crush on the older woman. Rahul and Idris were still speaking to an attendant, working on getting our deposit back.
A lot had happened over the past four years, and honestly, it all started on one night.
Six or seven months after Swati had given me my Implement and started teaching me how to cast spells, Ronald and I had driven to Vaishnavi's house for the twins' birthday party. Though they'd invited some others from the Academy, there were a lot of Mundanes at the party, too. Byrav, as usual, hadn't been in attendance.
Rishiji had pulled me aside at some point during the night and had asked me to visit him the next day, so that we could discuss Pan's Bounty. My Gift had flared up a few times over the preceding months, though I'd managed to learn to recognize when it did, and had always managed to find an isolated spot for it to run wild in, until I deactivated it. We were supposed to have met months ago, but certain events that I hadn't been privy to had taken precedence.
I must admit that I'd been on alert the whole night; after all, the last birthday party I'd been at had ended with both my parents killed, and my entire world turned on its head. Nothing untoward happened that night, though, and Ronald and I actually stayed over that night, heading back to the Academy only the next morning.
After I'd finished training with Swati, she'd accompanied me back to my Abode, where we had breakfast with Rishiji. Ronald had already brought her into the loop a few months before that, since my Gift had activated during one of our training sessions. She'd agreed to keep it quiet, at least until we better understood how I had manifested a Gift that had never before been seen within the Indian Lineage.
Rishiji had examined me after we were done eating, but he hadn't found anything that would explain how or why Pan's Bounty had manifested in me. He had managed to dig up some research that had been conducted on the last living Wielder with the Gift, back in the ninth century. Some of the techniques described therein were purported to have helped the Wielder better control her Gift, but Rishiji warned me that they might not work on me.
The only other thing he could think of doing that might help me, was to get Sage Perseus to examine me, and see if he might spot something that Rishiji had missed. The Sage was locked in meditation, however, and his last session had lasted eighty years, so nobody really knew when he might be accessible. I'd agreed to give some of the aforementioned techniques a shot, anyway, since that was all we could do at the time.
That afternoon was when I'd asked Rayka out. Her enthusiastic reply, and the lip-lock that followed, had definitely left me floundering. I'd never imagined that she'd actually agree. Ronald came to my rescue, though, recommending a local restaurant that was known for its seafood; the very same restaurant that we would be eating at, if Rahul and Idris ever finished with the attendant.
After a moderately-successful first date, Rayka and I went on six more, before we decided to make it official. Six months later, we moved in together.
Being with her was surreal. We were similar in so many ways, that it just boggled my mind. I could "count the ways we were different on my fingers and toes", but rather than being a source of boredom, our similarities seemed to bring us together.
With her, I could fully be myself. I opened up to her like I'd never opened up to anybody before; the degree to which I trusted her was honestly scary. She intrinsically understood me, reflected a lot of my own thoughts and values, and made me feel
alive
. I couldn't even remember what life had been like before I met her, and I definitely couldn't imagine a life without her. She completed me.
As our relationship deepened, our circle grew. Auset, a Hawk-Bonded Tier 4 Wielder was the first of her friends to join in, which didn't surprise anyone, I suppose. Idris, a Shark-Bonded Tier 2 Wielder followed Auset everywhere, almost like a lost puppy, so he was next in, followed by two more of our classmates, Sylvia— a Tier 3 Wielder, Bonded to a Cheetah— and Mahala— a Tier 4 Wielder, Bonded to a Falcon.
We hung out at Vaishnavi's house a few times over the years, and as the twins grew older, they became part of our group, too. Sneha started falling for Mahala somewhere along the way, and I think Mahala mirrored the feelings, though neither of them seemed to want to act on it just yet. It made sense, I guess; Sneha was still only fifteen.
As the twins started spending more time with us, Vaishnavi joined us from time-to-time, dragging Swati and Ronald along with her. That gave the two of them more time together, and they'd announced that they were dating in early 2016.
Vince wasn't on-board with their relationship, but well, that was just Vince. He wasn't on-board with anything, unless it was his idea. He was actually pretty similar to Byrav, and I figured that it was only a matter of time before the two of them were in cahoots.
