Chapter 5

"I'm going to kill that bloody bird and then feed its fillet to its owner," Ianto muttered, pulling a little red bead out of his mouth. He suspected that something was up when Kreel decided not to keep him company during the breakfast preparation, but dismissed that thought after a cursory examination of the outer room did not reveal anything out of place. Then Stormcloud—as he had come to call Kash'tan after discovering that this was the direct translation of the young man's name—woke up, and Ianto forgot about the raven's unusual behavior for a while. "I really should have known better," Ianto sighed with dejection, peering into the caldron. Who knew how many more beads masquerading as beans now hid in its depths?

Ianto held no illusions about this being an accident. Both Stormcloud and Kreel were inordinately fond of practical jokes, as he had discovered—much to his own detriment—during the past two weeks of living with them. Just the other day, under the apparently false impression that he was alone, Ianto decided to wash up in the brook, only to find that his clothing had somehow relocated from a shrub to a high-hanging branch of a nearby tree while his back was turned on it for all of five minutes. His shoulder was nearly healed, but he still did not want to put it through the strenuous activity of climbing the tree—although, in all honesty, he probably would not have tried climbing that high up anyway. Therefore, after a few attempts to knock the clothing down by throwing a stick at it and succeeding only in scaring all the birds in the area into silence, Ianto gave up and made his way back to the ekele—as the tree house was called—where he found Stormcloud practically rolling on the floor with laughter. To his credit, once he saw Ianto's discomfort with nakedness, the young man hastily retrieved the clothing and returned it with an apology, but none of this meant that tomorrow he and Kreel would not come up with some other way to make their guest's life more interesting.

Ianto covered the caldron with a lid again and turned to his own bowl. Stormcloud brought him the recipe of the sweet bean soup from the Vale, mentioning that it had been one of his favorite dishes as a child, but naturally he could not be bothered to cook it for himself. The Vale was where the rest of Stormcloud's clan, k'Sheyna, lived. Ianto had not been allowed to see it yet, but he had a distinct impression that it was more akin to a village than to a town or a city. The Tayledras people, at least as exemplified by Stormcloud, seemed too tied to nature to replace it with steel and concrete.

Ianto finished his bowl of soup, encountering only one more bead in the process. That was a good sign. Considering Stormcloud's propensity to leave things lying around, Kreel potentially had access to an indefinite supply of those beads. Rinsing the bowl in a vat of water, Ianto sighed again. He had finished all of his self-assigned cleaning chores for the day early, but what at first had seemed like a great accomplishment now turned into a rather unfortunate turn of events, since it left him with no distractions. The fact was that Stormcloud and Kreel were at least an hour late. Their shift officially ended at sundown. Stormcloud worked as a kind of guard of the k'Sheyna borders, protecting the Vale from the dangers both of the four-legged and human varieties. Remembering the wyrsa that had attacked them on the day of their meeting, Ianto came to a conclusion that the lifespan of a Tayledras scout did not far exceed that of a Torchwood field agent, so any delays could potentially herald some very bad news. The territory that Stormcloud guarded was not so large that it would take this long to get back to the ekele even from the furthest point.

Rather than worry about possible disasters that might have befallen his roommate, Ianto tried to shift his attention to other subjects. For one thing, he was quite amazed by his own ability to understand so much of what Stormcloud told him. He had always been good at learning languages, easily remembering and sorting out new words into a logical system, but the speed with which he took to the Tayledras tongue was simply phenomenal. Two short weeks into living here—the three days he had spent unconscious did not count—and Ianto already could understand almost everything Stormcloud said. His verbal skills were somewhat lagging in comparison, but for now, it was more important to learn the local way of life than to communicate his own thoughts about it anyway. He suspected that Stormcloud might have done something to telepathically enhance his assimilation of the language, but the young man did not volunteer any information on this subject, and Ianto really did not mind much, since it seemed less intrusive than Kethra's healing thing.

