Oruanui was a peaceful, rural community almost exactly 10 miles northwest of the town of Taupo. The Māori name of the place translated to "place of many pits", which was a little odd, since in the three weeks Faith had spent there, she hadn't seen any besides those in the maintenance-requiring asphalt which her running shoes were hitting in a steady rhythm. She had just passed her personal six-mile marker on Poihipi Road just before the junction to Tuhingamata Road, and a quick glance at her new Suunto sports watch confirmed the time and distance she had already run. Exactly 42 minutes had passed since she started her clockwise lap which meant she was right on her target at 56 minutes for the full eight-mile course.
It was winter in the southern hemisphere which had initially come as quite a shock to her after the constant California heat despite her New England heritage. The current temperature of the partly cloudy day was ideal for long distance running, though. Another look at her watch showed it to be 54F / 12C.
The almost two-mile straight of the Tuhingamata Road and the sharp uphill to the "Faithful Compound" still loomed ahead of her. Running along the long straight which seemed to stretch to infinity made her thoughts start to wander as her ASICS running shoes ate the distance with the steady pace she had set herself.
Her thoughts turned first, naturally, to her boyf... 'What!?' Where had that come from? She most certainly didn't have a boyfriend! That meant... exclusivity and she definitely wasn't ready for that kind of commitment. She and Rowan were... complicated. On one hand the Lehaïr was everything she could ever have hoped for; spectacularly handsome, wicked smart, strong-willed but flexible, amazing fighter, just the right amount taller than her, understood the demands of a Slayer's life and was fantastic in bed. They... their bodies just fit perfectly together. On the other hand, there was the nagging voice inside, sounding exactly like her mother, that kept telling her she was a slut with no chances of ever having someone like Rowan for herself. ('That the schmoe you're spreading your legs to now, whore?')
She almost stumbled at the vividness of these words, feeling her breath start to get erratic. By instinct she reached behind her where she kept the Spirit Blade fastened to the sport belt around her waist. As always, touching the hilt brought her a measure of calmness. She took several deep breaths, willing her heart rate to return back to the aerobic level.
Yes, complicated. She didn't do relationships and she had no clear idea what Rowan expected them to have. He had been so understanding of Faith's insecurities on how to act on their mutual attraction and her deal with the Powers to save his and her Watcher's life. In addition, he had given Faith the ultimate freedom – the freedom to leave. She had a passport, her record was clean and the Council wasn't actively trying to get her back into the fold. It was something she had never experienced before. Ok, so she was indebted to the PtB but that had been by her own choice. So far, she had not experienced anything out of the ordinary as it came to her "servitude" but maybe that was just because she was still being "groomed" by those she now was living with – the Faithful.
A little past the mid-point of the Tuhingamata Road she crossed the Tangye Road junction. Only a mile to go, including the steep climb along the twisting gravel road which led from the Tuhingamata Road to the Compound. Once again in control, she let her thoughts turn to her sister Slayer.
Faith didn't do goodbyes so she hadn't told Buffy directly that she would be leaving Sunnydale for a time. She had left a letter for her, like she had done – unsuccessfully – for Rowan, in which she basically told her that by the time the blonde received the letter she would already be on her way to fulfil an obligation and that Rowan would fill her in with the details. It had been somewhat cowardly to outsource the explanations to Rowan. She had felt at that time that she had re-reached such an amicable state of affairs with her counterpart that she didn't want to make a dent into it by having to tell Buffy half-truths about the real reason for her leaving for NZ. Rowan would sort it out with Buffy using his charm; wasn't that what boyf... friends were for?
At the exit to the private road leading to her current home she stopped and looked at her watch. 7.9 miles and 55m 34s. Not bad. She would stretch for a while then do a few fast sprints to the top of the hill where the mansion was located and then back down.
The wooden gate marking the beginning of the private road was open. Beyond the gate the road surface turned to gravel and the road started climbing up the hill in the shape of a long, elongated "S". Just inside the gate stood the small cottage-style white house belonging to Mr Hogan, their groundskeeper and his wife who was the maid, cook, mother hen, etc. at the mansion. They were a friendly, elderly couple whose two children had moved on their own many years ago and now lived with their families in Auckland.
The mansion itself was located at the top of a flat hill, something like 30 yards higher than the surrounding countryside. The ownership of the mansion and its lands was not clear to Faith, except that they belonged to some vague party related to the Faithful. Besides Faith, there were currently three people in permanent residence there, the first of whom was Pauline.
Pauline was... well if the Faithful had been organised like the Council they separated from all those years ago, she would be the equivalent of Quentin Travers. As it was, she was the Mistress of a motley group of people who called themselves the Faithful.
A small copse hid the building and its yard from view in the direction of the Tuhingamata Road. The compound itself covered approximately 22 acres / 9 hectares, bordering on the northern and western sides with the Tuhingamata Road. The Southern and Eastern borders were marked with a dense hedgerow through which a few gates allowed access to the hilly grasslands which made up most of the area within the triangular patch of land delimited by the Poihipi, Oruanui and Tuhingamata Roads.
Pauline was sitting on the mansion's patio reading a newspaper when Faith half-staggered the final few yards of her second hill-climb and came to lean against the white patio fence. Pauline, or Dr Mahuta, was a sturdy Māori woman in her fifties. She was a Social Studies professor at the local Taupo-nui-a-Tia College and, in addition to her duties as the Mistress of the Faithful, acted as a private tutor for Faith.
"Everything alright over there, Slayer?" came a question from behind the newspaper. Faith could swear there was a hint of amusement in the voice.
"Five... erm... yes, ma'am," Faith panted. She had not yet earned the right to call her by name.
"Go get yourself cleaned-up, Faith," Pauline nodded in the direction of their spa building after having lowered the newspaper to her lap. "Lynn will have the lunch ready in half-an-hour." Lynn was Mrs Hogan's first name. "After lunch I'd like to go through the math exam of yesterday."
Faith groaned at that. She hated exams but even more she hated having to go through them afterwards, to face all the mistakes she had made.
"Look, I know I flunked, ok..."
"How do you calculate the area of a circle?" Pauline asked off-hand.
"Pi multiplied by the radius squared," Faith answered in autopilot and then froze in amazement.
Pauline stood up and came down the few steps from the patio with a smirk on her face. "Look, Faith. It's clear that you know this stuff. It's just that you keep telling yourself that you don't. You have a sharp mind but you lack belief in it."
Faith rolled her eyes, making sure Pauline couldn't see it. The Māori woman was an astute observer and seemed to unequivocally believe that Faith had the makings of a scholar. Faith had dropped out of high school midway through her freshman year, not because she didn't have the mind for it, but because she just couldn't bother attending. She hadn't had any friends there and her foster parents never commented or asked about her progress in school. But now there was Pauline, who seemed to be adamant about bringing out the student in her.
In Sunnydale Faith had stayed mainly out of the way of the researchers. Some of that had been by choice but there had also been the underlying feeling that the Scoobies didn't really believe she was made for research and studying. Ever since Diane (and perhaps Rowan), Pauline seemed to be the first one to really believe there was something else in Faith besides just sex appeal and Slayer power.
With these thoughts in mind, Faith made her way to the spa to get cleaned-up before lunch.
