By the time the microwave beeped, signaling the end of its cycle, Karen was ready. She pulled the plates out and set them on the counter before she scooped the ice cream out of the container. Bill kissed Karen’s cheek before leaving. 

Karen slid a plate across the counter to me before sitting down on the stool on the other side of the bar.

“How well are you handling things?” she asked.

“Okay, I guess. It’s a lot to process.”

“It is. I want you to know if you have any questions or concerns you’re more than welcome to come to me or Bill. Even the things you might think are stupid little stuff.”

I swallowed the food in my mouth before replying, “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you.” 

“I’m sure you have questions. Things you’ve experienced that we just haven’t thought to tell you about.” 

I remembered the shower I’d taken Saturday afternoon. “I do have a couple of questions, if you’re sure you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind. What is it you want to know?”

“Do you remember when I was about six and I ran into the tree and split my head open?”

“Sure, you were chasing one of your brothers, if I recall correctly.”

“Yeah, Cam had been teasing me and I was hot on his tail, determined to get back at him. Anyway, I ended up with stitches and I had a scar right here.” I showed her the spot near my hairline were my scar used to be. “But Saturday afternoon, I noticed it seemed to be disappearing, and when I thought to check it again this morning, it was completely gone. Is that normal?”

“It’s not unheard of, though, it generally takes longer. Do you have any other scars, or any worse scars? Worse than that one, I mean?”

“That’s the only one I can think of, or at least the worst one. All my others were mostly scratches or odd small wounds to have scarred, but every scar I’ve thought of seems to be gone now.” 

“Hmm. That may be why it was so quick. It was the only larger scar your body needed to heal. Generally, it can take weeks or even months to get rid of scar tissue, depending on how much of it there is and how bad the scar is.” 

“If I had broken a bone or had some kind of serious injury, it would have taken longer to heal?” 

“Exactly.”

“I guess that makes sense, but it’s going to take a little getting used to, not having that scar. It’s been a part of me for so long.”

Karen laughed. “You’ll get used to it, trust me. Eventually, you’ll come to expect healing like that.”

“If you say so, I’ll believe you. Right now, it’s blowing my mind.”

“It’s a big thing to get used to.” 

“I have another question, if it’s not too personal.”

“What is it, dear?”

“Where can I find soaps and shampoos that aren’t so heavily perfumed that taking a shower runs me out of the bathroom? I used to think the ones I had were lightly scented but I can’t stand to be in the same room with them long enough to take a shower anymore.”

“We have a pack member who makes organic soaps and shampoos, unscented and very lightly scented, just for the pack. Remind me before you leave and I’ll give you her card. She makes things for normal humans too so someone seeing her products at your apartment won’t raise any difficult questions. They make great gifts if there’s anyone among your family or friends who are into that kind of thing.” 

“Thanks, I appreciate it. I didn’t know who else to ask.”

“No problem, dear. It’s totally understandable. Most of us are raised in this world and know what to expect when our first shift comes. You’ve been thrust into it with no warning. We expect you to have questions and want to help you adjust. Now, Bill has asked me to work with you on shielding this afternoon, how do you feel about that?”

“If he says I need it, I’ll do it, though I don’t understand why.”

“There are a lot of reasons to learn to shield, but I’ll just go over some of the most important ones.”

“Okay.” I continued eating my pie and ice cream as I listened.

“As a telepath, you have experienced firsthand how overwhelming it can be to hear other’s thoughts without trying to, shielding can stop that. It can also prevent other telepaths from reading your mind, unless you let them. You can also limit what you let them see should you choose to let them in.”

“All right.”

“Shielding also prevents those who also have talents from being able to borrow your powers or your strength without your permission. Basically, good shielding is a security measure. You want to be able to shut the door and have some privacy.”

“I’m following you so far,” I was starting to understand why Bill wanted me to learn this. 

“I’ll be honest with you. You can’t expect instant results. It will probably take several lessons, and lots of practice, to learn to shield well.” 

I nodded.

“Today we’re going to start with the basics, and I promise not to work you as hard as Bill did. Learning shielding can be tedious and exhausting, but unless you progress particularly quickly, I don’t anticipate doing much of that today.”

“Then what will be doing today?” I asked. While she had explained, I’d finished my pie and ice cream. I carried my plate around the bar so I could put it into the sink before turning back to face Karen.

“Every good shield, like any good building, needs a firm foundation. Today we’re going to work on building your foundation. So something doesn’t come along and shake your world and destroy all of your shielding in the process.”

“All right.” I wasn’t following her ‘shake the world metaphor’ but wanted to move on. 

“What we are going to start with today is meditation. Have you ever done any meditating?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “Not unless you count a couple of yoga classes.”

“Yoga experience will help more than you’d think, you’ll see once we get started. Our main goal right now is to center ourselves and concentrate on our core of energy. Let’s go into the living room where we can be comfortable.”

I smiled as I followed her. We each sat on opposite ends of her large sofa, facing each other with our legs folded lotus style, and got to work.

We spent a couple of hours working on meditation and focusing on our core of energy before I’d made enough progress that Karen decided it was time to advance, and I made my first efforts at shielding.

“I want you to picture a wall surrounding you, make sure it’s completely surrounding you, top and bottom, too. Like a large bubble,” she instructed. “You can make your wall out of anything you like. It can be water, stone, metal, or air; whatever you are most comfortable with. Make it look like anything you want it to, as long as it totally encapsulates you.” Karen was quiet for a while as I worked on building my shields around me and making them look just the way I wanted. 

I sat with my eyes closed while I pictured my shields in my mind, and when Karen spoke again it startled me. 

“Alright, I want you to get up, move around, stretch out, work the muscles I’m sure are stiff and sore from sitting still for so long,” she said. “That bubble you are picturing, those are your shields. You are going to need to practice this at least a couple times a day. Sit down and center yourself, focus on your shields, and concentrate on them. With practice, your shields will eventually become second nature. They’ll exist without you having to think about them, centering yourself and focusing will reinforce and strengthen them. There is no such thing as shields being too strong. Once your shields are second nature and always up, all you’ll do to drop them is to picture them gone, or picture a window opening in them to let in only a small amount of what’s outside, whether you’re actively concentrating on holding them or not,” she paused. “Shielding isn’t difficult, but it does take practice and work. If you fail to do your reinforcing, over time your shields will weaken and things will start to leak through.”

I didn’t really understand it, but she promised I would catch on with time and practice. It was about four o’clock when we called it a day. I told Karen I had something I wanted to do the next day but I’d be back on Wednesday. I stopped and picked up take out on my way home, and after eating, I took a long relaxing hot bath I took my PCD with me and read my latest book while I relaxed.