In the afternoon, after lunch, Nathan went to the student dormitories, to knock on Tess's door. She opened it and, when she saw him, she made a surprised expression. «I thought you didn't want my help anymore.» she told him. She hadn't seen him for days now.

Nathan hesitated for a moment but then finally spoke. «Now I can practice for real.» he announced proudly. «As long as you still want to help me, of course.», he looked at her with the eyes of a puppy, hoping she wouldn't slam the door in his face.

Tess eyed him. «Did you use your powers?» she asked him.

He nodded. «It was unintentional, twice… on Dawn.» he confessed.

A small smile appeared on Tess's face.

«I need your help.» Nathan said, as she simply continued to stare at him. «I'm afraid of touching people, I have to learn to control it. And you're the only one I can turn to. My cousin has no intention of coming here. I beg you.»

Tess sighed. «Fine. I'll help you.»

Nathan thanked her and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

«I imagine that, for the moment, you still need physical contact to do it. So, we'll need a guinea pig, someone who offers to help us.» she leaned her shoulder on the still open door of her room. «Maybe we could ask your friend Dawn, since they seem to work with her.», Tess smirked again.

Nathan went red in the face. He shook his head, embarrassed. «No, the Council members need her.» he was quick to retort. «We can ask some students.»

«Alright. Let's go and see in the garden if there is anyone ready to sacrifice themselves.» Tess said dramatically before closing the door behind her.

As they began walking down the hallway, Tess tried to pry information out of Nathan. «So… what did you show her?»

Nathan shook his head. «Nothing.» he said, stuttering slightly.

His response clearly only increased Tess's suspicions. It was clear that Nathan had a crush on Dawn, and given the blush on his face, he must have shown her something embarrassing and compromising.

They continued in silence towards the exit that overlooked the courtyard.

Before they crossed the threshold of the door, Dawn darted past them, emerging from the corridor on their right. She didn't see them, she passed by. Nathan could see a smile on her face. He looked quite happy and he couldn't help but follow her with his gaze as Dawn walked towards the exit.

By the time Nathan and Tess were practically on the verge of crossing the threshold, Dawn was still running in the courtyard. She stopped only when she found herself in front of a boy, who they had never seen before. Dawn threw her arms around his neck and Tess immediately turned to Nathan, who had a pretty surprised and puzzled expression on his face.

The boy, with honey-colored hair, put Dawn down. They both had toothy smiles on their faces.

Nathan was still, paralyzed. He didn't know how he should react to that scene. Tess grabbed his arm and forced him to take the first step towards the steps that followed the door.

Dawn finally noticed them out of the corner of her eye. She motioned for the young man with her to follow her and they joined Nathan and Tess, not far behind them.

For a moment, given the color of his hair, Tess thought he was another descendant of Hyram, but his eyes were too dark. It was Dawn who confirmed that he wasn't one of them. «This is Chad, he's not a Nerys.» she said still smiling. «He was my neighbor, when Nemlyth didn't yet exist.»

Nathan remembered she had told him about how her powers had activated. That boy was probably the best friend she had told him about. But he didn't seem so weak he couldn't defend himself. 

«Nice to meet you.» Chad said. «Dawn's friends are mine too.»

Tess sensed a slight embarrassment, so she tried to walk away from there, taking Nathan with her. «Well. We're going to train now.»

«Okay.» Dawn said and then she turned to Nathan. «Commit yourself. We need you.», she smiled at him and let Tess take him away.

«Don't let their presence distract you.» Tess whispered to Nathan as they walked into the backyard garden.

He nodded but obviously couldn't get out of his head the scene he had just witnessed.

«Let's ask some of the Nerys around here if they want to participate in this experiment.»

«Alright.»

It took them a while to find someone who would agree. Luckily, among the Nerys there were some curious people, willing to act as their guinea pigs. A descendant of Kihan, like Jeyson, accepted but was keen to remind him of the presence of the cameras. «Don't you dare force me to do anything embarrassing, because I'll find out.»

«Don't worry, he's not that expert. He has only partial control.» Tess reassured him. «And I'll be there to supervise it.»

«Okay.» said the boy.

They sat down on the grass, Nathan facing the boy and Tess beside him ready to guide him. The young man held out his hand so that Nathan could have a modicum of contact.

«Now try to show him images, not what you have in your head, just any images.» Tess said to Nathan. «They won't be very vivid at first, so he won't be fooled.»

Nathan closed his eyes in hopes of increasing his concentration.

