Ninth Millennium Navigator

21

"She's a client, Calissa!!" Matthias later exclaimed over the heavy wind. "A client!"

Calissa was crying, but tears only came from the one good eye as evidenced by the damp mark on only one side of her cloak. She still wore the cloak, so Matthias could only see her face for moments when the wind shifted the material enough for him to see in the minimal light. 

He noticed the frequency with which her hands retreated inside. He first thought she was doing that to keep the wind from blowing the cloak off her face, but then he realized her hands were drawn to the side of her face that was no longer beautiful.

"Matthias, I didn't want to be alone." 

She sounded pitiful.

"And that is why you followed me? I think not... I do think... I don't know what I think! Calissa, what should I think here?"

"I don't want to be alone," Calissa pleaded. "I'm sorry, Matthias. I just wanted to get out..."

"Just wanted to get out..." Matthias mocked with one mind. The other mind cringed at the rudeness of his comment, but understood the unraveling fury behind the words. "Yet, you just happen to appear right during a meeting with a client? You may not realize this, but someone out there—someone with a very bad nature to him—probably doesn't like you! And even if you do realize that, you may not realize that he contacted me while you were just 'getting out'. "

She looked up. He could just see the outlines of her face within the hood as the wind shifted the sides one way and the other. She stopped crying for the first time since they landed on the bare ground. 

He knew she would follow him and he dared not lead anyone else back to his lome.

Enough dim light from the perpetually cloudy skies was caste on Calissa to see both hands cupped over the nose and mouth. He could see a slight shimmer from the damp skin on her right cheek.

"Oh. Oh, no. Matthias?" She expressed her understanding of the implications.

Matthias continued to absorb her reaction. 

She continued, "Oh. That isn't good. You suppose he saw us? What did he say? Was he furious? What did he say? He didn't follow us here?" She turned as though he had actually just appeared on the flat land beside them.

"That's why we're here and not the lome," Matthias explained in case she still had not caught on. "He wants me to visit within the day."

"Oh. No. No, you can't, Matthias. You can't go to him. "

"I have to go to him. If he knows, then he can find us. He has not come here, so I don't think he knows." He questioned this more than he sounded. "If I go, I can get a better understanding of what happened and where you and I stand."

I can't tell her that they were done. Not yet, but soon. She deserves to know soon if she hasn't figured it out.

"But if he does something to you, Matthias... then... I will be alone. "

She has to know. This is how she is piecing it together.

"You can be sure that if he does anything to me, that you will be soon thereafter. " He said this as though to provide comfort even though the words were anything but comforting. He knew the impact it would have on her and he appreciated her reaction to it. 

She deserved this and I want it to hurt. She deserves to hurt for what she did!

More than ever before, he wanted to get away. As she clung to him more than ever before, a vile thought crossed his racing mind. He considered turning her over to the man. 

Turning her over would solve so many problems. It would rid him of her, end her suffering, allow the man to seek his needed vengeance while possibly redeeming him with his client.

Even then, I can't do that!

"Calissa. There is nothing more to discuss here. You will never follow me again. You will take a circuitous route back to the lome. You will stay there until I return. It may take up to two weeks depending on how far we navigate."

"Matthias... no!" Calissa cried. "I need you."

Matthias continued as though she had not spoken, "He may want to go particularly deep to avoid any incidents again. He may be abnormally particular about his next host. I don't know...

Calissa cried and held him tight as he said, "But the last thing I need is for you to show up at his place looking for me. You are not a welcome guest."

The words ran more true than she knew.

"Calissa! Is this clear?"

He never found out if she had seen him with Marie more than once. He did not ask because he did not want to draw attention to Marie. The more Calissa believed that Marie was just another client, the better it was for everyone involved in the complications. "Yes, Matthias. I'm sorry. I just don't want to be..."

He was glad she did not finish the sentence before he flew away.