Seed of a Pine

Chapter 28

I awoke that Saturday morning to thundering feet coming down the stairs. I barely had time to groggily lift my head from the pillow and squint into the dim light when the door burst open and Dean Ansrov's panicked face burst into the office.

"Miss Oscura!" he called and the fear in his tone was enough to have me sitting up light a bolt of lightning, convinced in my half asleep state that we were under attack.

"Dean Ansrov? What's happening? Did they find us?" I asked, whispering in case there were military people circling the house.

Ansrov just stared at me his chest rising and falling hard, his eyes unblinking as they rested on me in the dim light of the windowless room. I was shocked to see what might have been unshed tears under his lids, turning his eyes glassy.

"You're...here," he finally choked out as I stared at him in confusion. "I thought...after last night."

Here practically collapsed against the doorframe. I leapt out of bed and hurried forward to try to support him if he needed it. Tentatively I took his arm and after a moment he allowed me to steer him to the seat in from of his desk. He collapsed onto it there, taking great shuddering breaths.

"What happened?" I asked, now completely lost for what had caused such a reaction from him.

For several long moments, he just breathed. Then he gestured towards the radio that I had abandoned last night in the middle of the floor. I switched it on.

"...we're getting word now that military executives have just identified the suspect in question as Osella Viar, a Turscovi FREP student apparently attempting to access a military weigh station near Pylicopff City. Viar was one of the nine FREP students currently unaccounted for. Her body has been moved to the Tescov Military Base morgue for additional identity confirmation. The two soldiers who gunned down the suspect say she was attempting to break into a building, possibly looking for weapons or ammunition. The suspect reacted violently to the soldiers, who were forced to gun her down..."

I switched off the radio, feeling a spinning sensation. "You thought it was me?"

"All I heard was that it happened near Pylicopff and that she was female. I thought...after what you said last night, that you had run out."

I crouched down, feeling dizzy. I had just remembered something. "I knew her," I said, after a long moment. "Osella. Well, we just met on the way here on the train. She was going to a university 40 miles north of Pylicopff to study cancer preventative medicines."

Ansrov shook his head, his face covered by one hand. I didn't know what to do. I reached out hesitantly and placed my palm on his arm. His breath caught and then he forced his gasps to calm and steady.

"I wouldn't leave like that," I said, feeling like I had let down his trust. "No matter how hard it is to stay here. You've sacrificed so much for me, I wouldn't just leave in the middle of the night without saying something."

He nodded, taking my hand in his and squeezing it briefly. I remained shocked by his reaction. Of all the impression I had ever gotten from him about our relationship, ranging from solid dislike, to mild acceptance to vague appreciation, I had never expected him to react like this in the face of my possible demise. Something else was going on here, and I didn't understand what it was. Then the image of that portrait, of the Saksa woman in the wedding blanket flashed before my mind's eye.

"I know this is none of my business," I said, choosing my words cautiously. "But were you married at some point, Dean Ansrov?"

He hiccupped and his fingers tightened around mine. For a long moment, he didn't speak or remove his other hand from his face. Then he dragged his fingers down to his lips and sighed.