I looked at him dumbfounded. "What do you mean?"
Rohan just looked at me, "I mean what I asked. Have you ever tried to just pull in a bit of the fire in your mind? More specifically, pull in just the heat it gives off. That should enhance your overall physique."
"I didn't know that was possible… So, I guess my answer would be no. I haven't ever tried that." I should have expected his response.
"Well… Try it."
I opened my mind to the fire and out of reflex it entered my body, making the full change. I had been working to make my changes faster so often that it was now automatic. Now, I needed to try and undo all that work. Once I was steady in my tiger shape, I pushed the fire out of my body and reverted. Then I took a deep breath and tried it again. This time I tried to let only a little in, tried to reach for just the warmth of the fire instead of the fire itself. But as soon as I reached out, the fire started to enter my body, and it all followed.
This was going to be hard. When I refocused on my surroundings after multiple tries, I saw Jasper watching me and Rohan was gone.
"Where did he go?" I asked Jasper.
"He left about 20 minutes ago. Didn't say anything at all, just nodded towards me and turned around then walked away. We should get moving too, or we are going to be late for school. Though I for one can't wait for it to be done."
I laughed at Jasper's excitement to be away from the den of hormonal teens (His Words). Though, thinking about it as I walked over to where my clothes were. I guess the way emotions affected him, the raw emotions that ruled most every action at school, a den of hormonal teens was a fair description.
"What do you have planned for after school? I don't imagine you are heading directly to collage."
He shook his head, "No. Emmett and I have been putting out stories of us taking a year off and traveling until we decide what we are going to school for. I have yet to decide on what I will major in this time around."
I laughed, "I guess I should probably start doing that myself. What do I want to do with myself? Hmm, maybe a video game designer. That game you guys sometimes play at night looks like fun. It's called Dark Age of Camelot, right?"
Jasper smiled and nodded his head, "It is definitely a time sink, and what else do we have to do. You should see how many of our kind were addicted to Everquest in it's heyday. You should come by one night and make a character for World of Warcraft, it has potential if they fix the PvP system anyway."
The two friends continued their conversation about gaming all the way to the police station.
Later that day after school, Edythe and I were sitting in the kitchen when there was a knock at the door. I got up to answer it and saw Rohan standing there.
"Hello, Rohan. How can I help you? Would you like to come in?"
"Sure, but I won't be staying long." He entered the house and greeted Edythe in his stoic demeanor.
"I just came by to drop off a mental exercise I recommend you begin using. It should help you focus and learn to control the changes, eventually. Most changelings don't have this issue. Once they reach 25 years old, they begin to learn to slowly work with the building fire. You have skipped all the beginning steps and made the full shift the first time, now I need to teach you the right way. It is honestly a surprise to me that your mind didn't revert to a beast when you made your first change, though it could have something to do with the gift of your grandmother's bloodline."
I had a thought and asked, "Would this work for the Quileute shifters as well? They have lingering anger issues in the early years according to what I have been told."
"I don't know. Your grandmother had difficulty explaining her gift to the Tribe and our methods didn't work well for her either. She only had the two shapes, wolf and human."
Edythe asked, "Is it possible that Thomas won't respond to these methods as well?"
Rohan paused for a moment, "I would think that to be most unlikely. The gifts of his father's Clan are vastly different from his grandmothers Tribe. When she married into the Clan her gift was added to theirs. Thomas's bloodline is rooted in evolution you could say. If a gift is added through conception, then his line will add the strongest traits from the inferior one and become stronger in the next generation. Perhaps this weekend we should sit and discuss your return. I can also give you more information at that time. Do you by chance speak Nepali?"
I shook my head, "No, but learning a new language shouldn't take me too long."
Rohan stood up, "It may help ease your way into the Tribe. Nepali is something of a bridge language for the area. Many of the people have their own individual language's but they all know Nepali."
Before he could leave, I asked quickly, "You tend to jump between Clan and Tribe quite a lot, is there a reason?"
"The English language leaves much to be desired for nuance. But the closest thing you would understand is that there are many Clans that make up the Tribe, and Clan leaders are led by the Tribal leader. I look forward to the weekend."
Rohan stood and simply walked out of the house.
I looked at Edythe after he left, "Is it just me or are his mannerisms just weird. Almost robotic? It feels like once he has conveyed his message, he is done with the discussion and leaves without seeing if you acknowledge what he has said."
Edythe shook her head, "I thought it was just me that thought that. He has a habit of just dumping his knowledge or thoughts and ending it there. He isn't rude, so much as he acts like, I don't know. Maybe emotionless would be a good description of it."
My mind wandered around the way Rohan acted, "Maybe it's like he said. A language issue? I think I should start learning Hindi right away."
Edythe nodded her head, "I can look into a copy of the language from Rosetta Stone, and with your Echoic memory it will take no time at all. I will learn at the same time to help."
I looked at Edythe and felt a warmth in my chest that had nothing to do with my shape changing. "You haven't said much about how my being gone will affect you."
She took my hand, "I was wondering when you were going to ask. And the real answer is that I do not know. For vampires, once an attachment is formed, it is very hard to deny. Carlisle told you about our emotions and how they can rule us, so it is rare that we actually separate once those bonds are formed."
Even though I was somewhat expecting her words, they still hit me hard. Here I was, somewhat excited to go and meet my family, well my extended family that is. But to do so I would have to leave my current one for an unknown amount of time. I felt guilty for leaving her like this.
"I wish they would let you come with me."
Edythe gave me a warm smile, "And I wish I could come. I even looked up the weather patterns for the area during the time you will be there and there is 12-14 hours of daylight with little cloud cover even during monsoon season. Its an area that just wouldn't be… Good for my kind, I guess you could say. Maybe that's why we have never heard of a Vampire from there."
I gave a deep sigh, my guilt settling like a shroud over my shoulders.
Trying to banish the gloomy atmosphere Edythe said, "I was going to tell you after school was done but since we are talking about it now. I have a new cell phone coming for you. It has an International Roaming plan so you can keep in contact with me. I am not saying you have to call every day, because you will be working on your abilities there but once a week or so would go a long way in keeping me sane."
I leaned over the corner of the table and gave Edythe a kiss that I hoped shared my thoughts and feelings with her. I even contemplated making the shift to Tiger so she could read my mind to see the depth of my feelings for her.
When we separated, Edythe stood up and walked over to her school bag that she had brought with her. She pulled out a little box and turned back to me.
"If you remember, back before our first dance I had to be out of sight because of the sunny days here. Well… A group of us went to Denver to look into our company there and I visited the mall there in an effort to try and relate to you in some way."
When she brought up the mall, I felt my body go cold. I was better now, but it was still an emotionally charged subject.
Seeing my reaction, Edythe began talking faster. "Well, while I was there, I found a memorial for the victims of the shooting and happened to see something I thought you should have. I, um… kinda had to use my compulsion powers to get it actually."
She opened the box, and I saw a heart-shaped locket on a cushion of red velvet. The front was half Pearl and the other half was dark green with specks of red in it. I had never seen it before, but I knew instantly what it was.
"Pearl and Heliotrope, also called Bloodstone" I mumbled from the memory of that day. A memory of standing at a counter and going over the details with a clerk."