Part Three
Turin was obviously tired as he and Reyden travelled along. They had visited one of the houses, and still had two to go. Fortunately, that house hadn't been touched, and everyone was fine. They seemed to think that one of the others was okay, but couldn't give them any information on the other. Turin hoped that they would both be fine, so they could return home quicker. He was anxious about leaving Ayari and Kai after their grim discovery earlier in the day, and part of him was annoyed that Reyden had dragged him out again. Also, he was hungry and thirsty. He hadn't had anything since that morning. There wasn't much further to go to the next house, and that should be a quick stop. If everything were fine there, hopefully he'd be able to have something to eat. Then there came a long journey to the next house. Turin sighed and continued counting down the time till they got back to familiar surroundings. Reyden continued to remain silent, and that added to Turin's discomfort. So he tried to start a conversation.
"What happens after we've done all this?" he asked.
"I'm not sure. I and the others in charge will have to meet up to decide," Reyden said, shortly.
"How long do you think we've got?"
"Again, I'm not sure. I don't think we'll be able to tell. That's part of the problem," said Reyden. Turin decided it was going to be pointless to say anything else, and remembered what Ayari had said about getting blood out of a stone.
Sometime later, they arrived at the house. Some lights were still on inside, which provided a good sign. The two of them went to the door, and knocked. A woman who seemed pleased to see them both answered it.
"Reyden!" she said, "It's lovely to see you again!" She kissed him on the cheek, and then grabbed Turin's shoulders and did the same to him.
"And who is this?" she beamed.
"Turin," replied Reyden, for him. "Turin, this is Ezala. She looks after this house."
"Pleased to meet you," said Turin. Ezala continued to smile at them, as she led them inside.
"You must be hungry," she said. Reyden shook his head, but Turin nodded vigorously. Ezala showed them into a dining room, and they both sat down.
"We don't have much, only a few leftovers from dinner," she apologised. Turin smiled at her.
"I don't mind, I'll eat anything," he reassured. Ezala seemed pleased with this, and she disappeared off to fetch him something.
"Is she always so enthusiastic?" Turin asked Reyden, who smiled.
"Yes, but it's great to have her help. We decided that a lot of the younger people should be here. You and Ayari should have been here, along with a couple of others, if Leorie hadn't insisted otherwise."
"Really?" said Turin, surprised.
"Yes, she felt that because you had a child, it would be better for you to be with others who also had children. Also, I think she wanted to keep an eye on Ayari, which is understandable, seeing as the two are close friends," Reyden told him. Ezala re-entered the room carrying a tray that had a plate of food, a jug of water and some glasses on. Turin tucked in hungrily, while Reyden told Ezala about their adventure earlier. She was quite shocked by the news, but, like the house before them, she couldn't tell them anything on their next destination.
"They're quite isolated, which is a mixed blessing, as we see now," she said. "But there is no reason to expect the worse. Where you went this morning was the closest place to the city centre, so I suppose they were bound to be discovered first."
"We're just checking round first, but we really need to meet up to discuss our next strategy. We knew that this would happen in all probability one day, now we need to face the consequences," said Reyden, as Turin finished his meal.
"I understand," said Ezala. "When are we going to arrange it for?"
"I have to see how the situation turns out. It should be within the next week, though," he replied. Ezala simply nodded, then turned to look at Turin.
"Finished already?" she said. Turin grinned.
"Well, I haven't eaten since this morning," he said. Ezala laughed.
"Reyden not feeding you properly?" she teased. Turin just laughed. Reyden looked slightly put out at being the object of amusement, but said nothing.
"Why don't the two of you stay here for the rest of the night. It's quite late," Ezala offered.
"Thank you, but we need to check the other house," said Reyden. "We're expected home tonight, anyway."
"Are you sure? He looks exhausted," said Ezala, nodding towards Turin.
"I'm okay," he protested. Ezala gave him a knowing look. Reyden stood up, and Turin followed. Ezala took them to the front door.
"Thank you again for the food," Turin said. Ezala kissed him on the cheek.
