She gave an irritated huff and leaned beside him. “What is this, Jacob?” She brandished the letter - crumpled paper, crumbling wax. She looked more weary than exasperated.
“My proposal. I assume you’ve read it.”
“Your madness.”
“How so, Lishaya?”
She glared at him. “Stop with the ‘my Lishaya’ nonsense. Just call me Anne.”
“You know I prefer formality.”
“And order over chaos, yes, I see. I can read. Why do I call it madness? I know not what else to call it. Enlighten me.”
“An experiment.”
“You know what ‘experiments’ have wrought in our past.” A spasm of grief across her face, escaping her shields for just a heartbeat.
“Not like that. Nothing so…physical. Not yet, and not for generations.”
“You propose to set aside what the gods have given you.”
“I propose to examine it. Think, my Lishaya. Anne. Why should one House be empathic, another master of shielding, another of thought transference, another the moving of objects with our minds? And why, when Dasaroi blossom in the wilds outside Shayara, do they not always follow these rules? Why, not two generations past, we had a woman who could light fires with her thoughts alone, and a man who could levitate the generation before that!”
“Your proposal?”
“I believe that we have these specific gifts because we expect to. You, born to Tamrani parents, were raised knowing that you would one day become an empath and healer. The very same for all Tamrani, for all L’Arathi, for all Narsani. You develop the gift you develop because you expect to. In the end, though, it is all energy - it is all the same. There is no reason why a Zirothi could not heal - it’s the moving of objects on an infinitely small level, after all. No reason why you couldn’t fly, Lishaya, if only you believed that you could. Not just believed - deeply, truly, knew. I propose to discover how the gods set these guidelines in our minds, in our lives. I propose to reset them. To discover the secret laws of the universe. This will not be the work of a single generation - I propose to set House Ziroth upon the problem until it is solved. Ultimate mastery of spiritual energy, of our gifts. A return to true power. But carefully, Anne. Slowly and carefully.”
She was silent for a long moment,looking down at the Grove where she was born, many lives ago.Where she had called them forth and shaped them. ”You will do no experiments on other Dasaroi.”
“I swear it.”
She nodded, looking even wearier than before. ”Do it. With great care.”
“I will.”