«Start with something simple.» continued Tess.

All the time, Nathan tried to show his guinea pig places, and he then had to describe them out loud, so they would have confirmation that it was working. He failed several times. He struggled to concentrate on his training because he used most of his strength to repress, with all his being, the image of Dawn throwing herself into Chad's arms. Among other things, she had remained there, in the garden, chatting with her childhood friend, sitting at the foot of a tree. And that didn't help much.

With Tess's guidance, attempt after attempt, Nathan managed to get the hang of it and use his powers even with his eyes open.

Dawn had turned in the direction of the three of them several times but had been careful not to meet Nathan's gaze. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, she didn't want him to get distracted because of her.

After about an hour they had to let the boy go, they couldn't hold him hostage much longer and Nathan had to rest.

When the boy walked away, Nathan allowed himself to look for Dawn and their eyes met almost immediately, because she was also looking towards him. They stared at each other for a few seconds.

Chad, annoyed that Dawn kept distracting herself from him, while they were talking about old days, brushed his fingers across her face and forced her to turn and look into his eyes. «I'm right here, why do you keep looking over there?» he told her.

Dawn, surprised by his gesture, stammered. «I'm sorry. It's just… it's important that Nathan masters his powers.»

«Okay, but now you should pay attention to me. We met again after eight years, we have a lot of time to make up for.» Chad told her sulking like a child.

Dawn hesitated to answer. «Okay.», she gave a hint of a smile, still surprised.

Chad let go of her face and they happily resumed talking about moments from their childhood, while she looked slightly uncomfortable. She knew Nathan had witnessed the scene, and she feared he might misunderstand in some way. However, she couldn't turn away, it wouldn't be nice to Chad.

Nathan clenched his fists. He tried to hold back his anger but with little success. It annoyed him a lot. Tess immediately noticed his intently staring in Dawn's direction.

The boy – who had acted as Nathan's guinea pig shortly before – turned around, but didn't stop, he went past Tess and Nathan. Shortly after, two other Nerys also got up from the lawn and started walking in the same direction. Tess realized something was off. They were all moving towards Dawn and her friend, moving almost like zombies. There was a pretty angry expression on their faces. Tess grabbed Nathan's arm and shook him several times. «Nathan.» she called out to him, trying not to raise her voice too much. She didn't want Dawn to turn around and see what was almost certainly Nathan's work.

He flinched and blinked a few times.

Tess saw the Nerys stop suddenly and look around bewildered. Jeyson's similar, who had helped Nathan, glared at him. Tess mimed “I'm sorry” to him, hoping that he wouldn't start arguing because of that little incident.

The Nerys went back to what they were doing, without understanding what had really happened. Confident that they were finally free from Nathan's control, the girl turned to him again. «How did you do it? There's no way you're already capable of that.» she said in disbelief.

«What did I do?» Nathan gave her a puzzled look.

Tess scoffed. «Are you joking?! You controlled at least ten people at the same time, and you didn't even notice?»

Nathan watched as all the still confused Nerys returned to their seats. «I don't know.»

«You have to pay attention. It's important to control these emotional discharges, you can't use your powers in such an irresponsible way.» Tess told him.

«That's enough for today.» Nathan said, standing up suddenly. His vision suddenly went blurry and he almost lost consciousness.

Tess caught him before he fell to the ground. «Nathan!», this time she shouted his name and Dawn rushed to them worriedly, followed by Chad.

«I am fine.» said Nathan who, with Tess's help, got up.

Dawn caught her breath before speaking. «I told you to work hard, but not to this extent.» she told him. She looked visibly worried about him. She offered to accompany him to the Council dormitory.

As soon as she tried to approach Nathan, Chad grabbed her wrist. «We haven't seen each other in eight years, let her accompany him.»

Dawn freed herself from his grasp. «You'll stay here for a few days, we can meet up later.» she told him.

«Don't worry, you can continue your reunion.» Tess said. «I'll take care of him.»

Dawn was about to reply when Nathan started walking, and Tess hurried to catch up with. him. As Dawn watched them go, Chad tried to get her attention. «Let's talk some more, it's early for dinner. We have eight years to make up.» he reiterated her.

Dawn hated herself for not insisting and accompanying Nathan to the dorm, but she couldn't just ignore Chad. For so long she had wanted to see him again, and now he was there for real. She took a deep breath and forced herself to look at him and smile. She would have plenty of time to talk to Nathan.