From: "Mint" <mint@saqnet.co.uk>

NRPG Posted for Carina :)

-----

>"I don't know."  Faith admitted.  "So maybe I do look like a murderer
>but maybe if you ask Amethyst she'll let you see the eggs and I can go
>with you.  Will you ask if I promise not to touch them?"
>
>"I can't ask."  Cat told her.  "I can't talk to dragons."
>
>"You can't?"  Faith asked in surprise.  "That's not what Firegem told
>me."

"Firegem?" said Cat, sitting up. "But ... he's a dragon! Do you
mean that everyone around here can talk to dragons?"

"No," laughed Faith, patronisingly, pushing Cat back down into the
bed. "Now you've got to rest, and I'll be in trouble if they see I've
been letting you get overexcited." Faith was enjoying bossing the
older girl around.

"Now, just stay quiet and I'll explain everything," she continued.

"K'lvin and Firegem can talk to each other, because Firegem's K'lvin's
dragon, and K'lvin's Firegem's human. And I can speak to Firegem,
because I'm a telepath."

"What's a telepath?" asked Cat.

Faith smiled smugly. "It means you're special, and your mind can speak
to other people's minds - but only if  they're telepaths too.  And you
get to talk to dragons because they're telepaths too ... sort of."

Cat frowned. This was beginning to make sense. She remembered a couple
in a bar in a town many months ago - they must have been 'telepaths'.
The had won vast sums of money in card games - the man would take
his hand at the table, while the woman hovered nearby. She would peek
over the shoulders of the other players, and relay her findings to her
partner, using telepathy. Eventually, they had been found out when
the locals became suspicious of the man's uncanny success, and made
him play one to one, in a room with no one else but his opponent.
After their 'devious mind talk' had been discovered, the couple were
hounded out of town.

"But I can't do that," Cat protested.

"Yes you can - Firegem says you were talking to him down at the lake,"
said Faith.

"Well, yes, but that was just like talking to a dog - I didn't expect
him to understand," replied Cat, then, realising that that sounded a
bit of an insult, hastily continued: "no disrespect to dragons
intended!"

"I'm sure he'll understand," grinned Faith, "because I'm sure he heard
you just then!"

"What?" protested Cat.

"You don't realise it, but every time you get flustered or excited
about anything, your mind shouts it out for Firegem to hear.  And when
you panicked 'cos you thought you were drowning  every dragon and
telepath for miles heard your cry for help." Faith explained.  Then the
younger girl grinned.  "And that's why Firegem knows you're falling for
K'lvin!  You broadcast it to him every time you look at K'lvin."

"I am *not*!" spluttered Cat.  "Do NOT!"

"That's not what *I'm* hearing," smirked Faith. "But don't worry -
it's nothing to be ashamed of. K'lvin's gorgeous - those eyes of his!"

Cat felt herself blushing again.

"But don't worry - no need to get jealous," continued Faith. "Everyone
in Norwall knows he's crazy about you."

It was all she could do not to laugh at Cat's reaction.

Then, Faith recovered her composure.  "But ... do you really mean that
you can't hear other telepaths?" she asked.

"No!" replied Cat.

"Not even this," Faith 'thought' a picture of a steaming plate of
blueberry pie.

Cat wrinkled her brow in concentration.  "Nope. Not a thing."

"That's so wierd," said Faith. "I've never known it to be one way
before."

"And another thing," said Cat. "K'lvin said the first he knew I was in
trouble was when Mr Purr went crazy." She stroked the grey cat who had
sneaked into the med centre unnoticed. "Surely you're not saying
*he's* a telepath too?"

"Yes, that is strange," admitted Faith. "Maybe he's just very
sensitive, or maybe it's because he knows you so well. Or perhaps
you're very good at shouting but not that great at listening?"

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Faith giggled, then
tried to stifle a smirk. This was a little close to the truth in 'real
life', let alone telepathic matters.

"But look - you have a visitor," said Faith, looking past Cat to
K'lvin who had appeared in the doorway. "Your boyfriend's here!" she
whispered in Cat's ear, before dropping a curtsey to K'lvin and
disappearing past him. "Just don't tell anyone I've left her, or we'll
*both* be in trouble," she said to him as she left.

Mr Purr had leapt up and was already padding across to K'lvin, then
twining himself around his ankles, purring all the while.

Cat rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "OK, little fella, you're trying
to tell me something," she muttered to herself.

[tag Les]


[NRPG: I don't really know how far Cat's telepathic powers extend.
Perhaps, with training, she'd learn to listen to other telepaths when
they 'speak' to her. But in the meantime, she's one helluva shouter!
;)

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