"That's okay, Turin. You're welcome here any time." As he walked away, she turned to Reyden and said, "he's a nice young man, isn't he?"
"I'll be in contact with you later," was all Reyden said. Ezala kissed him goodbye too, and waved to them as they disappeared into the distance.
After another long journey, they arrived at their final destination. Wearily, Turin dragged himself out of the transporter, and followed Reyden up the path. It was in darkness, and Turin hoped that it didn't mean bad news. When Reyden knocked, it didn't open, which was something positive. He knocked again, until someone could be heard trudging to the door.
"All right, all right," a man could be heard to grumble. The door opened, and a man in his nightwear, not looking as happy to see them as Ezala had earlier greeted them.
"Reyden? What do you want at this time of night? And who is this?"
"Can we come in?" asked Reyden. The man moved aside to let them in.
"This is Turin. We've come to tell you about the possibility that we may be being hunted down." The man lost his initial grumpiness, as he became more alert.
"I suppose you'd better sit down and tell me the bad news," he said. To Turin, he said, "I'm Kojen, by the way. I'm sorry if I seem a little bad tempered, but then again, I'm not used to being woken up in the early hours of the morning."
"It's okay, I understand," said Turin hastily. Kojen showed them into a room, and they sat down. Reyden went through again what had happened while Turin sat there trying not to nod off. He realised he must have dozed at some point, for he was suddenly aware of Kojen asking Reyden a lot of questions about what he was supposed to do. Reyden, as usual, managed to get round all of them. A girl passing through the room to the kitchen interrupted them. She smiled sweetly at them.
"I'm sorry," she said, "I just need to get a drink." Kojen barely paid any attention to her, and continued talking to Reyden. Turin listened to them, but became aware that the girl, who he thought to be about seventeen, kept looking in his direction. He tried to keep his mind on the conversation, but felt the girl's eyes on him. Reyden noticed too.
"Go and keep her occupied, Turin. I don't want this to get out to everyone yet." Turin scowled slightly, sure that Reyden just wanted him out of the way for the moment, and went over to the kitchen. The girl smiled at him.
"Hello," she said. "Can I get you anything?"
"Some water would be nice," said Turin. The girl went over to the sink and got him a glass.
"I'm Cayanne," she said, handing him the glass.
"Turin," he replied.
"What are you doing here at this time of night?" Cayanne asked.
"Good question. Reyden's who you should be asking," said Turin. Cayanne smiled at him, shyly.
"Where are you from?"
"We come from Lynsin-al."
"That's the other side of the city, isn't it? You've come a long way," said Cayanne. Turin nodded, willing Reyden to hurry up. Cayanne turned her back on the other room, and looked out of the window.
"How old are you? I'm nearly eighteen."
"I'm twenty-two," he replied. Cayanne's face brightened.
"Not that much difference then," she smiled, looking at Turin intensely. Turin sipped some more water, not knowing whether to be amused or alarmed.
"I'm already taken I'm afraid," he said gently.
"Oh," said Cayanne, obviously disappointed. Turin smiled at her.
"I'm sure there's someone out there for you," he said.
"Where are they?" she asked him.
"Hiding," said Turin. "You'll find one of them one day." Cayanne looked back into the other room.
"What about Reyden?" Turin pulled a face.
"Reyden? He's got someone too, but you don't want someone like him."
"Why not?"
"Well, he's miserable, arrogant, bossy, older than me, not as good looking as, say, me...do I have to go on?" They both laughed, trying to stifle the noise. Reyden and Kojen ignored them.
"So, what does his girlfriend see in him?" asked Cayanne. Turin shrugged.
"We're still trying to work that out," he said, with a smile. Cayanne giggled.
"Is she not like him at all, then?"
"She's very good friends with my girlfriend, so she's not that bad," said Turin, still willing Reyden to hurry up. Cayanne looked back towards Reyden, then back out of the window.
"What's your girlfriend like?" she asked. "Is she beautiful?" Turin gave a small laugh. Ayari would probably find this amusing, he thought.
"Yes, but then of course I'd say that," said Turin, wistfully. Reyden seemed to finally finish talking to Kojen, for he stood up, and beckoned to Turin. Cayanne smiled coyly at him again.
