Here's to the future [Incandessa]

[Marjorie]

...9 years in the past. Emrys is 28, Jillian is 4, Fiona is 7, Bevin is 5, he has a 7 year old son, and a one year old, and his youngest child is yet to be born...

She was just a little girl. A child, a person, a thing he hadn’t ever paid much attention to, except to possess her and hope that potential would grow in her. Emrys expected great things from his children – they were an extension of him, after all. Still, it was the nannies, privet tutors, household staff, and school teachers who had really raised her.

When he was stationed on planet for long enough, Emrys was home. He was around his children and saw them. He oversaw their education and approved of denied their extracurricular activities and friends. He took meals with them and had conversations with them, but generally remained distant. Usually, he was cordial, polite, friendly… however, if and when his children stepped out of line, he could be harsh to the point of cruel. It was imposable for them to lie to him, and easy for him to make them do whatever he wanted, given his abilities.

Today was something special though. He was in a particularly good mood, and all of his children could likely sense it. He’d been kinder than usual, and stopped by a store on the way home pick up some gifts for them – they might have thought something was wrong with their father, even. The nanny had called him earlier in the day, and told him about an incident that had happened that morning, and it led him to believe that Fiona might be the one he had been waiting for. He was taking her to the doctor now, to be examined, to determine for sure if she had the talent. If she would be the first of his children to eventually go to Candidate training, and become Pilots. There was no room in his mind for the idea any of then could be trimmed if they got in.

Usually, Emrys took public transit, trains mostly, but today was special. He was in the back seat of a car with Fiona while a driver took them to the hospital for her appointment. He smiled faintly at the girl sitting in the seat to his left. He hadn’t told her where they were going yet, simply that they had an appointment to be at.

“I’m taking you to see the doctor,” Emrys said, “I don’t want you to think you are in trouble. Lila,” the current ‘head nanny’ of which there was a total of four to ensure that they could provide round-the-clock care and accommodate their own needed days off, “told me about what happened earlier while I was at work. I’m very pleased," he said in a gentle tone of voice. "So we are going to go see the doctor and find out for sure if you have finally come into your abilities.” He smiled, wider this time, probably the most genuine smile she had ever seen directed at her from him.

“I want you to be on your best behavior for the doctor, and do whatever he asks you to. No questions or objections, you understand?”

[Incandesa]

Originally, Fiona thought she would be in trouble when the nanny caught her with her siblings playing with a ball of light about the size of her hand. It would float up and and down and spin in the air: a marvelous companion for children. Lila had screamed at the top of her lungs and ran to the phone to call her father. When Emrys came home, he was unusually friendly. Fiona wasn’t quite sure about this change in attitude, but she enjoyed it all the same.

In the car, she earnestly nodded. However she was becoming more and more nervous. She had never been alone with her father before like this, and wasn’t really sure what to expect. But the nanny had said to just agree with everything he said and not to say anything unless asked.

The doctor honestly scared her more. He was large and balding with tufts of hair sticking out at odd ends. His smile was too wide for his face. He smelled bad. He looked at her strangely. But the stern look from her father told her she was not getting a choice in the matter. So she followed into the testing room where they poked and prodded at her for several hours.

[Marjorie]

There was a physical exam first, to determine her state of health and physical development. Her father remained in the room when the doctor left after telling Fiona to get undressed and put on a gown. When he came back there was a female nurse with him. They looked her over, and drew blood work, and submitted her to a number of physical tests, none of them required exertion, but most invaded her space.

Once the physical exams were done, she was taken into another room. This one was large and all the furniture was padded and hand rounded corners. A room meant to be safe for subject and tester when unpracticed psychics used their powers. One wall of the room was a huge mirror. On the other side of that mirror, Emrys knew, a couple of government employees watched.

"Your father told me that your nanny saw you playing with a ball of light with your siblings," the doctor said in a kindly way. "Can you show me that ball of light?" From a padded chair in a corner, Emrys observed without interrupting.

[Incandesa]

Fiona was incredibly nervous, but she was smart enough to know that she would not be leaving this room until she did as she was told. The poor girl nodded and bit her lip slightly. She had never done so before in front of an audience of adults. Children were easy to please; a ball of light was enough to get smiles. Grown-ups were harder; they wanted to see fancy stuff. Fancy stuff that Fiona didn’t know how to do.

Carefully, she closed her eyes and imagined that she was gathering the light in the room and concentrating it into her hands like she had before. It didn’t work. Five or six times and it still didn’t work. The doctor was becoming more frustrated. ”Now, dearie, we haven’t got all day,” he said. ”If you don’t do something soon, I’m afraid we’re going to have to be a bit harsher on you.” Then he pulled out a taser that made a loud crack sound as he turned it on.

Scared now, Fiona imagined desperately to bring all the light together. The room grew dark as all the light merged together at once. It was too much for an inexperienced child to handle and effectively created a kind of flash bomb.

[Marjorie]

Emrys knew what was happening before Fiona had even darkened the entire room. He knocked over the table beside him and used it as a shield. The docker was knocked across the room and crumpled against the floor, breathing haggardly. When it was over, Emrys stood and clapped, like he had been watching her at a school play and she had remembered all her lines.

"Amazing," he said, beaming, "you're perfect."

When the doctor recovered, he got to his feet, but he looked ecstatic. He shared a knowing glance with her father. "You're very special," he said looking down at her, "you'll be amazing when you can get that under control." He glanced at the wall of mirror behind him, and then back at Emrys. "They'll be excited to have her as a Candidate once she's old enough."

"Send me a copy of your report," Emrys said.

The doctor nodded. "Of course."

Then Emrys held out his hand for Fiona to take. He took her back to the first exam room so she could get dressed again, and then they headed for the exit and the waiting car.