Requiem II: Soul's Honor Lost

by Alisa Joaquin

Part 6: Skalany's Dream

Peter paced the altar room like a caged tiger. He had not been able to sleep for the past two nights and each time he found himself in the meditation room lighting candles and trying to make sense of the images that would come to him. His nerves were on edge, and he had not felt this nervous in a long time. Something was going to happen, and it was going to happen in the next six hours. He had to be ready to face whatever was to come. He knew that it centered around his father, but he did not know exactly in what form it would take. He did know for certain that if he was to learn what that was, he would have to force himself to calm his chi. It was not an easy task to do when it concerned his father. He always felt more like a six-year-old around Caine when something was about to happen that he had no control over.

At that moment, Mary Margaret Skalany came into the room. She had been working the night shift with Jody Powell and would sometimes come to the Caine apartment and chat with Peter and find out the latest news about Caine. It was easier than just getting the occasional postcard that did not tell her much, only that Caine was still alive, still in France, and searching for a wife believed to have been dead since Peter was two years old. On this visit, though, she came to ask Peter for some Shaolin advice. The advice she sought was not your typical kind where a Shaolin was concerned, and the advice she was seeking also regarded Caine.

"Peter, you here?"

"In here, Mary Margaret," Peter turned to face his old partner. When she came into the room, he could sense that she was deeply troubled. "What's wrong partner?"

"You could always read me so well," she said with a bit of sarcasm, but regretted saying it the moment she had. "I'm sorry, that didn't come out right. Have you heard from your father?"

"No, did you receive any postcards from him?"

"I haven't heard from him in over a month. I'm beginning to wonder if he found his wife and did not tell me, leaving me out in the cold."

"Why do you think that?" Peter asked.

"Wouldn't you?" Mary Margaret countered.

"No," Peter said emphatically, "My father would not deliberately hurt someone he cares about very deeply by being that thoughtless. So, I'm asking again, why would you think that?"

"Well, you're going to think I'm being silly," Scalany began. "I've been having this dream. Your father is in it, but he's with this woman with graying red hair. She looks like the woman in your locket that you showed me. That's not all of the dream, though."

Peter did not say a word at first.

"You see, you do think I'm being ridiculous."

"I didn't say anything," Peter argued.

"You didn't have to. It was the look on your face."

"Please, Scalany," Peter coaxed, using her last name. "Tell me the rest of the dream. I might be able to help."

"Well," she hesitated. "The thing is, your father was in the dream, but there's something wrong with him. He's like the time when he split himself in two. The one I encountered was rough and aggressive. He forced himself on me. I was shocked by it. I thought he was Kwai Chang at first, but then another one came into the room . . . any way. In the dream, Caine is like that, but this time, he wasn't split in two." Mary Margaret finished her tale and turned toward her partner only to find that he seemed to be looking far away. It was as if he not aware that she was even in the room. "Peter, did you hear me? Peter?"

Peter suddenly snapped out of his trance and asked Mary Margaret, "Do you have a passport?"

"A passport? Yeah, why?"

"I just got the word. We're needed in France. My father's in deep trouble."

Continues with Part 7