Part 15 (1/2)

Ravi was still looking at her expectantly when Adesina opened her eyes. ”Well?”

She s.h.i.+fted uncomfortably. ”It was an emergency. My first real mission!”

”I had thought your word counted for more than that.”

The young woman felt herself growing angry. ”I cannot put my entire life on hold just because you decide to disappear!”

There was a change in Ravi's eyes, and Adesina detected an emotion that she had never seen there before. He spoke in a quiet, controlled voice. ”I did not come to that decision lightly.”

Adesina blew out her breath. ”I am sorry, Ravi. I know how seriously you take your duties as my guardian. I justait has been a very trying couple of days.”

Ravi turned away to face the window. ”Why not get some rest, Ma'eve? You have used much of your strength.”

Adesina was surprised to find that he was right. She was very tired. She closed her eyes and, in the darkness behind her lids, instantly fell asleep.

It was a Dream. That much Adesina could tell. The rest was harder. There was darkness everywhere, almost as if she were standing in a great void where light and sound did not exist.

She was in danger. She didn't know how she knew, she just felt it to be so. Adesina tried to move, but her legs wouldn't respond. She was rooted where she stood, no matter how hard she struggled. She tried calling for help, but the sound was lost in the abyss. Out of the corner of her eye, Adesina saw a glimmer of light. She turned to face it and saw another figure held by the darkness.

It was the man she had kidnapped.

He turned to her with a look of desperation in his eyes. His lips moved, but no sound escaped them. He reached out his hand, the expression on his face begging her to take it. But before she could make a decision, an invisible force started pulling them apart.

Adesina felt herself falling backwards into an eternity of night.

Adesina jerked awake.

Her heart was racing and her face was covered with a fine sheen of sweat. She struggled to sit up and free herself from the tangle of her blankets.

Ravi was still looking out the window, but it was clear that hours had pa.s.sed. The purple dust of twilight had stolen across the sky. He turned around at the sound of her gasping breaths and hurried to her side.

”What is it, Ma'eve?”

It took her several moments to calm herself down enough to find coherent words to speak. ”A Dream. My first Dream since the forest.”

”What did this Dream show you?”

She described it to Ravi, and a glint of understanding flashed in his eye. Adesina caught the expression and stared at him intently.

”You know what it means.”

Ravi c.o.c.ked an eyebrow. ”Why would you believe that?”

Adesina's eyes narrowed. ”I know you, Ravi. That look in your eye says that you heard something significant. Something only you understand.”

Ravi walked back over to the window and sat down again. ”It would not be significant if I were the only one to understand. True knowledge is never for one being alone.”

Adesina shook her head impatiently. She wasn't in the right frame of mind to sit and listen to his little gems of wisdom. ”What does it mean, Ravi?”

He looked at her sharply. ”I am not a companion of convenience, Ma'eve. You cannot choose the times you listen to me and then discard me at will. You have chosen your path in the labyrinth of destiny. Now follow it.”

It took Adesina a moment to recall their conversation before he left. She took a deep, steadying breath. ”What are you saying? Are you leaving for good?”

Ravi frowned. ”Of course not. I will not abandon my duty to you.”

”Then what?”

He fixed his gaze on some point on the distant horizon. ”Follow your chosen path, Ma'eve. And I will follow mine.”

Ravi's silence now seemed determined. Adesina didn't talk to him for the rest of the night. She tried to get some more sleep, but she was restless. She tossed and turned in bed for a while, then got up and paced around the room, then went through her s.h.i.+mat belongings to organize and review, and then went back to bed to start the cycle all over again.

By dawn she was completely exhausted. She was more affected in mind and spirit, but her body also suffered from the draining night. It wasn't long after the sun appeared that Jelana came to check on her. Adesina had been in the middle of pacing again, and was scolded sternly by the older woman.

”Adrie! You should not be up!”

Adesina gave a rea.s.suring smile. ”I am fine, Jelana.”

Her hostess would not hear it. ”Get back in bed this instant.”

”But, Jelana-”

”Not another word! You are staying in bed until I am convinced that you have fully recovered.”

She reluctantly climbed back into her bed. ”The illness has left me, Jelana. I am still weak, but I can attend school.”

The kindly woman was adamant. ”Not today. You are going to eat and rest, and if I am satisfied, you may go to school after the weekend.”

Adesina saved her groan until Jelana had left the room. ”The weekend! How will I pa.s.s three days in bed?”

Ravi did not look at her or answer. He appeared to be deep in thought, completely unaware of his surroundings. Adesina had never seen him so distracted.

She sat up. ”Ravi?”

Even this did not break through to his conscious mind. He continued to stare out the window.

Adesina wondered if he ever received visions other than in Dreams. She laid back down, considering this possibility. Perhaps that is what happened right before he had left her to seek one of his own kind. Perhaps he had received some kind of warning. It had to have been something important to take him away from her.

Her thoughts turned to their conversation the night before. He had told her that she had chosen her path. She had finally been faced with what she had greatly desired: a choice. And, like Ravi had warned her, it had pa.s.sed before she was aware of its importance.

It had seemed like a simple matter of doing what she was told. After all, hadn't she sworn loyalty to the s.h.i.+mat Order? She wondered what would have happened if she had honored her promise to Ravi and stayed in the High City while he was gone. Her opportunity for her first mission would have been missed, but was that all?

She was not the only s.h.i.+mat in the High City. There were others who could have accomplished the mission if she had not. Her Order would not have been harmed by the decision to honor her promise to Ravi, only her ambition. That is what it all came down to: her ambition. And now she was set on a path without knowing where she was headed.

Such thoughts made Adesina feel powerless, and she hated that feeling more than anything. She was glad when Jelana reappeared with a tray. It distracted her from the trap of her own mind.