Finally, he heard a familiar screech, and Kreel flapped his wings through the opening in the wall. Ianto felt so relieved that he forgot his annoyance at the bird's antics and rushed to set out a bowl of vegetables for him to eat. Kreel discharged his ladder-dropping duties and smoothly sailed onto the table, not waiting for his master before starting in on the supper.

"Zhai'helleva," Ianto called out as Stormcloud's head appeared in the opening. The greeting meant "wind to your wings" with the kind of outdated word for "your" that probably should have been translated as "thy."

"Zhai'helleva," Stormcloud replied and, to Ianto's surprise, instead of closing the trapdoor after climbing through it, held it up. A moment later, the dignified older man who had visited them two weeks ago pulled himself through the opening. Ianto almost rushed to help him climb up, but stopped himself just in time, sensing that the guest would take umbrage at any implication of his ineptitude.

"Zhai'helleva, Lasha'Kaladral I'anto," the older man said, righting himself and forcing the white owl on his shoulder to shift in order to keep its balance. He placed the same kind of slight pause in the middle of Ianto's name as Stormcloud did.

"Zhai'helleva," Ianto replied cautiously, uncertain what to make of this sudden visit.

They stared at each other for a moment before Stormcloud finally remembered his manners and gestured to the older man, "Oh, I'anto, I think that you haven't been properly introduced the last time. This is Iceshadow, one of the k'Sheyna Elders."

"Nice to meet you," Ianto addressed Iceshadow demurely, feeling awkward because at least to his knowledge, there was no equivalent of "sir" in the Tayledras language that he could add for further politeness. "Care sharing our food, Elder Iceshadow?" He hated not being able to speak in grammatically correct sentences.

Iceshadow, however, seemed very impressed. "Your grasp of our language is truly incredible," he said, gazing at Ianto with curiosity. "It is not an easy tongue to learn in such a short time."

"I assumed that Lasha'Kaladral just learn things faster than regular people. Is it not the case?" Stormcloud also turned to stare at Ianto with wonder.

"That may be. I have not met enough Lasha'Kaladral to know for certain," Iceshadow replied after a moment of consideration, but he did not look altogether convinced. Ianto let out a sigh of relief. "Lasha'Kaladral" in Tayledras meant "spirit of the Star-Eyed Goddess," and he felt quite a bit reassured with the knowledge that dead spirits walking among the living was not a commonplace occurrence in this world either. "There might be a different explanation, though," Iceshadow continued. "May I…?" he asked Ianto, gesturing with both hands towards his head.

Well, at least this time he actually asked instead of just barging into my mind uninvited, Ianto thought.

He had not asked Stormcloud about the abnormally fast language learning precisely because he did not really care one way or another, and submitting his mind to the intrusive probing just to satisfy someone else's curiosity was not high on his list of favorite activities. On the other hand, if he refused, it might look as if he had something to hide. In a way, that was true. Ianto really did not want to reveal his thoughts to these people, but that was not because he meant the Tayledras in general or the k'Sheyna clan in particular any harm. Rather, the very idea of opening himself up to anyone in such a manner sent him into a state of near panic.

"It will be only a simple check. I promise not to read into your thoughts, as we consider that highly unethical without a person's consent," Iceshadow reassured him, as if he had read his mind already. Ianto sighed and nodded. He really had no choice if he expected to be accepted by these people.

Once again, Ianto felt something foreign penetrating his very spirit and moving inward to some central and elemental core of his being before reaching back out to encompass his very soul. Then the presence withdrew, and he shuddered a little as if suddenly freed to express his natural reaction. Ianto found that at some point he had closed his eyes, cringing, and now carefully pealed them open, gazing at Iceshadow questioningly.

The older man nodded with a satisfied expression on his face. "Just as I thought," he said, looking happy and a little relieved with the confirmation of his original theory. "It is nothing mysterious. You simply have Mind Gifts. Mindspeech and Empathy—a rather rare combination. It's usually either one or the other. No Mage Gift, but you should not be disappointed. It's rare in Outlanders."

