Bridging Destinies

Chapter 11: Sky, Wind and Stars

We did not arrive back at the house until the next day. We had traveled from the altercation with the accident and the encounter with half of Bangtan Sonyeondan, to a location north of Busan, to a funeral home that would allow us to ship Belisael's body overseas and back to our homeland, for a high price. The price was necessary to keep it under the radar of the police and government as the nature of who we were needed to remain a secret. And now we were back at the house, preparing to take a flight out of the country, with the body of  our friend hidden safely in a casket.

As I packed my things, I thought back to the moments inside the car, as we drove to our next location. I had taken Dana to task, asking out loud, "So was very nearly killing a very public group of men really necessary, Lariel?"

He had looked at me, "Are they very public?" He smirked faintly as he looked away, "I didn't know." This, of course, had prompted me to laugh as I knew better. Dana was too good at what he did. If he did not know the specifics, he at least knew some of the potential consequences. He could see the outcomes, most times. And even when there were shadows on the path, there could also be glimpses of the path, so he would not be completely at a loss. I could sense, rather than see his smile as he looked out his window. He grew more serious as he stated, "If they had caught us, it wouldn't have gone well. They had guns." He explained, "So I had to risk it." He looked at me more directly and spoke again, "And I knew what you would do, Ma'ardrha. I could see that clearly." He gazed at me thoughtfully, "You and the human are connected."

"Connected? How?" I asked him, not needing to ask him which human he meant, as I already knew. I looked away from the road, staring at him intently for several seconds before looking back at it.

Dana continued to gaze at me as he considered his words, "There are cords between you, but the path is shadowed." He explained, "The Mother must be throwing the path into confusion, so I cannot see everything clearly. Just glimpses."

I considered this as I watched the road in front of us, then asked, "What do you glimpse?"

I looked over at him and he shrugged, "Just that you will meet him again, at some point. Possibly even deepen your relationship so that the cords between you grow stronger." He looked out the window to his side again, "There isn't much to see yet."

I sighed as I remembered the conversation, growing tired of the confusion I was feeling over this man, but I knew also that it was important, somehow, as I continued to cross paths with him. The odds of connecting again and again with one human in apparent coincidence were hard to pass over as causal, and I knew that coincidences were the excuse humans used to explain away what they did not understand. I knew there was a purpose for it. There always was, no matter how small, a purpose to everything. Everything was connected. But not everything was coherent. Life held too many mysteries for it to be fully comprehended.

I zipped up my bag after packing away the last of my things. I took a deep breath, allowing any tension I felt over my confusion to release with my breath, then smiled. Though the reasons for returning were filled with sorrow, I couldn't keep the joy of returning from my heart. I was more than ready to return home. I took one last look around the room to make sure I did not forget anything, then reached for my laptop bag, and picked both bags up by the straps. I threw the straps over my shoulder, leaving the room and moved down the stairs quickly, to meet Dana in the foyer. 'Are we ready then?' I asked him silently, speaking into his mind. With his nod, we both left the house, proceeding to embark on our long journey home for our heavy errand.

~~~

We were taking a chartered flight back home, which left from the Incheon airport, and I was browsing through books in one of the stores that lined the halls of the airport. A book stood out to me, "Sky, Wind and Stars" and I picked it up, looking through it. It was in Korean, of course, but being fluent, I was able to read it and read through the forward, then leafed through it more, reading excerpts as I went through the pages of the book quickly. I wondered to myself, 'Wasn't this a title on Namjoon's reading list?' I closed the book, made my decision and brought the book with me to the cash register. On the way, I picked up a few bottles of water, thankfully glassed, instead of housed in plastic, and paid for all the items.

I walked back to the private room Dana and I were using to wait for our chartered flight and sat next to him, handing him the bottle of water as I did so. Dana was watching a video from the news about the accident and looked over at me, calling my attention to his phone as he took the water from me. He spoke silently, 'The news is out.' He informed me and I took the phone from it as he handed it to me, watching the news report. In the report it was noted that the authorities did not have a reason for the accident and I was relieved to note that the CCTV camera in the van did not catch an image of us, as it was reported that the camera was not working and they could not determine what had happened.

I looked at Dana and back at the video, as I spoke to him inside his mind, 'You took care of the camera then.' I stated, knowing very well that he would have, and it was less a question than knowledge. He lowered his head in a half nod and folded his hands together as I continued to watch the news. As we knew would happen, the four members in the accident were all fine as was the driver, who had already woken up. Knowing what the paths held was not as satisfying as seeing it first hand and my lips turned up ever so slightly as the video ended. I handed the phone back to Dana and leaned back in my seat. I picked up the book I had previously bought and opened it, preparing to read while we waited.

The book was interesting to me, not just from the knowledge that it was part of Namjoon's reading list, but as a kind of reminiscence. Our recent foray into Korea had not been my first, and I had memories from the time period known as the Joseon era that had ended with the arrival and occupation of the Japanese into Korea. I savored the book as I read, enjoying the imagery of the metaphors and was lost in it, forgetting time and space for the time in which I read. After what seemed like a moment, I looked up as an attendant approached us, announcing that our flight was ready. At this announcement, we moved from our seats and moved to where we would board our plane, preparing for take-off. After the normal amount of time, we were in the sky leaving the continent to return home.