Part 7
“Ah. Well there’s not much I can suggest for that, but that’s not what’s concerning me.” Yzell replied. “The thing is this; without any physical exercise, without even the minimal muscular efforts made in lying down and moving to be more comfortable, Valentia’s body is wasting away. Her constant use of Levitation is particularly harmful. She hasn’t gained any weight since she was born, in fact she’s lost a bit. All of her muscles and tissues are atrophying. You need to get her physically moving and interacting and exercising, and soon, or there will be permanent affects, both in her wasted physique, and in her lack of any ability to control it in order to move normally.”
She turned to Mark and Talia. “Realizing that about Valentia prompted me to realize a similar fact about the twins. They never speak or sing, or make any vocal sounds whatsoever. They use psionics for everything. I haven’t really thought about it because they aren’t yet at the age when most babies start to talk. But when the rest of their physical abilities and development are so far ahead of normal, it’s obvious that their vocal development is falling far behind. Except for the occasional cry when they stub their toes or whatnot, their only vocalizations are laughter. I worry that if they don’t start talking and singing soon, they never will.”
“Hmm. I’m sure Valentia won’t react well to being forced to stop using magic for everything, even for a moment.” Alilia thoughtfully stated. “She has a nasty temper. And I’m sure she will need to be forced; she won’t give up magic just because we ask her.”
“I’ll very slowly and gradually cut her off from the field of power, starting right now.” Mark decided. “She doesn’t have much reserves, and in about an hour she’ll run out, and so will her Levitation. Then she’ll at least get a normal night’s sleep. She’ll be mad about it when she wakes up, but she won’t be able to do anything about it but fuss and cry, which should be good for her. That’s what babies normally do when they’re angry anyway. We’ll just have to be very patient and pleasant with her at all times, and start doing the physical training with her that you girls did for the twins when they were born. We’ll give her as much physical play and attention as we can, to keep her moving and distract her from the fact that she can’t use magic.
“Once she gets her fitness back, we can start letting her use magic again for a specific time at the end of each day, then cut her off again when she goes to sleep so she’ll sleep normally. She won’t like it, but as long as we’re completely consistent about it, she should eventually get used to it and accept it. Once she can understand that we’ll let her use magic as long as she stays physically active, we should be okay.
“We’ll talk to the twins tomorrow about talking and singing. I don’t know how they’ll feel about it, but at least they can understand common sense when they hear it. I’m sure we can convince them of the wisdom of developing all of their abilities; their vocal abilities included.”
“All right then.” Yzell smiled as she stood. “I expected it would take longer to find practical solutions for my concerns, but I shouldn’t be surprised. You’d think I’d be used to you by now, Mark Longstrider. Of course, your plan will have to take into account the fact that it will be quite some time before Valentia will sleep through the entire night, or stay awake through the entire day.”
of that, believe me!” Mark chuckled. “But her longest sleep period is usually when we
four hours past midnight.” Alilia stated a smile.
champion of all temper tantrums.” Talia nodded. “But we’ll all deal with it, I’m
by, Yzell.” Mark told her with a smile as he showed her out. “And as always, thanks
Yzell countered with a grin. “I gain valuable research
family!” Talia added as
a sofa to think about what they’d learned, and Talia and
of any improvements to your plan.” Alilia said as she stood. “Let’s get some sleep.
had to face The Ordeal Of The Screaming Baby, which lasted for five hours until Valentia went back to sleep.
next morning, giving their parents a
started by going over what Yzell
when Mark was finished. “I mean, so what if we don’t talk with our voices? Using psionics works way better. I can even sing to everyone at a gathering at once that way, if I wanted to, even when the hall’s full of everyone in the settlement. I
and if you have to sing to the whole gathering, that’s a good idea.” Mark nodded. “But if you want to sing to just a