"What means this?" Ianto asked in confusion. He had not known quite what to expect from Iceshadow's probing, but this was certainly more bizarre than anything he could have imagined.

For a minute, both Iceshadow and Stormcloud stared at him as if he had asked if the fish could swim. The older man recovered first, "I apologize. We tend to forget that the Outlanders are not always familiar with the Mind Gifts or how they work. Mindspeech is the ability to communicate without words, and Empathy is the ability to sense the feelings of others around you. That's how you were able to understand what Stormcloud was saying and guess correctly at the meaning of the unknown words and phrases. Certain interpretations just felt right while others did not. Frankly, I'm rather surprised that you haven't been accidentally hearing his actual thoughts. I think you must naturally have very tight shields—walls—around yourself, and Stormcloud's own shields probably helped as well. It's good that you have the instinct not to pry into other people's thoughts and feelings without their invitation. However, instinct is no substitute for training. In the matter of Gifts in particular, you either learn to use the Gift or it inevitably comes to use you. This is why, if you are willing, I will gladly find someone to teach you the proper use of your Gifts."

Ianto still felt a bit dazed with this revelation. He had easily accepted the idea of the Tayledras using telepathy because they were aliens, and such abilities were not unheard of in other intelligent species. But now a part of his own self was revealed as something strange, foreign, inexplicable, and he was not sure how to react to it. Ianto felt that he was losing grasp of his own identity like the first time he and Jack… He pushed that thought to the back of his mind resolutely. Now was not the time or the place. "I had no Gifts before," he appealed to Iceshadow, silently begging the Elder to reevaluate his diagnosis. "Why this now?"

"Maybe you only gained them when you became Lasha'Kaladral," Stormcloud piped up. It seemed to be his answer to everything.

"Perhaps," Iceshadow replied meditatively. "Or it could be that you always had these Gifts in potential, and they were merely awakened by the shock of—well—," he let the phrase hang, seeming uncomfortable with actually saying the word "death." They were all quiet for a minute and then Iceshadow cleared his throat, "I will gladly accept your invitation of sharing your meal with you, I'anto and Stormcloud."

"Of—of course," Stormcloud replied, hastily pushing a chair towards the Elder as Ianto hurried to set out the bowls and the spoons. "Unfortunately, we don't have any meat for your bondbird, though," he nodded at the white owl, which blinked haughtily at that statement.

"It is no problem. She has gotten quite spoiled living with me in the Vale. It would do her some good to hunt for herself once in a while," Iceshadow smiled, turning to look at the owl. The bird fluttered her feathers unhappily, but then silently sailed off of the Elder's shoulder and disappeared through the hole under the ceiling. Kreel, who had been watching this scene unfold from the table, cawed victoriously, leapt up, and resumed his proper place on Stormcloud's shoulder, gazing at the humans with the air of a master of his domain. It certainly pays to be omnivorous, Ianto thought with a silent chuckle as Stormcloud gently ruffled the feathers of the closest wing and whispered, "Silly bird."

The other two men sat down, and Ianto filled their bowls with the soup. "If rocks in food, blame Kreel," he added dryly, nodding in the raven's direction. Kreel tilted his head to the side and gazed back at Ianto with a quizzical expression that made him look like the picture of innocence.

Both Iceshadow and Stormcloud chuckled. "Remind me one day to tell you about some mischief that these two have gotten into while Stormcloud was still a youngster. I swear no one else could rouse the entire Vale quite so," Iceshadow said in a teasing tone.

Stormcloud reddened, but managed to retort cheekily, "I seem to recall quite a few tales of your wild youth still going around the Vale, oh wise Elder."

"That is true, that is true, I'm afraid to say," Iceshadow chuckled with mirth, and at that moment, Ianto decided that he liked the old man after all. He has always envied people with the ability to laugh at themselves.

As Ianto took his seat at the table, Stormcloud gazed up at him with surprise, "You are not going to eat with us?"

"You are late. I eat early," Ianto stated simply, shrugging his shoulders with false nonchalance.