"Maybe I'll see you again sometime," she said.
"Maybe, if Reyden drags me out again," replied Turin.
"I hope he does," Cayanne said, cheekily. Turin raised an eyebrow, and went over towards Reyden. They said their goodbyes to Kojen, and got into their transporter, and headed for home.
"You and Kojen spent a long time talking," said Turin. Reyden huffed, he was annoyed.
"That's Kojen for you. Always drags everything out as far as possible. Anyway, you were kept occupied by that girl, you seemed quite taken with each other."
"She's only eighteen, and looking for someone. It's not my problem if she thinks I fit what she wants," said Turin.
"You weren't exactly dissuading her," said Reyden. Now Turin was annoyed.
"We were only talking, Reyden. Nothing wrong with that." Reyden smirked.
"I'm sure Ayari wouldn't have seen it like that."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Turin.
"She won't be pleased to hear that you've been spending the early hours with another woman," said Reyden. Turin scowled, and felt tempted to knock the smile off Reyden's face.
"I'm going to assume that you're extremely tired, and that's what's making you talk a load of crap," he said. Reyden just laughed. Turin ignored him, fed up. He just wanted to get home.
It was sometime after lunch the next day before Turin felt normal again. He had woken to find Ayari had left him to sleep, and was surprised to find how late it was. He had gone to find her, but Mythia had told him that she and some others had gone out for a couple of hours. Reyden was nowhere to be seen, and Turin wondered if he had gone to meet with Ezala and the others. He was glad that he hadn't been dragged along. After spending all day with him yesterday, plus his strange comments, Turin wasn't hoping to see him again any time soon. He made himself something to eat, and had just finished when he saw Ayari and the others returning.
"Glad to see you're finally awake," Ayari said. "I tried to talk to you this morning, but you mumbled something completely incoherent and went back to sleep." Turin led her into the living room, which was empty.
"Have you seen Reyden at all today?" he asked. Ayari sat Kai on the floor, and shook her head.
"No, not at all. Why?" They both sat down on the sofa.
"Oh, it's just something that happened last night. We spent the time trawling round places, and the last one we went to, he spends his time talking to someone called Kojen who looks after it. This girl comes down to get some water, so Reyden tells me to keep her company because he doesn't want anything being overheard. So, I did, and she...well, took a liking to me," he said. Ayari smiled at him. Turin continued, her reaction was exactly as he expected.
"Yes, and I told her I was attached, we just chatted for a couple more minutes about things, before we left. Nothing more to it. Then when we were on the way back, Reyden begins making some really odd comments that made it sound like I'd done something horrible to you by talking to this girl - she was only eighteen," said Turin. Ayari shrugged.
"He was probably trying to wind you up."
"Maybe. Look, do you know if he and Leorie have been having problems?"
"No, not as far as I know. Leorie hasn't said anything, although she seemed a bit out of it yesterday, but that could have been anything. Why?" Turin sighed.
"He hardly spoke to me yesterday, and when he did, it was almost always about you and me. At first it was just general stuff, then he got really weird, like I just told you. I'm worried that he's trying to cause trouble."
"And that's why you wondered if he had said anything about that girl, in case he had exaggerated something?" said Ayari. Turin nodded. "It's probably nothing," she said.
"Perhaps it is, but just be careful round him. I don't want him to start on you too," said Turin. Ayari smiled and hugged him.
"I will. I'll try to talk to Leorie to see if I can get anything out of her - quietly, of course," she said. Turin kissed her affectionately on the forehead then turned his attention to Kai.
"And how are you, then?" he said, picking Kai up. Kai seemed pleased to see his father, for he began babbling what passed for language, before grabbing at a stray lock of hair that had escaped from Turin's bun. Turin winced as he uncurled Kai's fingers from the dark strands. Ayari just laughed.
"Let's go and have some lunch," she suggested as they left the living room.
"I've had something already," he replied.
"You can give Kai his then, while I eat mine," she said cheerfully, watching Kai grab the lock of Turin's hair again.