Chapter 6: Odd Convergence, Part 2

Kiara dolefully spooned some stew into her mouth. Her stomach fluttered a bit, but the food seemed to confuse it into acquiescence.

She was not happy. She had planned to head south from Hedro, toward Norfolk and the Maara-Delenn border. She had already been in this country longer than she liked – the people here were too pale, and she missed familiar faces, familiar outfits, familiar skin. She was homesick.

Except, of course, the Voice never really left her much choice in these things. It wasn’t like she could ignore it – that only made things worse. So here she was, in a rural town almost at the northeastern tip of the country. As far as she could get from Delenn while still in Maara.

And as if it was out to irritate her, the Voice had calmed down the moment she’d arrived here. She supposed it could be worse, but it was frustrating to sit here, not knowing how long she’d have to wait before the butterflies in her stomach turned into eagles and she had to find her target.

She sighed heavily into her stew.

“Something wrong?”

Kiara looked up. Standing over her was a dark-skinned man with shoulder-length black hair. What caught her attention about him were the bright pink-red tattoos on his face – a circle around each eye, three overlapping spikes curving down into each cheek, and a blotch of red on the forehead and nose – and his eyes. She had never seen eyes like those before – completely white, with no pupil or iris.

Blind, she thought. The man seemed vaguely familiar… but she would remember those tattoos and those eyes anywhere, so it was probably just her mind playing tricks on her.

As interesting as the man’s tattoos were his emotions. His face bore a carefully crafted smile, but his emotions were not what she would have expected. No lust, no active deceit. Part worry, part surprise, and part relief. That last was odd – especially since she could sense it was directed at her. Why would he be relieved to see her?

She shook her head, not wanting to answer him. The Voice wasn’t interested in him, and she wasn’t likely to be in a good mood until it had been taken care of.

“Mind if I join you?” Before she had a chance to reply, he pulled out a chair and sat down. “I apologize, but I needed to get away from my companions for a while.”

“Go ahead,” Kiara replied, and turned back to her stew. There were some empty tables in the inn, but she didn’t mention it. It seemed somehow impolite to tell a blind man to go away – or was she just being over-sensitive? She sometimes had trouble with the line between ‘consideration’ and ‘condescension’.

She snapped her head up. What… His emotions had changed abruptly when she’d replied. Now he was amused and pleased – and even a bit calculating. Something about this man bothered her.

He reacted to her sudden movement with a brief flicker of alarm… then smiled. It was a small smile, different from the one he’d given her just moments earlier. This one wasn’t crafted – and was more mocking than friendly. He leaned forward, and instinctively Kiara leaned back a bit.

“Have another prophecy in the works?”

Kiara stiffened.

“How do you know about that?!” She whispered fiercely.

“Don’t you recognize me?” His smile turned into a grin. He’s enjoying this!

She studied his face. No, she hadn’t seen those tattoos before… but what if they were new?

Then she realized – the man in Hedro! The one she’d given the prophecy to! She was shocked she hadn’t recognized him immediately – after all, he was one of the few southerners she’d seen in last few days.

He held his hand out to her. “My name is Kerim White.”

Kiara stared at the hand dumbly. This wasn’t the first time one of the Voice’s “targets” had found her… but she sensed no fear from him, nor apprehension, or anything like that. A touch of worry, yes, but no more than that.

After several moments, she slowly took his hand and shook it. This pleased him greatly, for some reason. He sat back in his chair and stared at her thoughtfully, and Kiara sensed that he was thinking intensely. She matched his gaze for a few seconds, then returned to her stew. Whatever his reasons, he bore her no ill will.

I’ll leave it at that… at least for now.

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