"Sorry." Stormcloud looked so genuinely contrite that Ianto immediately felt his resentment melting away. "I was summoned into the Vale a candlemark or so before sundown. Had I known that you are a Mindspeaker, I would have sent Kreel back to you with a message."

"Kreel Mindspeaks?" Ianto started. He had known that the raven was smart, but considering all the things he had told the bird over the past few days, it was certainly quite alarming to find out that Kreel might have actually understood him.

"A little," Stormcloud nodded. "His level of intelligence is only that of a very young child, but he is certainly capable of delivering a concise message and finding his way back to the ekele on his own."

That's a relief, Ianto thought, watching as Kreel attempted to surreptitiously detach a decorative acorn-shaped button from Stormcloud's vest with his beak. If he had been any more intelligent, there would have been no hope for the rest of us.

"Ahem," Iceshadow cleared his throat, setting aside his spoon after eating about half a bowl of the soup. "I have something to discuss with you, I'anto. This is really the reason I have asked Stormcloud to bring me here today." Ianto frowned a little. Hopefully, this did not mean that the Tayledras decided to expel him from their territory after all. "I cannot help but draw conclusions from the appearance of a Lasha'Kaladral here and at such a time…," Iceshadow continued. "But I could be mistaken. So perhaps, firstly, it would make sense for me to inquire if you are planning to stay with us, or if the Goddess commands you elsewhere?"

"I nowhere to go," Ianto shook his head, wondering just what conclusions Iceshadow was referring to. He himself felt so far out of his element that any kind of deductions seemed completely impossible. As for the Tayledras Star-Eyed Goddess Kal'enel, after meeting the "angels", Ianto now held as an undeniable fact that some greater Power existed out there, and for all he knew, it might as well be Her.

"Very well," Iceshadow seemed pleased. "It is just such a possibility that we, the Elders, have been discussing. You see, the Tayledras do not allow Outlanders into the territories we hold. Such are the rules passed down to us through many generations. In a rare case when an Outlander proves him or her self to be one of us in spirit, we adopt that person into our clan as a Wingbrother or a Wingsister, and only then are they allowed to enter the Vale and partake of our knowledge. However, as a Lasha'Kaladral, you are a messenger from the Star-Eyed, and as such, some feel that you should be accepted among us without the Wingbrother ceremony. There are two other Lasha'Kaladra we have encountered in the past several days, and we require neither of them to undergo the Wingsister ceremony—although their situation is somewhat different, as they do not resemble human beings. In your case, however, we have not been able to arrive at a solution that would please everyone, so it was decided to leave the choice to you."

Iceshadow paused and gazed at Ianto, waiting for an answer to the question he did not need to voice. Ianto understood him regardless. "If I not undergo ceremony, some people not trust me?" he asked.

"That is the concern some Elders expressed, yes," Iceshadow nodded carefully.

In other words, they are feeling a touch xenophobic and don't trust any outsiders, but they don't want to get into trouble with their Goddess either, Ianto thought wryly. Leaving the choice to him essentially absolved them of any responsibility. That being said, Ianto really did not want to create any more trouble by fostering mistrust.

"What is Wingbrother ceremony?" he said finally. Unless it involved an orgy or some sort of ritual human or animal sacrifice, it really would make things much easier to just consent to the ceremony.

Iceshadow frowned for a second, but then his expression cleared. "Oh, you mean what does the ceremony entail? It is basically the making of oaths, none of which, I suspect, would be as binding as the oath you have already made to the Star-Eyed. There is also the passing of history, so that you may better understand your place in the world as a Wingbrother to k'Sheyna once you come to live with us in the Vale."

"I not live with Stormcloud anymore?" Ianto started. He suddenly realized that he did not want to be away from the young man. As his only company for the past couple of weeks, Stormcloud became his anchor in a sea of unfamiliarity—an unruly anchor that tended to get entangled in the thick seaweed for the sole purpose of rattling his boat, but an anchor nonetheless.

"I'm moving back to the Vale, too," Stormcloud hastened to reassure him. "I already arranged for us to have neighboring ekeles, unless, of course, you object to living anywhere near Kreel and me after the little pranks we pulled," he smirked.

