A Quiet Talk in the Library

Posted on Wed Jun 18th, 2025 @ 7:52am by Maeve MacKenna & Sarah Mitchell

1,372 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 6: X-Fernus Agenda
Location: Library, X-Mansion
Timeline: January 2nd 1991

Sitting in the library, Sarah was reading through a book on music theory. Ever since arriving at the school, she'd had an idea of how she could control her gift using her knowledge of singing and music. Although she wasn't quite sure how this would help, Sarah figured she needed to start somewhere, and the library was a nice, quiet place to sit between classes.

In her younger years in an attempt to more fine tune her abilities Maeve had taken up stone carving. Unlike most people she didn't need tools, or a place to work. Nor did she need a lot of time, and it didn't make much noise... unless you count particles of stone hitting the floor. She had exhausted the reading materials of her home village, two books, and when she didn't really have a home she would sometime sneak into library's to take a peek at some books, and also for some heat.

Now she had a massive library at her fingertips, full of books on all sorts of things from history to science, books on nature and many fictional books. It was almost a dream for those that loved the feel of paper between their fingers and the weight of a real book in their hands.

As she passed by someone she hadn't seen before Maeve did notice they were deep in their own world and a small smile creeped onto her face. Unfortunately Maeve wasn't looking where she was going and kicked the leg of a table with her foot and dropped her book with a loud smack! Some others students snapped to the noise and as Maeve picked it up she mouthed sorry across the room and turned to the newbie, "Sorry, need to look where I'm going."

Looking up at Maeve with a mixed look of surprises and annoyance, Sarah nodded, “yea. It helps to look where you’re going, doesn’t it?” she whispered before motioning to the empty chair across from her, offering for Maeve to join her. “I’m Sarah, a new student here. I flew in a little while ago”

"Maeve, been here a few months. Came in by boat." she kind of copied the other girls introduction as she sat down and placed her now picked up books down next to her. "How are you settling in?" she asked.

Sarah shrugged, “Well enough, though I’ve already broken a vase and the lake, so it’s been a bit of a rough start. What about you? You said you came over on a boat?”

"You broke the lake?" Maeve asked a bit confused. "How'd you do that?" she was curious. "I've been here for a couple of months, and yes, on a boat. Wasn't the best if I'm honest but the men who brought me are gone now."

"I was trying to sing out near the woods and my abilities triggered a sonic boom, cracking the ice on the lake," Sarah explained with a look of regret on her face, "the Professor wasn't very happy."

Maeve nodded as she tried to picture that in her mind. It looked cool, but it seemed Sarah wasn't feeling the same. "I could fix the lake, well the foundations of it anyway. I can manipulate the earth, you know... rock, stone, dirt etc." she thought aloud. "So is your ability like channelling your voice into energy?"

Sarah shrugged before nodding, “Something like that, I still haven’t quite figured it out but what I do know is I produce a sonic blast with my voice. I don’t create any blasts by clapping or any other movement, just when speaking or singing or yelling.” she explained, trying to think of how she could describe it so it was clear. “You said you could manipulate the earth, does that include metal?”

"That sounds cool." Maeve replied thinking that sometimes she just wanted to scream and watch things crumble. "I still haven't got the 'feel' of metal yet. I know it's there, I just can't get it, or touch it. Does that makes sense? I'm still trying to increase what I can do."

Sarah nodded, "Yea, that makes sense. I haven't really started to explore my abilities yet, I'm still learning control. So you can control any kind of earth? Like sand and mud and that kind of thing?"

"Yeah, sand, mud, dust. Anything that consists of earth like particles?" she asked rhetorically as the pitch in her voice rose on that very word. "I can make large earth creatures called Golems, but that's only when they are really needed."

Sarah's eyes widened in amazement, "Really? That's amazing. How big can you make them? Do you have to maintain concentration to maintain the golem or does it exist apart from your will?"

Maeve blushed a little at the exclamation of Sarah. It was nice to receive just an excited response. "They are a part of me, I can feel each one as it falls. Not great, but it lets me know what support I need or can provide. How big they are depends on how much material I use. Right now you're talkin' about maybe 7 foot tall. I could probably make them bigger, but the larger they are can affect how much I have control over them. Reaction time, how much energy I need to use. Sometimes I encase myself in one, but that's more for protection and some extra hitting power."

Sarah's face dropped from excitement to one of sympathy, "So, when your golems get damaged or destroyed... you feel it?"

"I do," Maeve said with a shrug. "It takes some getting used to, but since I create them and I'm connected to the earth, I feel every loss. And I don't just mean the golems. I feel a lot when it comes to the earth. If you walk on a beach, I feel it. Footsteps on the pavement—or sidewalk, whatever it's called here—I feel that too. It can make sleeping hard sometimes, but I've adjusted over the past couple of years. I only got my powers when I turned 15. When did you get yours? How did you figure them out?" she asked.

"I discovered my powers around 13, and I still haven't figured out how to control them properly. It took me more than a few months to even speak again without blasting whatever was in front of me." Sarah explained, giving a smile, "actually, I'm hoping the professor can help me learn to gain full control of my voice again. I really miss singing without worrying about deafening everyone in a 5-block radius"

"He's an alright guy." Maeve admitted. "It's rare to find someone who genuinely wants to help you but expects not a lot in return. The other adults are pretty cool too, they help out and train some of us older ones as well. Although I a bit like you sometimes I need to be careful. If I get too emotional there are times I can trigger earthquakes and stuff."

"An earthquake? Wow, and I thought my gift was dangerous." Sarah said with an amazed expression, as an idea came to her, "So, can you create diamonds? You know, like by crushing coal?"

Maeve scrunched up her nose as she thought, "You know, I've never tried. Are you telling me I could have been rich this whole time and I spent years living on the streets for no reason?!" she asked dramatically.

Sarah was a little surprised by Maeve's reaction. She didn't expect such a defensive response, "No, I mean, I just thought.......sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

"Ach I'm only kiddin'." Maeve laughed lightly. The diamond idea was interesting though and one she'd have too investigate. "Relax, I'm hard to insult." she grinned and looked towards the library doors. "I've got to go. You take care yeah?" she asked rhetorically before shooting off out the door.

Sarah was left at the table blinking in her confusion. At first, she thought she’d insulted her, but then she suddenly turned around and acted like it was a joke and dashed off. It was going to take her some time to get used to living here.

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