"You'll need rest for a few days. And some food and space enough to move
again. We'll have you strong enough to do whatever it is needs doing, I
hope. This place is better watched than it looks. We'll have warning if
anyone comes near. Don't let any of this trouble you for now; you can
trust us to watch over things."
"I want to see her," Otah said.
"I know," Amiit said, clapping him on the shoulder. "And she wants to
see you. It's why I'm leaving. Just remember you haven't eaten to speak
of in days, you're weak from the cell, you've hardly slept, and you were
abducted last night. Don't expect too much from yourself. There really
is no hurry."
Otah blushed now, and Amiit grabbed one last apple and made for the
door. Kiyan reached it just as he did, and he stepped back to let her
through. He closed the door gently behind him. Otah rose to his feet,
suddenly tongue-tied. Kiyan also didn't speak, but her gaze traveled
over him. He could see the distress in it even though she tried to keep
it hidden.
"'Tani," she said, "you ... you look terrible."
"It's the beard," Otah said. "I'll shave it."
She didn't take up the humor, only walked across the room and folded him
into her arms. The scent of her skin flooded him with a hundred jumbled
memories of her. He put his arm around her, embarrassed to notice that
his hand was unsteady.
"I didn't think I'd be seeing you again," he murmured. "I never meant to
put you at risk."
"What did they do to you? Gods, what have they done?"
"Not so much. They only didn't feed me well fora time and locked me
away. It wasn't so had."
She kissed his check and pulled back from him until each could see the
other's face. 't'here were tears in her eyes, but she was angry.
"They were going to kill you," she said.
"Well, yes. I mean, I thought that was assumed."
"I'll kill them all with my bare hands if you'd like," she said with a
smile that meant she was only half joking.
"That might be more than the situation calls for. But ... why are you
here? I thought ... I thought I was too much a risk to you."
"That didn't change. Other things ... other things did. Come. Sit with me."
Kiyan took a bite of the cheese and poured herself water. Her hands were
thin and strong and as lovely as a sculpture. Otah rubbed his temples
with the palms of his hands, hoping that this was all as real as it
seemed, that he wouldn't wake again in the cell above the city.
"Sinja-cha told me you wanted to turn hack. He said it was because of
me. That your being there kept them from searching me out."
"Knowing me shouldn't have that kind of price on it," Otah said. "It was
... it was what I could do. That's all."
"Thank you," she said, her voice solemn.
Kiyan looked out the window. There was a dread in the lines of her
mouth, a fear that confused him. He reached out, thinking to take her
hand in his own, but the movement brought her back and a smile flitted