"Neighboring ekeles? That's good. Thank you," Ianto said awkwardly. He was not used to these random little acts of thoughtfulness and kindness.

"It's about time for all the scouts to come back to the Vale," Iceshadow nodded with approval written plainly on his face.

"Why they not live in Vale now? Because of summer?" Ianto wondered out loud. Truly, with everything else going on, that should have been the least of his concerns.

But then both of his companions' faces grew dark. Stormcloud glanced at the floor, and Iceshadow chewed on his lower lip before finally replying, "It is a long story, but I will try to…"

"It doesn't matter!" Stormcloud spat out vehemently, clenching his spoon in his fist so hard that his knuckles turned white.

Iceshadow gazed at him with compassion and gently shook his head. "I'm afraid that it does matter, Stormcloud. Before making his decision, I'anto has to know what he is getting himself into by allying himself with us."

Stormcloud continued to stare at some spot on the floor as if he wished desperately to be anywhere other than at this table. After a minute of waiting in vain for a reply, Iceshadow gave up and turned to Ianto, "In order to understand the current situation, you must know some of our history. Normally, this is part of the knowledge shared only during the Wingbrother ceremony, but in your case, I feel justified to make an exception. Long time ago, there was a horrible war fought with magic. It left our homeland devastated and ravaged, with the nature itself perverted by magic gone out of control. Our ancestors wished to return the land to its proper order, but the prevailing chaos promised to overwhelm them, threatening to wipe out the rapidly thinning ranks of the five original clans. Our ancestors were desperate and, as a last resort, they appealed to the Star-Eyed—and She answered their prayer. She taught the Tayledras the ways of magic unknown to any other people, and She made it so that every Tayledras child is born with at least one Gift, either Mind Gift, Mage Gift, or Healing. This is unheard of among the Outlanders, where the Gifts are extremely rare and quite special. In exchange for Her help, the Star-Eyed placed a geas upon us. It is our duty to purify the land and set magic flowing through its proper channels. Once that job is done, a clan moves to a new territory and sets out to tame its wild magics again in a never-ending cycle. It has been so for over twenty seven hundred years."

Ianto raised his eyebrows slightly. Twenty seven hundred years seemed like an awfully exact figure to be completely imaginary, which meant that the Tayledras had an oral—or perhaps even a written—history that stretched at least that far back in time. Quite impressive for people whom would probably be considered barbarians by the standards of Earth's Western civilization. It was also an awfully long time to be burdened by duties accepted by someone else. Sins of the fathers visited upon the children and all that rubbish… Ianto could not help but wonder just how much of this was merely part of the great tradition. And if the geas really existed, but were magically lifted tomorrow, would the Tayledras really abandon the duties carried out for so many generations? Somehow, Ianto sincerely doubted that this would happen. Assuming that the story was true and not a fantastical attempt concocted by the descendants to explain their ancestors' actions, by now it has surely become such a deeply engrained part of the Tayledras culture that most people would not even consider of breaking the long-standing tradition.

Meanwhile, Iceshadow continued. "As you might imagine, our knowledge presents a great temptation for people who seek to augment their powers. That is the primary reason for our insular nature. The more we limit our contact with the Outlanders, the less we make ourselves into a tempting target for the unscrupulous ones among their mages." Ianto nodded, throwing a grateful gaze at the back of Stormcloud's turned head. He had a feeling that plenty of scouts, upon encountering a stranger in the middle of their territory, would have shot first and asked questions later. Overall, the function of the scouts seemed very similar to that of Torchwood, except that they protected some sort of esoteric magical secrets, as opposed to advanced alien technology, from falling into the wrong hands. "Nearly two years ago, k'Sheyna thought that we had purified this territory and began moving our Vale to a new location. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us, a powerful mage calling himself Mornelithe Falconsbane settled just beyond our current border." Ianto winced. That name could not be construed as anything but an intentional barb towards the Tayledras, who called themselves Hawkbrothers. "Falconsbane captured one of our most powerful mages and subdued him to his own will, forcing him to be a puppet in the hands of the evil master."

