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within you."
    "How?" she groaned, throwing her hands up.
"You said it yourself; no one else out there has the same abilities
as I do. Who's going to teach me how to control them if no one
knows firsthand what I'm going through?" With another agonized
groan, she put her head in her hands. "If I could just keep Arus
out of my head, I'd be fine with taking the time necessary to learn
the rest of my skills."
    "Well, I've sent requests out to several of
my connections of Malziar and Por'Alless. If anyone can give us
some tips on how to control a telepathic connection, it would be
them. I know their race is quite different from humans in many
ways, but I can't imagine the process of telepathy can be all that
different."
    Kitreena looked at him skeptically. "And what
do I do in the meantime? For all I know, Arus could be hearing my
thoughts halfway across the ship!"
    "Well, you might try explaining it to them.
Now that we've decided to—"
    The whisk of the door behind her cut him off,
and Arus took a slow step into the room. "You . . . wanted to see
me?"
    Damien stood as he entered, and bowed deeply
when the door had closed. The Zo'rhan were big on honor, something
Kitreena had never fully understood. But she respected it anyway,
for Damien's sake. "Welcome, Arus," he said once he was upright
again. "Have a seat, make yourself comfortable. We have much to
discuss."
    Arus was visibly wary. He sat down with the
appearance of a young man on his way to his own execution. "Have I
done something wrong?"
    "Not at all," Damien assured him. "I'll be
happy to explain just as soon as Vultrel gets here. For the moment,
however, let's get the awkward issue between you two out of the
way."
    Kitreena glanced at Arus, but consciously
made an effort to avoid eye contact. Still, it was blatantly
obvious that he was looking at her. He's probably listening to
my thoughts right now! "As you know by now, I'm a Morpher," she
said, forcing herself to stare at the table. "As a child, a Morpher
is just the same as any other human. However, throughout our
teenage years, our abilities begin to manifest themselves through
our emotions. The transformation you saw take place back at the
castle was brought out of anger."
    "And she's got plenty  of that,"
Damien muttered to no one in particular. A quick look from her
erased his grin.
    "As I was saying, my emotions bring out my
talents. Many Morphers have different talents while many others
possess the same. Unfortunately for you and I, it appears that I
have the gift of telepathy, a talent which none of my people share.
It is unique to me, for whatever reason, and I must learn to
control it on my own. In the mean time, I ask that you ignore any
of my stray thoughts that may wander into your head. I will try to
learn to control it as best as I can, but it may take time."
    Arus' surprise was mostly hidden behind the
implant, though his hanging jaw gave it away. "Am I the only one
who can hear you?"
    Kitreena looked at Damien, but he only
nodded. "It appears so," she answered after a sigh. "I don't know
why. Maybe it's because you were closest to me both times I
unconsciously tapped into my power. I can't tell you for sure, but
I promise I'll do my best to overcome this problem and control
it."
    Arus held up his mechanical hand to
wordlessly assure her he understood before he quickly switched to
his human hand. "It's all right. Take your time. I'll ignore
anything I hear, and I swear I'll repeat none of it to anyone, not
even myself."
    "There is much more about Morphers that we
wish to share," Damien spoke up, sitting forward in his chair. "But
I want to wait until Vultrel gets here to begin with all that. Have
you seen him?
    "I saw him once when I woke up," Arus
replied. Kitreena flinched when she heard his voice in her head. And he hates me now. "I don't think he wants to see me right
now."
    Damien gave him a nod of understanding. "He
is upset with you over what happened on the surface, I assume?"
Arus' gaze turned