Neva

The Weakling

The stones were moving through the air, hovering above him like a murder of crows.
"Is that the best you can do?"
The mirror next to him looked at his display in distaste. Dragomir flinched. He had been so sure this was the thing that was going to impress her.
The rocks fell down, hitting him all over. The dark-scaled mirror shook her head.
"Your brother would never have dissappointed me like this."
***
It was troublesome to notice how hard it was to use his new skills. Every time he tried to move stuff there was some noise or bird or something that broke his focus. He was a mirror, build to chase deer and fight for his life, not to meditate and wait for some dumb rocks to move.
Then again, it was the only magic he had. He sighed and tried again.
***
He had been practicing for weeks but his mother still wasn't impressed.
"You fool," she had said. "That's not magic. This is magic."
She snapped her fingers. An imperial who had happened to be walking past them fell down, couching and gasping.
Dragomir had shuddered. Her mother had noticed and narrowed her eyes. "Why in the name of the Deities do I have such a weakling as my son?"
***
"Whazzup, punk?"
Dragomir looked up. It was Routa, the leader of the clan. "Hiya, gramps."
Routa sat down next to him. "I had a chat with your mom. She said you've been acting up."
"No, that's not-"
Routa snickered. "Relax, whelp. I know. That gal can be such a pain sometimes."
Dragomir didn't answer.
"Not in a talking mood, eh? Fine. I'll just leave ya with this." He threw a piece of fabric in Dragonir's hands. Dragomir blinked.
"What's this?"
Routa shrugged. "Dunno. Gumbe told me it'd help ya. You should try to see differently or something." He rose and started walking in the direction he had come from. "See ya around, kid."
Dragomir looked at the fabric in his hands. There was a lighter patch in the middle of it. Somebody had sewn it carefully to resemble an eye.
Huh. Maybe it could be useful after all.
***
It was much easier now. His clanmates had given him odd looks when he started walking around with his eyes covered but somehow it didin't bother him. Without the distractions of the visual world his powers were growing faster than ever before.

The guardian looked at him, eyes wide and mouth open.
"You can do what?"
Dragomir hesitated. Had he just made a mistake? Lance wasn't the sharpest tool in the world - he was pretty sure he could still convince him that he had just been kidding.
Nah. It wasn't cool to lie to your friends.
"Yeah," he admitted. "I know it's weird and all but I-"
"Are you kidding me?" The guardian was grinning at him, bright green eyes glimmering behind the battered pair of glasses. "That's so cool! You have to show me! I wanna see you bend a spoon!"
Dragomir snorted and rolled his eyes. "You are such a nerd."