I'd been at the Academy for three years by then, and was finally getting to the point where I needed to focus my efforts on mastering a weapon. Power-wise, I was almost as strong as Ronald, and had transitioned to dressing in yellow, just as he did. The techniques that Rishiji had uncovered three years ago had actually helped me gain a modicum of control over my Gift, though I still couldn't activate it at will.
I'd manifested two more Gifts during that time. The first, I termed "Battle Sense", which allowed me to understand the
rhythm
of a fight, and sometimes made it seem like I was predicting my opponent's moves. From what Ronald told me, my father had a similar Gift, though his had been stronger.
The second was something I termed "IntelliPattern", which allowed me to see patterns in any data set, mathematical or otherwise. It helped me become a better strategist, which in turn, allowed me to be a better fighter.
Unlike Pan's Bounty, I had full control over both these Gifts, and could activate or deactivate them at will. Initially, I could only use one at a time, but with practice, I began using both of them in tandem. They elevated my martial prowess to a whole other level, and my sparring session with Vince gradually started going in my favor, once in a while.
By then, Swati had taught me everything she could when it came to using a quarterstaff or a sword, so she introduced me to Senga and Lisbet.
I'd met Senga back at my trial, and knew her as one of the Sapt Senapati, but Lisbet was somebody I'd never met before. She was a Tier 2 Wielder as well, like Senga, but had chosen to devote her life to research, which was highly irregular for an Arabian-Leopard-Bonded Wielder. She was still one of the best swordswomen in all three Academies, and had been happy to train me. She was also a great source of knowledge, and I always walked away having learned something new, after speaking to her.
Senga, similarly, had been happy to train me to use a quarterstaff. She was rather fun to train with, though the fact that she slipped into a heavy Scottish accent as we fought, sometimes made her difficult to understand.
The addition of two new instructors intensified my training regimen, but I didn't complain. I'd long since accepted that I would have to work ten times as hard as my peers, just to be able to catch up to them. I had years of training to make up for, and I was going to give it my all.
All these people had earned my love and my respect over the last four years, and were now integral parts of my life. Still, I didn't really understand why Rayka had invited the "oldies", as Rahul put it, to join in on my birthday. It was a diverse group by any measure, in terms of age and background, and it would never have worked on paper.
Over the course of this day, however, all that seemed to just fade away. All of us threw ourselves into the paintball match with gusto, and it truly was an amazing time. We ended up with the older, more experienced Wielders facing off against a ragtag bunch of "young 'uns", but since Wielding and Gifts were banned, we actually ended up being more fairly matched. Our team still lost, but none of us could say that we hadn't given it our all.
"You okay, babe?" Rayka whispered in my ear, as she embraced me from behind.
"I am," I responded, taking her right hand in mine and bringing it up to my lips for a kiss. "This truly was amazing. Thank you for putting in the effort."
"Oh love," she cooed, kissing the back of my neck, "you deserve it all, and more."
I couldn't help but spin around to kiss her gently, my lips trying to show her the depth of my love for her, in ways the words they might form never could. I don't know how long we stayed locked like that, lost in the kiss, before a loud cough startled us both.
I broke away with an embarrassed chuckle, my ears burning as I blushed fiercely. Rayka just looked at her feet, which I knew meant that her face was colored red, too.
"Are you quite done?" Ronald teased, a sly smile on his face.
"Quite done, yes," I murmured, avoiding meeting his eyes.
"Let's get going, then!" Rahul exclaimed, taking the lead, "Dinner awaits!"
I reached for Rayka's hand as we left the paintball arena, and she squeezed it tightly, shooting me a smile that outshone the sun. If you couldn't already tell, I was head-over-heels for her. I still can't believe that someone like her chose me, a sentiment she was always quick to shoot down, but one I held on to, all the same.
The group split up as we got to the cars, Rayka and myself riding with Ronald and Swati.
"Class rules apply in the car," Ronald said sternly, yet playfully, looking at us through the rearview mirror. "Hands off, lips off, and keep everything in your pants till you're home."
