Fear's Union

Chapter Thirty-Five

—Keles—

Where was she? He hoped she was okay. No, he had to stop thinking about her. He'd been like this since leaving Ahan; quick to think about Xen. He hated these imaginings and he loved them too; clung to them. Out here, it was all he had.

She was safe; he was sure of it. He had dragged her into trouble, but now he had left her. She would be safe now, away from him.

But what about Anejo? No-one was safe around her.

He growled, shook his head, and ground his shoulder blades together. This was not what he had come for. It was supposed to be so much more. He had escaped his old existence in exchange for this new one. Now he found himself reminiscing. Yearning even.

"Are you quite alright?"

It was his esteemed tutor; legend; warrior exceptional; Kato. The man had failed spectacularly to show any of those qualities. Kato remained delightfully unlikeable, and annoyingly opaque. Getting a clean answer was like fishing for mermaids. Wistful.

"Where are we headed?"

The man scuttled, a bit like a bug. He walked awkwardly, like he was struggling to keep pace with himself. But he did have focus, that could not be denied. Kato tipped his head.

"We are going to answer the second question. Now, are you going to answer my question?" The man turned to him, those bronze rimmed irises glimmering. Recently, Kato had been asking after his wellbeing a lot.

"I am fine."

"That's not what your other voice suggests. In fact, I'd conclude that you were very much at odds with yourself."

"What other voice?"

"The one that you don't control. The one that, quite literally, leaks off of you."

This was most perplexing. "Are you suggesting that you can read me?"

The legend huffed and sighed, a strange sound. "That is disappointing."

And there it was: the brief moment of awe that tugged at him. There was something there, in this oddball, and it just needed teasing out.

"Then explain to me."

"It should not need explaining." He upped his pace. This is how those nuggets always ended. In disappointment.

Kato's foot caught in a shallow depression, and he stumbled, just about staying upright. But the legend continued, as if nothing had happened.

The sun beat down incessantly, and he'd stripped out of his uniform. Instead, he opted for a loose cotton robe that deflected the worst of Mother's rage. Kato, by contrast, wore his official regalia religiously, and even persisted with the gauze facemask. He was sweating profusely, but the little man didn't seem to notice or care. He was relentless.

They had even abandoned their horses, instead opting for travel by foot. Only the Uncle himself could say how far they had come. The Adunas Encolae were little more than a smudge on the horizon behind them, and instead the Central Belt reared above. The pair now traversed the lower reaches of that almighty range.

Back in Ahan, strange foreign traders spoke of the Central Belt as if they were gods lined up as sentinels. He'd always dismissed the idea. After all, surely no mountains could be more impressive than the Encolae. But to see them in person was humbling. They were more magnificent in every definition of the word.

And there it was – his second current occupation. Wondering at this far off land. It was nice to finally see the further reaches of Mikaeta, but that was really not the point. He was here to learn, but Kato didn't want to teach. He needed focus.