Landon Banebow finds his Chi Part 2

                 As soon as Xzala was out of sight Landon climbed from the river and grabbed a rough linen towel that lay folded on the bank. He wrapped his legs and feet in it and folded his arms around his knees. Letting the Blackness collapse, his mind was inundated once again with emotions and worries.

            While Landon rubbed his legs briskly beneath the towel, attempting to relieve some of the sharply tingling numbness, he thought about the discovery of his Chi and its implications. That river of energy followed a pattern of lines that traveled throughout his body. During his talks with the Bo’Shima medics – the boy hungered for knowledge of every kind - they had explained some of the workings of the human body. The river like lines he had sensed were, according to the medics, veins and arteries that carried a fluid called blood in and out of the heart . The blood, they had said, contained man’s gift of instincts while the heart held his soul. That must be the center of my Chi and the veins carry the energy throughout my body.

            To Landon the whole concept seemed strange and foreign yet exciting and exhilarating. Controlling the mind-flame and feeling the cold, perspicacious nature of the Blackness allowed him only a glimpse of his Chi’s potential power. He longed for the morning training session with Xzala.

            Landon suddenly realized he had donned his tan leather riding britches and was fastening the last button of his gray wool long sleeved shirt – at least Xzala had allowed him to wear his underclothes while knee-deep in the stream. 

As he made his way back to camp, ducking and dodging tree limbs and thick undergrowth, he continued his musings. Enthralled by the wonders and possibilities of the Mist the boy had virtually forgotten his gnawing concerns regarding Akina’s fate in Tillamun. If the heart is the center of my Chi then my mind must control the power. At least it does upon achieving the Blackness. That was a very bizarre feeling. The mind-flame burned concerns, emotions and doubts allowing the Blackness to consume his mind. But his worries and uncertainties, thoughts, ideas and plans reformed on the outside fully comprehensible. Even more so in fact. Without even directing his Chi as Xzala had said he would eventually learn to do, his senses had been heightened more than any veteran Bo’Shima, even his fathers. Landon could smell an emotion for Ral’s sake. At least he thought that was what he did. Strange it almost seemed as though his senses were melded as one but still separate. He yearned to channel and experience the power that he had sensed within…

“Boy, better hope you finished your chores, Akina’s in a mood. Faldamn near pulled his blades on that woman. Your ole’ man’s good but I’da put my coin on the Giant.” Landon grinned at the grizzled Bo’Shima officer.

“When is my father not in a mood?”

“True enough but I ain’t seen him like this since Tillamun. Tread lightly boy and don’t go knotting his laces.”

“Thanks Nestan,” Landon replied with another grin as he passed the wiry man and moved into the small camp.