Jarn’s Journal Day 613

I might as well give up trying not to interfere.

Songbird walks over from the camp every day, generally loaded down with gifts from the clan. She is quite convinced that I am a god, and that I cannot possibly do without her help in finding food (or bringing over what her relatives have provided) and cooking it. From what she said, her people – including the shaman – are just as thoroughly convinced.

And there are at least one leopard, a family of lions, and a pack of hyenas in the area, any of which would find Songbird, alone, a tasty snack.

The first two days I teleported her back to where she could walk back safely, explaining as I did so that it was too dangerous for her to make the walk alone.

She loves being teleported.

Today I walked back to her relatives’ camp with her, thinking that I would explain the dangers and ask her parents to keep her in the camp.

The next thing I knew, I was in the middle of a greeting ceremony, with a number of strangers who were, to put it mildly, terrified of me.

Now I know how to shield against emotions. With animals, it’s automatic – I have to think to feel them. With other R’ilnai it is a matter of politeness. But for almost two years now, the only sentient being I’ve had to shield against was Songbird, and I generally didn’t, because I wanted to know if she was in trouble. To be blunt, it just isn’t automatic any more, and being surrounded by that much fear ….

Well, I managed to excuse myself somehow. I think I babbled something about having to check the food Songbird had left cooking. But the shaman, just before I bolted, urged me to come tomorrow for a proper greeting – and from the texture of her mind, she meant a proper worshiping.

And I think I agreed.

I had better practice my shielding technique.

Empathic Talents (Homecoming Glossary)

EMPATHIC TALENTS: #scifi A group of talents based more on emotion than deliberate thought. The most important is the ability to experience the emotions of others, or more often to be unable not to feel them without training in shutting them out. Empathic talents also include the ability to feel, see, hear, taste and smell what another is experiencing without going through a language equivalent. Xenotelepathy and telepathic communication with animals generally requires a blend of empathic and esper talents, as does Healing.