Jono and Alec, age seven

    As usual, Alec and Jono walked into the large courtyard that connected the five buildings of the University for lunch. Jono insisted that they have lunch together every day. In the beginning Jono had to scare away other children from wanting to have lunch with Alec, but by now they all knew not to bother them. Sometimes Alec wished that Jono would let him be with some of the other children, but Jono insisted that they were friends and this is what friends did. Their usual spot was on a low wall that surrounded a tall tree that was too thin to climb on, but gave plenty of shade from the hot sun.

    "Where were you yesterday?" Jono asked.

    Alec grasped around in his lunch bag for a moment before answering, "I wasn't feeling well."

    "You should have told me."

    "I didn't know I was going to be out," Alec said with an annoyed sigh. He pulled out a sandwich, checking the contents.

    "What sort of sandwich do you have?"

    "Cheese."

    "Again?" Jono sniffed. "I've got..." and he looked at his own sandwich. "... cheese."

    Alec stifled a laugh, before biting into his sandwich.

    They ate in silence for a bit before Jono asked, "What was wrong with you?"

    Here, Alec hesitated for a moment, thinking over his answer. For here was an opportunity to show up Jono.
As the years had gone by, Jono has consistently rated top in their classes, and Alec still slightly above average. Perhaps fifth or sixth. Which was still good, but, as Jono constantly reminded him, not as good as him. But, Jono wasn't an empath. And this was something he could talk about, unlike his elemental talent. A secret that still burned to be told every time Jono boasted about his abilities. His mother constantly told him how proud she was of him  not telling despite this urge. Praise aside, he wanted to tell Jono. While the empathy wasn't as good as the elemental talent, it was still something. So with a bit of smugness in his voice he said, "I'm an empath."

    This, much to Alec's delight, took Jono completely off guard and he saw pure surprise on his face for a brief instant. It vanished all too soon. And then his delight got crushed as Jono said, Well, I'm a telapath, right into Alec's mind.