"How? Mind control?" Ianto could not help but ask, wondering how the rest of the clan could have failed to notice something so major.

"It is difficult to explain," Iceshadow cringed with a look like he had just swallowed something bitter. "It was not mind control per se, although I am fairly certain that Falconsbane could have done that as well. He just thought to torture Steelblade better by allowing him to retain his actual mind while making him betray us in action. It does not matter," he sighed, shaking his head. "It took Kethra and me these past few weeks after all of this was uncovered, but I think that we have succeeded in freeing Steelblade from most of his compulsions." This did not sound particularly reassuring to Ianto, but he had no choice except to rely on the opinions of those who presumably knew better.

"Sorry, I seem to have jumped ahead quite a bit. Now to continue my tale…," Iceshadow went on. "Two years ago, we had already moved most of the people to the new site when we attempted to move the most important part of the Vale, the Heartstone. It is difficult to explain to someone who does not share the Mage Gift just what a Heartstone is, so suffice it to say that it encompasses great power that could be dangerous in the wrong hands. We could not guess that Steelblade—then under Falconsbane's control—was systematically weakening the Heartstone and creating a significant, but barely noticeable fault. When we, the mages, tried to move the Heartstone to its new location, it went unstable, and—well, those who could not extricate themselves from the spell fast enough lost their lives."

Suddenly, a wave of something intangible, but very powerful and undoubtedly real, hit Ianto with a brutal force, and he doubled over, grasping the edges of the table in a desperate attempt to keep himself grounded in place. Then Iceshadow's now-familiar mental presence somehow clamped down on the wave and made it subside before slowly and carefully withdrawing.

"Empathy," the older man explained, shooting a glare in Stormcloud's direction.

"Sorry, I'anto," the young scout whispered as Kreel emitted a sort of soft, cooing sound, now completely uninterested in the buttons that had so captivated his attention only a minute ago. Ianto slowly released his grip on the table and tried to fight down acute misery that seemed to press on him from all directions. He had not felt this desperately depressed since… Lisa. Ianto raised his gaze up to Stormcloud, realizing that the overwhelming emotion he felt was grief. "Just go on," the young man said in a pleading tone. "I'll shield better next time."

Kreel quieted down, and Iceshadow's expression softened as he looked at Stormcloud again with compassion. "Alright, though there is little further to add. A few weeks ago, Falconsbane's plot was uncovered, and the Outlanders and their Lasha'Kaladra helped us and our Shin'a'in allies to defeat him. He sustained a serious wound, which will likely prove lethal." Even still somewhat unfocused after the wave of second-hand grief, Ianto shook his head silently. If the Tayledras did not find this Falconsbane's body, it meant that the wound might not have been lethal after all, and it was unwise to assume the enemy dead. "Kethra and I are working on Steelblade while the remaining mages are trying to determine a possible course of action with respect to the Heartstone. It is still very unstable, and we cannot risk doing serious magic in its vicinity, which also means that we cannot contact the k'Sheyna who are now at our new Vale site. With so many people gone or dead, we are down to about one fourth of the clan," Iceshadow sighed with resignation. "So you see, I cannot in good faith ask you to join us without letting you know the full gravity of our current predicament."

Ianto also sighed. He might have otherwise doubted if he should stay with the k'Sheyna Tayledras, but this story essentially took away his right to choose. The more desperate the clan's situation, the more he felt obligated to help under the terms of his own personal geas. "I'll go through ceremony and learn Mind Gifts," he said, and Iceshadow nodded, looking pleased with the answer.

"Thank you. I shall not ask why the Star-Eyed has sent you to us now or whether you even know the answer to such a question," he said with a sorrowful smile, "but I cannot help but view your appearance as a sign of hope."

Ianto shifted uncomfortably with such a weight placed upon his shoulders, but then who was he to extinguish the tiny light at the end of these people's tunnel?