Page 28 of Lost and Bound

“In a sense. They have their Kleis assigned and waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

He shrugs, but my brain is already racing on to the next question.

“Remind me again about what Kleis means. I know we talked about but…”

Orion jumps straight back in to explaining, with a patience I wish more people at Thales had. “A Kleis is a living being. They can be male or female, and any designation, and they’re supposedly the key to unlocking a unit’s power. Rumors suggest they can facilitate other unit members sharing power, energy, and strength. Information on them and how they work is restricted by Council. Although, they like to throw around the motto they can be the difference between life and death whenever someone from Council talks about how special Kleis are, and why alignment is so important.”

“I can’t keep up with all the terms. Assigned, aligned, commissioned all sounds the same. What’s commissioned?”

“Well, that’s easy. Noms are the only ones where the term commissioned applies. Commissions are authorized placements when the faculty tells us who we’re placed with. Noms fill in a particular task or role to aid a unit.”

I shake my head, trying to grasp all the concepts and terms. “And that role is what, exactly?”

The sardonic grin on his face coincides with the cynicism saturating his words. “We’re a tool to help shifters, demons, celestials, and magikals to reach their full potential. Period.”

I hold my hand up, bringing a pause to his explanation while I figure it out in my head. It takes a couple of seconds. “We’re essentially a ball?”

“What on earth, Maya? How did you get to that?”

“Stay with me. If you look at sports. Has anyone ever said, I’d like to thank the golf ball for making me the world’s greatest golfer? Or maybe a quarterback, or a midfielder, or a linesman. Without the ball, they wouldn’t even be a sportsperson.”

Orion gives me the side-eye and pats my arm. “You’re very special. I love the way you’re making it work, Maya. All you need to remember; however you want to understand it, Noms are on the bottom of the power scale. We serve them however they tell us to.”

I grab his fingers, squeezing them as hard as I can. Payback for giving me crap because there’s no denying my analogy works great. What he said, though, highlights how the citizens of Quin-state view Noms. The caste system they’ve adopted is complete bullshit, but it’s bullshit Quin-state has abided by for eons.

“It’s important what we do, Maya.” His sarcasm is basically dripping from his words. “You wouldn’t risk your most valuable asset, would you? Kleis are too important in our world. Not every unit will find its Kleis, but each unit has to know how to work with one. It’s like guns.”

“You know about guns?”

He stares right through me, letting me know my question was borderline stupid, before answering. “We don’t use them. We, not us, mind you, have built-in weapons, but all the other designations do. Maybe we Noms should get some guns, actually.”

“Orion…” I click my fingers, hoping it helps him get back on track.

“Okay, okay. Anyone using a gun has to learn how to handle it first. They aren’t given the real thing along with live ammunition on day one.”

I grimace because I think our government is now using actual weapons and bullets at all their training facilities.

“They shouldn’t if they do,” he adds. “Whoever is wielding the gun needs to know their way around the weapon first, learn how it works and how to look after it, then move on to how to use it as a weapon. Noms are the inconsequential replica of a Kleis. Units have to learn to trust each other, work with each other’s strengths and weaknesses before anything else, but they also have to have experience with an additional body in their space, which is where you and I come into play. Does that help?”

“Of course it does. Are there any Kleis here?” I ask, looking around. They seem like key players in this world, so I can’t imagine I’d miss them.

“There’s supposedly a dozen at Thales. Not that anyone confirms or denies the number because it would be like showing the universe your ace card.”

“Makes sense.”

“They have a special House with their own group of teachers who guide them through their training.”

“Oh it’s so secret squirrel, but at the same time, they’re like the celebrities of your world?”

He gives me the look again. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Maya, but you’re really strange.”

“Go back to the aligned groups.”

“Our grades, status in society as a whole and within a sect, along with the purity of our powers, are collected by the academy and given to Council. At which point Council aligns the strongest together to make alignments. More often than not, they keep the group members in their own designation. There are a couple of mixed groups, but it’s always weighted one way, like more vamps than anything else. Does that make sense? Am I explaining it so you can understand?”

“Yeah, it does.” I wave him on with another forkful of pie.